Pino and Tao Yuan

After a time of hibernation, the Original Pino Restaurant, erstwhile famous for its native or Filipino buffet lunch and dinner, is now back to titillate the palate of the hundreds of "suki" who missed their food.

At the opening of the Original Pino, there was also the launching of the food festival entitled "Heritage Recipes: Editha's Way," by the popular Editha Cerdeña Singian. She was presented to the media as author, international food journalist and culinary extraordinaire, aside from being known for her Foolproof Kitchen Management Solutions and recipes. Editha Singian's one month stint with Pino resto brought more clients with her new recipes, especially on opening night.

Man of the house, restaurateur Joel Rama del Prado proudly announced he would now be the person to run the restaurant. Known as the Food Festival King, Joel never erred to choose Editha Singian to start all over again the Original Pino to what it was.

We congratulate Joel for taking the cudgels again, and we hope success be yours on this new venture.

And speaking of restaurants, we were invited to J. Center's Yao Yuan - the real seafood restaurant in Mandaue City. Our host, J. Center's founder, President and CEO, we were told, was the one who convinced his friends from Manila to bring this seafood resto to Cebu. We savored almost everything Chinese, including dimsums. But we concentrated on the huge Steamed Lapulapu, which was out of this world! Some would say their seafood is nutritious and delicious although a little expensive; but it's worth it, and for us, it's the best in town! Kudos to GM Carolina Yu, who actually oversees the resto, and Michael Guangco.