Monthly Archives: April 2014

The Glass Door by Maj Lazatin Imperial

By | Foodie | One Comment

 Restaurants are still opening left and right!  I was happy to hear that Chef Maj Lazatin has opened one!!  Her proud sister, Rewa, told me about it and we met up so I could see the place.  It’s a bar/resto called the Glass Door

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 The glass door of the The Glass Door 🙂 

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 Here they are 🙂  The beautiful Lazatin sisters.  They are actually three so we are missing the youngest one.  Rewa told me that her Dad made it a rule that if any of them invests in a business, they will have to be partners with the minority splitting 30% and the main owner at 70% ownership.  That way they will have to work with each other and support each other.  I told Rewa that they are lucky they can do business together because it’s not the same with others.  Which makes me admire them more because they are all so close
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 Nice interiors

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 Private room by the corner
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 I am always checking out the uniforms of the staff 🙂  
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Chef Maj studied in Apicius Florence for a year in 2005 and then in 2011 interned with chef Julian Serrano, a two star Michelin chef, in Picasso at the Bellagio for 6 months.  Then she moved to a tapas bar in Aria Hotel of Chef Julian Serrano and worked for 3 months with Chef Picasso.  Which explains the tapas and sangria in the Glass Door  
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 Chicharon Bulaklak!! YUM!!!
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 The food at Glass Door is a mixture of all the dishes Chef Maj does well.  And don’t be intimidated by the posh interiors, because the food is very reasonable.  In fact Chef Maj gets a lot of private functions especially in the evening

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Super yum Salmon Tartare

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Tartufo pasta

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 Chef Maj really started out with catering and party platters but according to her, her sister, Rewa in particular :-), made her work and open a restaurant 🙂  But she’s so talented.  Maj can do catering and Rewa brags about her tapas so she can do a tapa night or cocktails at your place or event or you can order from her Thai party platters
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Where Did The Trays Go?

By | Green | No Comments

In Jaime’s school cafeteria in the States, they changed something from the last time we were there

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They removed the trays!!  I am guilty 🙂  I tend to fill up the tray with so much food and drinks and filling it up and ending up not finishing everything!  But look how much they have saved from this initiative!
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Youth with A Future 2014

By | Foodie, Giving Back | 2 Comments

What a very beautiful and meaningful event last March 18 at the Enderun tent.  It’s really a totally different affair when there is a cause behind it and that’s what made it special.  

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Thank you Enderun Colleges, Ducasse Education and Ducasse Institute Philippines!  youth-with-a-future-2014-1a.jpg

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I noticed a very attentive Chef Alain.  He is very attentive to everything.  I even saw him going to the kitchen – probably checking on the food preparation.  The ambience and the mood of the event was set by him and I could feel it and it’s really the type of feeling that’s warm, friendly and full of love.  It was no ordinary dinner.  I truly enjoyed the evening and I am sure everyone did

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I am peeping through the curtains watching the Enderun staff preparing and I saw my friend, Suzette there 🙂  I am so proud!  She is my friend! 🙂 



Founders of Enderun Javi Infante and Jack Tuason with his wife Luccia

Thank you to all those who attended and went for a good cause




The hardworking team that put together a wonderful meal



Our table

  My hardworking batch mate and table mate, Tricia Tensuan, who organised all of this for Enderun and Chef Alain Ducasse!  Congrats Tricia!!!  I am sure it was all worth it 

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The best meal is a meal made with love, for love, and that’s what we had.  Very delicious and very meaningful.  

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The amount of support from all the sponsors was overflowing

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Beautiful centerpieces made by Margarita Fores using the herbs from Tuloy Foundation gardens.  At the end of the dinner, these were auctioned off too.  An envelope was placed in the middle of the table for any donation to take home the centerpiece


Before the dinner was the silent auction and after dinner was the live auction.  This has got to be one of the funnest and most exciting auctions I have attended.  

Our hosts for the evening, JJ Yulo and Xandra Rocha.  Thank you JJ for accepting the task to host last minute and to Xandra who even if she was not feeling too well, she really did a great job and it was not even obvious.  Everyone gave their heart and soul that evening.  It was so nice!
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Chef Jerome and Chef Alain discussing – Instead of just auctioning one dinner for 10 persons by Chef Jerome, they made it two dinners.  Each dinner went for P 200,000.00 for a total of P 400,000.00!  

I loved our table 🙂  They were bidding and bidding 🙂 Happy Birthday to Chef Jay Gamboa who was celebrating that evening and also won in the auction a dinner for two in Beige Alain Ducasse in Tokyo!!   


Tristan Choa from afar bidding 🙂  

P 70,000!!! 🙂

One of the lucky winners of the dinner for 10

and the other!  Jean Henri Lhuiller! 🙂

On your way out, you get giveaways from the Tuloy Foundation Culinary Center students

It was delicious 🙂  A nice way to remember the evening

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Alain Ducasse Visits Tuloy Foundation

By | Foodie, Giving Back | 3 Comments

Heart2Heart not only loves Alain Ducasse for his great contribution to the culinary world but also because he came all the way to the Philippines to give back to society and we are so lucky he chose the Philippines to be one of the beneficiaries, to Tuloy Foundation in particular.  When he arrived, he paid a visit to the foundation and they warmly welcomed him to the Tuloy family.  It was such a touching event.  I am so happy to have witnessed this.  God bless Alain Ducasse for his kind and generous heart.  I made an amateur video just to put together the photos and the beautiful song number the kids prepared for Chef Alain

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The chapel is so beautiful!!  You really have to come over to see it 

Alain Ducasse arrives and is welcomed by the children

Thank you to Enderun Colleges for also being a part of this great endeavor.  Thank you Jack Tuason, co founder of Enderun Colleges




The building where all the classrooms are.  There are 927 kids.  There are 10 buildings with 30 kids per building.  Each building is self contained.  The place is very organized and very clean and orderly

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Where all the kids assembled and performed for Alain Ducasse

Presentation of the Chef’s uniform for Chef Alain Ducasse from the Tuloy Foundation Culinary Center

One of the students made a sketch of Chef Alain and gave it to him that day


Welcome to the family




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There are 20 per batch and this is already the 4th batch

Laurent Plantier, CEO of the Alain Ducasse Enterprise

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Fr. Rocky Evangelista, founder of Tuloy Foundation.  He told me that he acquired the land in 1999 and it took him two years to sean it up since it was a garbage dump. He said that there are three qualifications to be a Tuloy Foundation student – You must be hopelessly poor, You want to have a better life and are willing to obey the rules.   There is a Mancom to manage the daily affairs of the foundation and the Board sets the vision.  I also met Tony, a generous donor to Tuloy Foundation.  He teaches English to the students and he also takes 3 to 4 students to a restaurant of their choice every Sunday so they can also taste and be able to dine out in a real restaurant 🙂  

Chef Dimitri Amouroux – Head of Pedagogy, Ducasse Education

Chef Jerome Lacressoniere who prepared the charity dinner 
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Meal prepared by the students for Chef Alain Ducasse and all of us who were there



The students of the Culinary school do On The Job Training ( OJT ) in some companies and some are hired by them after graduation.  One actual example is Village Gourmet.  Thank you Noye and Nicole Fandino for sharing these photos at Heart2Heart.  They are one of the generous and loyal benefactors of Tuloy and Fr. Rocky and they continuously help Father Rocky in his 


10 Tuloy Scholars are starting their culinary training at Ducasse Institute Philippines at Enderun Colleges on Monday, April 7.  You can still sponsor a Tuloy scholar by buying raffle tickets:  one ticket will sponsor lunch for one week; 5 tickets will buy a complete set of kitchen uniform; and 2 tickets will cover roundtrip transportation cost from Muntinlupa for a week.  On top of that, you’ll get a chance to win wonderful prizes!  This is your opportunity to help former street children from Tuloy Foundation jumpstart their career in the culinary arts.  Click below for a more readable version of the details of the raffle

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Vyne

By | Foodie | 2 Comments

There was Hyve, then Skye and now there is Vyne 🙂

Located beside Hyve.  For now they are open from 5:30 pm onwards till early morning.  Soon they will be opening for lunch

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There are many partners but there were three that day we had lunch there – JP Enriquez, Denise Hui and Ferdi Salvador.  JP loves to cook so for sure he is involved in the food part of the place and Denise was instrumental in Skye and considers it her baby.  

According to them, this is a passion project for them.  They put a lot of their heart and soul into this.  They take turns and have shifts to be in the place so expect to see one of the partners during your visit.  Congratulations guys!! 

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Love the graffiti on the walls


There are two private rooms

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I love this guy because he is so much fun to be with.  He is so funny and I love funny people 🙂  He is also of course always so stylish and so proper and has impeccable taste in everything 

To my dear Ferdi, congratulations!!  

Beautiful view

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Outside seating

Here he is again 🙂

This place is a nice extension of Hyve and it’s nice because it is outdoors with a beautiful view

Chef Jerome is the one behind the food at Vyne.  With Chef Rob Pengson as an industrial partner, he is of course in charge of the culinary side.  He brought with him his Sous Chef from The Goose Station, Chef Jerome.  He is amazing!!  They say the food is World Fusion and expect it to be very creative.  I love creative, I love unique tastes and I love new tastes and combinations.  Aside from the menu here, they have an early morning breakfast which is for the people who stay till early in the morning.  They are considering making it an all day breakfast menu so hopefully I will get to try that too one of these days when I return

They have plenty tapas – 13 of them!  All yummy!!!  It would be nice to come over even just for tapas and drinks.  You will love them!!!

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 This was my first time to try mantao and I love it! Love these two tapas that has manta 





Don’t forget to squeeze the shrimp head for the juices to come out! Love this dish!




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I was able to try the apple salad and it is so good!! I love the yogurt that goes with the cheese and apple and cranberry!!!

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The Foie and Mushroom Burger or the OMG burger 🙂

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Chicken Roulade

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Pork Confit

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Octopus and Scallops

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Salmon
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