First Bite: Pablo’s

Working in Fort Bonifacio could sure dent your wallet if you’re not smart with your money. Temptation is very strong, especially on payday, as we are surrounded by restaurants and retail stores. There are even a few malls to choose from. And being stranded could also be costly. Believe me. As a person who brings homemade food to work, I make sure that I spend less than PHP100 a day, even less on most days. But when rain pours, sometimes, so does money.

Hey, Pablo’s!

Rain was crazy a few weeks ago. I was stranded for almost 3 hours for two days! And since I had no plans to brave the rain, I decided to join my officemates for dinner at Pablo’s.

It has Happy Hour until 8 p.m. but since I have some drinks at home, I focused on the real food. On my first night, I opted to get the Sirloin Beef Tapa with 2 Eggs (PHP245) and an order of Pablo’s Potato Chips (PHP170). On my second visit, I went for Basil Chicken (PHP245).

The potato chips confused me. Those were definitely not “paper thin” as what the menu claimed. It was fat potato cuts. At least it was crispy.

But it was smothered with spicy red powder making it difficult for me to enjoy.

My officemates kept saying that Pablo’s tapa is deeeelish so I had my palate ready for something awesome.

When it was served, first thing that came to mind was, “serving size is okay, it’s fragrant too, but is it better than my mom’s tapa?” Yes, I have never tasted better tapa than my mom’s. My mom’s tapa has this sweet and tangy taste that I love and so far, I have not tasted anything better.

It was okay. The tapa was tender and it was juicy. It was a nice mix of sweet and salty taste. I didn’t taste the tanginess that I want from tapa though. But it was pretty good for its price. And I loved that the rice was not your usual plain rice. It was mixed with tapa sauce and bits of marinated sirloin.

Restaurant Love: Café Seol Hwa

I have been raving about Café Seol Hwa for weeks now. I was really happy with the bingsu that I ordered the last time I visited to the point that I crave it every day. So one hot day, I decided to visit again and this time, I went with R.

Hello again, Café Seol Hwa!

The Korean dessert place was quite empty during lunch and we easily got a table. Since we were a bit hungry, we decided to go for Cheese Garlic Toast (PHP220) and Strawberry Bing Su (PHP240, regular | PHP360, large).

Service in general seems to be slow in Café Seol Hwa as it took them around 10 minutes to prepare our toast. (Then again, an average toast would be 3 minutes so it seems reasonable.)  

And after one bite, I realized that… it was stuffed with MOCHI! This is BRILLIANT!!! The crunchy toast with a generous spread of cheese and garlic and the chewy rice cake was a lovely combination. It may seem pricey for PHP220 but it was worth it.

Restaurant Discovery: Oudon

Every time someone tells me that a restaurant serves good food, I get curious. (And more often than not, I get too curious that I pester some friends to try it with me.) Luckily though, it wasn’t hard to convince my colleagues to try new restaurants and one Thursday afternoon, we decided to go to…

Oudon.

Oudon is a new Japanese restaurant at The Forum at Fort Bonifacio. The place, adorned with sakura, had a charming and welcoming vibe.

The dishes though are pricey as most are around almost PHP400 while the really good ones are at PHP700 to PHP800. And since I was feeling stingy that day, I opted to get Zaru Oudon with Tori Gomoku Gohan (PHP320) and Hiyayakko (PHP160).

After 10 minutes, our orders were served.

I was surprised with the size of my bowl of noodles. It was big enough for me to wash my tops! (I was a bit worried with it at first because the menu shows a small serving of noodles. But I found out that they give one free refill of noodles so I gave in.)

Restaurant Discovery: O’Rice

Table for one, please.

For some reason, I still feel awkward saying that. But it makes me giddy at the same time. Eating alone doesn’t make me one lonely individual. In fact, there are times that I truly enjoy it. Plus, there’s the perk of ordering whatever I want.

I was planning to have a quick lunch at McDonald’s but it was packed. Since I had to go back to the site (yes, I was in my construction worker mode that time) ASAP, I decided to look for another place to have lunch. And that’s when I spotted O’Rice.

Hello, O’Rice!

The Korean restaurant was pretty busy too though there were still a few tables available. I got a table near the counter and ordered right away. I went with Beef Bulgogi Fried Rice (PHP248), Black Bean Noodles (PHP198) and a glass of Brewed Iced Tea (PHP95).

First served was the iced tea and it sure was sweeeet. Too sweet. I had to wait for the ice to melt for it to be more thirst quenching.