Spend your Valentine's ala ToT-style

V-Day at Hotel Elizabeth Baguio

Since the V-day is coming up around the corner, and I have been reviewing quite a lot of restaurants in the metro, there are several establishments that come to mind when I think of a romantic, intimate setting for dining during the day of lovers. Here are my picks from my personal experience, and throughout the coming days I'll be injecting other places onto ToT which I think are definitely date-worthy too.

MEN: Read up, Take down the contact numbers, Buy flowers, Take all the credit. Love ToT

Aubergine, Bonifacio Global City 

From the decor and the mood lighting, to the lamb and the dessert menu, plus the Patisserie section, Aubergine will score big points for those googly-eyed ladies who want to be wowed and impressed with your culinary prowess. Their 7-course Degustation menu is worth the $$$, complete with liquid nitrogen for smoky effect. Order a vintage bottle from their impressive wine list to get giddy a uninhibited.

Awed and Odd at Aubergine

Let's say you're on a date, and towards the end of the night all you could think of is dessert and how good it would be right at that moment when all you want to do is impress someone. When the platter arrives, you take one look at the (above) dessert, another look at your date, and you realize... you have no idea what the heck that is! Ok, that isn't really the case, but I thought it a bit amusing to begin with that dessert platter because it's just plain whimsical. That's my Amuse Bouche for this post.

 A few nights ago I was on my way to dinner and was blindsided towards Aubergine. Blindsided because this was not the intended restaurant for the evening, but apparently I didn't get the memo on the location change. No complaints, I love Aubergine; It's the perfect date place if you want to impress a lady. Beware if that lady happens to be ToT, she knows how to burn a hole in your pocket.

Spasso's Italian Specials

Did I really finish this entire platter of Lamb Chops? Better yet, where can you get this big serving of lamb for P850 ($19)?

Spasso Italian Tapas & Enoteca

Twice already, I've had the chance to dine at Spasso, an Italian wine & tapas bar that also serves up Italian fare for the hungry ones. It was one of those "where is it?" places, so I relished the thought of finding yet another under-the-radar eatery to try in the Metro.

EuroCruise 2010: Wine Tasting at Santo Winery, Santorini

After our walking trip to the town of Oia, our tour guide Arthur took us to Santo Winery for some Greek Wine tasting.

Located at the village of Pyrgos in Santorini, SantoWines sits at the edge of the Caldera. Hence, the awesome view!

I'm all for liquor consumption, and tasting the unique flavors of Santorini wine is more exciting because of the sulfur content in the soil due to the volcanic presence and the eruptions, giving their grape juice extra oomph.

Tipsy Toeing to Purple Feet

Hidden inside Wine Depot is another "hole in the wall" to complement my previous posts on nondescript, hard to find, good food. But this one isn't on the same price range as Ukokkei Ramen Ron & Xiang Chuan Hunan resto

Purple Feet by Chef Marco Legasto

The name stands for the stained color your feet gets when you make wine by stepping on some grapes. Cute!

ZaZa is for Steak (Bistecca Fiorentina, that is!)

 Let's retrace the steps...

 

Back in the day, 2003 to be exact, when my brother still had long locks, he took a few months off to live in Firenze for summer school. He learned a lot, did a lot, and the next year when I was off to fly myself to Florence for the same program, he imparted one very wise piece of advice:

 

Eat at Trattoria Za Za's and get sloshed and noshed with their Bistecca Fiorentina.

Julie & Julia & ToT

I miss movie nights. I especially miss hoarding all the popcorn and candy at the AMCs or United theaters in the States. But in all honestly, Manila cinemas are the shiznitz for seat comfort, food variation (who would think, Binalot!) and unwaivering cold ac.

So imagine my jubilations when my girlfriend C sends me an insta-sms asking me to be her date to a movie. I ask which movie, she answered, and the rest is history...

Well not really.

Julia & Julie is THE film I was dying to watch. Beyond Meryll Streep's overabundant personification of ze Julia Child, it is the plot of a twentysomething lady with a lot of "duh" on her head who decides to blog about food. Specifically, a one year cook-off from Ms. Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. (Note to self: get a copy of the book)

While waiting in line, we were greeted by these adorable women dressed up in Le Cordon Bleu outfits, which is where Julia Childs took up her culinary studies

Wine-topia at Wine Depot Festival

So there was this very odd weekend when a lot of shit almost literally hit the fan. I needed a drink... I needed a lot of drink. A few Saturdays ago, manna from heaven came down to earth in the form of Wine Depot's tasting event.

Held at the NBC Tent at the Fort Strip, the wine tasting was a consummation of different vineyards, distributors, suppliers and connoisseurs. There was also no shortage of alcoholics, hoarders, and just plain thirsty goers... that would be my entourage right there.

Saw my good friend G at the event, I decided to turn him into my model bitch. He gladly obliged.

Upon registering, they issue you your very own glass, which will be used for all the free flowing wine you want to gulp down. I liked this sommelier's style. lol

I liked this Chilean line called Casablanca Valley

Booth after booth, the P1000 pass gave unlimited access to vino from Australia (where most of the vendors originated), France, Spain and other grapeful countries. I really enjoyed the Late-Picked one from Tulloch vineyard. Must get more.

Terry's Treats

I recently went through a spanish phase... where everything ingested must be birthed from either barcelona, catalana, or the subsects of Spain. When such a phase happens, I must head to Terry's Selection

  

3rd floor delicatessen side

The branch at the Podium is so convenient from work that the fam usually goes there for some lunch. I like Podium for the grocery style appeal where it feels like shopping in New York or even in Barcelona itself. But this time, I wanted to try something different and headed to the Makati branch... the treasure is found on the third floor

Goodies

The third floor of the Salcedo branch of Terry's is somewhat of a hidden gem. It's two flights up really steep stairs, and not very many people want to climb that high, but that's where the deli section is, and there are only about 2 tables on the top floor, making it an intimate dining setting amidst bottles of vino, vats of olio, and slices of jamon iberico.

Julius, super attentive server/sommelier. Look for him

The clincher must have been Julius, who is the most serviceable server I have met. Short of wiping my mouth with my napkin, he was on his toes, in service, all the time. And to think, he had to go back and forth the 1st and 3rd floor to get our wine, bread, blahblahblah... A MUST look to for him and leave a ginormous tip.