New Orleans Restaurant: Best Seat to Watch Pyromusical Competition

Last March 7, my fiance and I had an impromptu decision to watch the 6th Philippine International Pyromusical Competition.  I love fireworks and I make sure I watch this competition every year.  But I missed out last year's competition and we almost missed out this year's.  So after persuading my fiance, at an instant, we decided to watch the competition.

Since it is a last minute decision, I called up some restaurants near the bay and veranda of SM Mall of Asia.  But unfortunately they are not taking any reservations over the phone at that last minute (I called up Saturday afternoon).  Most of their policy is now first come first served basis.  So we just decided to go to SM MOA early.

Upon reaching MOA, similar to previous years, tickets are available on sale all over the place.  We specifically wanted to watch it from the restaurants in the veranda, 2nd floor.  So we checked out Italianni's, Healthy Shabu Shabu, Sarsa, New Orleans, Pepper Lunch, and 2 more restaurants which I forgot the name.  During that time, 5pm, the veranda area is still open to the public.  Reservations are still accepted at this time on a first come first serve basis.  However, most of these restaurants were fully booked, especially on the front row seat.  We have no preferred restaurant but the New Orleans restaurant seems favorable to us.   Though the front row seat is already occupied, we reserved seat at the third row.  Favorable because for me, it is one of the best view since we saw the vessel where fireworks will be set up right in front of this restaurant.  Their price per head for the veranda dining is Php 1,000: Php 300 for the ticket entrance plus Php 700 worth of consumable food and drinks.  It seems that all the restaurants have the price range as New Orleans.  Even the time I called up some restaurants near the bay, price is also about Php 1,000 per head.

Below are the foods we ordered.  The consumable price of Php 1,400 for 2 is already more than enough for the night's dinner (and snack) for the whole duration of the show.  We just added roughly about Php 245 for the excess with drinks (we just had fruit shakes) including service charge.

This is name Godfather spaghetti with big meatballs, good for sharing

Cajun Shrimp Bucket, good for sharing

All Meat Pizza, more than enough for 2 persons

The country to perform were United Kingdom and Canada.  We were excited to see their performance since these were the usual champions in the previous Pyromusical Competition.  First to perform was United Kingdom.  Their show lasted about 20 minutes.  See some pictures and last segment video below.  Apologies for the quite blurry pics as I don't have a tripod and my camera is just basic camera, my favorite Nikon Coolpix P300 (which I own since 2011, very reliable! See my blog post about this camera here and here)

Next performer is Canada.  See below sample pictures and video on their last segment

Both countries' fireworks show were entertaining.  United Kingdom uses some upbeat music and those that are quite known by the crowd.  Even with upbeat music, their fireworks goes along with it.  For Canada, they use a more classical and instrumental music which to some may find it boring.  But their fireworks, for me, was amazing.  It was something i have never seen before.  Their fireworks display moves around to various direction.  And with that, in this night's show, my vote goes to Canada.

You still have this weekend for the last show of the 6th Philippine International Pyromusical Competition.  This weekend, the country who will perform are Philippines and China.  Try to reserve seat from New Orleans Restaurant.  You will never regret it as the view is perfect!  Good food too!

Java Jazz Coffee: A Review

During my impromptu Tagaytay trip with my boyfriend, our first choice of accommodation was Java Jazz Lodging House.  It is actually a coffee shop, Java Jazz Coffee, but they added a lodging house to accommodate tourist.  They only have 3 rooms available so by the time we were there, it was already fully booked.

This place was quite hard to find, although it is just located along the highway.  It is because their place is just small as well as their signage.  But good thing, their walls are painted in bright yellow.

Since Java Jazz Coffee's interiors were full of artworks / art gallery and museum type of ambiance, me and my boyfriend was encouraged to try out their food and of course their coffee after we looked for other available accommodation for this impromptu trip.

panoramic view of the art gallery

one of their seats

It was already late lunch, about past 1pm already.  There's only a couple dining in, so its a good thing that is not crowded.  We opted to seat on their somewhat Japanese style table with banig (traditional Filipino mat).   The other couple was just behind us at the same Japanese style table.  There's only 2 units of this type of table, so you can try it for a unique experience. 

Below are the food and drinks we ordered.  Apologies as I forgot each name and prices.  Maybe that's a good reason for me to go back ;)

This drink has a little liquor on it

Lechon Kawali.  Big serving of rice

I think this was the Cafe de Tagaytay. 

One of their pasta with cheese, beef and mushroom

I find their drinks interesting.  My boyfriend ordered for a drink that has a liquor on it.  It was too strong for me when I tasted it but for him it was ok.  His lunch for that day was the typical Filipino dish, Lechon Kawali.  The taste was ok according to him and the serving of rice was quite huge.

For myself, I ordered for a coffee since that was already almost snack time with pasta as my late lunch meal.  My pasta was good enough, nothing really special.  Their coffee, which I think was the Cafe de Tagaytay, was quite strong for me.  There's no milk nor creamer served together with it and I wasn't able to request for one.  So I just put more sugar to minimize the strong flavor of coffee.

Below were our orders for breakfast the next day. The place was still cozy and cool even when the sun is already heating up at around 9am.  This time, we just seated in the normal chairs and table.

Set breakfast: bacon, ham, scrambled egg, mixed vegetables and hash brown

Pandesal with cream cheese

Mango Juice

Hot Tsokolate Eh (without milk)

Our set breakfast was good enough for 2.  I like their hash brown as it is not too oily.  As for the rest, it was just so so.  I wish that they made the bacon crispier.  The serving size of the scrambled egg was too small.

The presentation of the pandesal with cream cheese was inviting but I got a bit disappointed when the cream cheese was spread to thinly onto the bread.  You wouldn't taste much of it.

For the drinks, my boyfriend's mango juice with ice cream was quite off for a breakfast meal but it taste refreshing.  I took the Hot Tsokolate Eh, which according to them simply means hot chocolate without milk.  Since I love chocolates, I enjoyed this hot drink.  It was thick and the chocolate or tablea is like in its purest form.  I remember I tasted the same when I was in Iloilo.  This comes in small serving as the thick chocolate is best consume just by a bit else you might get sick of it.  I think my hot chocolate is best partnered with the pandesal.

Overall, I enjoyed our food trip at Java Jazz Coffee.  I would love to go back and try out their other dishes, especially the coffee.  And maybe someday, I'll try sleeping over at their Lodging House.  If you love art or wanted to dine in a unique lay back style while hanging out with friends, then I would suggest this place.

Recipes by Cafe Metro: A Review

I had planned to celebrate my birthday at the Recipes by Cafe Metro in Greenbelt 3 last January with my family. But due to budget constraints, I didn't push through with it. Don't get me wrong. Food here isn't too expensive, about Php 200 per viand. It's just that upon reading some reviews, I found out that their serving size isn't that much, about 2 pax serving per viand. Considering the number in my family and based from calculations, there's a possibility that I might go over budget.

Anyway, last Tuesday, my boyfriend and I decided to celebrate our monthsary at Recipes. Since its just the two of us, we ordered only 2 viands, their best sellers: General's Chicken and Lechon Kawali with Kangkong. I read in blogs that Gising Gising and Crispy Tilapia are also the favorites. But unfortunately, we can't order a lot since it's only the two of us who will consume it.

General's Chicken

My boyfriend loves chicken. And so the General's Chicken captured his taste buds. The chicken fillet has breading and mixed with small slices of eggplant. The sauce was a bit of sweet and spicy. It seems like a simple dish but it was delicious. Serving size was just enough for 2.

Lechon Kawali with Kangkong

I was surprised with the Lechon Kawali with Kangkong. When it arrived, i thought, where's the sauce? I was looking for at least Mang Tomas sauce partnered with it. But when I spooned to get the meat, it has sauce already underneath with the Kangkong. The sauce was about quarter of the bowl but the meat didn't become soggy. The sauce seems like a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar but when I tasted it, it doesn't taste like it. Maybe a bit of soy sauce but less salty. Nevertheless, it compliments the Lechon Kawali. And with the Kangkong, this is already a complete meal! Serving size is also good for 2.

In my assessment, these 2 viands can be shared by at most 3 people. Well, maybe because both my boyfriend and I are thrifty viand eaters. We ordered another rice (a total of 3 cups of rice) just to consume these viands. Well i guess we just enjoyed the taste of the food. The only downside on these was the cost of rice. It's Php 38 and it's not even a standard size of cup for rice. And their softdrinks in can cost Php 50 each!

The Recipes at Greenbelt 3 is quite small. Although they have an al fresco area but one cannot smoke there. It was kinda humid inside the resturant that's why we prefer to be seated outside. Even though we're located outside., we're not neglected by the waiters and service was fast.

Recipes also offers set meal complete with rice and drinks for only Php 170. This is ideal for quick lunches of working people around the area. Their menu also have some cocktails and beer for those after office booze.

In my opinion, this restaurant is ideal if you are couple or in a small group. For big groups, this may already be expensive since I don't see a set menu from their list offered for large groups. Ordering a number of each viand (average of Php 200) might already be expensive in total.

Overall, I enjoyed eating at Recipes and I would want to go back to taste their other dishes. By the way, apologies for the pictures as I was only using a camera phone :)

Tapella by Gaudi at Greenbelt 5: A Valentine Dinner Review

It wasn't really a surprise when my boyfriend brought me to Tapella, a Spanish restaurant, in Greenbelt 5 for our Valentine dinner.  Few days before Valentine's day, we were scouting for nice and affordable restaurants in Greenbelt where we would have our Valentine's dinner.  Tapella was one of the choices.  My boyfriend had other choices too, not only in Greenbelt but also in other malls.  Well, Tapella won and he chose to have our first Valentine's date and dinner there.

We availed Tapella's Valentine set dinner with soup, salad, main course, dessert and wine.  There are two types of Valentine dinner; one is with pork spareribs and the other one with grilled shrimp. We chose the latter.

My boyfriend reserved a seat at the Al Fresco area. We then requested to be seated further, at the gardens.  The waiters were accommodating to give in to our request.  Table setting was very simple with just large paper that covers the table which serves as our "table cloth"  and adorned with a piece of rose as centerpiece. 

We arrived past 8pm, earlier than our scheduled 8:30pm reservation.  There were a lot of people eating at that restaurant at that time.  But I'm not sure if most availed their Valentine dinner package.  With these number of people, the service was slow.  Our first meal course was served at almost 9pm already. 

Purrusalda

First stop, the soup.  Purrusalda is a Basque tomato and leak soup according to the menu.  I liked the potato soup alhough it's just really plain potato taste, a bit creamy and buttery. Well, i love potatoes that's why I enjoyed it.

Tartar de Tomate

The tomato salad was full of diced tomatoes and a very few lettuce. It also have one slice of white cheese and one piece shrimp as garnishing on top. I didn't taste any dressing, maybe the juice from the tomato serves as its dressing.  The menu says it has walnuts but I don't think I have tasted one.  The serving size is quite little when it is suppose to be good for two. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this salad. Again, for the love of tomatoes.

After the soups and salads, we waited again for about 15 minutes for our main course to arrive.  It wasn't really irritating since my boyfriend and I both enjoyed their soup and salad.  Besides, the restaurant manager or maybe the owner was very apologetic and hands on to the customers.  He explained that there were a lot of orders due to a lot of customers dining in.  As a sign of his apology, he gave us another round of sparkling white wine.

Paella Manchego

One of the main dish was of course their paella. It is served in a small wok topped with grated cheese.  Their paella lacks ingredients the way I know a paella should have.  It only has 2 pieces of shrimps, about 3 chunks of chicken and bits of asparagus.  I wasn't even able to taste the chicken.  My boyfriend just told me it had one.  Well, I'm just not sure if this is just a variety of their paella.  But the rice was cooked nicely, though not so flavorful, I love how it blended well with the cheese.  Even though the serving of paella is quite small, it was enough for 2 and it got us full.  And again, since I love paella, I enjoyed this dish.  Halfway to our paella, the grilled shrimp arrived.

Longostinos a la Plancha

Interesting name for this grilled shrimp.  The menu says it comes with alioli dip but was served to us without it.  There were only 5 pieces of medium sized shrimp with crunchy vegetable sidings.  I love how the vegetables were cooked as it is buttery and crispy.  The grilled shrimp taste good too.  It no longer needs any condiments the way most Filipinos will do when eating shrimps.  So it's ok if the dip was not served but I wonder how it tasted. 

We're not yet done with our shrimp when our desserts arrive.  That was the only fastest serving we had that evening.

Tartar de Lava

I was hoping for a colder dessert like ice cream or fruits since I really got my stomach full from what we ate.  But they served a chocolate cake.  I thought it was just an ordinary cake.  Well, it does but I love the chocolate fudge spread around the cake.  It was still a little hot and of course it was sweet.  For those with sweet tooth, you will love this cake.  The sweetness of the cake really tones down our full belly.  The heart-shaped icing melts easily and with just right amount of sweetness.  It does not overpower the chocolate fudge.  The cake itself was just ordinary as if you were eating cake from Red Ribbon.  But still I enjoyed the cake.

For this Valentine dinner package, it costs Php 1,950 good for 2.  But my boyfriend paid around Php 2,200 inclusive of service charge.  I can say, it is quite expensive but not bad at all.  Our food may just be simple and tastes nothing spectacular but we still enjoyed it.  The restaurant is under the casual dining category but we experienced a somewhat fine dining ambiance minus the service as it was slow.  Well, we understand that since it was not an ordinary day.  Another plus points for me is that how the manager or owner treats it customers.  His visibility and courteousness is an attraction and will make you feel that you are a special customer.  I wonder if he frequents the restaurant or just for this day, Valentine's day.   

I would love to come back and try the other dishes in their menu.  Based on the menu, the prices are not that expensive.  Just reasonable, I guess, considering they're located in Greenbelt 5.  I'm just not sure though if they have other branches. 

Their Valentine dinner package is extended up to this day only.  So you still have your last chance to enjoy it.  You may visit their website for more details.