Sakura by Edo-San at Alphaland Tower

Sakura by Edo San at Alphaland Southgate Tower in Makati is an offshoot of the Japanese restaurant of the same name at the members-only private island club Balesin.

The restaurant's location is not the best (read: EDSA)  but those who will brave the traffic will be rewarded with a completely satisfying Japanese food experience. 

Complimentary Appetizer

Such a unique and kawaii complimentary dish of Japanese popped rice! 

Uni Sashimi (195php)

Very fresh and good value for money. The taste of uni always reminds me of the sea.  

Shake Sashimi (385php)

Just like the uni, our salmon sashimi was fresh with a buttery texture. 

Edo San Maki (672php)

Eel, cream cheese, avocado, and crab are some of the components of this maki. Beautiful colors and big on flavor!

Sukiyaki (560php)

I liked the paper for pot concept but this was a complete miss.

U.S. Tenderloin Steak (878php)

Perfectly cooked and great quality beef. The steak had strong mushroom flavors though so it's best to have the vegetables separated.

Sakura by Edo San also offers desserts that utilize ingredients that are distinctively Japanese:

Macha Creme Brulee (175php)

                     

Black Sesame Ice Cream

Bottom line: Skip the sukiyaki and enjoy everything else!!!

Sakura by Edo-San is located at Alphaland Southgate Tower, 2258 Chino Roces cor. EDSA Makati. For more information, call 310 5677 or click here.

Christmas Dinner at Pepita's Kitchen

Last Christmas, my friends and I had a 12 course Hayop na Degustacion at Pepita's Kitchen.

Dedet dela Fuente, the woman behind Pepita's Kitchen, opened her home in Magallanes Village to host the private dinner.

Menu

I would have came to dinner early if I only knew that my favorite childhood snacks were ready for picking before service began.

Tray of Chocnut

Mixed Nuts

Dedet guided the degustacion experience expertly by explaining every dish that was served.

Let's get started...

Pepitas Magic Potion: Cotton Candy + Lambanog

Unique drink that made me all the more excited for the food to come! 

Tendon Chips with Dip

Tasted every bit like chicharon minus the guilt!

Hiplog

One of my favorite dishes! Perfectly cooked shrimp covered in salted egg and aligue sauce. Do us all a favor Dedet and bottle the sauce pls.

So good that it deserves a close-up!

Bone Marrow w/ Oxtail Marmalade and Special Salt of Chicharon

 Dedet said that some choose to eat the components of this dish separately while others prefer to mix the crushed chicharon and oxtail marmalade with the bone marrow. I, of course, chose the fat on fat on fat way of eating and absolutely loved it! The crushed chicharon gave the dish the needed texture while the slightly sweet marmalade was the perfect contrast to the richness of the bone marrow. 

Salad Surprise

Lettuce, homemade yogurt cheese, pureed cashews. The surprise? FIZZ CANDY! 

Sipit Sarap

The fat and juicy crab claw was lathered in coconut milk. I'm a sucker for anything that has coconut milk so this was another winner for me. 

Lucky You

A simple dish of cold noodles that had a clean refreshing taste. Wished that I could have drowned the noodles in the salted egg sauce of Hiplog!

Lambada

Tender lamb kaldereta which had the right amount of spice.

Cheers Palate Cleanse

A tamarind palate cleanser to prepare us for the star of the night. 

Spanish Lechon

Pepita's Kitchen offers several stuffed lechon variants but we chose the Spanish Lechon. We had to pay premium for this stuffing.

Dedet's daughter was an expert pig carver!

Our Spanish lechon had chorizo and aligue rice.

The best part of the lechon was the skin! It was so crispy that I could hear every delightful crunch in my mouth. The aligue rice and lechon itself could use more flavor though.

Cholesterol Sweeper

After all the rich dishes, we were given a shot of creamy oatmeal. I'm not sure if it helped in containing all the fatty food we ate but it certainly was the best oatmeal concoction I've eaten so far.

Pinoy Dessert

Dessert came in the form of Dedet's Pinoy take on the classic creme brulee. It was sweet and light which was the perfect way to cap the 12 course meal.

Bravo to Dedet dela Fuente for being a culinary genius. The dishes were all well-executed and thoughtfully prepared. For me, the true test of success when it comes to any dining experience is my willingness to go back. For Pepita's Kitchen, the answer is YES... in a heartbeat.

Degustacion at Pepita's Kitchen starts at 2,200php per pax. Minimum of 15pax. For inquiries, call 09178660662 or 425-4605. You can send an email at pepitaskitchen@gmail.com. Click here for more information.

Classic Italian at La Nuova Pastelleria

San Antonio Plaza in Forbes Park may have undergone a facelift with new dining options, but one restaurant that has stood the test of time is La Nuova Pastelleria. 

Open since 1978, La Nuova Pastelleria has been serving Italian food to its loyal clientele for over 35 years. 

It's a no frills restaurant with limited space and uncomfortable chairs but what makes diners keep coming back is its good food.

Flat Bread with Pate and Tomato 

The liver pate is reason enough for a return visit.

Ravioli Verdi (495php)

House Specialty of stuffed pasta with spinach, ricotta cheese in tomato cream

Profumo Di Tartufo (525php)

Tagliatelle with white truffle cream, porcini mushroom topped with parma ham

Pizza Margherita

Pizza with olive oil, fresh basil, and tomatoes

La Nuova Pastelleria is certainly not the most exciting restaurant out there but for classic Italian food done right, it's the place to be.

La Nuova Pastelleria is located at San Antonio Plaza, McKinley Road., Forbes Park Forbes Park - North, Makati. For more information, call 867-2370.

Lunch Sets at Mangetsu

If you happen to be in Makati at noon, a good place to have lunch is Mangetsu.

Mangetsu started as a hole in the wall restaurant at the Creekside Mall but has moved to a thoughtfully decorated space along Jupiter when it changed management. 

It has an extensive menu with over 200 items to choose from. We didn't have trouble ordering because they also offer lunch specials which were all under 400php. 

Murtle had her go to Japanese dish: 

Gyudon Lunch Set

The beef bowl passed Murtle's standards. Meat was tender and flavorful.

Nina ordered one of Mangetsu's most popular dish:

Chicken Karaage with 3 Kinds of Salt Set

Chicken was bland without the salts. Not my favorite but I loved the kropek.

I was craving for sashimi:

Sashimi Sampler Set

Mangetsu has a Japanese sushi chef and it shows with this beautifully prepared fresh serving of tuna, uni, and salmon. 

Undeniably, Mangetsu has one of the best deals in town for lunch. Food quality is better than most Japanese restaurants and price points are very reasonable. 

Mangetsu is located at 38 Jupiter St. Bel-Air Makati. For more information, call 4783292 or click here.

Fairmont Makati's Spectrum Buffet

Heard that Fairmont Makati was finally open so we decided to pay it a visit.

From its website:

Situated in Makati’s prestigious commercial business district is a tower of 30 floors - the luxurious Fairmont Makati, a hotel with 280 elegantly appointed guest rooms and suites. This luxury Makati City hotel features seven restaurants and lounges, over 1,700 square meters of versatile meeting and function space including an 859 square meter ballroom accommodating up to 720 diners. Relax and re-energize in hotel’s Willow Stream Spa, one of the city’s most luxurious retreats, the adjacent fitness centre and outdoor swimming pool. 

The lobby is tiny but tastefully decorated:

We had dinner at Spectrum, the newest hotel buffet in town. Price was 1,800php net per person.

The spread at Spectrum was rather limited with me being able to take pictures of most of the stations: 

Bread

Cheese

Salad

Seafood

Sushi

Pizza

Tandoor

Roasting

Dimsum

Roast Beef

Hot Dishes

Fruits

Filipino Dessert

Mini Cakes

Gelato

 Desserts

Desserts

and More Desserts!

The Famous Honey Station

Not only was I underwhelmed with the selection but more so with the quality of food:

Tuna was not fresh. Salmon sashimi saved the day.

Decent siomai and almost inedible hakaw.

Appreciated the nice plating but I didn't like any of the roastings. Not authentic.  

Roast beef was salty.

One positive thing about Spectrum is that most dishes are made to order with dishes coming out piping hot: Here are some dishes prepared just for our table:

Noodles

Bolognese

7 Flavored Pizza

Chicken Tandoor

Mango Crepe

I can only hope that Spectrum will improve over time because it's one of the worst hotel buffets in Manila in my opinion.

Spectrum is located ar Fairmont Makati 1 Raffles Drive, Makati Avenue Makati City. For more information call 5559888 or click here.