Sharon's Night Out.

Sharon Chong, the reason for my going home at 3 am on a weekday.



We started the evening with dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Duo in Serendra. We were 8 girls and had one rose within the thorns, SJ who happens to be my drinking buddy. As you would know, being with 8 girls can be pretty intimidating. All that yacking and nagging made SJ take on a dare by eating a slice of bread with mash potatoes, glob of butter mixed with a spoonful of rice as topping. Talk about carbo loading. Here's a photo of what you should never ever eat without a doctor on stand by.


At Duo, Stephanie, Cat, Margaret and SJ. My bad for failing to take a photo of late comers, Janina and Dorothy.

Add Marivi and yours truly to the group.

Margaret and SJ.

After dinner, we headed towards Cuisine to start the party rolling but the main destination for the evening was my usual hang out place, Martinis where Sharon, the newest member of the group was officially sworn in last Wednesday. I believe that if you go to Martinis twice within 2 weeks (especially since she is only here in Manila for a total of 3) you are considered part of the Happy Drinking Gang. This girl knows how to party. She keeps an eagle eye out for handsome guys and makes sure I do the dirty work and make an effort to get him to our table. To Paolo, Assistant Manager of Martinis, you are the winner for the night.

At Cuisine.



One our way to Martinis, because we only had 1 car available, 8 of us had to squeeze in my car (5 in the back, 3 in front). Thank goodness there was not a Dubai odor experience!


At Martinis.



When our drinks came, the table reminded me of a real life FACEBOOK application, Booze Mail or Happy Hour. Check out all that happy liquid!

To Sharon, CHEERS!

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

GNO* at Martini's Bar, Mandarin Oriental

The newest place to bond, Martini's Bar of Mandarin Oriental. Only the coolest, hippest, trendiest people can go, have been and will go to a bar like this. Oh, and also the rich. If you have been, you now have the license to chill.

That's the line that Martini's Bar often uses. It's sexy. Much like the James Bond movies. The ambiance, for my age group (I am not shy to admit I am 34) is so far the best place for me to hang out at. Embassy is way too noisy, young, chaotic and dangerous for me. Cuisine was good at first but the overspill of people who cannot get in Embassy are happy enough to be next door. The Bar in Peninsula caters to the older batch of men, mostly foreigners who are in town for business. Conways is cool because it is bigger and the service is superb but for me, Martini's is the place to be.

There's something about Martini's Bar that makes one feel more comfortable. Although price is a bit steep, the cozy atmosphere makes it worth each gulp of your P320++ martini. The manager, handsome and dashing, Javier Berenguer-Testa and his super cute and shy assistant, Paolo Quimson will make sure that you are well taken cared of while sipping your very chic glass of martini. Of course other beverages are available but it's the martini that they are getting to be very popular with for obvious reasons. Also, it is a smoking bar so if you are allergic or don't smoke, there's always Captain's Bar for you and your friends. If you go on a Friday and/or Saturday, make sure you wear cologne/perfume/deodorant. It gets awfully tight with so many customers waiting for an empty table. It's THAT popular and they don't take reservations, even for a wannabee VIP like me.



The waitresses, clad in their bright colored wigs and Rene Salud designed uniforms, need to step it up a bit though. They are nice and courteous but you have to wave a neon sign when you want them to go and serve you one or all of their 40 flavored martini drinks. Yes folks, according to Javi, they can make even more than 40 and if you want to pretend to know your bartending skills and have a special request, they can make it especially for you. So basically, if I should want a lychee-strawberry-kiwi-pineapple-banana-vanilla-martini, I will either get it or get my ass kicked out the bar for being a difficult customer. But don't fret, with the upper class clientelle of Martini's, you will most likely land on a Ferrari, Jaguar, Mercedes, BMW and the like that's parked out front, next to my red Honda CRV. Now, that's class.



EVENT: April 24, 2007, 6 to 8 pm, Ladies Night. A show by Jul B. Dizon Jewellery (ahem ahem) and the most talented young designer Puey Quinones (my soul sistah) opened the evening with a fashion show. 5 models wearing haute couture and sparkling jewels worked the floor, making sure every guest had the chance to see the details of what they were wearing.

After the show, GM, Mr. Helmut Gaisberger gave a speech and with the help of Director of Communications, Ms. Charisse Chuidian, called out names of lucky winners of fabulous prizes such as a P30,000 gift certificate from JBDJS, P15,000 cocktail dress from PQ, P5,000 gift certificate from Naturalizer, 2 gift certificates for an overnight stay on a weekend at a Club deluxe room (an exclusive haven with residential feel where guests help themselves to complimentary breakfast, all-day refreshments, cocktails at the Club lounge), salon services by Menage Salon, product from Shu Eumura and a year subscription of Lifestyle Asia. Lucky girls!!!





Cocktails were passed around and overflowing of martinis kept on coming only up until 8 pm of course. That's when the ever-so-kind resident manager of Mandarin Oriental, Mr. Knuth Kiefer decided to open the doors for the men who were all lined up, eager to get in and enjoy the relaxing and chilling atmosphere Martini's Bar offers. So guys who know nothing but beer can also enjoy their favorite kind for a mere P170++. Improved potato chips and peanuts included.

Here's me with Javier Testa and Knuth Kiefer.



If you plan to buy something expensive this week, don't, because I say you gotta do the following in strict order:

1. Gather the gang or bring your honey
2. Be cool and hip
3. Pretend to be rich (that's what I do)
4. Head on down to Martini's Bar
5. Order from the guys in suits
6. Acquire the license to chill


Martini's Bar
Mandarin Oriental
Paseo de Roxas corner Makati Avenue
(632) 7508888
javierbt@mohg.com


*GNO-Girls Night Out