Tag: restaurants

Tried Rufo’s early this morning (like 2AM early). Actually I’ve tried it almost exactly a week ago at Makati. That time, I ordered (what else?) tapsilog, their signature dish. Unusually, the tapa comes with sauce. In fact there’s more sauce than meat. They claim that the sauce alone is already viand. Frankly, I didn’t expect tapa to come with sauce since I’m used more to Rodic’s and Tapa King’s tapa which are more traditional. But I have to admit that it does taste nice. I like Rodic’s tapa better though. Anyway, this morning, I ordered embutido then switched to liempo because both Alex and Aby ordered it (shades of gluttony and envy in one sitting, beat that!) . But no regrets since it’s one of the best liempo I’ve had. I definitely want to try the other items on their menu.

UPDATE: Their embutido sucks.

It was Ann’s birthday yesterday so Paul and I took her out to dinner at Galileo Enoteca. Friends have been recommending the place for a long time but I haven’t had the chance to check it out until last night. I wasn’t disappointed. Even Paul who wanted to go somewhere “tried and tested” was won over.

The place is tucked away nicely in small corner in an unassuming neighborhood. You park at the side of the street and enter the restaurant’s door into a deli/wine cellar. Inside are long wooden tables and benches. The walls are all covered shelves holding hundreds of wine bottles. The few sections not covered with shelves are painted with Italian art inspired paintings. The lighting is just right: soft and dim but not too dark. The music, instrumental versions of classic love songs, could have been better but is good enough.

We ordered the samplers or a little bit of everything: cheese, cold cuts, pasta, meat, and wine. Coffee or tea is even included. Even better, we were served complimentary shots of limoncello and grappa. And the best is Ann was served a birthday gelato complete with a candle on top.

Great place, great food, great service. What else can you ask for?

Rating: 4/5

Val learned about this new restaurant along Morato called Nasilemak. So she, Rose, and I decided to meet up there. I found the place quite easily. It is in front of the McDonald’s at the intersection of Morato and Roces and beside an Office Warehouse branch (Let me practice my French: Il est devant McDonald’s a l’intersection de Rue Morato et Rue Roces et pres de un Office Warehouse branch).

The interior was well done. It is minimalist and Zen-inspired. The furniture is dark and the walls are light. Reproductions of paintings are hung here and there. The lighting is subdued but not too dark. At a corner, I saw Val chatting with the owner and I joined them. After a narration of the history of the place and the menu by the owner, we sat down and checked out the menu while waiting for Rose who arrived a soon after.

We ordered fried rice with dilis, fried fish with sambal sauce, pata tim, and milk tea. They actually come with more exotic sounding names but I just couldn’t recall them. The fried rice was good. The burst of flavor when you bite on the dilis is just great. The fried fish with sambal sauce was also good. The aroma from the sambal sauce is mouth-watering and the fish itself absorbed some of that. The best has got to be the pata tim. It’s a bit salty but it’s still so good I even sampled the fatty stuff :D

It’s a bit expensive but about still worth it for that occasional food splurge.

Rating: 3/5

The other day, my former colleagues and I had our traditional Christmas get together. We decided to do it at Dencio’s in Metrowalk instead of at Congo Grill at El Pueblo where we usually go. We should have known better.

As usual in big gatherings, people took their time and trickled in gradually. While waiting for them, one of the staff approached me and asked how many we are in the group. I told her the number. She asked what time they are coming. I told her soon. She said they don’t reserve on fridays. I told her we’ve already ordered their food. I don’t know what the problem was. Whether it’s one person or twenty, if I order food for twenty people, I deserve space for twenty people. Good thing she didn’t push the issue and the bulk of the group arrived soon after.

Then while we were eating, some of the waiters were removing plates without asking. And this is when we still had pending orders which are taking too long. Maybe they didn’t know there are still pending orders. But that’s not even an excuse. At the least, they should ask if it is okay to remove the plates. What it seemed to me is that they were running out of plates because when we asked for replacement plates and utensils, they would take their time bringing the plates and sometimes bring only a spoon or a fork with it.

Throughout the ordeal, I didn’t feel welcome nor attended to. Granted it’s dinner time on a friday and it’s the Christmas season to boot. But they should have anticipated that. So it’s no excuse. Besides, this is not the first time I’ve experienced poor service in this specific branch. So maybe they really suck at the service department. I don’t know why I still went back. But I definitely won’t again.

Rating: 1/5