Thanks to my bestfriend, Eds, for taking us to her cousin’s new restaurant!  RG and his chef friend, Ivan, worked together to come up with Focaccia.  Thanks also to the mom of RG, Tita Evelyn, for supporting this new venture.  Hope you can all support these two young guys!

The prices are very reasonable and the quality of the food is very good.  Definitely value for your money.  Perfect for big groups so you can share the dishes.  We enjoyed our lunch!   We will be back many many times and luckily it is very near our office!  

More power to RG and Chef Ivan!  

Mushroom Soup 

 I liked the Cream of Tomato and Basil soup very much and it was nice to have it in sets of 3 small cups so we were all able to share it and only for P 90.00! 

Spinach and Artichoke Formaggio!!!! YUM! Formaggio!

Spaghetti Amatriciana also YUMMY! 

Canneloni in Bechamel Sauce 

What a great concept!  Pazzo Rollio ( crazy rolls )!  I call it Super super thin crust pizza and I could eat it as is without even rolling it.  I love thin crust pizzas!  This kind is really the thinest I have tried.  I love it!! I want to try the other kinds!!!! 3 to 4 people can share one order and it is reasonably priced and YUMMY!

Our kids have even eaten here before us- see below ( right top corner ).  We saw their autographs on the wall!  They told us they liked it too! They want to go back already…. 

The restaurant is in a new mall in Makati Avenue where they have many other restaurants and new food concepts.   

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My friend Mykie really knows how to enjoy food and eating out!  He is our restaurant adviser for Japan and Hong Kong as he has lived there before. Thanks Mykie and Keiko for inviting us for dinner. It was nice to be with Kirk and Joanne!  

We really really enjoyed the meal you prepared for us in Maurizio that evening. Mykie is part owner of Maurizio and he served us a superb meal. We are definitely coming back to eat the same dishes we had!  

 Burrata - Creamy Mozzarella Buffala

Insalata Mista 

Pizze del Re ( Pizza of Kings ) - Porcini Mushrooms and Mozzarella Buffala 

Assorted cold cuts - my favorite is the lardo ( the all white one )!  I am sure it is also the unhealthiest of all! 

 Bistecca Fiorentina -Prime Angus Rib Eye

You have to go to Maurizio and try their Fiorentina- we had the porterhouse cut and the rib eye 

 Bistecca Fiorentina - Wagyu Porterhouse 

 Penne ala Nordica - Olive Oil, Garlic, Anchovies, Vodka, Chili and Cream

Joanne’s favorite pasta - I like it too!!!  

Rum Raisin Gelato 

website:  Maurizio Ristorante 

Previous Entries:  

Maurizio Risotorante September 22, 2007 

Anniversary Celebration of Maurizio Ristorante June 9, 2008

La Régalade, a world-class French bistro established by renowned chef Alain Rayé in Vancouver in 2001.  A proposal was made to start another La Régalade, in Manila. Alain cheerily welcomed the opportunity, having long nurtured the desire to spread his wings to Asia.

 Over the past year, Alain has visited Manila a number of times and helped decide on the site for La Régalade. He has sniffed his way through the metropolis’ wet markets, and delighted in the availability, quality and freshness of seafood. 

He promises a whole new experience in the country bistro food he will initiate and institutionalize in Makati. No doubt the passion that has ruled his culinary genius over three decades will manifest itself in this new endeavor.

Alain Rayé’s word in his latest book come to mind, and heart: 

“Cooking is the happiness of my life. This is my art, my way of communicating, and my true passion. As any artist knows, the joy of creating is surpassed only by the joy of sharing your creations. Sharing my cuisine with people who appreciate food is my ultimate satisfaction.”  

After supervising its opening and first few weeks, Alain will hand over the reins to his fellow Frenchman Pierre Cornelis. The Executive Chef will stay full time for at least a year to train local sous chefs.

Bubut Quicho, Manager and owner together with Tonyboy Cojuangco

Salad Régalade 

Gratinated Onion Soup  

Escargots En Croutons 

Filet of Fish, Mashed Potatoes, Olive Oil 

Beouf Bourginon 

Grilled Jumbo Tiger Prawns with Lime and Ginger

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I have been hearing many good things about Summer Palace, so as soon as my good friend, Rina, invited me for lunch, of course I moved all my appointments and had lunch with her and Suharto!  :-)  Thanks guys for always inviting us!  

Apparently Rina was craving for the prawn salad with cornflakes, which became my favorite too.  Mom and John always order the prawn salad for me when we eat in Shang Palace ( Shangri-la Hotel Makati ) but this one had cornflakes!!  YUMMY!  

Benny and Soraya joined us and they took care of ordering as they are regulars in the restaurant.  EVERYTHING was very good!!!  Make sure you look for Nancy and ask her for the specials not found in the menu!   

Xiao Long Bao - I was surprised to see this as it is very hard to find in the Philippines.  It was quite small, taste it okay.  Still not the real real thing but it is close

Prawn Salad with Cornflakes! Our favorite!  

Steamed cod fish in soy sauce - VERY GOOD!!! 

After all that, we still had Peking duck!  Wow!!! 

I was already full by the time the Peking Duck came - but the 2nd way was also very very good!!!  Deep Fried with Spicy Salt!  Make sure you eat it with the sauce.   

Edsa Shangri-la Hotel Manila   1 Garden Way, Ortigas Centre Mandaluyong City 1650, Philippines

T: (63 2) 633 8888  F: (63 2) 631 1067

Summer Palace 

Phone  (63 2) 633 8888 ext. 2738/2739

Hours  Open daily for both lunch and dinner. Open at 9am on Sundays for a dim sum breakfast.

Location Mezzanine Level, Tower Wing  

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Dad and Mom hosted a dinner in honor of Carlson who was a very good host to us when we vsited Shanghai three years ago.  Carlson took us together with Suharto and Rina to many good restaurants and gave us a cultural tour of the city.  What a great tour guide.  Carlson is so soft spoken, so kind, so humble, so low profile yet he runs one of the most successful snack food companies in China!  I have this sort of liking for people who produce snack foods We are so fortunate to have a met a new great friend!

Mom and I were deciding what kind of food to serve for Carlson so I told Mom Filipino food since he must be tired of Chinese food.  Only to find out that Carlson is very picky about his food.  He said he will eat anything as long as if you put it in your hands, you do not have to wash your hands after.   What an interesting way to put it!  I guess that means nothing oily or fatty.  Now we know how Carlson keeps his trim and healthy figure.  After having said that, we are glad he still ate the cuchinillo! as he is a kind and proper guest. 

Mom of course prepared a very good home cooked meal…Thanks Mom for preparing and hosting!

Soup Triolet - Tinola, Sinigang and Corn 

Kare Kare and Bagoong by Ado Escudero 

Buko Lychee Sherbet - Wow!  We were all so amazed at this presentation.  Round for the ladies and the tall one for the gents 

Cuchinillo 

Cheese Platter 

Lemon Bars 

Fruit Platter 

Fresh Tarragon Tea from Mom’s garden 

Thanks also to Carlson for these two beautiful limited edition prints entitled Siopao Siomai.  He told me that for sure I would like his gift and of course I do, it is FOOD!:-)

by Pepper Roxas or Isabel ” Pepper” Roxas

Her Mom is Kit Roxas, owner of Tawilis Antiques at La’O Center, near San Lorenzo gate.  Pepper’s works, and those of Sheer Joy, are inside her mom’s shop 

Carlson does not know it yet, but I have officialy appointed him to be one of Heart2Heart’s ART teachers  He is designated to acquaint Heart2Heart with anything that has to do with Arts and Culture.  So we look forward to more art and cultural adventures with Carlson and share it here at Heart2Heart!

Previous entry:  River Songs July 11, 2008 

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Dad and Mom celebrated their anniversary and Mom wanted to of course have a meal with the family.  She chose one of their favorites, Antonio’s.  Many of the times that we have dined at Antonio’s, it is a special occassion.  But I will drive two hours any time, any day just to have a meal at Antonio’s!  It is worth it! 

This is Tito Robbie’s round dining table in Antonio’s. He sent it there so that when he dines there he has his round dining table.  It is the only round dining table in the restaurant.  Dad and Mom borrow it when he is not there, but that night, he was there too   so we used a rectangular table.

All the oysters were very good but this of course was my favorite

Gratinated Oysters with Foie Gras - YUMMY!!!

Grilled Oysters Balsamic, Garlic portobello 

Portabello Mushrooms with Balsamic and Garlic and Gratinated Escargot with Garlic Cream

House salad with Foie Gras Potato Truffle Tempura 

All entrees come with house salad and soup but of course our family ordered so many other appetizers that most of us did not eat anymore the house salad and passed on the soup.   

Grilled Certified Angus Prime Rib Eye Steak! YUMMY! YUMMY!  ( double YUMMY!)

Rock Salt garlic potato fries- make sure to order this as a siding 

Grilled Beef Fillet Gratinated with Wild Mushroom on Mashed potato

Sole Meuniere with Fried Gnocchi 

 Dessert comes with the entrees

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Many of you have probably seen or met Mr. Kazemi in bazaars whenever he sells his yummy shawarmas.  He also continues to sell his shawarmas in Rustan’s Expresslane Ayala Alabang Village Park.  

He is such a nice guy and a friend of the family.  Once in awhile we ask him to cook for us during our family meals.   We tell him how many people and he comes with the food already cooked.We just place them in our containers.  

 He makes other things aside from Shawarmas - he has hummus, chicken kebab, lamb, chicken curry and the famous hash brown potatoes. All very good!  Mom makes sure to over order so we can all bring back home some after we have stuffed ourselves.  

Mr. Bizhan Kazemi:  0919-863-3133 / 0928-256-0406

Rustan’s Ayala Alabang Village:  807-1997 

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This is my parent’s dining table.  It is here that we have many family meals, celebrate many special occassions and where my parents host their friends.  I have been part of many of those meals and up to this day, I look forward to every meal we have here - aside from the great food that Mom serves and prepares,  it is the overall experience that is most memorable and most important is dining with many personalities and friends of my parents.

They particularly chose a round dining table as a very good friend of theirs, Tito Robbie Delgado, influenced them in choosing round as the shape of their table.  A round table is the best shape because you get to see and talk to everyone in the table.  Our dining table at home is also round and it is perfect.

Another wonderful evening with another of Dad and Mom’s barkada….

Tito Danny is so easy to get along with… such a nice guy!  I noticed that he keeps watching me taking photos.  Tita Ising was James’ seatmate and he told me later on that he enjoyed taking care of her that evening.  She strikes me as a quiet person, soft spoken and I admire her for her simplicity and for being very low profile.  Andy pointed out to me that she is the only person who drinks her red wine with ice.  

and of course I documented it

The ever so pretty and lovely Tita Baby. Ever since I met her, she has never aged and she is as beautiful as ever.  Tito Cesar on the other hand has always been a good family friend and by the way, if you are looking to buy a Mercedez Benz… do contact him :-) 

My seatmate, Andy, is the “BIG BOSS” of Shangri-la.  I enjoyed chatting with him.  He is a super smart lawyer, a funny guy and is “taken”!  Tisha is the lucky wife and is the daughter of Tita Baby.   Now we know where she gets her charm and good looks.  I see Tisha in Mother’s Club and she helps her Mom run Franck Provost and CAS.  ( previous Entry:  Beauty 101 April 29, 2008 ) 

And my other seatmate, Patrick, friend of Tito Cesar and a Swiss banker based in Hong Kong. Also a nice guy…but “spoken for” as well  

I enjoy eating kobe beef with this group- they fry their beef fat and eat it.  Everyone in the table did it. They really know how to enjoy eating!!  

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It was nice to see Derek and Lally during their short visit to the Philippines.  Lally was a batchmate in Assumption highschool and Ateneo for college.  She migrated to Canada and is now married to Derek with two daughters. Lally was one of the people who believed in me and suggested that I put up Heart2Heart.  Thanks Lals for the encouragement and for all your advice.   

I am also so happy to meet Derek.  He is a Radiologist and is the second guy I know, next to Tito Serge, that likes Gardening.  Derek does boxed gardening since he said in Toronto, they do not have much space in their homes for big gardens, so they put their gardens by their windows. We get along because he also likes desserts!!  One of his favorites is also my favorite, brazo de mercedez.    

I gave Lally a short list of restos to choose from where we could meet up and I am glad she chose Le Gourmet at Rustan’s. Good answer!  Good answer!

I chose a basic french dish - Croque Monsieur which I truly enjoyed! 

Lally’s order-  Pasta Marinara

Dereks’ order - Legumes Farcis ( Stuffed Vegetable Plate ) 

And of course Derek and I split two desserts! 

 Mousse Au Chocolat

Tiramisu 

 It was a nice lunch to catch up a bit on Lally.  Hope to see you guys again soon…hopefully in Toronto! 

Previous Entry:  Le Gourmet at Rustan’s March 10, 2008 

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