My Birthday - Good food. Good times. Good fun.

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January 23, 2011 -- Happy birthday to me!!  Yesterday, I celebrated the anniversary of my 25th birthday.  Of course I am not giving away my age, for they say that  most of the time, I do not look like it.  Thanks to my own Belo and Calayan in the form of positive attitude, happy disposition in life, love of comedy film, and music.  And the biggest factor of all--my big man and my little man, who when I watch play and make a fool of themselves together, give me that instant face lift.   These are the reasons, I suppose, that make me not look my age most of the time.  That's most of the time, I am stressing that out, for there are times I look older than my real age.  I am thinking the culprit would be sleepless nights due to deadlines,or due to paperworks brought home, or due to my little man's unpredictable sleeping behavior, or due to dvd marathon.  Lack of sleep that brought stress, that brought sagging of the face, wrinkles, fine lines and out-of-this-world tantrums.  Sleepless nights can really bring out the monster in me, physically and attitude-wise.  Other than that, not patting myself on the back, a lot really say I do not look like my age.  I really hope so.

Prior my natal day, my cousins planned of a dinner date for all of us.  We went to Yakimix in Tomas Morato.  Original plan was in Trinoma branch but due to the long queue, majority decided to shift to Morato.  Elmer and I were the first ones to arrive, and by then we found out that we did not have a reservation!  Yakimix, now gaining a large population of followers, is full especially on weekends.  Reservation is a must, really.  We were like 18 hungry ones, so we had a hard time arranging ourselves in one table.  After a long 1 hour of waiting, we finally had a taste of their all-you-can-eat dishes.  Japanese food reign on the buffet, yet there were some Filipino food (I saw a crispy pata) and surprisingly, Italian (there was a pizza there, I swear!)  Sushi person that I am, my tummy feasted with different kinds of sushi they have there.  I enjoyed their salmon and tuna sashimi so much.  Valued at more or less 650.00 per head (depends on your add-ons), with a lot of food on the buffet, this rate is not bad at all.  Later that night, we transfered to Starbucks and there we welcomed my birthday.  I felt so old, who wouldn't?  I am the eldest of all the cousins, and there they were with me.  But I also feel so young, for despite the age differences, we still have times like this bonding with each other over some plateful of yummy dishes.

Yakimix in Tomas Morato

I enjoyed a lot of sushi in different colors and shapes (and calories!)

They also have a shabu-shabu

A gathering that will soon be on a regular basis (crossing fingers!)

I usually celebrate my birthday in two days. The birthday itself, the 23rd, with my Rockville/Bonifacio family, and the day after with my Fairview/Kimpo family.  My Rockville treat would always be at home.  My dad dreads going out for whatever reason so you will find me dialing numbers of food delivery service so I can still treat my family in the comforts of our home.  Not losing hope each year, I still announced my plan of treating them out on my birthday.  I expected my dad's usual contra-reaction.  Surprisingly, dad just kept mum about it and everybody was kinda surprised of this big leap (big leap na talaga 'to!).  So on my birthday, I treated them for lunch at Romulo Cafe.

I am not at all new to Romulo's and in fact I also blogged my first Romulo experience here.  We ordered the bestsellers:  kare kare and flying tilapia.  This time, we added another best seller on our table--the pancit puti. Everybody raved about the food we had at Romulo Cafe.

I do not know why despite my knowledge of Romulo Cafe's
swirls of black and white interior, I still wore this blouse.  I only noticed
 it when my sis pointed it out.  What a booboo!

Later around 6;20pm, we went to the restaurant where I put my reservation for dinner with my Fairview family.  Yes, this time, I celebrated it with them on the day of my birthday itself.  The restaurant, whenever I pass there, stirred my curiosity for aside from the great interiors that can be viewed from outside, the place is always full not to mention the peeps lined up outside patiently waiting for their names to be called.  So because the place really looked interesting, I decided to bring my Fairview fam there.  The restaurant's name is Lugang Cafe.  Quite an odd name for a restaurant, I thought.  Later I found out that this restaurant is the famous Bellagio in Shanghai that is known for their delicious Taiwanese dishes.  Now in Manila, they changed Bellagio into Lugang, one of Taiwan's best places.

Lugang Cafe's interior is awesome!  The walls are of different designs.  Our side of the wall have bricks with mirror-like posts in front that when viewed from several meters away looked like a weaving pattern.  The wall in front of (but a bit far from)  us have a different pattern  in which I cannot describe blow by blow for I had no chance to scrutinize but it looked like a weaved pattern of some solid material in immaculate white.  Our couch has black and white swirls  that goes very well with the wall behind it, while some couches in the middle are made of cream leather material.  For some reason, the chairs remind me of Gucci and Chanel patterns.  Lugang Cafe's door is a massive one and is really beautiful, that kuya Edmund, the one that has an eye for what's pretty when it comes to furniture and interior, noticed it at once.

Elmer, my big man, enjoyed the couch of black and white swirls that goes
very well with the weave-like wall behind it.

We ordered  Lugang bestsellers:  3 cup chicken, beef with crullers,  spicy dory (fish), and golden rice.

Spicy Dory is a personal fave.  The dory fish is so tender, and the spicy-ness
is a bit powerful yet not that kind that will make you quit munching anytime.
In fact, I had this without rice, so to appreciate the taste more.  I love it!

No meal is complete without the rice. 

Small chicken parts cooked in 1 cup sesame oil, 1 cup rice wine, and 1 cup
soy sauce, hence the name:  3 Cup Chicken.  I love how the marinade of three
different sauces blend well together coming up with a yummy dish.
p290 good for three.

Beef with chinese crullers is my personal favorite. It has thinly sliced beef,
that was so tender with crunchy bicho bicho, all embraced by the tasty
sauce.  This one is a steal for P280.00 good for three.

My lovely SIL's gave me cakes from Conti's.  I was really craving for a Mango Bravo and they turned into mind readers that day for they gave me just what I craved for.  We finished Mango Bravo so fast!  My little man loved it too!!

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Yakimix -  2nd floor, Forum Building, 270 Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

Reservation is a must - (02)3857500

Romulo Cafe - 32 Scout Tuazon corner Dr. Lazcano, Tomas Morato, Quezon City

Though they allow walk-in's, it is still wise to reserve- (02)3327275

Lugang Cafe - 115 Connecticut St., North Greenhills, San Juan

Reservation up to 6:30 only and they allow 15mins allowance.  

7:00 pm onwards are for walkin's - (02)7757599

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Romulo Cafe experience, finally!

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Finally, we had the chance to experience the much talked-about restaurant in Quezon City.  Romulo Cafe's been buzzing for quite some time now, and I was itching, really itching, to land there.  A lot of reviews were written about how good--or should I say excellent?--the food is.  Prior to this which was few months back, upon knowing that the food served is Filipino cuisine, I gave my initial unfair judgement that went like:  yeah, yeah, another patriotic restaurant trying to make a statement. So, to be honest, I was really not looking forward to the food.  Initially, that is, and I am stressing that out.  What I was after for-- the ambiance.  The experience.  You see, I have been going in and out Google University's library, searching for images of Romulo Cafe, for I learned that the interior is interesting and unique.  True enough, the images Google gave me ignited my desire to visit the place.  I just had to be there to see and feel it myself.  Husband and I planned endlessly to have lunch or dinner there, to be declined several times because the place was always (really, always) full.  They asked us to make  reservation via phone but everytime, the response would be--maam, full na po kame sa dinner.  My lust for it dwindled.  Who would not?  Weekend after weekend, the same old reply with almost the same intonation was given to me:  the place is full. 

As our anniversary drew near, my husband gave me the task of choosing where to eat for dinner.  I learned that our special day would fall on a weekday and also, we will be tagging  our little man along. So that meant the restaurant had to be somewhere just near our place for the convenience of the three of us.  Aha! That was when my yearning for Romulo Cafe resurrected.  If it was always full on weekends, then maybe on a weekday it's....? Maam, full na po kami sa dinner Tuesday.  What?  Even on a weekday? Pero meron po kami maam sa labas nalang po.  Geez. But it did not stop me.  I blurted out: Okay then, please reserve me a table for three, outside.

November 16, Romulo Cafe.  Finally.

There was no parking space, so the streets were loaded with cars, courtesy of Romulo Cafe's diners.  It was perfectly safe, though.  Five to six manongs from different corners of the street that surround Romulo watched the cars intently.  As we stepped inside, the waiting area alone pushed my lips to say WOW.  A quite large sofa in solid black was in the middle of the al fresco dining area, which for me is something different.  I discreetly surveyed the place.  My vista led me from the al fresco dining area up to some point of the main dining place (on the first floor).  My eyes loved what I saw--clean, fresh and perfect combination of black and white interior. I just simply adored it.  Unfortunately , though I brought with me my camera, little man that time did not want to play with his daddy but wanted me to be his playmate instead.  The mother in me won over the picture taking so I just gathered pictures from Romulo Cafe's FB page so to give you an idea how lovely the black-white interior is.


 
    The waiting area, right in the middle of the al fresco dining area

 

 

 

Sadly, even if the place's diners are mostly of families, they do not have highchairs for the little creatures. I was a bit disappointed, but it did not qualify as one of my sentiments.  Personally, highchairs will look off for this place.  Anyways, we just brought with us the stroller, just in case Migo would not settle on an adult chair.  Kudos to the waiters, for upon knowing that we had with us our little man, they transferred us to a room upstairs, appropriate for the three of us (bigger space for the stroller and for the restless Migo).  Therefore, bye bye to al fresco dining... hello Kaligayahan Room!


 

 

 

 

  



 


The waiter handed us the menu, though I knew already what to order.  Best sellers are kare kare, flying tilapia and chicken relleno.  Since it would be just hubby and I plus a half-sized  man, we opted to just get kare-kare for meat viand and flying tilapia for fish viand.  I LOVE IT!!  The taste was heavenly!! The flying tilapia came with three kinds of sauces that were equally intriguing and delicious.  By the way, that tilapia was the biggest tilapia I have seen so far, and the flying effect made it look like a work of art.  The size could very well feed three to four heads. The kare kare which was a medley of meat, offal and vegetables, had the most generous sevings among the kare kare's I have tried in my lifetime. The sauce is a genuine.  By genuine, I meant no hocus pocus just to arrive to that delightful dish.  The dominant taste of peanut made this dish really authentic up to the last drop.  And can I just say that the bagoong alone can pose as a main dish?

 

 
Needless to say, I bowed my head in shame.  The food, despite being straight Filipino, tasted soooooo delish!  I was after the ambiance, but I paid more attention to the food as it arrived, and I forgot all about the interior that initially influenced me to visit the place.  I was glued to the food!  And as I observed, my husband and the little man enjoyed and appreciated the food, too.  Little man clapped every after a spoonful of rice and kare kare sauce, which meant that the taste passed his discriminating and picky taste buds.  Overall, the food AND the place--- SUPERB!!

Can I just also share this? My husband compared it to Abe's.   But with an interior, ambiance and--beat this-- affordable price to boot, plus servers that are so accommodating, friendly and neat-looking in their handsome and crisp black uniform, we will definitely be Team Romulo. Though there's no competition going on ;)

Romulo Cafe is located at 32 Scout Tuazon corner Dr. Lazcano, Tomas Morato Quezon City.  Please make a reservation days prior.  332-72-75 is the number to dial.


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