Pho Hoa

This had always been one of our go-to restaurants whenever we find ourselves dinnerless late in the evening. The branch at Wilson St. accepts orders till 1am. Nowadays, this has become our go-to resto for healthy food any time of the day. Almost always, i order the seafood pho. I am also a big fan of the fried spring rolls, although I know I should switch to the fresh version.

The Vietnamese coffee is acceptable, but nothing quite like those found in the streets of Ho Chi Minh.

Morato branch

Mr. G's order

Fresh spring rolls

Fried spring rolls

Vietnamese coffee

Aubergine

Surf and Turf

King Crab Cannelloni

We finally got to try the much raved about restaurant, Aubergine, at 32nd and 12th Bldg. in The Fort. My personal review is mixed. The food was good but nothing to crow about. I ordered the king crab cannelloni while Mr. G tried the surf and turf. The crabmeat was flavorful but I didn't care much about it being wrapped in wonton. And had I known about their serving sizes, I would have opted for something more substantial. Mr. G had a different story. He enjoyed his surf and turf, and the Cabernet Sauvignon even more so.

Tiramisu

I was glad I ordered dessert because the deconstructed tiramisu was memorable. It paired well with the fantastic cafe americano. There are other interesting items on the menu so I'm sure I'll give this one a second chance.

A Valentine's Day

Clean, modern interiors

Mr. G and I avoid going out on Valentine's Day because of the traffic and crowds. But we had been bingeing the past couple of days so we decided to go out for a run at The Fort.

Miso Soup

Edsa traffic wasn't too bad and we found parking easy enough, which was a surprise. I'm still trying to get back to my old running form so all I could manage was a 6K run. While waiting for Mr. G, I decided to go to Rox to buy board shorts for our visit to CamSur (I found a great one on sale for only P600).

Sashimi Sampler

Pork teriyaki

Since we were craving for Japanese, we drove to Teriyaki Boy in Promenade but parking was really bad. I suggested a new Japanese restaurant in Annapolis called Bistro Miyake. It turned out to be perfect. The food was good, especially the gindara teriyaki (which I failed to take a photo of because I was too eager to get a taste). Service was friendly. What more, wi-fi was free.

Copper Grill

Apologies for being remiss in updating this blog. I've been busy writing articles for travel magazines and I've just started talks with a publisher about my second book.

Just a quick note to say that Mr. G and I discovered a new restaurant near our place that's perfect for the late hours we keep. It's called Copper Grill. Service is quite slow and I do hope they improve on that but the food is quite good and very affordable. I must confess, however, that I go there mainly for the barbecue. Mr. G overheard guests saying it is owned by a member of the Aristocrat clan.

Mr. G's New Toy

I had been waiting for its arrival for weeks then, finally, I received a text message from Johnny Air last Wednesday informing me that my package had arrived. I told Mr. G that I was going to Megamall to pick up the long-awaited Christmas gift I promised him. He must have been excited too because he offered to drive me. At first he didn't recognize that it was the Amazon Kindle but, when he did, he seemed genuinely pleased. I expected him to order Dan Brown's Lost Symbol for his first e-book but, instead, he picked Malcolm Gladwell's What The Dog Saw (he later confessed he was torn between the two).

I think the Kindle's a great buy, especially for people who love to read. It weighs less than a paperback, can store thousands of books, has a glare-free screen, a built-in dictionary and access to blogs and Wikipedia, a headseat jack that allows you to listen to audiobooks, and a keyboard that allows you to jot down notes about your reading. It's a handy way of bringing all your books with you wherever you go.

I had the item shipped to Johnny Air in New York, which cost me $280+ including shipping. When it arrived here, I paid an additional Php922. So it was around $300 total. Value for money, in my opinion.

Su Zhou Dimsum

So, apparently, this restaurant has quite a following. It has a new branch, actually a counter, in Greenhills Promenade beside Sizzling Pepper Steak. I was craving for beef pepper rice so I went to order but decided to get something else for Mr. G because he's not into the pepper steak thing. Since he loves siopao, I got him a bola-bola and an asado, plus the steamed beef with garlic rice topping.

I didn't get to have a taste of Mr. G's dinner but, judging by the sounds he was making, he had a very satisfying meal.

Su Zhou Dimsum
A. Mabini cor. Araullo Street
Mandaluyong City
Tel (02) 721-6105

Ground Floor Food Court
Promenade Greenhills
San Juan
Tel (02) 744-3846

Bugsy's

Mr. G and I were headed for Barcino to pick up the credit card he left behind and for dinner but, when he got his card back, we decided we wanted to try something new. We opted for Bugsy's in the same building. I wasn't entirely pleased with the spaghetti and meatballs because the meatballs were tough but the chicken tenders were great. Just the right acidity to make the lips pucker.

Bugsy's is located at Unit C-105 City Golf Plaza, Julia Vargas Avenue, Pasig City with telephone number 489-4985.