EDSA Shangri-La’s Paparazzi Restaurant—Manila’s most dynamic hotel-based Italian hub—remains outstanding among the rest, as it proves, still, that "perfection" is the most basic definition of simplicity.

Coffee shops in the country boomed when it became the favorite hangout place of friends, families and couples for a good and relaxing chat. This ‘outbreak’ proves that coffee is better when enjoyed with a good discussion. It (a cafe) becomes a place of corporate meetings, reunion venue of old friends, or just an after-a-big-dinner delight to enjoy espresso. With all of these conversation, don’t you think it is time for us make our own Pinoy blend for the world to enjoy.

I had spied upon the Seven pillars buffet when we had the memorable Chinese dinner at Xian Tian Di At Crown Plaza Hotel beside Robinson’s Galleria on Ortigas Ave. The way Chef Cyrille and Chef Luis’s food was presented on the buffet in all its seven stations seemed to have stuck in my mind. Being a Quezon City and Greenhills resident, I was rather glad that our side of town had a good looking buffet to boast of. The question was, would the beautiful spread deliver in terms of taste? And to see, I had brought along some of our chefs and son, Gino, a chef himself to this spread. Their Olympian appetites and knowledge of food can be matched by their obsessive compulsive ways either in lifting weights or in beer and food marathons.

Chocolate & Baking Workshop

Searching for an open and good restaurant in the middle of the night is quite a gargantuan task! (Well, I didn’t want to venture to a noisy mall nor a full hotel restaurant.) There was an uproar every 5 seconds in my tummy after a 2-hour workout, thus making the job a lot more difficult. Cruising through Jupiter Street was not any consolation. Almost all the restaurants were fast food if not closed.

The newly opened Mandarin Oriental Café & Deli bears a lot on its shoulders. Not only is it the first hotel-operated restaurant outside hotel grounds, it also carries the popular crest of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Located at the Level 1 of Gateway Mall inside Araneta Center, this café & deli offers the same a la carte menu as the hotel’s Mandarin Deli – a rather competent mixture of prominent Asian dishes and Western deli cuisine. But they’ll be serving it for prices that are much more economically viable.

I’ve been living in Sydney, Australia for the past two years now and am an Australian citizen. I try to come back to the Philippines to visit my parents and sister twice a year. Each trip home, I do make the most of visiting a Shakey’s restaurant as much as I can! In fact, since I flew in, I can’t even count how many times I’ve eaten at Shakey’s.