Alba Restaurant

Hubby and I just had dinner at Alba Restaurant. It's been a while since we dined out since we have opposing work schedules. We chose to dine in Alba Restaurant. They opened a new branch in Westgate, Alabang. Alba Restaurant specializes in Spanish cuisine and their sign says that they've been around since 1952. I've heard of them of course, but only got the chance to dine there just now.







We ordered some really nice selection from the menu. To start with, we had Queso Ahumado (smoked cheese) which hubby and I really really liked. The cheese is very mild and yummy, and the salsa that they serve with it is a little bit sweet but still tangy. I personally prefer without the salsa. I probably could eat the whole thing because the cheese is sliced paper thin. Eating cheese nowadays remind me of our trip to Smelly Cheese in Hunter Valley, Australia. Oh my the cheeses there are so delighful. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.



Anyway, I digress...We also had Almondigas de Vaca (beef meatballs). We like this dish as well. The beef is tender and the sauce is a garlicky and a bit salty, very nice for dipping bread. The dish kinda reminds me of my mom's meatballs in misua, they taste very similar but without the noodles :-)



Hubby and I split the Ensalada de Caesar. I like this picture that hubby took :-)



For the main course, we ordered the Paella Valenciana. A paella dish with seafood, chicken and chorizo. The serving is good for three people so we had plenty of left over. The paella was good, but Amalia's (in BF) is better. As I was writing this, it just hit me that Alba's specialty is the Callos and we didn't order it. Oh well, we'll save that for next time.



For dessert, hubby and I split the canonigo this was good also. I have a really fantastic recipe for this and a ultra heavenly sauce made with egg yolks and milk. Yum! I serve mine usually with mango balls on the side. I'll post the recipe when I get the chance to bake it again.

Heaven & Eggs

My best friend and I had another impromptu get together tonight. We met at our usual meeting place in Glorietta and decided to eat at Heaven & Eggs which we both haven't tried yet. I'm just glad that we're not eating pasta again! :-) He he he.



The restaurant used to have country style decor with doilies, wood furniture and maybe somebody's grandma in the background, he he he. They have since revamped the place for a more hip look. The interiors are a bit darker, with mirrors, murals, love settees in dark colors, dark wooden tables and chairs. They offer mostly breakfast fare (eggs), but have ribs and steaks on the menu. They do have very creative names for their dishes. The BFF and I ordered:

Head Bangers Tapa Omelet. Tapa Omelet with kesong puti served with garlic fried rice and atchara. BFF seemed to like this.



I ordered the Girls Gone Wild (very fitting for me, dontcha think?, he he he). It's a vegetarian omelet with asparagus, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese served with french bread and shoestring potatoes. I actually prefer to have some whole wheat bread or "tasty" instead of the crusty bread that they served.



For dessert I had the Tres Leches Cake. This is a nice cake, a little too sweet, best shared with someone. BFF said that it looked very feminine.



She had the Moonwalker (in honor of Michael Jackson). Brownies topped with ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauces. BFF said that she got the macho dessert because it looked so dark and imposing :-)



Heaven & Eggs' food and service may not be outstanding, but the menu is varied and reasonably priced. It is a great place for meeting friends. Finishing an entire meal will take at least a couple of hours because the servings are very generous. Neither one of us were able to finish what we ordered.

Girls' Night Out with the BFF

It's Friday once again. BFF had a pretty stressful week, to cheer her up, I invited her to have a spa girls' night out with me.

We're pretty simple ladies. All we need is a decent reasonably priced massage and we're good to go. I was craving for a Thai massage and I searched the web for an affordable alternative to the swanky spas in Makati. I came upon some decent reviews for Ton-Ton massage. All of the reviews that I managed to read agreed on the nice and soothing massage but gave low marks on the ambiance. Me, personally agrees with the review. Ton-ton is a straighforward, massage "parlor", no fancy frills, no designer tea, no comfy lounge and certainly no zen-like ambiance except for dim lights, soft music and a few slats of bamboo. That's it. Barring these, my best friend and I truly enjoyed our massage. After all, shelling out just P375 for an hour and a half of massage isn't bad, BFF even fell asleep and had to be shaken several times to wake her up, he he he. We tried the one along Pasay Road, right in front of The Residences. We'll probably try the one in BF next time. I didn't take any pictures because it wasn't very photogenic. For some images in the BF branch, I got these images from southbound.ph:





I personally prefer the Thai massage over the Shiatsu. Thai massage involves a bit of stretching and lots of deep massages using the masseus' hands, feet, elbows, knees and arms. It is dry massage (without any oils) and you are made to wear lose comfortable clothing for ease of movement, the massage is usually done on a mattress on the floor.

After our massage, we had a simple dinner at Pizza Hut Bistro. BFF is partial to pasta and is alergic to shellfish. We passed by the bistro on our way to another restaurant and decided to try it out instead. It was quiet and comfortable. The food isn't bad and the prices are reasonable.

The Fetuccine Alfredo is a favorite of my best friend. She ALWAYS has this when we go out. So, it wasn't a surprise that she ordered that. She mentioned to me that I actually introduced her to the "white sauce" spaghetti back in the day (maybe elementary days) and she got hooked since then.



I had a Seafood Pasta with Prawns and New Zealand Mussels in White Wine Sauce. I like this also. The flavor is light but quite filling.



We also shared a Salad of Cucumbers and Crabmeat (imitation) with some miso dressing wrapped in rice paper. It was also nice, light and refreshing.



What a lovely evening :-) Can't wait for the next one!

New Bombay Restaurant

It's Tito Boy's last night in Manila after a short visit and we decided to celebrate it with an Indian dinner. Our place of choice is New Bombay Restaurant in Glorietta (right beside Pho Hoa/Bac (?) and Subway).

New Bombay is an intimate restaurant that seats maybe 30 people, tops. The interior is decorated with Indian colors and murals. The heavy chairs even have bells in them and yes, there are plenty of gold, red and orange accents.



We ordered quite a variety of food which was more than enough for four people.

For starters, we ordered the Malai Paneer Tikka, cottage cheese sauteed in cream and cashew nut paste. I like this very much. The cottage cheese is lightly grilled and is very tasty.



My favorite is the Palak Paneer. The menu describes it as Paneer cooked in spinach sauce. Paneer by definition is "fresh, unripened cheese", whatever that means :-)



My mom's favorite is the Dal Makani, thick yellow lentils with spices. My mom can't get enough of this. It's great with some Naan, an oven baked flat bread.



We also had a heaping serving of Vegetarian Biryani. Biryani is essentially an Indian fried rice made with Basmati rice. Basmati Rice are elongated rice granules and "buhaghag" when cooked. I saw an Indian lady at the supermarket the other day, testing the rice guy if Basmati Rice is sticky rice or not. The guy answered, "It's not sticky" and then the lady would try to confuse him again by asking other varieties in the supermarket. Eventually asking the same question over and over again. Poor guy. I wanted to say to the lady to just buy the friggin' rice already!



Anyway, I got carried away with my story. We also had Chicken Tandoori. It's called tandoori because it's cooked in a tandoor oven, usually made of clay that is heated by wood or charcoal in high heat. Sort of like the Indian version of an Italian wood fired oven. I like the cilantro dipping sauce that came with the chicken, great dipping sauce for the naan.



We also had Fish Tikka, bonelss fish marinated in yoghurt and secret Indian spices cooked in a traditional clay oven (Tandoor).



The Malai Prawns were also good. These prawns were marinated in cashew paste cream and roasted in the tandoor oven. The sauce is similar to a barbecue sauce, sweet and tangy.



Overall, I like this restaurant very much. It is quiant, intimate and the food is delicious. I would recommend this to everyone who likes Indian food, or would like to try Indian food. You won't be disappointed. Bring your appetite with you!

In Bangkok!

I'm here in Thailand with hubby. I'm enjoying my stay so far. The food's great! Will blog about it soon.

Oh my, I still have to publish my Sydney blog and now I have more adventures to blog :-)

Life is good :-)

A Sinful Daydream

Last night I had a terrible craving for churros. Churros by definition is a thick coiled fritter of fried dough traditionally dipped in hot chocolate sauce. The very definition of it would probably give your heart surgeon the goosebumps.





The very best churro that I have ever had the pleasure of putting in my mouth is from San Churro along Acland Street in St. Kilda, Melbourne. The shop itself is charming and homey, the staff are friendly and smell is so enticing and wonderful. Willy Wonka’s factory might have smelled just as heavenly.







Despite the dough being fried, it wasn’t greasy at all and oh the chocolate sauce, oh my, the chocolate sauce. If I may dare, it’s like an orgasm in a demi cup. The chocolate is simply silky and heavenly, not too sweet, not too bitter. Oh my gosh, just thinking about it, makes my mouth water.



If I close my eyes and picture it, I can almost taste its decadent sweetness…hmmmm...

Dradog

Dralion, a mythical beast, half dragon, half lion



Dradog...aka Poe, Popot, dirty filthy dog, who is incaple of drinking neatly from his dog dish :-)

Hubby and I watched Dralion when we were in Melbourne. Dralion itself reminded me of my puppy Poe. They both look cute and mischievous.