Having been born in the month of July, my birthdays have almost always been accompanied by rain.  And my 31st wasn’t any different, no thanks to typhoon Florita (hi Mia!).  I didn’t have anything planned except lunch (and dinner) with the people I hold dear(est), that would be my Mom, Dondi and Abby.  I invited my brother and his family for merienda the previous day but they were unavailable. That’s a couple of bucks savings! He he!

I originally wanted to just “hang out” but that wasn’t possible since it was also the deadline for our company to ship our samples for an upcoming trade fair in Germany in August.  There were still photos to be taken and sample finishes to be checked.  Lunch was actually something we just had to squeeze into the day.

(Warning:  food/restaurant review coming up!)  I’ve long wanted to try out The Legend Villas’ Lola Maria Coffee Shop after reading quite a glowing review about their food.  It boasts of cooking which should remind diners of the comforts of home.  And the lechon and halo-halo were supposed to be really good!  So for my birthday, I’ve decided that’s where I want to have lunch.

At almost 1:00, the place was unbelievably quiet.  There were only a handful of diners.  We should have taken that as a sign. :)  But it was late and we were hungry and we’ve always been curious about the place so we went ahead and got ourselves a table.

The selection wasn’t extensive: there’s the customary soup, the usual salad greens and potato salad.  For appetizer there were chicharong balat ng manok, fried lumpia and a third one which I’ve forgotten.  We loved the chicharong balat ng manok, even Abby!  So what if it’s a “health hazard”?! :)  The fried lumpia wasn’t crispy.  It was “makunat” and hard to cut through even with a knife.

There was NO lechon! Hmp! For main course, there were ox-tail kare-kare, pinatisang manok, tonkatsu (go figure!), ginataang seafood, buttered vegetables and 2 kinds of rice: plain and garlic fried.  The kare-kare, I have to say, is one of the best I’ve ever tasted other than that of my own lola’s cooking.  The sauce was thick and the ox-tail was oh-so tender.  They were not kidding when they said it was ox-tail kare-kare.  It was all ox-tail (and vegetables)!  I found the tonkatsu a little salty and the ginataang seafood was ok.

Lola Maria also has a pasta station.  There’s supposed to be noodles during birthdays so I had pasta with white sauce and fresh shrimps.  Actually, the pasta was for Abby but she didn’t quite like it so I ended up finishing it for her.

For dessert, there were native kakanin, macapuno ice cream, fresh fruits and halo-halo.  The ube is the real thing, just like how our grandparents make them, so unlike in other restaurants where the ube tastes like gabi or kamote.  The leche flan was also very good but a little sweet.  It’s the kind that melts in your mouth.  Kaya lang, they’re sliced so so small, kasi nga they’re supposed to be a topping for the halo-halo.

At Php554.00 per head, I think you’re better off having afternoon tea at The Pen.  You can also spend so much less for so much more at Cabalen (250/head), Kamay-Kainan (217/head) or Kamayan (295/head).  You may be better off enjoying your own lola’s cooking!  Even if you love kare-kare and halo-halo, I think the price is too much for what they offer.  You know the feeling of being full but not really satisfied?  That’s the feeling I got. I could have been a lot happier. :)  Good thing I had the weekend to look forward to…but that’s a whole new blog all together. :) 

At this point, I would like to thank everyone who sent me their greetings on my birthday.  Some started greeting me as early as the 1st of July!  Thank you all so much!  You’re all so sweet and thoughtful.  May God always bless you all!

My Dad would have been 60 years old last Sunday, July 9.  Now that gets me wondering, if he were still around, would there have been a party? It would have been perfect since his birthday fell on a Sunday.  Would his hair be greying already ala Jay Leno?  Would he subject himself to hair coloring to hide “the years”?  Worse, would his hair be thinning already and would he already be spending a fortune at Svenson?  The answers to all my questions would probably be yes.  My Dad could be a little vain so there’s a big chance that at 60, he still looked younger than he really is.

We originally planned to visit my Dad first at Loyola Marikina before offering mass at 12 noon last Sunday.  But you know Sundays!  We all tend to be a little lazier on Sundays!  We left the house just in time to catch the 12 o’clock mass at Christ the King in Greenmeadows.  After the mass, that’s when we went to Loyola to bring flowers to my Dad.  It was already 1:30 then and we still haven’t had lunch.  My Mom wanted to celebrate my Dad’s birthday and on a whim, we decided on afternoon tea at the Peninsula, which doesn’t start until 2:30pm.  We dropped by Shopwise in Libis to kill some time but I made sure to call the Peninsula’s “The Lobby” to reserve a table for us.

We were at the Pen before 3:00 pm and sure enough, a table was ready and waiting for us.  I reserved a table for five, that’s my Mom, Dondi, Abby’s Yaya Amor, Abby and Me.  I always make sure I include Abby in the reservations so as not to offend my little girl!  Ha ha!  Since we don’t really need the extra place setting for Abby, my Mom asked the servers not to take away the extra setting as it is reserved for somebody.  She, of course, did not say that that somebody has already moved on and won’t really be coming.  I found this funny and I think the servers found it creepy because they didn’t dare come near the head of the table!

Everyday from 2:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon, the Peninsula’s The Lobby has what they call “Afternoon Tea”.  We have been avid fans of this offering for some time now and to simply call it “afternoon tea” is an understatement.

Let me start with the fine china.  The china is not made in China.  It’s made in England.  The matching serving plates, saucers, teapots and teacups, cream and sugar containers are all intricately designed. I’m sure a big chunk is taken away from the pay of the The Lobby’s staff whenever they break any of these. 

The tea is not just your ordinary Lipton teabag which will arrive to you already swimming in hot water.  The Pen has a selection of tea infusions: caramel, mango, mint, raspberry, almond, plus a host of other tea flavors including traditional favorites like jasmine and ceylon.  I ordered caramel, so did my Mom.  Dondi had almond while Yaya Amor had raspberry.  Each of us were given a teapot filled with hot water and with the fresh tea leaves at the bottom.  Naturally, one has to use a strainer before pouring the tea in cups.  I usually take the tea with a little cream and a cube of sugar.  Don’t forget to ask for more hot water when you’ve almost consumed all the contents of the teapot.  That’s bottomless for you! 

The Peninsula’s afternoon tea comes with a spread that would impress even the Queen of England.  On the day of our visit, there was pancit malabon (weird ba?), baked mussels with cheese on top and fish cakes.  I found the pancit malabon a little too saucy and a bit bland.  You’ll need to enhance the taste with calamansi and patis.  The baked mussels turned out to be every diner’s favorite.  They quickly disappeared as soon as the food warmers have been refilled.  It came with a salsa dip which made it all the more yummy.  There were 3 kinds of sandwiches: zucchini and vegetables in wheat bread, open-faced roastbeef on french bread and lamb on hard rolls.  After the zucchini sandwiches have disappeared, they were replaced with salmon sandwiches, a welcome replacement, although the zucchini sandwiches were surprisingly good.  You have to have strong teeth to be able to eat the roastbeef and lamb sandwiches because the french bread is tough (lumalaban was how Dondi described it) and the roll was really hard.  But if your teeth can take a little abuse, why not?

To add authenticity to this old English custom, there were scones (an afternoon tea staple at The Lobby) alongside which are strawberry and mango marmalade and cream cheese.  The scones are my favorite and aside from the cream cheese and marmalade, I always have them with cheese.  There’s a platter with several kinds of cheeses.  I’m not a cheese expert so I can’t name all the cheeses.  But I assure you, they are not our everyday cheddar and quick melt cheeses. ;)  You can actually pinpoint which are the more pricey cheeses because they are served so sparingly.  Oo nga pala, there were also tiny quieches. 

Ahhhh and the sweets, there were mango samurai, buchi (weird ulit), individual servings of chocolate mousse, lemon meringue, fruit tarts, several native kakanin, fresh fruits and two kinds of ice cream (mocha and chocolate marble).  If you’ve read my previous food blogs, you may have already guessed that I did not touch the fresh fruits. :)  The lemon meringue was a little too sweet for me.  A true blue chocolate addict, I loved the chocolate mousse which was made from dark chocolate…this is my cue to say “Yum!”  The mango samurai was also very good.  It is like mango crepe served warm with caramel syrup.

At Php 550+ per head, this afternoon tea is a steal considering that it is at the Peninsula and there’s live music.  It is a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon (or any other day) with someone special or with the entire family.  It’s actually a very good way to impress a girl!  Be sure to make a reservation specially on weekends when the place tends to be full!

I guess we did justice to my Dad’s 60th birthday.  We were so full at the end of our so-called afternoon tea that none of us  (except Abby) ate dinner when we got home that night, and that was after going to two malls!

Happy 60th Birthday, Daddy!  Your little tea party was superb! ;) 

p.s.  I know, my blog site is turning out to be like the Thursday lifestyle pages of the  Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star.  I can’t help it.  :)  May I warn you that my next blog, or at least a part of it, may be about food again. Guten Appetit!