Antonio's Tagaytay

Hubby made reservations for us at Antonio's last Saturday, as an early Valentine's day date. Antonio's is a hidden and exclusive dining experience in Tagaytay. A hidden oasis, if you will. A place for your palate to experience the rich, sinful and decadent dishes that chef Antonio has concocted and personally developed for his loyal patrons to enjoy, savor and remember long after you have left his magical restaurant.

Most of all, your sense of taste will go into overdrive for the lovely and delicious selection from the menu.

Each set meal from Antonio's come with a salad of the day (mixed greens, beets, radish, blue cheese and a raspberry dressing), soup of the day, (which was a molo soup with tomato puree or tomato oil, I can't put my finger on it), your choice of entree, your choice of dessert and coffee or tea.






The Squid Ink Garlic Bread is black as coal but was surprisingly very tender. Be prepared to have black teeth after :-)



If you don't want to order the set menu, Antonio's has a wide selection of appetizers and salads to choose from. I think I will try the bone marrow next time. But I will eat oatmeal for a week after that, he he he.

Hubby and I ordered a nice selection from the appetizer menu. I wanted to try all of them. But alas, I manage to restrain myself.

For starters, hubby and I ordered the Truffle Baked Oyters. This was absolutely divine. They oysters were huge and fresh and the topping of cheese and herbs (and yes bacon) was just enough.



I ordered the Scallops Tasting, scallops cooked two ways. One is poached and the other one is breaded and fried. I liked them both and would prefer to have ten more servings, if I can. I absolutely love the dressing on the scallops, it has some lemon, parsley and cilantro, very refreshing. I reckon that will go with salads as well. Gave me an idea for a new dressing.



Our favorite is the Grilled Portabello Mushrooms with Foie Gras. Oh so heavenly! The sauce is absolutely fantastic and creamy. The portabellos were cooked perfectly, tender and a little bit smoky, and the foi gras, so buttery. Oh my. I get hungry just thinking about it.



For the main course, hubby ordered the Grilled Beef Fillet, Gratinated with Shrimp Bisque on Tagliatelle. A surf and turf kinda deal but taken to a higher level. It took a while for our orders to be delivered but hubby was appeased when he took a bite. Well worth the wait he said. The beef was cooked perfectly. It was very tender and juicy.



I had the Seafood Sampler which consisted of Grilled Pink Peppered Chilean Sea Bass on Boiled Potato, Saffron-Kafir Sauce, Prawn Thermidore and Pan Seared Scallops on Celleriac Mashed, Truffle Cream Sauce. I love all three but my favorite is the Pan Seared Scallops, which was so tender and buttery. I love it.



For dessert, I had the Mixed Berries with Chantilly Cream. This was so beautifully presented. The chantilly cream was just right, no too sweet and very creamy. Just the way I like it.



Hubby ordered the Panna Cotta with Chocolate and Caramel Sauce. If I wasn't there he would have probably eaten the whole thing in one gulp!



Dining at Antonio's is a feast for the senses. Your eyes will feast on the wonderful verdant dining areas and gardens. Your sense of smell is teased by the lovely smells coming from the kitchen and lovely fragrant flowers that adorn its secret passages in the garden. Your sense of touch is highted by the lovely flowers and shrubs and rich textures of the wooden banisters, Antonio's imposing doors and a lovely assortment of plants, shrubs and flowers. Your sense of hearing is also spoiled with the gurgling sound of water fountains, chirping of birds and lovely chatter of your companion.

Antonio's was voted as one of the best restaurants in Asia, and righfully so.

We even met Chef Antonio, he approached us while were taking pictures of his lovely restaurant and talked about the improvements that he is doing on the property. He also talked about a new lamb dish that he will soon introduce on the menu. Let's see if I remember it correctly.. It's lamb rubbed with special herbs and spices, vacuum packed, to seal all the wonderful flavors, poached in warm water (warm because he said you can still dip your finger on it) and then grilled to medium. I don't eat lamb but they way chef Antonio described it, made me a convert.



Chef Antonio was so gracious, he even invited us to check out the rest of the property including his home located at the back. We are really glad that we took that offer. The garden out back is bigger than the restaurant and his home looks really wonderful and homey, reminds me of a resort in some exotic place in Thailand.



Chef Antonio's pug even uproached us to be petted and posed for a picture.



I highly recommend dining at Antonio's...now!

Second Day in Hong Kong - Disneyland!

This is a late upload of our adventures in Hong Kong since December is such a busy month with parties, shopping, reunions and such.

Anyway, I just wanted to post some pictures from our trip to Disneyland in Hong Kong. We all had a great time with the rides, shows and fireworks.

These are my favorite pictures , hubby took them and he sometimes got embarrassed taking them!










More fun pictures:

Lunch Date with Hubby

Ever since hubby was promoted and sent to the company’s Alabang office, we hardly, if ever, get to spend lunch time together on a weekday. Hubby’s in Makati today for a conference. He invited me to lunch and I jumped at the chance, of course. Such a rare treat nowadays.

Anyway, we decided to have lunch at Kai in Greenbelt. Hubby’s very fond of Japanese cuisine and I knew that he would enjoy dining at Kai. We've dined there before when they were in a different location in Greenbelt.

Hubby ordered the Mango Iced Tea. It's iced tea with mango sherbet. His only comment was that the sherbet was too sweet.



For starters, we ordered the Cucumber and Portobello Roll. Grilled Portobello mushrooms and fresh crispy cucumber rolled sushi style with rice and nori. This dish is a great starter, light and healthy. I really like this dish. I may have to do something similar at home soon, per hubby’s request :-)



We also ordered Goat Cheese Salad in Dalandan (local oranges) Basil Vinaigrette. The dressing for this salad is a little sweet and just balanced by the basil oil. Very nice. The goat cheese is rolled with Japanese breadcrumbs and then fried. I saved the cheese for last, because it’s my favorite part :-)



Hubby wanted to order the California Roll with Crab Meat but the chef said the crab meat that was delivered to them wasn’t very fresh so we just ordered the California Roll with Kani (crab stick). This was nice also and quite reasonable at only P107 per order.



What Kai is most famous for is the Wasabi Tempura Oysters in Balsamic Dynamite (maybe another word for dressing?). I highly recommend this dish because it’s so light and delicious. The dressing compliments the oysters quite well. The oysters are so fresh and succulent (despite being coated with tempura batter).



The Soft-Shelled Crab Tempura was nice too. It’s a little over battered but nice nonetheless. One thing that impressed me the most is that there was hardly any oil in the paper liner which counts for the “not oily” taste.



Ok, hubby was still hungry despite all that we’ve ordered and made an additional order of Scallop Tempura in Red Pepper Saucee. This dish is nice too but best shared by two or three persons because it’s quite heavy due to the glaze and the spices.



Kai ‘s slogan says, “Manila’s home of contemporary Japanese cuisine”

I believe them. I will definitely dine at Kai again.

Fish Burger at Sango Master Burger, Alabang

Hubby always looks forward to a major grocery trip in South Supermarket. We rarely have time to go to the grocery together and when we do, we shop at South Supermarket in Alabang where there are great choices not found in our nearby grocery stores, Pure Gold and Robinson's Supermarket in BF.

But what hubby looks forward to most during a trip to South Supermarket, is getting the chance to have a burger at Sango Master Burger. His reward for pushing the grocery card and paying for the bills, LOL. He would always order the Master Burger, which I previously posted.

I tried something different for myself and ordered the Fish Burger. The Fish Burger at Sango Master Burger is composed of a thick fish patty, Japanese mayonnaise and cheese. It is Sango's version of Fillet-O-Fish. I hate to say this but, McDonald's Fillet-O-Fish wins by a mile (and that's not even my favorite). The fish fillet at Sango Master Burger was tough and the breading was a bit too thick for my taste.



I still like eating at Sango Master Burger. I will stick to their Master Cheese Burger though with the special meat sauce.

Hubby was a happy camper with his Master Cheese Burger and two servings of ice cream.



Hubby and his ice cream, he will give up his pork, but not his ice cream *sigh*

Hubby's Home!

Hubby’s finally home. I’m very happy that he got home safely despite having a runny nose from spending a week and half in wintery weather in Taipei.

When I arrived home from work, I found him waiting for me in the dining room with his loot. He laid out all his “pasalubong” for me. He got me some neat stuff from Ikea and really nice stuff from the premium grocery store…..Canadian maple syrup (can’t wait to drizzle it over home-made pancakes!), Tasmanian honey, 2 varieties of sea salts, Kalamata Olives, assorted
milk, dark and macadamia chocolates, Belgian chocolate coins (ideal for cupcake decorations) and some yummy smelling stuff from The Body Shop. Awwww…hubby loves me :-)



After checking out every single pasalubong from hubby, we decided to celebrate his homecoming by dining out in Capricciosa in Greenbelt. We’ve never dined there before and we’ve been meaning to try it out for the longest time.



The restaurant is located on the third floor of Greenbelt 3. Their interiors are warm and the booth that we sat in was very comfy with padded seats. They have an open kitchen so it’s interesting to watch the chefs do their thing. As most Italian restaurants, we know that their servings will be generous and we settle for just two items from their menu. We settled for some Caesar’s salad (P280) and Lasagna (P616). The lasagna is baked in a skillet. Both disher were good and quite filling. We’ve noticed that the salad dressing was a bit sweet as with the lasagna. We don’t know exactly why this is so but hubby enjoyed both immensely. Personally, I prefer Sbarro’s lasagna over Capricciosa's.





For dessert, I promised hubby he can have as much ice cream as he wants despite having a runny nose :-) We sat at Gelatone, an ice cream parlor right beside Café Bola in Greenbelt. Hubby ordered the bubble gum flavor with the fun blue color (although it looks green in this photo). I ordered the marscapone with nougat bits. Both were equally good, yummy and rich. I couldn’t finish mine, hubby had to eat the rest for me. Yeah, poor thing. He he he :-)





Such a fun evening, my hubby’s home safely, out tummies filled to the brim and whole lot of nice goodies from hubby.