January Birthday Celebrants!

BIRTHSTONE- Garnet
ZODIAC SIGN- Capricorn
HOROSCOPE:
The Capricorn symbolized by goat, an animal which delights in climbing the highest mountain and most precipitous rock. Hard work, fatigue and self denial are counted as nothing by them. At times they are reserved, secretive and tactical. They are unmoved by flattery and seldom express surprise. They are interested in everything under the sun from Philosophy to Archeology. They are methodical in every thing they do. They take all the pain in surmounting difficulties that comes in their way. If baulked of a position of authority and made to work under the domination of others, they become gloomy, morose and critical. They always long for moral and intellectual freedom. Typical Capriconians are not easily roused to anger but they are very slow to forgive if provoked. They have the tendency to keep in mind a wrong and wreak vengeance at the right time. They are inclined to be jealous and suspicious. As a whole they tend to rank among the noblest people of the human race.

DOYET DE FIESTA, Jan. 19


RICARDO ROCHAS, Jan. 12


KNUTH A. KIEFER, Jan. 17


MIGS ROSALES, Jan. 18


MARGARET DIZON, Jan. 26


MARY ANN TAI, Jan. 25


RUDY GALANG DIZON, Jan. 5


HONORATA GALANG DIZON, Jan. 11


GINNY FIGUEROA DIZON, Jan. 17


JULIETTE DIZON HOSCHKA, Jan. 20


ANNABELLE CHAVEZ, Jan. 31


LUCILLE RICAFRENTE DIZON, Jan. 31


GARY JAMORA, Jan. 9


JASMIN JAMORA, Jan. 10


MARISSA PAPA VILLACORTA, Jan. 17


MARC UNDERWOOD, Jan. 7



LAWRENCE DE GUZMAN, Jan. 24
YLAINE YANG, Jan. 15
MADELINE PAJARILLO, Jan. 7

My Belated Bday Gift!

My favorite bar in the Philippines, Martinis at the Mandarin Oriental, was the place to be last night. After shopping and dinner with friends Stephanie and Sharon Chong, we headed towards the only night spot that I feel most comfortable in. It was crowded, as usual, but luckily, Javi was able to get us a lounge. Salamat Javi! He's really a sweetheart.

Anyway, I was once promised by my friend, Resident Manager of MO, Knuth Kiefer that as my bday gift, he would give me a couple of glasses of martini. Little did I know that he was going to be the one to prepare it himself. Upon seeing me, he stood up, took off his coat and proceeded to go behind the bar to do something that apparently, he does very well. Take note, his concoction is not available in the menu.

I am not sure what he put in my drink but it was sooooo delicious that of course, if you know me, I gulped it down like it was water. My second drink was sent over to our table and it was another mix of something equally marvelous. This time, I took my time and enjoyed it fully.

By the time I was on my last sip, my face was hot and I knew it was time to go home. :) Even if it was a short night out, (it was Wednesday after all), I had a super time with good friends, perfect ambiance, free drinks and a great guy who prepared and had given it to me.










Cheers to you Knuth and Belated happy birthday to me!



http://www.mandarinoriental.com/
http://www.mandarinoriental.com/manila/

Battle of the Buffets Part 2 (Paseo)

Two down, three to go.

Just to give you a recap, I have decided to try out 5 buffets from 5 different 5 star hotels. Basically, my goal is to see what these buffets have to offer, check how they compare to one another and decide what is best in food quality, ambiance, service and value. For more yummy details, you may read Battle of the Buffets Part 1.

Contender: PASEO UNO, The Mandarin Oriental
Date: June 7, 2007, dinner
Co-critics: Christine Y.T., Rose U., Minena G., Sandy, Cherry T.

The first thing you notice about Paseo is the interior design. Dark wood with lots of glass, dim lights and the aroma of the chocolate in the air. Romantic enough for a date but comfortable for a family gathering as well. Modern and classy, it is one of the best looking buffet restaurants I have seen so far.



As you enter, the first part of the buffet that will welcome you is the dessert. Like Circles, it is another good strategy to lure people in. And since I am in the topic of dessert, let me make my comments about it. There's a Halo-halo station which is a favorite of the gang. There's white and milk chocolate fountain with fruits and marshmallows and cookies as option to dip, flourless chocolate cake, strawberry mouse, lemon tarts among others. Although they look yummy, I say skip everything and go for the ice cream, halo halo or crepes that is prepared just the way you like them.

Cakes, pastries, lollipop and gummy bears were also available. Everything was presented well except for the strawberries. They were just too small to be covered in chocolate and to have a relatively big stick attached to it. It didn't look too appetizing and to think, I am a strawberry lover! I would rather have the small berries on a bowl and have the option to put whip cream and chocolate on top.


There's a whole selection of salad and appetizers but except for the shrimp, oysters and mussels, my gang usually skips this part but if you like potato salad, stuffed eggplant and other cold salads you won't run out of choices. I must say that the shrimp are a bit small and oysters were not plump. The seafood are also laid out so that each one was spaced out from one another. To me, it would have been better if they were stacked up in a pile so that they look abundant and more enticing. Spacing them out looks as if there's a shortage especially since the shrimp are quite small (at least compared to the ones in Circles).


There's a Chinese food station where there are 2 kinds of dumplings, siopao, noodles, sweet and sour chicken, duck, congee and other dishes. Tempura and 4 kinds of sushi was also available although once again, the shrimp in the tempura were skinny and short. Much like my ex-boyfriend. Sandy and Minena had a lot of the smallest hakao (shrimp dumpling) I have ever seen. No wonder they were able to eat about 15 pieces each. They may be small but they were delicious!!



Hot dishes like lamb escalope with herbs, stuffed chicken breast with ricotta and spinach and for the carving station they had baked bone ham in sourdough, beef tenderlion medallions and roasted chicken. To grill, there were assorted sausages and lamb. For the seafood lover, there's a huge snapper baked with herb tomato crust on top. This is usually where the guys in the gang use up 3 plates for. Cannot blame them, the grilled meat was heavenly.

The service was impeccable. We didn't have to wait for our plates to be cleared and glasses to be filled. The waiters were attentive and made sure that we had everything we needed which made us very happy. See? All smiles!


The outlet manager, Mr. Chris Kreuziger was kind enough to help me with the names of the dishes and to assist me with questions I had. He even brought me the spoon for my halo-halo, without my having to ask for it. Guess, I was planning to pour the whole yummy thing down my mouth. Thank goodness Chris was there to remind me of my manners.


Resident Manager, Mr. Knuth Kiefer and PR Manager, Ms. Donna Lampano visited our table to make sure that our dining experience was pleasurable. Now THAT is what I call superb service!

Generally, ambiance and service is a winner compared to Circles, hands down. Food quality can improve a bit making value for money just average.

Next stop, HEAT of EDSA Shangri-la Hotel.


Paseo Uno, Mandarin Oriental
Price for lunch: P1,290
Price for Dinner: P1,351
Friday dinner:P 1,413 (seafood buffet)
Service charge and tax included
(632) 7508888 extension 2412

The Tivoli Experience

It was a lunch get-together that I sure won't forget for a long time. If you are hungry as you read this, I am warning you, it's only going to get worse.

It was the 3rd of May when Director of Communications of Mandarin Oriental, Charisse Chuidian invited Puey Q. and I to lunch at the Tivoli. It has been too long since I dined here and I was so excited about it. To tell you honestly, I even thought that it had closed down and when I had informed my friends that I was having lunch there, they were quite surprised as well because they had thought the same thing.


Thank goodness that it is still around though, because as soon as I sat down, I couldn’t help but fall in love with the place. The table set-up, the fresh flowers, the friendly waiters, the delectable buffet set up and the people who were dining there as well. The ambiance seemed something out of a movie and I was only too happy to notice that my lunch dates were late.


When we were complete and had settled down, assorted freshly baked breads were served and that alone was delightful. If I didn’t order the 3-course meal, I would have had the whole basket!

Our appetizers arrived shortly and with the hunger pang that needed to be satisfied, I failed to take a photo of my Wasabe and mayonnaise dressed crabmeat salad with vegetables carpaccio, lemongrass vinaigrettes. The presentation was perfect. The balance of the different vegetables and crabmeat was well thought of and the texture was a great combination.

I was still a bit high with the starters when a few moments, the main course was laid out and this is where you will to start envy me. I ordered Potato crusted halibut fillet with leek fondue, bittersweet chocolate sauce and keta caviar. Who would have thought that the mixture of fish and chocolate would make a wonderful dish.


Puey had the lemongrass infused lobster bisque with golden trout caviar and for his main course, Roasted center cut of sea bass with green peas purée, lobster tomato stew and potato gnocchi. The fish was fresh and moist and the sauce made the sweet flavor of the fish come out and made each bite feel like heaven.


For dessert, it was marinated strawberries, vanilla Anglaise and strawberry sorbet. It was not the kind that I am familiar with. To tell you frankly, I was hoping for the old fashion style with lots of fresh strawberries with whipped cream on cake but as I saw my empty plate, I realized that this version was equally delicious.


Warm chocolate fondant with ginger ice cream was what PQ had and just by looking at his dessert, I think I must have gained another 5 lbs.


To top it all off, resident manager, Mr. Knuth Kiefer, came by our table and handed me beautifully wrapped gifts welcoming us to Tivoli and bid us a great afternoon.


You would think that nothing could be better right? Well, besides the fact that our delicious meal was all a gift from Mandarin Oriental, that the company was fun and entertaining and that the food was out of this world, I learned that all our meals were prepared by a 27 year old Swiss chef, Steffan Trepp. Such talent at a young age is admireable.



Simply TIVOLICIOUS!!!!

Tivoli
Mandarin Oriental
Makati Avenue cor Paseo de Roxas
(632)7508888