Old Vine: Divine!

When you try and think of a special place to take your friends, family and loved one you stare at a wall and wish there was somewhere you can immediately take them to. These days fine dining restaurants charge an arm and a leg then serve mediocre food which would end up either in a doggy bag or worse a garbage dump. In this day and age you don't usually get what you pay for but I'd like to recommend this one where I usually take my bosses from the US so you'd stay classy yet affordable. It's a place where celebrities also frequently dine, it's something divine!

Where do you ask? It's at Old Vine!

Green Mango, Watermelon, Ripe Mango and Pineapple

For starters, we had a couple of fruit shakes prepared for us. It was fresh and not too sweet, it'll give you that refreshing feeling at each sip. It was the perfect accompaniment to what we were about to consume that evening. The dining experience just started a notch higher!

Foie Gras Salad (750, 1150)

The Foie gras salad was definitely sinful, I suggest you get it and share. Probably neat to break it off with more balsamic vinegar so the acidity can do its job. It was so rich and smoky from the searing. You'll definitely love this! If you want to indulge, go ahead and get it to start off the meal.

Tessie Tomas Salad (350, 680)

The Tessie Tomas salad was designed for the celebrity with the same name. She is a regular and they dedicated this to her. True enough; it lived up to its name! It's salmon, mushroom, greens and shrimp combination plus tangy dressing was just right to start the dinner. It was pretty festive and probably would need second servings. This is a must try!

Steak and Shrimp

The Steak and shrimp looks divine. The premise of a surf and turf inside this fine dining restaurant was surprising; specially if the shrimp in this case was prepared gambas style so it has a little kick. Wedges of potatoes give you that filling factor for those who don't watch their carbs!

Steak Tagalog - Filipino Version of Steak

It's not the normal run of the mill beef steak but a version of bistek tagalog using a US grade flank of steak. It's got that salty - soy flavor with a hint of calamansi and slices of onions sauteed in oil. Just get yourself 2 servings of rice and it's a done deal! :)

Old Vine Pasta

It's Fettuccine smothered into a tomato - veggie based sauce called pangritata and a couple of prawns. How can you go wrong with this number?! The tangy mildly spicy sauce and the scrumptious prawns are heaven on earth. It is good for sharing if you have other things to eat aside from this. It's also best eaten while hot.

Stir-Fried Seafood Paella

Comfort food. I imagine eating a hot serving of this while watching my favorite TV show reruns while raining. The rice was a little al dente and the meat had me love it even more. The egg slices makes it a very creamy consistency when mixed in, it's something nice to to look forward to when you want something warm.

Steak and Escargot

Following that surf and turf tradition this is another good rendition of a steak dish. The salty- not so fishy escargot bits played well with the steak. The steak was soft and seared outside just the way I like it - a little rare and still pink inside. It's served with potato wedges like the other steak dishes in the menu and can stand on it's own. I didn't know a pairing like this would be nice. Maybe a beer or red wine would suffice to get us on a roll! I can still remember how it made my mouth water!

Beef Salpicao Fried Rice (230, 395)

For the spice loving Filipino here's another offering from Old Vine. This is their Beef Salpicao Fried Rice. It's on the hot - savory side so if you want a different way to have your rice taken this is the perfect dish. This is way different from adobo rice and more on the sweet side. If you want something sweet spicy and savory this is the way to go!

Baked Cream Dory (450)

Just imagine Angel Hair Pasta rolled around pesto topped with a baked cream dory filled with mushrooms smothered with cheesy garlic sauce. It's pretty on the plate and even more beautiful on the palate. I loved this dish and people didn't even want to touch it because it was so nice on the plate. Maybe a little white wine together with this wouldn't hurt.

Lamb Shank in Pinot Noir (550)

If you are not much of a steak person you can opt for the lamb shank in pinot noir or red wine reduction. It's laid in a bed of mashed potatoes and buttered veggies. If you like something concentrated for the sauce this is like a sweet-slightly bitter reduction of the red wine so if you are drinking something like it this is a stronger version of it. The meat just falls off the bones and reminiscent of a rustic European dish.

Baby Back Ribs - American Favorites Barbecue

Even if this was a slab of meat on the table, it literally was non existent after a few minutes. This was a crowd favorite to say the least and I love how it was so soft and sweet. If I had something to eat in this restaurant in one sitting THIS WOULD BE IT. It's just one of their best sellers but I'm telling you if you go there and don't order this, you'll be sorry!

Banana Langka Crepe

If it's time for the sweet things, this would not disappoint you. You might mistake it for crem brulee but once you spoon it off you would taste that hot cooked banana and langka. Soft and foamy, this would be good for kids who like fruits in their dessert.

Ube Cheesecake

There are imitations and here's the real thing. This ube cheesecake is heavenly! Just look at how it's plated, perfect for something very yummy! The star in this one is the dense purple yam cheesecake and if you don't mind me finishing this up for you I'd gladly do!

Chocolate Fondue

It's fun and made for a group! Did you know that in Scandinavian countries you can't let a morsel fall on the fondue because if you do you would have to kiss the one beside you? It's a perfect date ploy so you can get that first kiss hehe now that's an excuse they can't resist! :) Make sure on your first date you get one of these!

The steaks and all its concepts are all by Larry Cortez and Chef Mauro. You'll actually see that listed on their menu. They got these all from testing a couple of recipes before they put up the restaurant. It's nothing that I've seen so far in other fine dining establishments so I suggest you check out The Old Vine Grille one of these days.

And by the way I wasn't joking when I said there were celebrities in Old Vine, look who dropped by for their Tessie Tomas Salad fix!

Husband and wife Jean- Christophe and Gladys Reyes - Sommereux was there and they were SO NICE! I'm a fan of her show and it was really nice of her to say hi. Now do you still have any inhibitions on what to choose the next time you go out and dine with your family? friends? loved ones? There's one restaurant in my mind and that's OLD VINE!

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Old Vine

Like their other restaurants too!

KUSE, Beurre Blanc, Chef's Quarter (Megamall Branch), Chefs' Quarter (Malate Branch), Old Vine Mckinley, Uncle Cheffy

Call 02-7065573 for reservations. Their store is located at Unit 119, Level 1, Eastwood Mall, Eastwood City Cyberpark, E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave. Quezon City.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It! 63 SCOOPS OF ICE CREAM FREE!

Have you heard the NEWS???

Tomorrow will be the start of something good. Something you LOVE has definitely arrived into Philippine shores. It's SWENSEN'S! In celebration of their 63rd Anniversary they will be awarding 63 lucky customers tomorrow (September 15, 2011) the chance to win 63 free scoops of ice cream that they can consume for one whole year! One scoop per visit ain't that bad for the Filipino sweet tooth so make sure you order first at their flagship store in SM Mall of Asia.

Line up and get counted!

First one thousand customers also would receive special coupons that they would be able to use every 500 peso purchase to get them something special from the menu (hint: Strawberry Stripes, Nuts and Mocha) so make sure once it opens tomorrow you line up and get that Sundae everyone's been talking about!

You thought you had a Sundae from someone here in the Philippines? You haven't seen the best yet! So come and get your PERFECT SUNDAE only at SWENSEN'S!

SWENSEN'S is located at the SM Mall of Asia South Wing right beside the Department Store Entrance. Just look for the huge SWENSEN'S Sign! You won't miss it!

P.S.

I'll show you how SWENSEN'S made my PERFECT SUNDAE too! Watch out for that!


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For more information LIKE THEM ON FACEBOOK!

Swensen's Philippines

*Photos courtesy of Swensen's Philippines Facebook Page!

Rockin, Dining & Rollin at Red Box!

Dragging along a couple of people from my office is hard. We're serious business minded people and we barely go out. It's like the norm for around 5 years because we have different priorities. It was a great thing though that I got hooked up by no less than Ms. Cecille Van Straten of Chuvaness.com and I'd like to thank her for this bit (Thanks Ms. C! :) ).

After getting the reservations to Red Box fixed, we walked to the Eastwood Branch which is a stones throw away from our office. It's inside the Eastwood Mall, top floor right beside the Cinemas. It was my second time to be there but I didn't really get to go around that much the first time because I had to cover an event. They assigned a cozy room for us which is near the entrance. It was quite neat because I didn't even know it was going to be that BIG!

Yeap it was HUGE! (Photo courtesy of the Red Box Facebook page)

I didn't know it was going to be that huge, we were only five people because the others backed out. Of course they envied us so much afterwards that they wanted me to book the place again. For starters they've got a couple of dishes prepared for buffet. We dug in and got a taste of what they offered, just take a look at my full plate!

Cream Dory with Lemon-Butter Sauce, Bok Choi, Pork Slivers in Hoisin Sauce, Pork strips in Tomato Sauce... doesn't that make your mouth water?!

We never got dead air while we were there because we never ran out of things to do. It wasn't just Vidoeke that we had on the room, there's a full grown pool table too!

It was the perfect way to welcome our new Mexican office mate to break the ice. As you can see we had lots of fun singing our hearts out on state of the art audio equipment. Everything was easy and accessible. It was all computerized and we didn't really need to look at huge volumes of books to look for a song. Their system even displays the top hits and they never run out of new songs too! If you are not in the mood to sing, they've got concerts and MTV style videos you can play to your hearts desire!

Service was impeccable. Their crew always checked on us if we needed anything. You can easily call them too on the phone if you need something else done on your party area. This guy below always made sure we had something in our hands to drink and they've got a wide variety of drinks to choose from!

It was soft drinks for the girls and a couple of bottle of beers for the guys! Nope we didn't get drunk this time but if we ordered more that would be a BIG possibility LOL!

So the next time you and your friends decide to have fun right in the heart of the city, try to get a reservation at Red Box and you'll surely gonna have a grand time!

Need I say more?!


P.S.
Thank you to the nice people at Red Box Philippines and Kim Ilagan for making our time there worthwhile! I'd gladly go back there for more fun! =)

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For more information please like them on Facebook!

Red Box: Rock, Dine & Roll

New Blogger App for IPHONE works with IPAD2!

It looks like I'll be blogging more frequently because of the availability of the new IPHONE App for Blogger. Guess what, it works for the IPAD2 too! Now it will be more convenient than ever to harness the power of social media right in the comforts of your apple device. Google finally gave in to the demand of this other OS but probably will stir the feathers of android loyalists. Will this mean a lot more applications from android will switch to this more commercial one?!

Why in the world did it take so long for them to do this?! Will they keep it simple like now or will they have more features in the future so they can battle it out with the paid apps that already have existed in in the Apple Store?!

I'm sure those paid apps are beggining to feel the impact on their sales anytime soon! capisce?! :)

Just search the app store for Blogger and this will show up as onenof the choices.. Best of all it's free! :)

Starting Up Businesses

In this day and age it is so hard to put up your own company let alone expand because of economic times but it is essential for growth. Making your products and services available in a larger area essentially would need manpower and logistics. That can cost a lot; but how can we make it affordable for everyone without breaking the bank?! That's one hard question to answer for any economic expert but there are people that can help to make that happen. If they succeed expanding and making your institution grow your, return of investment is simply going to be a reality. If you reach a wider audience and the products or services are good then there is no reason why your business wouldn't flourish. Some would even suggest getting involved in the global market; why not! Maybe startup incorporation is the answer.

Naturally there are certain factors to be considered but with a trustworthy counterpart in all these locations; it's a great thing to start with at any point. In this fast changing world we always wish for the good life. We can only do that if we invest with the right people and do it with the best decisions that we can make at that time. It should be done with a lot of planning. We also should expect to perform a lot of improvements in the business if problems occur. Success is inevitable and in the long run it will be best for any business that requires geographic locations involved people and services that you can honestly give your name to. The brand would stand if you get the best people to work for you but it doesn't necessarily have to be costly. Find a partner to start the ball running for you and not against you. Get someone who knows what they do and you'll make better choices professionally for your business. It's a good thing!

There's Chicken... Then There's BONCHON!

BONCHON Drumsticks, there's even a spicy version of it! Yum!

I was there! I witnessed something spectacular each time they laid down a couple of baskets of these hot, crispy chicken. There were ooohs and ahhhs everytime we took a bite of this Soy Garlic Goodness known the world over! One name has been critically acclaimed and dubbed Best Chicken in America; that's BONCHON!

BONCHON Chicken Wings were to die for! You should get a ton of these!

Secret Recipes passed on from generation to generation, this best kept family secret from Korea landed in New York first before it arrived in the shores of the Philippines. It didn't surprise me that each time I visit their Eastwood store I see a throng of people ordering these famous drumsticks and wings!

BONCHON also has Calamares! It's kimchi mayo sauce just spices up the whole experience!

There's variety in their menu, imagine this huge serving of Calamares only costs 125.00! To have this together with local and international beers is a deal breaker! That is just the perfect pair!

BONCHON Beef Bulgogi Rice Box

The BONCHON Beef Bulgogi Rice Box just fits the bill. It's sweet-salty taste would take you to that next level of Korean experience. We loved it so much only the a few grains of rice stand witness to how fast this was finished! If you want take outs for the office or school this would be my recommendation! Aside from the chicken of course! :)

BONCHON Fish Tacos Meal!

It doesn't end there! If you want other things than beef or chicken, they have fish options that are quite healthy because it comes with Kimchi Coleslaw. The breaded cream dory hugged inside these wraps and the hot slaw was great! I'll try and get my Mom some of these soon!

BONCHON Ginger Tofu Salad

For vegetarians, you should get this for starters. The veggies, tofu plus the sauce was a nice and lovely. It was sweet and a bit tangy. It was really nice! You can add a couple of bucks to make this together with chicken pieces! Yummy!

Cool tall glass of Iced Tea!

Iced Tea served in Tall glasses definitely did the job washing down the heat from those awesome wings. Then after that you'll have to order another serving; which means a couple more baskets. If you are from Makati try the Ayala Triangle Branch. I'm telling you the Ayala Triangle branch is LOVE! The Eastwood and newly opened Katipunan branch too!

Now if you were asking about what happened to the 4 baskets of BONCHON chicken we had on the table..

This is what happened! :)
Isn't it very Filipino to leave just one piece on the table?! LOL

These were the culprits! We ate it all! Thanks for the group hug Magic!
(photo courtesy of Magic Liwanag Photography)

More things are planned to come on the menu for BONCHON this October! So watch out for that! Guys and gals remember they have beer in store so if you want to celebrate something after office hours please drop by. I recommend all their Chicken products, they are to die for! They know the real selling point is their chicken, please get the spicy versions of it which I love! Their special sauce and glaze is imported from Korea every week so you know you are getting the AUTHENTIC one.

Bonchon Chicken Prices

Wings Ricebox 135
Drumsticks Ricebox 95/145
Chops Ricebox 145
Fish Ricebox 145
Bulgogi Ricebox 145
Bulgogi Wrap 145
Chicken Sandwich Meal 145
Fish Tacos Meal 145 ( cream dory)


Sides

White rice 15
Fries 45
Kimchi Coleslaw 45
Calamari 125
Caesar salad 125
Ginger tofu salad 125
Add chicken to salad 30


Bonchon Chicken

Small 185. Medium 365 Large 720
Wings 6pcs. 12pcs. 24pcs
Drumsticks 3pcs. 6pcs. 12 pcs
Combo 3drumsticks. 6 drumsticks
6 wings. 12 wings
Chops. 4pcs. 8pcs. 12pcs.

Scott Tan who owns BON CHON was there too. I know girls, he's cute and handsome like me LOL... but too bad he doesn't want to enter show business. They're putting up more stores soon so everyone can get a taste of BON CHON. He personally designed the first store and each one will be patterned from it. I'm sure there's one near you so go to your favorite BON CHON outlets and get your hands on the number 1 chicken in America and find out why it's the best! After all, it's The New York Times, GQ and Esquire who said that! If that ain't gonna convince you I don't know what will! :)

Capisce?!

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For more information, check out their website!

http://www.bonchon.com.ph


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Bonchon Chicken Philippines

Cleanse, Detoxify, Rejuvenate, and Balance with My Spa Diet!

For most of us BIG people there are several things that we don't attempt to do. One, because we would probably feel humiliated and two, we already know why. On this day however I was surprised to be asked to do it, but I gave it a go so I can do something about it. It's one of those nightmares that you try and fight for. You know what it is?!

Tadaaaa! :) I got my weight measured! Haha!

Just like me thousands of Filipinos are actually overweight and living a healthy life is really not one of their priorities because they are either too busy because of work or too lazy to work out and have a proper diet. We are not alone, even Ms. Cheshire Que - a spa diet expert, RND, RD, RN went through the same dilemma. On this day, she reveals a program that helped her overcome this and calls it My Spa Diet.

Lose weight, Rejuvenate with MySpaDiet.com

She started by telling us an anecdote about her folks, their current state and how she got heredity, history play in getting that condition. Just like them, everybody's got a weight gain story. Weight management is such a hard thing to achieve if you don't know what you are doing. She however also had hormone problems because of her thyroid condition. She made a point that a high fat high sodium low fiber diet exists all around us. Technology has also made us all lazy and gain weight because of the lack of physical activity. In this sense, "Lifestyle modification" is essential and there are three things to do in order to accomplish this. Fixing our Diet, exercise and behavior. That is where myspadiet.com comes in.

We got out BMI measured and she took the time explaining to us what the numbers mean. I was particularly surprised about how big my numbers were since it'll be a basis for what will cause heart problems and diabetes in the future.

If you go to the site it highlights the essential tools of the myspadiet program she designed. Week one is cleanse, two is detoxify, three is rejuvenate and four balance. The phases need you to do the following: High fiber and water, no red meat and processed food, featured fruits and vegetable everyday, all foods allowed but in moderation.

It caters to men and women; they ask you for your daily physical activity and give you an image of your food allowance. They have it represented in numbers and you shouldn't eat beyond six hours so you wont starve. It is all about meal timing. If you prefer a different diet then you can always substitute just as long as it satisfies your numbers. The menu plans in the site has varieties and you can see practical comparisons with real life things so you can measure whatever you eat with something usual. It is very important to eat something ALWAYS in moderation. You need to also move a lot, exercise and do something active. There are studies in Japan that if you do exercise and do something all in 30 mins, that would account to more in a week and would be beneficial for your health. It also depends on the intensity so make sure you do work out with that in mind. We need to make sure we replenish with water right after so we don't dry up and age because of lack of hydration. The fourth week would get your food intake to a disciplined mode but you must make sure you get everything in tolerable portions and do not eat mindlessly. That's where most people fail and perform a yoyo diet.

Behavior change is essential and you need guidance from experts which is also available on the site. Lifestyle is a modification is a process and need something that would also motivate the mind. If you are not disciplined and motivated to do these things, that causes it to fail.

So the next time you go out and buy something in the grocery, include something that is from the fresh produce department. The site also suggests and recommends a list that you can take along when you buy something. It's a good thing... make sure you visit the site myspadiet.com.

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Easy Pha-Max

Grace of Easy Pha-Max gave a small info about wheat grass and its benefits. People in the US specially those in LA have been eating this since time and memorial and with its availability in Malaysia; it now comes to the Philippines. This is essential to cleansing and alkalinity which is one f the goals of myspadiet.com for the first and second week. This should be taken cold and we were also advised to shake it well since it has to have the nutrients also mixed in. They only use the grass but not the roots. Although the anti aging and cancer preventing minerals are in the roots it has the essentials already in the drink. It is also recommended to be taken daily for detoxifying and if we have a lot of unhealthy food eaten this is a must. It helps in cleaning the colon and prevents chronic constipation. Did you know that we have to go to the comfort room twice a day to actually keep it healthy? I'm sure most if you only do it once so don't lie haha :)

It's for thorough cleansing. You and I know that we need it! You know what to do! :)


For more information please check out their website!

http://www.myspadiet.com

http://www.easypha-max.com/


Or like them on Facebook!

My Spa Diet

Easy Pha-max Wheatgrass