To shake off the feeling of displacement that I’ve illustrated here, here’s a post about where I ate yesterday. Which is: Ukokkei Ramen Ron, an almost cult-ish ramen haven for ramen nuts! It closed down for a while, but now it’s back in business, and would you believe it was both mine and Sarie‘s first time to eat there last night?

We got the Tantanmen ramen (Php 390), which is one of their more “special” items. I don’t really know what that means, but it’s not on the menu (it’s on the wall) and it sure tastes special. The broth is thick, flavorful and rich, and the noodles were superb. Sarie and I are doing splitsies now because of mutual weight gain, but the serving was more than enough. We had the gyoza as well, but it’s nothing worth noting.

The ramen, though. You must try it at some point in your life. Judging from the color of the broth, I’m thinking they used a lot of la-yu, the sesame chili concoction that I eat with everything. The waitress said it was a mix of miso and sesame, so you can imagine the potential party in your mouth.

On another note, I don’t know if it’s notable or anything, but I’m going to say it anyway. I’ve decided to try something different! No, it is not to dress in a manner that will make me more likely to be assaulted on public transport, but just to dress “better.” Of course, I don’t know if it is actually better in an objective way, but hey look—color!

My clothes are from Primark, which is a super cheap, kind of trendy apparel chain in London. I don’t normally like wearing rompers because it makes me feel like a giant baby, but I liked this one a lot, even though it takes quite a long process to um, pee. I also love this sweater, because duh, it is trés cool. My headscarf is from a super cute Etsy store, Chichi Dee, which is also based in London.

Meet my cute watch! I got it in Venice, and though I don’t normally wear watches with faces this big anymore, I am quite enamored with it. It’s by Fullspot and the idea is you can mix and match the straps and the faces to suit your personality and mood. Apparently, they’ve started selling these babies in RONAC last month, so I have to check out which colors I can get from here in Manila, because I only got one other watch strap (a grey-white). I checked the price point and it doesn’t seem to be that big of a difference. I’ve got my eye on some of the animal print faces.

For kicks, Sarie has captured how I apparently look like when we eat together:

And to end, please please please grab a copy of the October issue of both Rogue and Preview, on account of well, me!

Preview has included me in their Creative It List for 2012, which I think was awfully nice of them. :) The photo was taken by Everywhere We Shoot, and the words were written by the wonderful Karen Bolilia. Thanks to both of you, as well as the Preview editors and the rest of the Preview team.

And! My first contribution to Rogue’s Columns section, which is on the Golden Age of Television and why we (the Philippines) are not a part of it. Thank you to Clinton Palanca for helping me out on this one. Snaps for Paulina Ortega, my seatmate for all of (college) eternity, for putting my words into pictures.

I would appreciate it if you guys grabbed a copy of these issues because they are both quite special things to me. That said, Arrivederci! I shall see you all in my next installment of The Great European Backlog of 2012.

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After the Colosseum, we walked along Via dei Fori Imperiali to see the Foro Romano, Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, and Il Campidoglio. Via dei Fori Imperiali was built by Benito Mussolini to connect his office in Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum (also passing by the Roman Forum), destroying 40,000 square yards of important Roman history, as this area was heavily populated in medieval and Renaissance Rome.

The view of the general vicinity of the Roman Forum from the Colosseum’s higher levels. We didn’t enter and chose to look at it from the outside, along the via dei Fori Imperiali. It used to be a bustling area, the center of Roman public life.

If you follow the street towards Piazza Venezia (that is, away from the Colosseum), you will run into the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II, which houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It’s also called Altare della Patria, or “Altar of the Fatherland,” honoring the first king of unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is guarded by two soldier and is watched over by an “eternal flame.”

We went to see Il Compidiglio, and there aren’t much pictures because that’s when it started to rain harder.

We took a bus to SS Quattro 24, because I read about a good pizza place called Pizzeria Li Rioni. We were lucky we got there just before their kitchen was going to close! The pizza was GOOD. I got bresaola with rocket and parmesan (of course). They serve everyone a whole pizza! But I was happy to eat all of it. HEH.

In pursuit of tiramisu that the entire internet has spoken about, we walked to Bar Gelateria Pompi at Via Albalonga. We thought we could walk it without a problem, but the scaling of the map we had was deceptive! We saw a lot of nice things along the way, though, but then it started to rain.

A vinyl store! I wish we had time to stop over, but alas.

SPQR is an initialism of the Latin phrase Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, or The Senate & People of Rome. It appears on Roman coins and documents and refers to the government of the ancient Roman Republic. I find it fascinating that this is still pretty widespread even today.

FINALLY! We found it! Bar Gelateria Pompi was bigger than I thought and served a wide array of sweets, pastries and drinks. We had the tiramisu, which was as good as people made it sound online. I mean, coffee-soaked ladyfingers with mascarpone? Yes, please! I wish I had tried the other flavors (e.g. strawberry), but I’m perfectly happy with the original. I’m glad we looked for it, even though we ended up soaked. The cafe latte we got was really more of milk, but that was okay since it went well with tiramisu anyway.

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One of my recent gastronomic pursuits happened on a rainy Saturday. Sarie picked me up after class and I’d suggested Wooden Spoon a few weekends ago, because I’d seen Dan Matutina sharing pictures of what looked like a great meal. We were famished so we ended up ordering an appetizer and three main courses (vegetable, chicken, pork), as well as a rather large plate of rice.

Wooden Spoon can be found along Katipunan Ave., and is owned by chef Sandy Daza of Cooking with the Dazas fame. Having practically resided in Katipunan for nearly my whole academic life (and now teaching there), I would have to say that it’s a welcome addition to what I seems to be a flourishing culinary hub. It’s a feat to run a restaurant that can cater to students and faculty, as well as the throng of residents in the area, so I personally always welcome the great new additions and options that break the monotony of daily lunch breaks.

For starters, we had Wansoy Shrimp Balls. This is a deep fried concoction made of shrimp and wansoy (what else!), but the kick of the gorgeous wansoy sauce that it comes with rounds out the dish. It is the stuff that dreams are made of. At just Php 145 a pop (you get five pieces per order), it’s enough for me to come back and go out of my way for the occasional snack.

Next up is the Stuffed Pechay. It reminded me of rice parcels, except you actually eat the pechay leaves. The stuffing is basically a tinapa concoction mixed with a bit of ground pork, which is good in itself. The coconut milk it swims in is really good, too, with the sort of flavor that rolls around on your tongue. These are a little bigger than bite-sized pieces, so I cut them in half. Each order is Php 155 for seven pieces.

Because we were planning on getting two entrees, we broke our rice fast and decided to get Garlic Rice (Php 100), because who can say no to garlic rice, when you’re faced with so many delicious entrees to choose from? They said it would be good for two people, but their enormous serving could easily have fed three people, especially people like us who enjoy feasting on a smörgåsbord.

Sarie was avoiding pork, so she opted for Wooden Spoon Crispy Chicken (Php 195). It was okay, but I wouldn’t come back for it. The taste was had a pleasant, slight spiciness, but the lack of the glaze didn’t go well with the texture of the chicken and made it appear a little dry. I was expecting something like kung pao or General Tso’s chicken, but it wasn’t horrible. We still ate most of it, but we want more glaze!

I was thinking of getting the Tostadong Adobo, but I’m a sucker for Adobo Flakes (Php 195), so that was what I ended up getting. Wooden Spoon’s version comes with garlic mayo dip (aioli?) instead of the usual vinegar. I have a strong aversion to mayonnaise, but I decided to try it with its original sauce, and that was another good decision I made that day!

The serving is rather large, and when it came out, Sarie asked if we could ever possibly finish it, given the other things we ordered. I told her it wouldn’t be a problem. It’s really hard to get adobo flakes wrong, and Wooden Spoon’s is exceptionally tasty.

For refreshments, I decided to get the Wooden Spoon Iced Tea (Php 45), thinking it was a special sort of brew. It wasn’t anything special; it tasted a lot like Lipton.

When the food first came out and we first saw our spread, we were a little worried, but I guess you can tell that we enjoyed every last bit of that meal. The staff was very accomodating as well, even agreeing to reheat some of the dishes because we took a while savoring it all.

Despite eating so much food, we left feeling stuffed but not too full. It was a pleasant sort of feeling that didn’t leave us feeling drowsy at all, and it lasted up until our later-than-usual dinner. I feel like it’s sort of perfect for students, because I hated that after-meal drowsiness I get, especially when I had some sort of deadline I couldn’t miss.

A part of me wishes I was still studying so that I would have an excuse to eat here more often. Thankfully, it’s only closed on Mondays.

Wooden Spoon
329 Katipunan Ave
Loyola Heights, Quezon City
(02) 426-0044
Tues-Sun: 10:00am – 10:00pm

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Mikka invited Sarie and me to a tasting of Don Papa Rum last night. Sarie went to an event in Aracama already with Karen, and raved about how lovely this rum was, which piqued my interest. (Some of the pictures here were taken by Sarie.)

Don Papa Rum is a premium rum made and developed in the Philippines. Isn’t that great? It is distilled from sugar cane grown in Negros, a Philippine region known for its sugar, and aged in American oak barrels for 7 years in the foothills of Mount Kanloan. I remember buying organic coffee grown in the same region as well. This was an exciting discovery because I feel like we Filipinos are so steeped in foreign cultures and products, we often forget that our country is so rich and that we make great things, too.

It was a small get-together and we had our fill of this spinach-filled puff pastry of some sort, and I got to talk with 4/5 of the folks from Pepper. I knew Dwight from school, but it was great getting to talk to them at length.

We got to try three cocktails crafted by mixologist, Kathryn Eckstein. The first one, Liquid Butterscotch, is made with ingredients that seem to usually be found in pastries. It tastes more like a dessert than a swig of alcohol and feels like a warm blanket. You could probably close your eyes and pretend to be in the Three Broomsticks, tossing back one or two of these drinks with Harry Potter! We imagine it to be what butterbeer must taste like—smooth and sweet, spreading warmth on the inside.

This is my favorite drink, so refreshing! Called the Coco Breeze, it’s made with guava juice and nata de coco, garnished with a pretty calamansi and served in a tall glass and a handful of ice. The inspiration behind this drink are local ingredients, and it’s really the perfect companion on a hot day, which we see a lot of in this country, despite it being way past the summer season. Biting into the nata de coco is a special treat, because it soaks up all the flavors.

The last drink, Ka-pag Serious Ka, a fun take on Caprioska, is made with calamansi, ginger and honey. It’s not a favorite because neither of us like soda water, but it’s a good drink, if you’re in an actual serious mood. Be sure to drink it in a low-ball glass such as this one, for added effect.

One of the great things about Don Papa Rum is the packaging. It was made by Strange & Stranger, a design outfit based in London and NY that specializes in packaging for alcohol and spirits. Obviously inspired by old bank notes, the packaging for Don Papa Rum is a delight for the inner Where’s Waldo? obsessor in you. They allegedly used around fifty animals indigenous to the country, but I’m still stuck, marveling at the slug moustache Don Papa is sporting. It really is very intricate and interesting, and I think it adds a special Filipino flair to the product, despite being created by foreigners. The red spot UV gloss detail is also an exquisite detail.

Speaking of Don Papa, he’s an actual Filipino revolutionary that fought during the occupation of Spain and the United States. Called the “Lion of Kanloan,” Dionisio Sigobela or Papa Isio, led an eight-year-long uprising to protect his countrymen. As a farmer in Negros, he was said to have slain his cruel Spanish haciendero, fleeing to the mountains of Kanloan and establishing his own religion. Popular among the babaylanes, he believed in animism (which maybe explains all the animals on the bottle label), as well as anting-antings or amulets as protection from bullets.

Papa Isio led several uprisings and pledged his allegiance only to the Philippines, displaying a fervent and intense nationalism rarely seen these days. He sought to instigate agrarian reform and had political ideas that were perhaps too radical for the country at the time. Most people don’t know whether or not to regard him as a hero, because of his ideas (he called himself the “pope” at some point), but it is his unwavering spirit that Don Papa Rum wants to honor with this, um, spirit. His story, in detail, can be found here.

For a closer look at the packaging, here is its feature on The Dieline. There are wonderful close-ups of the label.

I haven’t tried it by itself, on the rocks, but Bleeding Heart Rum Co. claims that Don Papa Rum is “a rum that’s good enough to drink neat.” Currently, it is in the process of distribution. Since it’s a “Small Batch Rum”, it will only be available in selected bars, restaurants and liquor stores in Manila including Aracama Manila Cuisine, Draft, Beso, Distillery and Ralphs Wines and Spirits, once it has officially launched later this month.

After we drank and ate our fill, we walked around the area in search of cake! I tried Starbucks’ Green Tea and Berry Cheesecake, and I didn’t taste much of the green tea. Good if you aren’t fond of green tea, because the cheesecake itself is creamy and not fluffed up with gelatin. However, I am a green tea fiend, so I was not very pleased. Still good cheesecake, though.

We made several videos lamenting the concrete jungle that the Fort is shaping up to be. We also saw a truck of live chickens on the way home.

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By some stroke of luck, I got to go to Bow & Wow’s Benefit Dinner for CARA, an animal welfare group here in the Philippines. While not an animal shelter, CARA fights for animal rights and their wellbeing. (CARA stands for Compassion and Responsibility for Animals.) I saw a lot of doggies and “pet parents” dressed to the nines.

The dinner was catered by Gaita Fores. My plate looks yucky—I’m no food stylist—but the best part of this dinner is the Tagliata di Manzo, which is on the upper right of my plate. It’s beef tenderloin with baby garlic and rosemary.

There was a pretty pet buffet with red bone bowls for the dogs.

This is Robin, one of the earliest puppies in the venue.

This puppy was up for adoption! The big dog is Bror (‘brother’ in Norwegian).

One hundred percent of the proceeds from this dinner will be given to CARA and another cause they support, which is the care and rehabilitation of the pit bulls recently rescued from the dog fighting ring.

I love the tables’ centerpieces.

Bror is a very huge dog. He was like Dug from Up.

This frilly-shorted butt belonged to a chow-chow.

A Frenchie in a tartan and a backpack.

This beagle, Duke, was very protective of her owner and would run to her when she talked to other doggies. Dogs also get complimentary bow-ties and necklaces.

Cute husky with a barong.

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Part two of the birthday food post concerns a certain Serendra “old-timer” that I feel often gets overlooked. For Isabel’s birthday, we went to DUO. I think I was the only person in this party who had ever eaten there, and the only time that I did, I split a seafood salad with Isa.

I was especially excited to eat DUO’s steak because I heard it was good. Also, because it is a steakhouse. We were all set on devouring steaks, so my dad, my brother, and I each got 400g of U.S. Top Blade (Php 895), which was the only portion they offered on their menu. I did not know that it was going to be huge. Luckily, I had enough sense to have half of it wrapped so I could eat it for lunch or something, since I’m usually left alone in the house during the day.

I ate mine with café de Paris, a sauce that I discovered less than a fortnight prior to this dinner. Unfortunately, I liked that sauce more with the lamb shoulder from Vieux Chalet. I think their steak might have been best paired with the pepper sauce. The steak was pretty good, but not excellent. I would still opt for Mamou, if I were in a state of severe steak crave, and if I had money to burn. Otherwise, this would do. I had mine medium rare, which explains the bloodiness.

Sidenote: I had steak leftovers for dinner a few days later and it was not very good. Perhaps this steak only works when it’s freshly cooked.

My mom and my sister split a Steak and Chicken Duo Combination (Php 595), which I didn’t get to taste. The best part of it all was the large portion of the Duo Salad (Php 695). I split this with my mom and my dad. It’s a beautiful salad comprised of arugula, greens and reds, asparagus, mushrooms, prawns, and escargot. The house dressing was to die for—creamy and flavorful. I’m usually wary of opaque salad dressing (unless it’s toasted sesame—yum!) but this was so good. Honestly, I ended up eating most of that thing and this is something that I do not take much pride in.

Duo is not the first place I’ll think of when I am craving some steak (underwhelming), but I would gladly go back for the salad. Minus points for that Bossa Nova cover of “Creep,” though. More info here.

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