Strictly for foodies

We have not been very active in our quest for good food offerings, so our inbox has been quite full with requests for new and exciting finds. Blame it on too many developments in the business scene which we couldn’t pass on, lest we get stale business news.  But fear not, because we still made out dutiful rounds, and our crew still got quite a chockfull. So, for lovers of good food out there, make room for a few more finds.

Butter diner

Quezon City is the home of this new find. Its initial attraction is its 50’s and 60’s authentic ambience which they took great pains to re-create and which they exploited to the hilt. Standing guard by the restaurant’s entrance are two “rag dolls”. Remember the Raggedy Anns of old, those spineless dolls sporting aprons and long curly locks? They re-created the look, in preparation for the rest of the interesting total look you will delightfully find inside.

The movie icons of old are plastered all over – James Dean in his unforgettable Rebel Without a Cause movie, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn,  Marlon Brando, etc., in glorious old Hollywood poses. Nostalgia is written all over, in fact as old Coca Cola emblems, forgotten Lipton logos, old telephone sets, 45 rpms, old toasters, etc. adorn walls and table tops.  Even Betty Boop, Marvel heroes and old cartoon characters dress up a whole wall in animated inter-action. The owners say that, searching for an authentic working juke box all over the country as a center piece for this restaurant, they came across these valuable finds and couldn’t pass them up. The result is an excellent themed restaurant that is visually delightful.

On the food offerings they have, they are big on American comfort food. Their t-bone steak, very affordable at P199, is tender and flavorful, served Pinoy style. That means, served with white rice. They have vegetarian pasta, aoili style with plenty of olive oil, capers, and olives. Their breakfasts are huge (try their Bostonian which comes with fried eggs and even fruit salad). Their choco pancakes are served with mounds of choco butter-excellent for non-dieters. Their Marilen which is pan-fried fish, however, is good for the diet-conscious. Try their big hamburgers as well which are already hearty meals, with patties that are half-pound each.

Indeed, Butter Diner is an exciting food tripper’s discovery.

Bravo Restaurant

Last week, we again found ourselves having a late Sunday lunch with the family. At past two in the afternoon, Bravo Restaurant (located in Promenade A, Filinvest Fiestal Mall in Alabang, beside Starbucks) still had a lingering lunch crowd. The kids are finding a new favorite in this restaurant which serves good old Italian favorites.

My wife, Babes had her usual choice – pasta – but this time around dumped her favorite Mediterranean tomato-based choice for the “Mafia Spaghettini”. This one is olive-oil based, with a lot of black olives, capers, chunks of fresh tomatoes and flavored strongly with anchovies. Perfect!

I had the same order for two consecutive outings – the platter of grilled meats, a meat lover’s delight with tender lamb cutlets, different sausages, tenderloin and chicken slices, each with their own distinctive tastes. The platter is huge, really an order that is meant for sharing with a generous serving of vegetables in a sauce that had a hint of curry.

The kids had pasta as well – Alfredo-style, which was creamy and had a generous sprinkling of crunchy bacon bits, and Ravioli, a new dish, at least for the family. It had a thin tomato-based sauce, and my daughter Tin dunked Bravo’s signature bread in the sauce to mop it all off.

And, oh yes, we had a huge platter of their quatro formaggio pizza to tease our palates before we dug into our individual orders. This pizza is very thin-crusted and flaky, and the blend of the four cheeses, with whole squares of goat cheese just melting away, is just amazing.

We took home an order of their Calzone because we heard so much about it. The kitchen ran out of ricotta cheese for the calzone, but sensing our disappointment, they offered to replace the ricotta with mascarpone cheese. I guess mascarpone is more expensive, but we appreciate the extra effort to please. Sad to say I didn’t get to taste it because my son, Waywee polished it off in one fell swoop. He swears, though, by its unique and flavorful taste. Better luck next time for me.

Alas, no room for dessert again, so I can’t write on their dessert choices again.

Windfall of earnings in real estate sales

The very visible resurgence of the local real estate industry has inspired real estate developers to focus on our compatriots residing abroad who wish to retire in their home country. Believe me, there are still plenty in the land of milk and honey who wish to smell the flowers back home after spending decades, and I guess squirreling away a hefty amount for retirement. Add to this the OFWs who wish to relocate their families to better abodes, and you have a whole market waiting to be tapped.

www.philippinerealtylistings.com is dedicated to these kababayans, actually to anybody interested to put up a business here. Very soon you can visit the website to check on available real estate properties (house/lots, condos, townhouses, commercial lots, raw land, commercial/office spaces, etc) for sale or lease. Philippine Realty Listings has all these listings.

Now that Philippine Realty Listings is putting together a formidable sales group, they are conducting orientation seminars and workshops for interested parties who may want a piece of the action in this lucrative market. There is a windfall of earnings in real estate sales, and here’s your opportunity to be financially independent. Graduates of these seminars/workshops shall have the ‘pioneer status’ of being sales associates and thus enjoy incentives, bonuses, overrides and other earning potentials. Call 631-88-22 if you’re interested.

Mabuhay!!!  Be proud to be a Filipino.

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