birthdays , earth hour

For my birthday, we were supposed to have lunch at Mesa, a much blogged-about resto on ritzy Greenbelt5 but since we were under time pressure, we just tried out Dulcinea, a spanish resto in crowded Glorietta 4. It was a disappointment. The food was just too expensive for the cramped setting and the serving too small for the price. Though I do recommend the tropical fruit drink which comes in a pitcher good for 4 (P140) Meanwhile, check out how Ayala is again renovating their landscape and in the process,destroying all the places I had fond memories of.

Above is a shot taken from Quad carpark of what's left of carpark2 and the old Anson's. Still visible is what's left of where Max's resto and Gilligan's and Glorietta 2.

Salpicao (P224) Dulcinea Lengua (P280) At those prices, it's like I went to Spain and got billed in euros!
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Dalandan juice (P105!) Iced tea (P95) Calamansi juice(P75)

For Papa's birthday, we tried to go to Mesa again but all the tables were already reserved till 8pm! Wow, I guess the food is really good. Hope to eat there one day. We were hungry and wanted to try some place new so we settled for Fely J's, part of the Abe and LJC restos. The food was ok and not as expensive as the other new places, but it didn't totally blow me away. For my money, for Pinoy food , I'd choose Gerry's grill.

Lechon Kawali (P375) Always a good if unhealthy choice.

Diliscious rice(P195) I think anyone can recreate this at home, just top your rice with dilis. I commented that they should have a selection of sauces/condiments at each table. This would have been great with some vinegar. Pinoys love making their own sawsawan!

Fish head clay pot soup(P425) Very tasty broth that reminded me of ramen soup because of the strong sesame oil flavor. But for all the fried food we had, we should have gone for some sinigang.

Tilapia with sweet plum sauce(P385) More fried food!

Calude's dream(P120) Essentially buko pandan and macapuno ice cream so of course, I loved it!

Sikreto ni Maria Clara (P165) Clever title, I thought maybe the waitress was not allowed to tell you what it was , you have to order it to find out,but it's suman and mango hidden under macapuno ice cream! A winner! Good for sharing!

Some of the desserts we didn't try...Bayabas pie, tequila chocolate, etc.

Picture-taking outside at the smoking area.

That's the greenbelt chapel at night a few minutes before earth hour!Here's a short clip of our field reporter Twinx--- Pasok!