My Yummy Valentine

Seriously, if you're getting married and haven't decided on a caterer yet, I highly recommend our dear caterer, Kaye Cunanan. Not only does she have such chi-chi setups and yummy food (not drenched in the usual peanut sauce like other caterers...), she also has some sweet extras. Like our Valentine date!

Table for two: chocolate brown table cloth, baby blue napkins, Tiffany chairs; other tables had baby blue table cloths and chocolate brown napkins

She invited past clients to feast on a dinner buffet at Blue Leaf--and H and I really arranged our sched so we could make it to dinner. The pictures will do the talking...

It's the Pinoy version of that Italian tomato-and-cheese appetizer. It had kesong puti. I also got a bit of arugula with sun-dried tomatoes.


Prichon with different sauces--hoisin, garlic mayo, honey mustard, and a couple more


Carrot rice (yum!) with chicken, prawns topped with mangoes and coconut milk, lapu-lapu topped with ratatouille (served at our wedding), lamb kofta with couscous


The dessert table looked divine. The thing about Kaye's desserts is that they're not like hotel desserts. And that's a good thing!


Too bad my tummy could only accommodate the chocolate souffle with vanilla sauce, banoffee cup, and strawberry panna cota.

What a yummy Valentine date it was! And did I mention that it was absolutely free?

Restaurant Row: The Piazza

There’s a fairly new restaurant complex at McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio, and it hasn’t yet been invaded by the hoards that flock to Serendra and High Street. Called The Piazza, it’s got this a semi-circular structure lined with restaurants and a sprinkling of other establishments (e.g., a nail salon and a day care center), surrounding this courtyard-like space in the center.

The space, I imagine, will be used for events in the future; on the night I was there, there was a fortune-telling event. A bunch of shops are still closed, but there are already a number of open restos, including my friends' pick for the night, Tokyo Café.

Don't expect it to be really Japanese, because it isn't as Japanese as its name suggests. No maki or sushi, but there’s salad, pizza, pasta, and sandwiches, a few with a bit of a Japanese twist. Some of my friends declared that it was one of their favorites at the Mall of Asia. Among the many, many things we ordered...

Sausage Pizza

Seafood Mix Fry

I think this was the Pescatore


Some sort of chicken stuffed with cheese

…the ones I enjoyed most were the Mango Chicken Salad (the dressing rocked!)…

…and the Creamy Ebiko Pasta. Yum. It was seafood pasta in a creamy, slightly orange-tinged sauce that tasted like it had some roe in it.

If Japanese fusion isn’t your kind of thing, there are other restaurants that are already open at The Piazza:

Carlo’s Pizza
Old Vine
Little Asia
Stackers Burger Café
Reyes Barbecue
Kusé
KFC

For dessert or coffee, head on over to:

Yo Swirl (for frozen yogurt)
Sol Gelato
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
Figaro

Soon to open:

Ristra’s Mex Grill
Harry’s Bar
McDonald’s
My Thai Kitchen
Pho Hoa
Dencio’s

It’d be nice to go there now while it’s still fairly easy to get tables.