on films, books, food, restaurants, favorite haunts in Metro Manila (and now, Philadelphia)...
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| rants and raves on films, books, food, restaurants, favorite haunts in Metro Manila (and now, Philadelphia)... |
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Wednesday, August 27, 2003 This is terrible, I'm spending way too much money for my CFA thing and I don't even have enough time to study. I get home past 8pm, have dinner, and only have less than two hours to study (assuming I don't do other leisurely night-time things like log onto the Internet, blog, read magazines, read some books, read the paper). Terrible! Good thing I've gotten a grip on my weekends and I don't really like to go out. I do recall a week or two ago I stayed home to study one Saturday and I ended up watching Legally Blonde in its entirety, even if I'd already seen the whole thing before. And now the bookfair is coming up, and I'll end up buying a bunch of books I probably won't end up reading anyway. Let's see what I can get away with not buying this weekend ... And a note to Kris: Even if you're out of town all of next week you can still go to the Bookfair this Saturday and Sunday you know. I've read like two pretty terrible reviews for Keka so far, too bad if they turn out to be right. It's a movie I so want to like. Business World bashed it, and I wasn't familiar with the reviewer, but he seemed to know what he was talking about (film-wise I mean). And in the Manila Times a writer said something like it looks like a home video starring the director, his family and his friends. A little funny, and probably not totally off tangent. But it's the Manila Times - enough said. posted by wys | 11:47 PM Sunday, August 24, 2003 Boracay was oh-kay this weekend. I didn't swim. I didn't get any beach side massages. I didn't buy a single touristy item. I didn't get a tan (no need for me to). I didn't get to visit Nami. What did I do? And I got to finish Kitchen (really quick read), more on that book later. And I did get to start reading Catch 22 (again). And I did get to eat a whole lot and got a bum stomach as a result. And I did get to do a lot of nothing. posted by wys | 11:10 PM Book fair! Book fair! Book fair! I remember when the annual book fair used to be held in the CCP Complex, near Boom na Boom or thereabouts. I wasn't really a wide reader yet, I just went to get cheap Sweet Valley Twin/High books. Only PHP40 each, if I recall correctly. Some things I'm looking forward to in this year's bookfair:
Tuesday, August 19, 2003 RESTO RAVE Cafe Bola 2/F Greenbelt 3, Makati City Finally, Cafe Bola in Greenbelt is open! Hurrah! I remember seeing the "soon to open" sign when Greenbelt was still new, and only recently did they decide to grace us with their opening. I had tried the Cafe Bola in Araneta Coliseum, but no matter how good a dining establishment it is, Araneta is a little too far off the radar for my taste. And now it's right in the middle of trendy Greenbelt, which incidentally is getting pretty boring for me (but that's another matter altogether). Meatballs are their specialty. You can have them with rice or perfectly al dente pasta, in chicken, beef, seafood (or a mix of all three) varieties, topped with curry sauce, tomato sauce, teriyaki sauce ... the list goes on. In the PHP100-150 range, not all that bad for a Makati lunch. Caesar Salad (PHP98) comes topped with bacon, naked chorizo or adobo flakes, and deathly oily croutons. They use iceberg lettuce though, which makes it all the more Pinoy I suppose. Dressing isn't traditional Caesar, but more Filipinized with a thin mayo-mustard type consistency to it. Desserts are a treat -- tiramisu, flourless chocolate cake, kesong puti cheesecake, fruit salad ... all for less than PHP100. Coffee isn't much to my liking though, reminds me too much of homemade brew (not a good thing in my house) -- a little watered down, a little bitter, a little instant-like. Service is FAST, efficient, courteous. Interiors are a hunger-inducing orange, with funky echo-breaking uneven edges jutting out from the walls and ceilings. Avoid overpriced overrated Pepato (at pricier Greenbelt 2) at all costs and head over to Cafe Bola instead! posted by wys | 11:22 PM CAFE RANT Gloria Jean's Coffee E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue This cafe looked normal enough from the outside. But egad! It's attached to Carl's Junior. Even with the burger chain's revamped image, I couldn't help but feel like I was in McCafe. Coffee at imported chain type prices (well, it is an imported chain), crappy music -- reminiscent of my childhood days when I used to hang out with the household help -- ergonomically awkward sofa seats and chairs. Blech, what a waste of time, energy, money. posted by wys | 11:11 PM Sunday, August 17, 2003 MOVIE RANT League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) I was actually really intrigued by the possibilities of the interesting group of characters presented in the trailers. Of course I knew this movie was terribly reviewed from the get go, but there was still the possibility of me enjoying myself in the theater. There’s the hunter, the vampiress, the CIA agent, the invisible man, the mad scientist, the immortal, the fearless pirate-type captain dude. I thought the casting was right on target. Sean Connery of course, was fearless leader Allan Quartermaine, who could still manage to throw a few decent punches in his old age. Shane West, who I remember from failed TV drama Once and Again, and teeny bopper films like Walk to Remember and Get Over It, made for a really cool Secret Agent (Tom) Sawyer. Stuart Townsend was slick and suave as ageless Dorian Gray. Fairly attractive Peta Wilson was the lovely and often creepy vampiress Mina Harker. Jason Flemyng (and his great sideburns) was the morally split Dr. Jekyll. Naseeruddin Shah was Captain Nemo, with his cool overly ornate Las Vegas type submarines and automobiles. And Tony Curran was the (mostly) Invisible Man. The movie did provide a pretty interesting action-filled ride for viewers, but ultimately it was the destination that spoiled it all for me. The great texture, props and sets of the film was wasted on a lame plot that didn’t really make sense at the end of the day. Mindless action you’ll get, but when that’s combined with an equally mindless plot, you can’t help but feel dissatisfied after spending PHP280 for two movie tickets, and PHP40 for parking. posted by wys | 4:22 PM CAFÉ RAVE Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf G/F Greenbelt 3, Makati City I’ve been a little curious about this café since it opened. It’s located right below Music One in Greenbelt 3 so if you drive by Makati Avenue you see it right there. I think it was the interesting design that drew me in … I’m a sucker for good design sensibility. Our server was this friendly enough girl with a really strong Californian twang (balikbayan? Call center moonlighter?). Service was snappy, coffee was pretty good. Walls are decorated with what appear to be mini-crates with names of different coffee and tea blends painted on them (real or fake, I can’t be sure). I had a Chicago cheesecake that wasn’t much too my liking, it reminded me of my first failed attempt to make cheesecake … the eggs were a little over beaten and it ended up tasting a little bit like egg custard. And that’s not a good thing when it comes to cheesecake. Plus points for not using gelatin though, and it was only PHP80. Price range for coffee is in the normal foreign-chain range, PHP60 upwards. It’s a little out of the way in the Greenbelt scheme of things, but worth a return visit. posted by wys | 4:21 PM Saturday, August 16, 2003 I started using this Jordi Labanda notebook that is almost too cute to use. A little pricey at PHP300 for a small notebook, it’s really nice with a sturdy hard cover, colorful design, colored and lined pages, neat spiral (only in Fully Booked and Sketch Pad -- ?). I’ve been using this icky blue Corona notebook recently and it really sucked because the pages wouldn’t adjust on the spiral evenly, and it would jut out the right side. In any case I’m happy with my new expensive notebook, hopefully I don’t feel too kuripot to actually use it. * * * Ate in Marina this afternoon. They have two Metro Manila Branches, one along Pearl Drive in Ortigas, and another along Jupiter Street in Makati. Great seafood, a bucket of oysters (cooked the way you want it) for only PHP180. They even have this happy hour treat (4.30 to 7.30pm everyday) of a bucket of oysters and a bucket of San Mig Light for only PHP200. The tuna belly was so so, but reasonably priced at PHP100/100 grams. We ordered this seaweed salad thing, lato or something, first time I had it. Cheap at PHP75, I hear it’s a big export for the Philippines to places like Japan. Interesting texture, but pretty much tasteless. Their Bacolod-style chicken was also really good. Baticolon (gizzard) at PHP35/stick, Isol (chicken butt) at PHP40/stick. Whole meal for two for only PHP605. In any case, go here for the oysters (the semi-dirty not pristine clean kind, not the fancy fine dining kind of oysters mind you). If you don’t like oysters, tough. * * * Driving along Jupiter, I had this brilliant suggestion to try looking for some obscure café that we’ve never been to before because we never go to Jupiter anyway. Ended up along Reposo (street of the former Pravda) and went to this place called Café Appassionato. It looked okay from the outside, but we were the only patrons inside. I sort of kind of hate being the only customers in a restaurant, it feels weird somewhat. And you wonder why there aren’t any other customers. In fairness it’s a decent place. And they have their own microbrewery. The freshly brewed beer at Greenbelt’s Grappa’s comes from Café Appassionato. Looks like a great deal actually, especially for beer lovers. 300ML at PHP45, 500ML at PHP60, and a pitcher of beer for PHP99. Heck it sounds good even to those who don’t drink beer. The restaurant itself is a little fancy, with linens (but without cloth napkins). Coffee was decent enough, and they use this coolie reverse brewer thing that I’ve only seen in Cravings. Cappuccino for PHP65, strong brewed coffee for PHP60, attentive waiter service. Not all bad for Starbucks prices. Pastries are mediocre though. Panna cotta for PHP120, tasted more like leche flan than anything else. The chocolate cake was a salty disaster for PHP45, seems like they forgot the sugar. I still might go back to Café Appassionato though, if only for the beer. posted by wys | 3:10 PM Thursday, August 07, 2003 Other restaurants I tried last week but haven't had time to write about: this obscure seaside restaurant along Roxas Boulevard we ended up in when we tried to go to Malate during lunch. Failed experiment that was, it's been years since I've been to Malate. It turns out everything is closed during lunch. Sheesh. We were semi starving and almost ended up in Robinson's Manila, Popeyes, other crappy fastfood type places. Last weekend my family and I also tried out this new Japanese restaurant in El Pueblo (which is deader than the dead of night) that is generally okay, but too overpriced to ever merit a return visit from me. posted by wys | 11:19 PM 0 comments Wednesday, August 06, 2003 Yikes, I ate out every single day last week. Too bad I didn't get to go to Le Souffle with either of my parents. The One-Week-at-Ortigas Restaurant Review:
posted by wys | 9:26 PM 0 comments Friday, August 01, 2003 Pretty useless to watch movies I know will be lousy. Current badly reviewed films: Charlie’s Angels, Bad Boys 2, Tomb Raider 2, Down With Love. Upcoming badly reviewed films: Legally Blonde 2, 2 Fast 2 Furious, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Weekends are such a treat for me these days I don’t think I want to spend them watching lousy movies in expensive theaters. Videos (pirated or otherwise) of movies I know are good are much better. Free parking, free food, the best seats in the house. Upcoming well reviewed films: Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean. I’m not really one to mindlessly follow whatever reviewers say (like the malabo ones in the Inquirer, or other local papers). But I do like to check out average scores in Rotten Tomatoes. 100+ reviewers can’t be that far from accurate. posted by wys | 11:24 PM 0 comments BOOK RANT Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella What a gyp of a book. It didn’t take me too long to read, it was one of those “breeze through in two or three days” sort of things. And I didn’t pay for it, my sister bought it in Page None/Fully Booked/That Stupidly Overpriced Bookstore in Power Plant for PHP450 upwards. This is one of the new additions to the thriving chick lit genre: single women in their mid to late thirties who constantly whine about their lives, weight, loves—Bridget Jones’s Diary did it best. Here we have Rebecca Bloomwood, TV financial advisor by day, shopaholic extraodinaire all other times. Her addiction to buying stuff is so ridiculous you don’t end up feeling sorry for her, you end up hating her for being so frivolous, materialistic, shallow and stupid. She buys stuff because she doesn’t want to hurt the feeling of the sales people, she buys stuff because they’re dirt cheap (even if they’re completely useless), she buys stuff because she can’t help herself. She’s so deep in debt it hurts. Of course she has this handsome rich boyfriend type, that loves her just the way she it. Descriptions aren’t so clear though, I never even got a real good picture of how the characters look like. I’m not sure what’s up with the author in the characterization department. In any case, I feel semi-ripped off of my time having read the book. It made me laugh at a handful of portions, but that’s about it for the good parts. New York is hardly the centerpiece to the book, even if it shares the book title with our hapless heroine. In short: don’t buy, don’t read. posted by wys | 7:06 AM 0 comments |
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