Part 1 here Dinner Initial plans to eat upstairs al fresco are called off because of a slight drizzle. We sit at the long banquette and wait expectantly. I chat with T House Chef Emi Mendoza about the menu she’s created for the boutique hotel. “It’s all about health here,” she begins. “We serve food that’s healthy and nourishing. All organic products and good fats like olive oil, everything that’s good for the body.” “And large portions too,” pipes in April. “We don’t like those big plates with tiny portions.” night view of dining room and al fresco area above Admittedly, I have feelings of trepidation about the forthcoming meal. T House serves as a sanctum for healthy living and I have no doubt that its food will reflect that. I certainly can’t expect country fried chicken and biscuits awash in gravy. “And the dessert!” I wail inwardly. “What’s to become of the dessert?” I can only pray that I won’t be served a plate of pineapple (I’m not too fond of the fruit, and Tagaytay is teeming ...

City girl that I am, it takes a lot to get me out of Manila. I’m the farthest thing from a beach person -- forget eating barbeque under nipa huts, strolling barefoot in the sand, or taking me anywhere where there’s a body of water. Frankly, I like this concrete jungle that I live in. What of it, anyway? I will, however, make concessions for road trips to other cities where signs of progress and civilization abound. Tagaytay has always been one of those places. I won’t call it my “getaway,” because there’s nothing I’m getting away from – I love Manila, after all – but it’s an excellent destination that’s just an hour away from the metro, and there’s so much to love about it. When I think Tagaytay, I think pineapples, buko, and fantastic restaurants unlike any other here in Manila. fountain at night leading to rooms up to T House exit ...

When I leave a restaurant, I want to feel that my appetite’s been sated, full in the belly so to speak. And if I can buy items that the restaurant serves, that’s even better. This is the idea behind Gastér Deli, a modern European deli and bistro. Incidentally, “gastér” is Greek for belly or stomach. How apropos. Situated on a prominent corner in Ayala Center, it’s really quite a nondescript space except for that name which is anything but (and whether you pronounce ‘Gastér’ with the accent on the first or second syllable is up to you). When a restaurant also happens to have a retail section, that’s where my attention diverts to, never mind looking for a table. At Gastér Deli, they specialize in gourmet merchandise imported from key European countries like France, Spain, Greece, and Italy: Illy coffee, pasta brands Divella and Barilla offer fascinating noodle shapes like lisci, cannelloni, and casarecce, biscuits and sweets, a collection of spices and sea salts, and for those who can appreciate them more than I can, an impressive array of international beers and wines. The chillers ...

Note: For consistency, I use the term “pumpkin” throughout this article. This magnificent orange ball is my favorite vegetable in the world, and I’m guilty of calling it squash or pumpkin, depending on what comes out of my mouth first. Even the most erudite foodie would be hard-pressed to tell you the difference between a squash and a pumpkin. Both terms are applied inconsistently and used loosely to describe certain varieties of both these species. Pumpkins and squash are members of the gourd family, cousins to the watermelon. An internet search and a riff through my numerous food encyclopedias aren’t much help. Some of the things I discover only end up confusing me even more: “Generally speaking a pumpkin is something you carve, a squash is something you cook and a gourd is something you look at.” (Uh, ok…) “Orange color sometimes helps determine what is a pumpkin. (Winter) squash have a finer texture and milder flavor, pumpkins have a somewhat coarse, stronger flavor and are generally orange in color.” (So does this mean that if it’s orange, it’s a pumpkin?) See what I mean by muddling? ...

I’m not one to blog about my personal life on this blog if it’s not food-related. Still, if you’re a regular reader of this website, you’ll notice that I’ve slowed down – really slowed down – when it comes to posting new articles. At first I thought it was the low-spiritedness attributed to “that time of the month”, and then I chalked it up to bad moods, albeit very lengthy bad moods. Even my constant cheerleader and good friend, Mari, who gave me the idea to start this blog said, “Write through this funk, Lor, write through it!” Finally, after detailing to her how I felt, she said in a very matter of fact tone, “It’s blog burnout, plain and simple.” Blog burnout. Those two words sear though my brain like a gaudy neon sign’s decrepit letters hanging on for dear life. But it’s true. I AM burned out, blog wise. Here, signs that this food blogger is worn-out: 1. I haven’t updated my blog in several days and I’m not at all alarmed. 2. Post-It reminders of people I need to interview and restaurants I need to shoot are stuck on my food dictionary – forgotten ...

It’s a place that appeals to my inner aesthete, a place that upon entry so blows me away – visually – that I stop and do a 360° just to absorb my surroundings. The theme is Japanese and its design here is an intelligent conception of Japanese design. Muted shades of lime green flow with immaculate white creating a refreshingly clean contrast from everything to the menu boards to the chairs. A floor-to-ceiling mural depicting fields of bamboo open up the space, connecting the second floor to the first. A staircase leading to the second floor is an oasis of bamboo plants and hanging overhead, twinkling lights in round raffia covers. The place is called Kozui Green Tea, or Kozui for short, a café devoted to green tea and health. Far from ordering a drink to go a la Starbucks, this is a place that tantalizes one to stay and linger a while. Go through the shelf ...

I have utmost respect for the readers of Dessert Comes First. A lot of them come here for suggestions on where to eat and in turn, I receive a lot of emails and texts on what they’d like to see featured on the site. In the span of a week, I received numerous emails to feature a restaurant called Mom & Tina’s Bakery Café along Libis: “… come and visit this place…we absolutely love eating here because of the food, ambience and the service, and oh, did I mention the food?” goes one email, while another one a few days later reads: “I think Mom and Tina's is really homey and laid back, para ka lang kumakain sa bahay ng Tita”. I trust the veracity of these claims and I can assume that the email senders aren’t in any way connected to one another so off to Libis I go. I’m familiar with Mom and Tina’s Bakery Café since I’ve driven by it a few times in the past few months. Its country American motif is difficult to miss even from the outside ...