Can't get enough of Laguna Garden Cafe, Cebu

During my recent trip to Cebu, my friends and I just couldn't get enough of Laguna Garden Cafe. It almost seemed as if we wanted to have each and every meal there.

Turon

We would usually start in the morning, with intentions of having (only) breakfast there. However, it is a very pleasant place to hang out in, so we'd end up having merienda there as well.

Like in my previous entry about Laguna Garden Cafe, I had a lot of SMT (Suman, Mangga, at Tsokolate) this time. Their hot chocolate is just too good to pass up, and it really goes very well with the suman and mango.

Actually, I had a lot more to eat there during this trip. My favorites were (aside from SMT), their pancit palabok (with pork removed), and their turon, which I requested to be served with vanilla ice cream. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures of most of what I ate, mostly because I totally forgot about taking photos when the food arrived and just went straight to business.

The best thing was, the waiters and manager didn't kick us out even after we'd been sitting there for five hours. For that, I declare their service simply excellent.

I have so many fond memories of this place... having way too much SMT, watching the Ateneo-UP game on their TV while having even more hot chocolate, and just spending quality time with my friends in this well-lit, very comfortable, and cozy cafe.


Laguna Garden Cafe
Ayala Center
Cebu City, Philippines

Dinner at Abuhan Tres, Cebu City

I spent All Saints' Day weekend scuba diving with friends in Southern Leyte, with Cebu as our jumping off point. We all flew in to Cebu from Manila, took a boat to and from Leyte, and flew back to Manila from Cebu. We luckily had some time to sample some Cebuano cuisine before heading for home.


Some new-found dive friends suggested that we try the "best pochero in Cebu", which could be found in a restaurant called Abuhan Tres. Of course, I was not interested in pochero, since I doubted they'd have a seafood version. But, I agreed to go with them because I was sure there would be some pescetarian fare on the menu.


We were all tired from the dive trip but determined to go to the place, so although our eyes were all getting droopy, we took a cab and rode off in search of the restaurant. Thankfully, it was easy enough to find, since we were all famished.

My friend and dive buddy Zara decided to just share dishes, so we could try more of them. We ordered the Kilawing Tangigue to start. I thought there was too much sauce, but the taste was all right. Kilawin in general is too sour for me, but Zara enjoyed it and polished it off when I was all vinegar-ed out.

Kinilaw na Tangigue

Then we had some Adobong Kangkong for our veggies, and some Sizzling Squid with White Sauce. I had most of the kangkong, which I liked because of the large amount of garlic in it. Squid is Zara's favorite, and so we both enjoyed that dish. At first I was rather wary of how it would taste because I don't remember if I'd ever had white sauce with my squid, but it turned out pretty tasty.

Adobong Kangkong

Sizzling Squid with White Sauce

The waiter had a pleasant surprise for us in the middle of our meal- he told us that because our bill reached the P1,500.00 mark, we could get a free "mixto", which meant a combo of various dishes. We chose the appetizer mixto, which had calamares, crispy kangkong, and lumpia.

After all that food, we still had some room for dessert, so my friend Anjou and I decided to split a Brownie ala Mode, which we ended up sharing among five of us. It was so good though that we just had to have another one.

Brownie ala Mode

We all left the place happy. My carnivore friends enjoyed the pochero and declared it worth the trip, and for me the highlight was the surprise chocolatey treat to top off the meal.


Abuhan Tres
Unit 108 i2 bldg.
Asiatown I.T. Park
Cebu, Philippines, 6000
Phone: 4123025

Good Ol' Old Spaghetti House

I first ate in Old Spaghetti House with my climbing partner Angel several years ago. She said I simply had to try their giant chocolate chip cookie, which I of course did. Since then I would eat there once in a while, when I felt like loading up on carbs.

Gourmet Tuyo Spaghetti

I recently discovered their branch at the Ayala Technohub in Quezon City, with my friends Isabel and Zara, during an all-day girl-bonding session. I had their Fish Fillet Provencal with Garlic Fettuccine, which the restaurant touted as part of their sports menu. I liked it but preferred the gourmet tuyo spaghetti that Isabel had.

Again, I had their chocolate chip cookie, which satisfied, as always. Old Spaghetti House is such an old reliable. Comfort food at its best. If the pasta won't do it for you, the cookie surely will.

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie


104 Retail Center
UP Ayala TechnoHUB
Commonwealth Avenue, Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines
Phone: 487.TOSH, 508.6979

Terry's (Terry Selection) at the Podium, One of My All-time Favorite Restaurants

I have long loved dining at Terry Selection, now simply called Terry's, at the Podium. For the past few years, whenever I felt I deserved a celebratory meal, Terry's was (and continues to be) the first restaurant that sprang to mind. The place, aside from being a Spanish restaurant, is also a gourmet store similar to Santi's.

Besugo a la Bilbaina

Whenever I go there, I try to bring a friend, not only for social purposes, but because there are two dishes that I always want to have in the restaurant. It would be a bit much if I always had two entrees for a meal (calorie-wise and peso-wise), so I try to convince my friend to split them with me so the two of us could have a bit of both dishes.

The first of these is called Lenguado a la Mantequilla. As the menu describes, "A tangy lemon and butter sauce with capers enhances the delicate flavor of these sole medallions". The second is called Besugo a la Bilbaina, and again, according to the menu, "True to this Bilbao-style recipe, carefully pan-fried almond halves and garlic slivers are used to top juicy white snapper medallions".

Now, this is one time when the "mouth-watering-ness" (yes, I just made up that word) of the menu translates into the actual thing. Just reading the description of the dishes makes me positively Pavlovian, and when the servers deliver them to my table, they taste just as the menu promised. Both of these give me such pleasure that I can hardly give up one for the other. (Hence, my sharing strategy.)

If I find that I have no choice but to have only one, though, I choose the Besugo, because of the advantage of having almonds. ( I love nuts in my meals.) Also, it has garlic rice, which I prefer over the Lenguado's sliced potatoes.

The best thing about Terry's is that after I receive so much happiness from the entrees, there is still something to look forward to- dessert! And not just any dessert... even its name has a touch of the royal about it. Marquesa de Chocolate is the perfect ending to such an excellent meal.

I always make sure I ask the servers if it is available as soon as I sit down, because sometimes, they run out, and I get so disappointed to find out AFTER I'd had my meal, and then I feel that my Terry's experience was incomplete. I rank this dessert among my top five, and I sometimes have two servings, even if it makes me feel like a glutton.

Overall, I find that Terry's is an old reliable, if I want to have a great meal. I would recommend it to anyone, particularly the abovementioned dishes for seafood lovers, and of course the Marquesa, for anyone with a sweet tooth.


Lower Ground Level
The Podium
18 ADB Ave.
Ortigas Center
Mandaluyong, Metro Manila
Philippines

La Maison, Trinoma, Quezon City

I was going to have dinner with my parents at Trinoma, and I wanted to go to a place I'd never been to before. I was still at the office running late for our date, and I hadn't decided where to eat, so I hurriedly checked the Internet for a place we could try. I came across the restaurant La Maison, and according to some blogs (at least the first two I stumbled upon), they had "good creamy mussels" and "excellent service".

Seafood Bounty

As usual, my parents were there ahead of me, so I went straight to business and ordered. We had the Lobster Bisque, the Chinoise Crab salad, and their Seafood Bounty (which had the creamy mussels previously mentioned).

Chinoise Crab Salad

I am sorry to say, but the dishes were a bit disappointing. Well, except for the mussels. First, about the soup. I actually liked the taste of the bisque; what I didn't like was how watery it was. It was pretty much the consistency of, well... water (like I said, WATERY).

Lobster Bisque

The Salad also tasted okay, but the leaves were quite soggy. Finally the Seafood Bounty, which consisted of creamy mussels, shrimps, fish, and calamari. We finished only the mussels, and took home most of the rest. This is pretty telling, considering I rarely leave a dish uneaten. The shrimp was a bit tough, and the fish and calamari were not particularly memorable.

What I did like about the place was the service of the staff (the blog I read was right about that), and also the complimentary black bread they gave at the start of the meal. Unfortunately these things are not enough to convince me to ever go back to La Maison.


La Maison
Trinoma Mall
2nd Level Trinoma
EDSA corner North Avenue
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel. No. 916.6351

Annabel Lee Cheesecake Cafe and Bistro, Quezon City

Mocha Cheesecake

Blueberry Cheesecake


Annabel Lee Cheesecake Cafe and Bistro
65 Timog Avenue
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel. No. 922-7879/924-4131

Cyma Greek Restaurant's Molten Chocolate Cake

I had not seen my childhood friend Anjou in a while. She had been traveling off and on for a few months and it had been hard to find some time with her in between her trips. Finally, she was going to stay put in the country for a while, so I was able to arrange a get-together with her.

Anjou is a Makati girl while my working world revolves around Quezon City. We decided to meet halfway, and have lunch at Shangri-la Mall in Mandaluyong City. We agreed on having some Greek food at Cyma.

To start off, we had the Spinach and Artichoke Fondue, which is one of their best-sellers. Aside from the spinach and artichoke, it had a lot of cheese and some sundried tomatoes, and was served with pita triangles and grilled garlic bread on which to spread it. The fondue was a little burnt, but I still liked it.

Spinach and Artichoke Fondue (slightly burnt)

For our main course, Anjou and I shared the Kakavia Entree which had shrimps, mussels, squid, clams, fish fillet and vegetables in a saffron fennel broth. It sounded good on the menu, but I didn't like it all that much. (Not really Cyma's fault. I think it was mostly because I realized belatedly that I was not really in the mood for a watery entree.)

My favorite part of the meal was dessert. I ordered the Skolatina, their version of Molten Chocolate Cake. Anjou found it a little too sweet, but I loved the extra sugar. I just loved how the warm chocolate filling oozed out of the cake and ran into the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. My only complaint about this dessert is that it’s too small. (It’s probably one fourth of the Molten Chocolate Cake of Chili’s.)

Skolatina (Molten Chocolate Cake)

All told, it was a pleasurable two-hour lunch with Anjou. We caught up on lots of things (although we were often interrupted by the waiters' cries of "Opa!"), bonded over gossip and food, and I had a healthy dose of cheese and chocolate.



Cyma Restaurant
Unit 638 Level 6
Shangri-la Mall
Mandaluyong City
Philippines
Telefax: 63(02)637-3090