Martinis Turns Two!

This bar holds a very special place in my liver. If you can recall, Mandarin Oriental opened Martinis with a jewelry show that I produced AND directed. It was fun and exciting and something that I will never forget.



Last Saturday, Martinis celebrated its 2nd birthday with a party where the bars were open from 8 - 11 pm. The theme was Studio 54 so all the servers got rid of their wigs and wore full on Austin Powers costume. It was fun and a nice change. Seriously, I think they should ditch the wig and try another look.



The wigless waitresses would pass around martini infused cocktail foods in glasses. Some were good but some were total disasters (the salmon dipped in sake, margarita style almost made me puke!). We decided to order safe bar chows.


A live jazz band did their stuff but I would have preferred music to coincide with the theme. Would have been more fun I think.


My dates.



Thank you to Charisse Chuidian for the invitation and for taking time out to sit with us.


Since the crowd was totally new to me, I didn't see any of my friends, I decided to head on home before my 3rd glass of lychee martini hits me.

Think Pink!

What happens when after a few sips of martinis at Martini's Bar at Mandarin with 5 of your bestest friends?

Jenny gets obsessed with the wigs. As Mitzi becomes proud of her chicken cutlets (Cup AAA), Mary Anne wants to show off her puppies, Peter does his usual freaking funny spiel and your Bloggerina almost dies.

For those who know Peter, you all know that he is one of the funniest man on Earth. He is our own Jim Carrey but not as rich.


So when Peter started doing his comic monologue, us girls being intoxicated and way past our bedtime, our second wind easily hit us. And when it did hit us, it hit us HARD!

I have asthma, as some of you might know...and when I was laughing too hard, my breathing became very difficult and I had to beg Jim, I mean Peter to stop talking. To just close his mouth for a few minutes so I can catch my breath. It came to a point where I was crying uncontrollably and had to step outside for fresh air. The guard became worried and asked me if I was ok. Tears were running down my face. I felt I was going to die.

But obviously, I am alive.

Anyway, please leave a comment as whom you think wore it best. And I say, to die because of laughter is so much better when you do it while drunk and looking smashing baby!

Contestant #1

Contestant #2

Contestant #3

Contestant #4

Contestant#5

If You Haven't Tried it, You Are Missing Out.

Lunching at Martinis Bar, Mandarin Oriental was such a pleasant suprise last week for me and my sisters. To tell you honestly, I feel I need a break from Peninsula food because it is what I have almost every day of my life. But when I celebrated my birthday last July, Charisse Chuidian gave me a GC for Carvery Lunch at one of my favorite bars in Makati. It was only last week when I had the time to sneak away and use it with my sister, Janina and Lucille. The pleasant suprise was the fact that Charisse was able to join us. It was a change in pace and made my week go by a lot faster, after all, time flies when you are having fun. For that day, all our tummies were extremely happy.

Ok, seriously speaking, YOU MUST TRY IT OUT.

This was my favorite, duck that was so juicy and tender.
Salad prepared just the way you want it.

The side dishes that come with the main course.

Choice of Roast beef or Lamb. (YUM! Oh no, I can hear my tummy grumbling.)
And treated like a princesses, even if it was buffet style, our main course was prepared and sent to our table just the way we like it. And the desserts was just perfect in taste and presentation. Life is good.

Martinis Bar, Mandarin Oriental
Soup and Salad P480++
Whole course meal P650++
(632)7508888 local 2457, 2458

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/

Moet and Chandon, Rouge and my soul sistah!

Event: Moet and Chandon launches Rouge
Venue: Nuvo, Greenbelt
Time: 8 to 11 pm. Partying did not end till morning though.
Attire: Usual night out clothing.
Sponsors: Moet and Chandon, Dior, Jewelmer
Special guest: Puey Quinones

It was hot. The weather AND the party. Nuvo had red drapes hanging (my favorite color) and bottles of champagne displayed all over the open air portion of Nuvo. The floor was emptied of the usual tables and chairs and were replaced by platforms for the models to step on. The music was loud and I really enjoyed it. The DJ was playing cool tracks that had some 80's music that blended in with recent ones such as Michael Jackson and Nelly Furtado. Need to keep this DJ in mind when I have a party.



People started pouring in around 10 pm. A lot of foreigners, socialites, fashion designers, media folks and the usual party goers. My gang, Dennis Lustico, Jojie Lloren, Lulu Tan-Gan, Taka and Windie Hayano, and friends was able to get a bottle of Moet and Chandon using PQ as our connection. Apparently, you needed one to be able to receive a bottle. It was quite difficult to ask the waiters to serve us because they were given strict instructions that they can only give out the champagne when they are given the signal to do so by the organizer. Now this seemed odd to me since this party was by invitation only and since the major sponsor was M and C it only makes sense to have the champagne served to all that were there and to serve it as if it came from an ocean. We had to practically beg for one which is so not cool.




When the bottle came, it was in an ice bucket and had a flare in it which I was afraid of because it can totally burn the haute couture that everyone was wearing that evening and what a disaster that would be. Although it added even more heat and danger to the evening, it was nice to see because admit it, we all love fireworks.





The highlight of the evening was the show where my soul sistah, Puey Quinones, launched his Rouge clothing line as a enters the international fashion arena. He showcased about 30 outfits that drew a lot of ahhhs from the crowd including me. I have never been so proud of PQ. I know that he worked a great deal to make this launch a success. The designs were young, sexy and stylish. He made use a lot of white linen material and silk polka dotted pattern. Tight knee length shorts and flowing gowns were my favorite. I couldn't help hating myself in the end for not being able to have a model's size so that I can just borrow PQ's collection whenever there is an event.






My dear friend, Rajo Laurel and Preview's Editor, Pauline Suaco-Juan was there to witness the show. Although Rajo was all smiles in this photo, it wasn't so 3 hours later when his Prado got carnapped. DARN this country!!! Here you are, wanting to have a good time with friends and then when you want to go home, your car gets stolen which means you need to stay up another 5 hours for the police report and all that crap and that's above the fact that you just lost a car worth P1M plus! Whoever stole his car is bound to get his karma and I hope he gets it REAL soon.


No food was served which kinda sucks because I was starving. I guess I got so used to Martini's hospitality when they would offer drinks and food whenever there is an event. Oh well, need to diet anyway. How else will I fit in those clothes last night?

If you want awesome clothes in your drabby closet, I say, get in touch with PQ.

Puey Quinones
pueyq@yahoo.com
(632)8950596