RAIN'S BIRTHDAY PART 2: LUNCH AT FAB, THE RESTAURANT!

          On the day of Rain's birthday, Rina and I picked up our little princess after school, and headed straight to Holiday Inn Galleria Manila for a delicious family lunch. Rain had a long standing invitation from our friends at Holiday Inn to try their food there, so we thought this would be the perfect time to visit.

       In case you think you misread that, you didn't. RAIN is the one with an invite, and Rina and I were her "Plus Twos". 

MAKING NEW MEMORIES AT THE NOSTALGIA DINING LOUNGE IN OAKWOOD

     It was only last year that I was introduced to awesomeness that is Oakwood Premier Hotel. I never really considered Oakwood as one of the elite hotels here in the metro, but my eyes were opened during my very first visit there.

    I wasn't able to attend that first event, so Rina went and covered it on her own. I really wasn't expecting to hear much but she was texting me all throughout the event telling me how badly she was wishing I could have joined her because I would surely love their food!

    And she was right. 

    Since then, I've dined at Oakwood's Oakroom at least three other times, trying their Tex-Mex themed Buffet and their Jazzy Sunday Brunch. Also, one of the highlights of my year was when my family and I enjoyed an amazing staycation at Oakwood.

     I will admit to feeling a tinge of sadness when I was informed that Oakroom would be closing its doors, to make way for a new concept. I may have only a few memories there, but they are ones that I cherish dearly. 

    Enter the year 2015, and Oakroom has reopened as Nostalgia Dining Lounge, ushering a new era of culinary excellence that I now closely associate with the Oakwood brand.

THE GREAT STEAKHOUSE: HOUSE OF WAGYU

           Like the majority of people around the world, I enjoy a good steak. But I must admit, I am not a Steak snob. I only have two simple rules when eating steak. The first being, that the said piece of meat must contain fat. The more the merrier. It just makes the meat juicer for me. I don't know the science of it, but the bottom line is, I like my steak with a lot of fat. 

        The second rule, is that my steak shouldn't be tough. A steak that lacks of fat would be forgivable, for as long as its meat is tender enough, so i'm not picking off meat bits from in between my teeth afterwards.

       So my entire life, I've gone around with those two simple rules for eating steak.. I need fat, and it needs to be tender. 

       As it turns out, everything I knew about steak was wrong.  

      So I was about to get an education in the subject of steak at where else? 

      The House of Wagyu.

ENJOY A TEX-MEX FIESTA GRANDE AT OAKWOOD!

        Get ready to enjoy a beautiful spread of Tex Mex food to unwind after a week of stress from your work every Friday with Oakwood's Tex-Mex Fiesta Grande! From the moment you read this, every Friday until the 26th of September, you can not only feast on the great-tasting Tex-Mex buffet, but you can also enjoy a Friday night of free-flowing Margaritas and non-alcoholic Shirley Temple! Now that's an amazing buffet deal!

A WONDERLAND OF DESSERTS AT CHEZ KARINE

        Like everyone else, I like desserts. And drinking tea made me appreciate desserts more, especially macarons. Because the sweetness really balances the bitterness of the tea. And there's a nice little place where you can go to enjoy different varieties of pastries and a whole bunch of good macarons. And that's a French patisserie inspired by flavors of America and Asia. It's Chez Karine (pronounced as "shei kareen") 

        Chez Karine opened a second branch at the SM Mega Fashion Hall not too long ago. It's a simple relaxing place where I can imagine bringing my girlfriends for an afternoon of tea / coffee paired with some fine pastry.

        Chez Karine makes fresh pastries everyday so you can be sure that the quality of the desserts served here have excellent quality. If I'm not mistaken they have over 16 flavors of macarons from Dark Chocolate, to outrageous seasonal flavors like Matcha Red Bean and more. (See complete list of flavors on the menu at the end of this post). One macaron is P55.

        We were able to try four amazing flavors. The matcha red bean, the red velvet, black sesame and... wait for it... MAPLE BACON! 

        It's the yellow one in the picture. It's maple-sweet and you can taste the hint of bacon flavor from the filling. The matcha red bean is perfect for green tea fans. I have a couple of friends who might enjoy this. I liked it too. The matcha taste is not very overpowering. The Black Sesame gives off a rich toasted nutty flavor. I like this because it's not too sweet. The red velvet on the other had has a good amount of cream cheese spread in between. Another sweet and salty macaron for you right there. 

        They also have gift boxes containing these tiny macarons! Look, it's even smaller than my bag hook in the picture! Cute as a button!

        But there's a special kind of macaron that they serve that is definitely perfect for the summer. And that's the Macaron Ice Cream (P70). (I know right?) Same exact size as their macarons but in between is a very thick layer of delicious ice cream. It's like an ice cream sandwich with macaron buns. It comes in dark chocolate, salted caramel, and vanilla bean. For me it's a toss between vanilla bean and dark chocolate. Recently I've been finding the salted caramel flavor too sweet. Not just with this one but with other salted caramel pastries.

        And then recently, for the summer, they released their Strawberry Macaron ice cream! This looks really delicious and refreshing! I wonder if it's here for a limited time? Must try it soon! (photo grabbed from Chez Karine Facebook)

        Another one of their new pastries is the Hokkaido Cake (P70). A Hokkaido cake is technically a Japanese chiffon cake. A super soft cake backed in a paper cup. And Chez Karine's hokkaido cake is just that. Really soft and fluffy, with a lightened vanilla bean pastry cream filling! And then dusted off with pearl sugar.

Photo from Chez Karine Facebook

        Just very recently they released another Hokkaido Chocolate Hazelnut Hokkaido Cupcake (P70)! A light chocolate chiffon filled with hazelnut praline cream, topped with pearl sugar and mini chocolate chips. I'm a chocolate lover so I'm pretty excited to try this one

        If you like fruity and tarty cakes, try the Neopolitan (P185). This pretty little pink cake is made up of raspberry mousse, and then stuffed with vanilla and chocolate bavarois, and the outer bottom is a chocolate sponge cake with almond joconde, and then topped with a fresh fan of strawberry. If you're having a pink and brown themed party, this is the dessert to serve!

        This yellow layered cake is Chez Karine's Mango Caramella (P165). Enjoy layers of  freshly made mango mouse, mango jelly, a thick layer of caramel mouse, and the brown layer is a chocolate sponge cake. It's one of those cakes that is more of fruity with a little sweetness.

        Say hello to Chez Karine's Classic Chocolate Cake (P160). A good bet for dark chocolate lovers. Moist, soft, and very chocolatey. Can't go wrong with this!

        This pretty chocolate dome cake is the Chocolate Earl Grey Igloo (P200). Again, made up of dark chocolate mousee, with earl grey mousse, and a chocolate biscuit base. The marriage of dark chocolate and earl grey is quite interesting. 

        When you drop by Chez Karine, don't skip out on these adorable tiny bottles filled with Royal Pudding (P110). It's one of Chez Karine's flagship product. It's just so adorable! Plus of course, it's good! Very light! It's soft set custard pudding with a dark caramel base. They currently have six flavors. Three of which are classic ones that are vanilla, muscovado, chocolate, and then other half is Horlicks, earl grey, and coco sugar. 

Their new flavors are blueberry cream cheese pudding,

 ... and Cereal Milk Pudding which I can't wait to get my hands on. I love cereal stuff!

Chez Karine also sell pastries, Panna Cotta (also in those small adorable bottles), honey toasts, drinks, and more! Drop by their store at the Mega Fashion Hall or at Serendra and experience a wonderland of scrumptious desserts!

Chez Karine dessert menu, as promised! Again, from Chez Karin's Facebook

Like Chez Karine on Facebook so you can be updated with their latest creations!: Chez Karine Bakery