SIX NEW DISHES AT SARSA!

I can't think of a more perfect way to celebrate Chef JP Anglo's Birthday, than by trying his six new additions so the menu of Sarsa!
Chef JP whipped up more of his trademark modern takes on Pinoy Classic, while never failing to give it a touch of Negrenese culture! The result are delightful twists to classic favorites, that you undoubtedly wouldn't want to miss!

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CO-WORK & DINE: 59c AT PASEO DE ROXAS

      Through this door lies an amazing little restaurant that whose charm and ambiance allows it to offer much more than delicious food. It's the kind of place that you instantly feel right at home at, making you unaware of the amount of time that has ticked away as you thoughtlessly picked away at the numerous "Picas" available. Without realizing it, you discover that you've been in the same restaurant for hours.. and doing what? 

           Eating, obviously, but more than just that, you realize that you've found a great place to share an awesome meal with your friends, perhaps a few cocktails afterwards.. and maybe, even to meet that work deadline you've been dreading. Wait-what?

          Yes, you read that exactly right.. Work. 

           To those of you who have been looking for a Co-Working Space, allow me to show your new office.. 59c at Paseo De Roxas! 

WIN A TRIP TO CHIANG MAI: NORTHERN THAI CUSINE AT BENJARONG, DUSIT THANI MANILA!

     I still remember the first time I went to Dusit Thani Manila. It was roughly around six years ago, before our blogging days, when I took Rina to their newly opened "Crossover Buffet". The crossover concept allowed me to start my meal at Basix, and literally walk over to their restaurants, Umu (Japanese), Tosca (Italian) and Benjarong (Thai), and grab some dishes from there. My only problem was that Tosca and Benjarong are both located on the mezzanine floor, meaning in order for me to walk on over there, I would need to climb the lobby staircase. 

   If you have seen me in person, you would know that my body is not made for climbing up on stairs, so I took the elevator. I must admit, I was slightly embarrassed when the elevator door opened to reveal that it was packed with Japanese guests. And there I was, standing in front of them with a plate full of food. They graciously moved aside to make room for me, but you could see they were curious where this little guy was going with all that food. 

   Something I remember very clearly, is the Pad Thai, which was stir fried by this tiny older Thai woman while you wait, was absolutely delicious. In fact, everything I had tried was nothing short of phenomenal, but it was really the Pad Thai that stuck. 

   Just a few days ago, I was elated to finally get an opportunity to return to Dusit Thani Manila. This time, I would be taking our taste buds on a trek to Northern Thailand through the culinary delights of Benjarong!

   And guess what? They're offering one lucky guest a chance to win a trip to Chiang Mai! 

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME AT RAFFLES HOTEL'S LEGO AWESOME SUNDAY BRUNCH

         When I was a kid, my brother and I were huge lego fans. We had quite an impressive collection of different parts that we would just throw into this humongous, heavy, lego-issued carry case and sort things out later. Soon, my friends had much cooler cases with different lego designs, but couldn't store as much lego bricks in it as mine, so despite the fact that my bro and I would have to lug around this clunky case, we preferred it to any other the fancier cases, simply because it could fit MORE bricks, which would lessen the chances of two siblings fighting over who gets the blue ones. 

   The mere fact that to this very day, Lego has found a way to remain relevant and become a staple in our pop culture is a testament to how iconic this product is. You know a brand has made it when it gets the Lego treatment! From Starwars, Marvel, DC and even Disney (Yes, geeks, i'm aware that the first two are owned by Disney, but you know what I mean)!

   After the Lego Movie came out on Blu Ray last year, it gave me an opportunity to introduce the wonderful world of Lego to Baby Rain. She may not be able to build a Lego Death Star just yet, but she did love Emmet (Whom she calls "Mr. Lego Man") and Wild Style.

   Her fondness for the movie got me excited to see her reaction when we would visit Raffles Hotel's Lego-Themed Awesome Sunday Brunch, that's happening at their flagship restaurant Spectrum all of February and March! 

MENTORE COFFEE + BAR by UCC ~RinaZ

       Back in the days (actually more like 3 or 4 years ago haha) when I was still childless, it was so easy for me to go out with my friends and ocassionaly have a drink or two while sharing life stories. But since I got pregnant and now a mom to a bouncing little toddler girl, my idea of a a relaxing night became a coffee shop. Getting old? Not really. I guess it's just the exhaustion from the mommy work. After all I'm only human.

       But a few weeks ago I was introduced to a whole new concept of a coffee shop. Our friend invited us to try the Mentore Coffee + Bar by UCC. Its nice two-storey white building was situated in Makati near Greenbelt 3 and Landmark. It was a first time for me to go there. Mentore, which means to mentor, the name of this place because it's like teaching their customers about coffee. But do you notice the "+ Bar" in the name? That's what makes this place unique! Plus, they serve amazing Japanese food too!

THE ROYAL TREATMENT AT ARISTOCRAT

        I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I spent the first few years in my life growing (or not growing) in the good ol' U.S. of A (Which probably contributed to my picky palate). I was six years old when my family and I moved back to the Philippines after a five year stay in America. 

      The day after I had arrived, I still remember the first meal that my grandmother prepared for us. That images of that dish is still ingrained in my memories, to this very day, simply because what I saw scared the living crap out of me. It was a big bowl of black slop, with little bits of animal parts I couldn't make out floating around. I asked my yaya, "What is that?" and she answered, "Dinuguan.". I looked up at her and asked, "What's Dinuguan?". Never one to B.S. me, she got straight to the point and said, "Pigs blood". I made a face and answered, back, "Yucky!". My mom called me to come eat lunch, and I said, "I don't want to eat the blood of a pig!" and run up the stairs and into my room. Seconds later, my brother followed me into the room. I went up in tears, because in my six year old mind, I was afraid that moving to a strange land such as the Philippines meant being forced to eat food made from the blood of an animal and other exotic dishes.  

    Two minutes later, my mom and dad came into our room, saying that I shouldn't have stormed off, and I should apologize to my grandmother for insulting her food. I was in tears and said, "I hate Filipino food!". That moment, my grandmother entered the room with a tray in her hands, and a warm smile. I didn't have the guts to tell her that I didn't want to eat the food she brought, but thankfully, I didn't need to say anything. She walked in the room, and said, "Richie, you don't have to eat the dinuguan if you don't want to. I prepared this for you.". 

     I was half expecting to see an animal's head perched on to a plate, but instead, I found two plates (for me and my brother), with six slices of Spam, a cup of rice, and a bit of ketchup on the side. Needless to say, we tore into the plate like ravenous cheetahs having a field day with the carcass of a gazelle.  

    Later that evening, at around dinner time, my dad walked into with a bag of food. I won't lie to you. Whatever was in that bag, smelled really good. He said, "Hungry?". I was being bullheaded, and I just replied, "I don't like Filipino Food.". He dipped his hand into the bag, and pulls out a sandwich unlike any other I had seen before. "Its a flying saucer". he said of his strange, round, sandwich. He went in for a bite, and I gotta say, it looked really good. My dad continued to pretend that he didn't notice me watching him, and continued to focus on the TV. He then pulled out another sandwich from the bag and said, "All yours.". I hesitated for a minute, but in my mind, decided that sandwiches are considered American food. 

   I was pleasantly surprised with what I found inside after my first bite. It was definitely new territory for me. It was very meaty, but the flavor was something I had never experienced before. It was only after I had finished my last bite that my dad took the empty sandwich wrapper from me, to throw in the trash, and with a smile said, "That was called "Adobo Flying Saucer". It's made with Chicken. A very popular dish in the Philippines.". I was a little annoyed that I had been had, especially since my Filipino food boycott was still in full effect. My dad, with a laugh, said to me, "See? Filipino food isn't so bad, right?".

   The days following, my dad would bring for me take out food at least once a day, introducing my brother and I to basic Filipino food staples, such as their Chicken BBQ, Liempo and Pork BBQ.. All from Aristocrat.     

     More than 30 years later, I found it ironic that my journey into exploring Filipino Food would continue where it all began: At Aristocrat restaurant, whose standards in food and service still stands tall, till this very day.  

ON OUR WAY TO STOCKTON PLACE

        This was one of those restaurants wherein Richie really really really regretted not being able to make it. It was all because on one photo:



        A picture can paint a thousand words. But this photo made Richie speechless sulk in his work desk for the whole night. Hehehe... But we’ll get back to that later...

SEEK YOUR SOLACE IN ONE GREENBELT HOTEL

           I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I left my job of six years a couple of weeks ago. Though I'll definitely miss the people that I worked with, One of my biggest regrets would be not making the most out of the amazing places to eat along Arnaiz Avenue. There were several excellent restaurant in the neighborhood, such as Nihon Bashi Tei, The Cheese Steak Shop, and Hai Shin Lou, all of which I had the pleasure of dining at more than once.  

         I would sometimes think to myself how nice it would be to be able to afford to dine at every single one of these restaurants one by one before I left. One of those restaurants was Solace Wine and Dine at One Greenbelt Hotel.

      Someone upstairs must have been listening, because just a few days removed from my last day of work, I found myself walking through the doors of Solace. 

UKOKKEI RAMEN RON & THE RAMEN NAZI

Time to get their Tantanmen on

            Again, I will repeat, that I'm not really that big on Japanese Food. Which would explain why, in the one year and one month of it's existence, The Pickiest Eater In The World has only featured two Japanese restaurants, which technically don't really count because : 

              A) John & Yoko is more of a "Japanese Fusion" Restaurant

              B) Yakimix is a smokeless grill place where you pretty much just 

                  cook bacon..

              C) And Yakimix's buffet food is a mix of Chinese and Japanese cusines

      A TV Commercial director and fellow foodie (Also the only person I know who has actually tried "Butter Beer") I work with, Direk Paolo Dy, visited our new office one day. As I showed him around, I grumbled that I'm going to miss having the restaurants in C. Palanca to choose from. Then he said, "Well at least you're just down the street from " Ukokkei"!". I stared at him blankly, and then he looked at me, all baffled and replied, "You DO know what  Ukokkei  is, right?". I told him, that I wasn't really into Japanese food, but he would have none of it. As a client, Direk Pao is a joy to work with, because he's one of those laid back directors that is easy to talk to and always seems to be in a good mood. So when he gave me an intense look, and told me in a firm tone, "One of these days we are going.", I knew I was in the presence of a man who takes his Ramen seriously. 

       A few months later, lo and behold, Direk Pao treated me and some of the PostManila peeps  for a job well done on one of his projects. Take one good guess.