Me and some college friends have been trying to set a date for a get together for the longest time. It seems that everybody has been busy that it’s just close to impossible setting a date. Well, fortunately, we were able to agree on Oct 30. Finally!

Initial plan is to have dinner at Sbarro’s in Megamall then just go some place else for coffee or some drinks. Everybody seems to agree, except for one who’s still busy with work and would be a bit late and would just catch up with us.

Plans changed a bit when a friend IM’d me and offered me a gift certificate for FAB restaurant at the Holiday Inn worth 4500. Well, first reaction was a “NO”. Php4500 is a big amount to shell out. It was a hotel restaurant and we all know the prices at those kinds of places. But then he was persistent since it turns out that the gift certificate will be expiring that day already and was selling it at 80% off!!! It was a great steal! Imagine, paying only Php900 for a gift certificate worth Php4500?!?!

I then texted my friends if they’re willing to change plans. Well, I guess they had the same apprehensions I had thinking that the place might be pricey and we don’t know how far we can stretch out 4500 at FAB restaurant, a hotel restaurant at Holiday Inn Ortigas. Anyways, I was willing to pay the Php900 to get the GC. It would just be my early birthday treat for them, then they can just divide among themselves the remaining balance in case we go over the amount. Everybody agreed and we’re all set.

FAB Restaurant is at the 4th level of Holiday Inn Ortigas. It’s just beside Robinson’s Galleria. Well, it’s a pretty nice place, where you have an overview of the busy streets of Ortigas. The restaurant was empty (probably because it’s a weekday). Well, atleast we have the attention of the waiters all to ourselves. Hehe!

Since we have the budget, we ordered to our hearts’ content, but of course noting in mind how much we’ve already used up. Sometimes we’d ask for the running bill just to make sure we don’t go way over budget. We started ordering Fish and Chips Delight Platter (Php760), Family Chicken Platter (Php760), Asian Sauteed Vegetables (Php150), and Salsiccia Pizza (Php350). We were all stuffed already but we still had over 2k to use up!

We decided to order their Grand Dessert Platter (Php779), a slice of Chocolate Cake (Php340), 2 brewed coffee (Php160 each), and 2 flavored tea (150 each). I know they’re way too expensive but we didn’t mind, we had a budget to use up! Hehe!

We were full to the brim and we still had budget to use up. They all didn’t want anything anymore and just suggested to order for take out. I ordered another Grand Dessert Platter (Php779) and a slice of Blueberry Cheesecake (Php280) for take out. The total bill was 4501.71 including VAT and service charge. We only had to pay 2 pesos more, but of course we left them a tip.

All in all, it was a fun night, with all the catching up and reminiscing. And of course the thought of paying only Php900 for all that we ate was priceless. But if you ask me if I’m going back to eat there at regular price? umm…probably not! Hehe! I can’t imagine paying for that amount! A slice of cake for 340??? Unbelievable!

I just love Almon Marina.  Whenever I’m at Megamall and can’t think of anywhere to eat, this is my default choice. Or if I’m craving for some comfort food, I usually go here.  The salad and sandwich combo just really hits home and would usually leave me satiated. Not to mention, it’s such a healthy choice (just don’t drench your salad with too much dressing!).

I just love eating inihaw, whether it’s inihaw na baboy, pusit, or bangus. Well, what makes it extra special for inihaw na bangus is the bangus belly! Yum Yum! I just love it. Usually, it’s the part of the fish that people gets first. It’s really great with tomatoes, onions and toyo with calamansi! It’s extra fun eating it with your bare hands onto a banana leaf plate!

Mmmm…Don’t you just love bangus belly?!?!

It’s a great discovery when I tried the recipe for béchamel sauce. It actually tastes like the white sauce they use for the baked ziti at sbarro’s. I think if you use mozzarella cheese with it, it would almost exactly taste like it. I love sbarro’s baked ziti because of the white sauce. I would actually order extra white sauce so I can dip my garlic bread on it. Well, now that I know how to make that kind of sauce, looks like I don’t need to troupe myself to sbarro’s whenever I’m craving for it.

I love hanging out at starbucks since it’s usually where I get my creative juices from flowing which enables me to write better. Anyway, I’ve gotten a bit tired from my usual order so I try to tweak them up a bit by adding some syrup. I just love hazelnut syrup and I’m glad that starbucks is already selling them by the bottle so one can use it at home. Too bad I haven’t seen an almond flavor in a bottle since I love putting them in my tea. I have already bought the hazelnut flavor and might buy the vanilla flavor pretty soon as well.

I’m looking for some new recipes that I can try out. The internet is really a great source for them. I also buy those foodie magazines but the internet really has a wide variety of recipe database. I’m tired of the usual hotdog and egg for breakfast. Maybe I can soon try out this yummy looking French toast casserole I found at myrecipes.com. I’m actually taking notes and writing down a couple of recipes I can try out pretty soon.

I really commend Bread Talk for all the assistance that they have extended us. We ordered from them 140 pieces of mini cakes (which were really yummy). Relatively, their mini cakes are inexpensive at Php68 per piece. Usually mini-cakes cost around a hundred. Anyways, we already pre-ordered them and just set a day and time when we can claim it. They were kind enough to honor our request that the mini cakes be put in transparent boxes and not the carton boxes available at their stores. They were really prompt in preparing all the 140 cakes, that by the time we got there, we just had to transport the properly packed cakes to the car. A great bonus was this pretty complimentary cake!

I’m craving for a piece of rhum cake!  It’s actually one of my favorites!  It’s just a plain no-nonsense cake. Not much frills.  This is really one of my comfort foods.  One of my greatest finds is the rhum cake from Uno.  It’s cheap yet super yummy.  I love their cheesecake too!  Maybe this weekend I can pass by the place and get my rhum cake fix.

The fifth dish smelled like your typical chinese food.  I guess it was because of the sesame oil which you could easily detect.  Too bad my Miki Bihon only had noodles in it and none of the “sahog” so I wasn’t able to enjoy it too much.   One participant said hers had shrimps.

The sixth dish I really loved since I’m very fond of gata.  They call this one the Serye Express.  It’s a cross between your bicol express and pinakbet.  I appreciated the hint of spiciness which wasn’t too over powering.

The next one wasn’t really a dish, but a drink.  It was a specially concocted Iced Tea which I really find very flavorful and refreshing.

The last one was dessert.  They call it Serye’s Filipino Fondue.   We were served 3 different kinds of turon.  I had a little difficulty differentiating one from the other and later found out that they were banana-langka, buko-pineapple, and mango-sago.  Good thing the fondue wasn’t too sweet and somehow balance the sweetness of the turon. It was also served with a small enseymada.

After taking off our blindfolds, we were presented with the food that we just tasted in full serving sizes this time.  The owners of Serye were also there.  It turns out, they are the 4th generation of the Reyes clan of the renowned  Aristocrat Restaurant.

Lunch was served shortly afterwards wherein we encountered their boneless Crispy Pata.  It’s really quite a mystery how they cooked it.  We asked the owners to satisfy our curiosity but we were just jokingly answered that they breed boneless pigs!

I loved the first dish which even from afar I could already smell and identify as Sisig.  Good thing there wasn’t any sizzle for safety reasons. It had the right blend and had the crunchiness I prefer when eating sisig.  It was just right for my taste, no need for extra soy sauce and calamansi.  I wished I had rice to go with it.  Too bad it was only a taste test! Hehehe!

The second dish was Sinigang na Tyan ng Bangus.  I remembered the previous discussion on what other people put in their sinigang like tamarind, calamansi, kamias, and guava.  Well, Serye’s version reminded me of my mom’s good old sinigang recipe.  The homey feel instantly hit me.

The third dish was this savory meat (Boneless Chicken BBQ).  The sauce was just divine and the meat very tender.   I just love that it’s boneless since I hate eating chicken when dining out since it can get a little messy.  You don’t want your chicken flying off your plate when you’re separating all the meat from its bones.

The fourth dish was one of those which I got to identify just by smelling.  The peanut-y flavor of the Kare-Kare gave it away!  I love how they made the ox-tail so tender and the vegetables still crunchy.  I was just craving for some Alamang which I’m fond of adding to my Kare-Kare.