Sorry..not my type of guy

I'd been wanting to try what The Sandwich Guy (TSG) offers since I first saw one such store on Shaw Blvd. in Mandaluyong City last year. I know I'd written a not-so-nice post about it (involving another branch) sometime last year, but since it's been months since that (yucky)  incident which I read about in a blog, I decided last Saturday it was now time to try this place out for myself. So just before going to church, my daughter and I went to TSG at SM City Manila, full of high hopes. Hehe. Sadly, dashed hope was all I had at first bite of the roast beef sandwich..and moreso upon taking a forkful of the pesto pasta. :(  The bread used in the sandwich seemed not fresh to start with. Matigas sya. The filling could be promising, but because the bread wasn't good, the whole thing was ruined. As for the pesto, it was downright bad! It was very dry and the noodles were tough. Forgive my daughter but this was her comment: "The worst pesto I've ever had" Ugh! Well,  you might be saying that's what I get for paying just P55 for an order of pesto and you are right! My take on this is: A couple of bucks added to the price won't hurt, but would make a customer happy with a better-tasting plate of pasta. Obviously, TSG scrimped on olive oil, that's why the pesto was dry and tough and lacking in zing. Thankfully, there was the Cheezy Bacon Potato as the much needed redeemer or I would be breaking up with The Sandwich Guy even before a relationship could even begin. Haha! I know that doesn't make any sense. Oh, well..TSG is a promising food business and in fact, it now has several stores in the metro. I wish our experience was an "isolated case" and that tough bread and dry pasta aren't 

what they always serve. :-)

Ultimate Roastbeef Sandiwch, P125.

Looks good. I wished it tasted good as well.

Pesto, P55.

Cheezy Bacon Potato, P70. We loved this - baby potatoes with lots of bacon bits and melted cheese.

Forgive me but is fried the opposite of fresh?

Deliciosa comida!

Dulcinea has been around since 1963 but it was my first time eating there three weeks ago or in early January. Since Trinoma Mall opened in 2007, I rarely go to SM North Edsa anymore (to avoid the huge crowd) but I'm glad I did that Saturday afternoon, tagging along my daughter, because I got to see restaurants that are not found in Trinoma. One of such is Dulcinea, a restaurant known for serving Spanish cuisine like Paella Valenciana, Lengua Estofada and Pollo Rollo. Dulcinea, however, is more synonymous with Churros con Chocolate. A churro, according to Wikipedia, is a fried-dough pastry dipped in hot chocolate and usually eaten for breakfast. It can be considered as the Spanish doughnut. Churros we were not drawn toward on that occasion, however, as my daughter and I had other things in mind (and they're not Spanish. haha!), even for dessert. I had set my eyes on the Fish Fillet Sandwich, while the daughter could not be swayed from having Pesto Linguine. And how we both enjoyed our meal! The pasta, sandwich and fries all tasted great and were extremely satisfying. We ended our meal with a slice of Sans Rival which was delicious as well, although the coffee which I paired it with was not really awesome. I hope to be back soon to Dulcinea for lunch to try their paella. :-)

Fish Fillet Sandwich with Fries, P99.

Pesto Linguine, P190.

Sanz Rival, P62.

House Blend Coffee, P60.

Iced Tea, P50.

Other Dulcinea branches are at SM Megamall, Mall of Asia, Greenbelt 1, Glorietta 4, Greenhills Shopping Center, Robinsons Galleria, Tomas Morato, Ali Mall, Eastwood, Power Plant Mall and SM City Fairview. 

Bonus food!

What is "bonus food"? As far as my friend Leslie and I are concerned, it's what we traditionally eat whenever we receive a bonus at work, about twice a year (sometimes more ). We started this "tradition" eight years ago when we became friends upon my entry to the company. And there's only one restaurant we traditionally go to for our ceremonial lunch or afternoon meal (I can't say snacks because we have a heavy, hearty meal each time. ). It's A Veneto Pizzeria Ristorante, which has a branch that is walking distance from our office in Quezon City. All these years, we've had the same things on our plates - pizza and pasta. Not that A Veneto serves only these, no, they also have hot and cold hero sandwiches, chicken, mussels, calzone, salads,  and desserts. If my memory serves me right, we've been having the same pizza and pasta variety, too - Plain Nut-Pesto which we share and a slice of New York-style pizza for me and Vegetarian for my friend. 

I've dined at A Veneto in the company of other friends and also some of my kids and tried other food there but the pesto pasta and New York pizza are my absolute favorites. What I really like about A Veneto is that they don't scrimp on ingredients to give their patrons great-tasting food. This, however, once served as a downside for me. I was with my other co-worker/friend Chie and we shared an order of A Veneto's Oil and Garlic with Shrimps Pasta. One thing that solicited "wow" from me was the abundance of shrimps with which our pasta came. Talk about shrimp galore! Hours after indulging, however, there I was with a headache caused by an elevated blood pressure! I've shied away from
Oil and Garlic with Shrimps Pasta from then on. 
Now let's talk about my favorites - first, the Pesto Pasta. At A Veneto, it's soo delicious you'll forget it's healthy too! Lots of basil - which I love for its flavor and load of Vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and magnesium - and olive oil, which is one of the healthiest oils on earth, so every strand of noodle is moist and savory. As for the New York Pizza, it's got lots of ham, pepperoni, beef, onions and bell pepper. Whew! Describing these makes me crave! Darn!
Anyway, on our latest gastronomic outing at A Veneto earlier this week, my friend and I had dessert, too (why hadn't we for years?) aside from Plain Nut-Pesto and pizza - Blueberry Cheesecake which we shared. We both loved that a serving of it was quite big and could be contently shared by two persons. It was yummy, with the just the right sweetness to end a perfect meal. One thing, though. I didn't like that it was served on a disposable tub. Methinks they should have put in on a shallow ceramic bowl for better presentation. By the way, my perennial favorite drink at A Veneto is lemonade and I had it again this time. On other times, I had a cup of brewed coffee. 
Aside from the food, ambiance and service at A Veneto are good, too. Need I say A Veneto is one of my favorite restaurants? Till the next bonus!

New York Pizza, P100 per slice/P580, 16"; P420, 14"; P260, 10"

Vegetarian Pizza, P100 per slice/P580, 16"; P420, 14"; P260, 10"

Plain Nut-Pesto Pasta, P200, good for sharing.

My plate.

Blueberry Cheesecake, P90. It's big enough for sharing!

My half of the Blueberry Cheesecake.

Lemonade, P65.

Circles Café: An afternoon at the park

Menu on tarpaulin outside Circles Café.

Inside the café.

Nice country-style interiors.

My brewed coffee (came with my meal).

Tapsilog (well, almost), P100. Brown rice takes the place of sinangag (fried rice).

Spaghetti al Pesto with wheat bread, P125.

Mango Juice, P40.

Mango Cheesecake, P60.

My son loves the Mango Cheesecake.

My boy holding the candies given by the Circles Café owner.

As we eat, this is what we see outside. Nice view! I love trees.

This is Circles Cafe from outside.

QC Memorial Circle.

Fun time for my son at the playground.

It was a work and play Saturday for me and my youngest child. It was palengke day once again and I had to get our organic veggies for the week at the QC Memorial Circle, so I decided to have some fun whilst doing the chore. Fun, my son had (me too!), as I let him romp to his heart's content at the playground before picking up our veggies. This was, however, after we had a nice merienda at Circles Cafe, a quaint coffeehouse tucked into the bowels of the QC Memorial Circle. This side of the Circle was unfamiliar to me till we ate at Serye some two weeks ago. 'Twas good choosing to dine at Serye, it turned out, 'coz I discovered this side of the park, which is quieter than the playground side, where we'd gone picnicking a few times already. It was a major plus that there, too was a row of small eateries and coffee shops here that appealed to me because they looked cozy and quiet inside. Outside these establishments was even more appealing to me because there's a lot more greenery here than in the other side - more trees, more grass and more seats and tables where I imagined I would be reading a book while sipping coffee one day soon. But on this particular day, since I had a small guy with me, I could not, of course, just sit under a tree and read a book. I had to let him play and in exchange, he let me choose where we eat instead of at Jollibee or McDonalds, which are his usual choices. So, Circles Cafe, it was for the both of us. Looking at it from the outside, I thought it  was a "cute" coffeehouse and that it was cool and comfy there as it offered al fresco dining. At the entrance, there's this menu on a tarpaulin and the picture of pesto pasta appealed to my son. Inside, as I ran through the menu, I overheard the woman (I learned later that her name is Tess Garcolitos and that she's the owner of this cafe) telling another customer that their bestseller was the Vigan Longganisa and Lucban Longganisa meals. However, this was after I have ordered the Beef Tapa meal. Rowan, of course, went for the Spaghetti al Pesto. Minutes later, after having spoonfuls of my order, I realized it was wrong for me to say "Tapsilog" when I gave my order because what I was served was not sinangag (fried rice) but brown rice. I read the tarpaulin menu inside and yes, brown rice indeed it was. It was somewhat disappointing but I wasn't gonna fret, of course. After all, I was hungry and anyway, the tapa (beef) was good - well-seasoned and tender and I was happy with it. I asked my boy how his pesto was and he answered on the positive. However, as he went "deeper" into his food, he started tasting something "burnt' and refused to finish his pasta. Being the mom, I finished it for him, of course, and discovered that the "burnt" taste came from toasted garlic bits. This made me review my pesto recipe in my mind as I thought it didn't include garlic (Once I got home, I asked my daughter if she puts garlic in her pesto sauce and she said yes, only she doesn't saute or fry it, she just put it with the rest of ingredients in the blender). In truth, I liked the pesto here at Circles Cafe and  welcomed the nice twist that the toasted garlic offered, but you know how kids are. For dessert, the little guy and I shared a slice of Mango Cheesecake, which was good! My son liked it very much. As I paid for our food, I asked the woman who looked like the owner of the cafe if she was it indeed and she said "yes", and that the man who was there also serving customers was her hubby. She said that they opened Circles Cafe November last year. She asked my son if he liked his pasta but it was me who answered that he did, but not till he tasted the toasted garlic. Tess then asked the cook if she put toasted garlic in the pesto and when the woman affirmed she did, her boss told her not to put garlic next time if a child is ordering. Tess then apologized to my son, then, handed him some candies and Ben 10 stickers. My boy was delighted! Well, isn't that good service?. And yes, good food, too.

Pesto-rrific!

Creamy chicken spaghetti (Dec. 24, 2011)

Penne with spicy meat sauce
(March 25, 2012)

I've long planned to try making pesto but was never able to do it. Pesto is on top on my list of pasta favorites and it's quite ironic that I've never gotten around to actually making it. Over the years, I've tried many pasta recipes and modesty aside, my friends and kids loved most of them. Yesterday, my daughter beat me to making pesto. And was I impressed! She made not just good pesto, it was a near-perfect pesto! The basil leaves' flavor was not too intense, but worked to a nice balance of taste with the nuts and other spices.  My daughter might as well give some restaurants a run for their money with her pesto! One pizza-pasta restaurant that, for me, serves good pesto is a Veneto Pizzeria Ristorante, which has a branch a stone's throw away from our office in QC. And my daughter's version of pesto comes close to what it serves.  Attagirl!