Becoming a well-seasoned traveler is everybody's dream. Like me, going on a trip, eating the specialty of the house and being spoiled for the reason that you're gonna write something about how you were treated by them are something I fantasize often...
When suddenly...like an answered prayer, my students and Mrs. Ligan of SMA's TLE Department, gave me an offer I can't refuse. They asked me to be a food critic in their performance task evaluation. This includes critiquing how the food was prepared, how it will be served, how the simulated restaurant will be managed and how their menu card would aid the customer.
Without hesitations and with the excitement of a young foodie, I went to SMA on Saturday, October 22, 2011 at a little past 12:00 noon. This is the last day of their Second Quarter Examination. They will end the test at 12:00 so I am not surprised that they have not prepared anything for me to eat. Hahaha! I ate ahead at home earlier and made myself full so as to become discriminating in taste. Most of them have gone home. So, I and my former students went out for a while. When we came back at 1:00 pm, the Senior students are starting to set up their kitchen...
Organized chaos reigned the grounds as the teacher announced the time left. It's like watching a pressure challenge in a cooking show. Some group members prepared the table. Assigned waiters were rehearsing their lines. While others, prepared the cooked food with garnishing. I on the other hand, watched with fascination as I glanced on a copy of the criteria on my right hand. Then Janice was sent to tell me they are ready.
With Mme. Villahermosa, my partner in critiquing the 3 restaurants..
Janice billeted us into the first resto. The first restaurant owned by Janice and her company is Chinese themed. The menu however has other twists like the cake evident in the picture above.
Chef Anthon's Prawns in butter and garlic... (I was about to eat when I remembered to take a picture first.. Notice the semi-detached head...)
Onion rings
Crispy pata
Their anachonistic and incongruous cake...
Some of their food were not that worthy of praise. However, the prawns in butter and garlic was extraordinary. The presentation of it was great. The taste is really beyond my expectation for a novice cook. The texture of the flesh, the aroma and the play of garlic and butter is pleasing. On the other hand, I find the onion rings insipid and mushy; the crispy pata rubbery; and the grilled bangus burnt black. (LOL, I have to write this down. Wew! I find it really hard to be honest when the cook and the people behind the preparation are in your first name basis. It's just like criticizing your uncle's cooking.)
Anyway, redemption for them came when the Mango-Pandan dessert was served. It was blissful, quite climactic.
I just find them noble for being true to their menu. All of the food listed are available. This includes the porkchops I saw being left in the kitchen when the time for cooking ended.
Enough for their food. These are the things I noticed in the service and setting. First, the music is inaudible and often dies down unnoticed. Second, the ones who were assigned to set the table have done it badly. They have not even appropriately placed spoons, forks or chopsticks to aid our dining experience. The restaurant is not clean. The lighting is poor. The placement of rose petals and the bright cake on the table was presumptuous. The glasses for beverage were the ones used to serve the dessert. These glasses were cloudy. And lastly, the waitresses and their uniform don't match the theme of their Chinese resto. They're like ballet dancers in long-sleeved outfits.
Now for their menu card: the color of the special paper, the color of the fonts, font style and the placement of colored pictures of the food gave me a hard time. Also, unlike others, the menu does not give any mention of the main features of the food listed.
We graciously exited the first resto and went "andiamo" to the other one next door. When we arrived, they were still making finishing touches of the set-up, but the maitre d' did not seat us in a comfortable waiting area. We just stood in the corridor for a few minutes.
When the manager gave the headwaitress a nod, Mme. Villahermosa and I were asked to enter into the threshold using different doors. Once again, the people of the restaurant were presumptuous that we will be having a romantic dinner. Anyway, I was just excited to step on the red cloth carpeting and be seated in a table topped with a blazing candelabra.
They had it correctly this time. The setting was premeditated. I admire the hardwood chairs. The glassware and silver. They even had fine china. The place is clean and the lighting complements the sultry mood of the closed windows and the fiery candles.
The waiters were attentive and what they're wearing is passable for an Italian themed resto.
When they gave us their menu card, it's as if I'm seeing an original. It was top of the line. The color, the binding, the play of pictures and fonts, all of these things were perfect.
The attentive waiter taking our order...
A candle in artichoke table napkin folding...
We were served Monte Cristo for hors d'oeuvre. When asked why it was named so, they weren't able to answer. It was sliced bread rolled with ham and cheese and fried with crumbs. It was so fatty that my appetite flew out of the closed window. It was presented well; the color, aroma, and I can say it tastes good. However, I believe it is not an effective appetizer.
Monte Cristo... named for a reason unknown to them...
The piece de resistance came as tuna spaghetti. It looks really delicious; it even smells delicious; it tastes delicious. Presented well in fine china, this pasta dish in tuna sauce was incredible. The tuna had that peculiar scent; the slight saltiness reminds me of the sea and the hint of sweetness, the fields of the earth.
Like many others, once presented with the food of the restaurant, forgetting to take a picture of it occurs alarmingly often if it looks delicious. So, I cannot give you a picture.
I enjoyed the main course, but the dish which followed took it all away. It was cucumber in vinegar. I know it's a kind of salad, but its presentation was so primitive. What's deliciously grand in dipping cucumbers in boring vinegar huh???
To continue, we had chocolate cake for dessert. Not bad. I had this at Julie's with sprinkles on top.
For their beverage, their iced tea was so refreshing, and the waiter was so sensitive in refilling my empty-by-the-second glass.
After our great experience in the Cucina Italiana, we were ushered to the second floor where another restaurant with a view awaits us.
The stairs leading to the third restaurant adorned with tropical flowers picked nonchalantly outside the fence...
When we arrived on the top landing of the flight of stairs, Gabriel the attendant was fidgeting but delivered the job quite well.
We were seated in a delicate table with a fantastic afternoon view. The sun setting in the nearby hills with clouds tinged in red and indigo added points to this restaurant. But what's its name?
Earlier, we had Zhinsi the Chinese Restaurant and previously we had La Cucina Italiana, but this time the name was not in the priority list of the owners. The waiter told us that they are having a Brazilian inspired setting... Ahh... okay... Perhaps this explains the bamboo fronds and charming hibiscus centerpiece.
The backdrop unfortunately looked as if it existed when ironing was not a thought.
The crude menu card was placed conspicuously on the centerpiece as if it's a part of a get-well-soon bouquet. It's printed in photo paper so it's glossy and sticks to one's fingers. The font size is small, not that informative, and really unworthy to be talked much.
We ordered everything they are ready to serve. It came as ginger bangus and vegetable lumpia.
The ginger bangus was palatable. The strong aroma of ginger and the fresh tangy and milky taste of the fish were a good combination.
The vegetable lumpia was unspeakable.
The Ginger Bangus...
Water is the only available beverage in this restaurant.
The dessert is pictured below...
Fruits in cream... It tastes bland... I was presuming it was sweet... I think the sliced mangoes are overly hanging by the side of the plate.
After talking with the waiter who seemed to have developed the temerity to ask us questions about the view, the food and the service, we're done!!!
-------------------------------------------
I gave them all very high scores. With a slight reference to criteria, I was generously biased for the following reasons:
1. they are not really cooks and restaurateurs;
2. effort is evident in most of them and the expense is obvious;
3. they seem to have enjoyed what they are doing; and lastly
4. they made my day. This reason is perhaps the most valid. I am a critic, and if they have made my day, then they have clearly accomplished the performance task scenario in GRASPS...
The end of the task...
A pose with the proud pseudo-restaurateurs...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
A few moments later... when all the dust had settled in the hallowed grounds of SMA...
My two cronies and I planned our next misadventure... This time, attending Joshua Chong's Birthday Party...
We arrived too early at Joshua Chong's party so we opted to hang out (literally) in Boljoon...
The Gargoyles are alive... Haunting an old Schoolhouse...
Inside Boljoon belfry... It is already dark outside...
We met Pia in the Church Plaza... She told us that we come back for the Basketball game after we go to Chong's...
After this picture was taken, we went back at Chong's place. Partied and feasted grandly.
At 9:00 pm, we went back to Boljoon to watch Basketball...
Organized chaos reigned the grounds as the teacher announced the time left. It's like watching a pressure challenge in a cooking show. Some group members prepared the table. Assigned waiters were rehearsing their lines. While others, prepared the cooked food with garnishing. I on the other hand, watched with fascination as I glanced on a copy of the criteria on my right hand. Then Janice was sent to tell me they are ready.
Janice billeted us into the first resto. The first restaurant owned by Janice and her company is Chinese themed. The menu however has other twists like the cake evident in the picture above.
Some of their food were not that worthy of praise. However, the prawns in butter and garlic was extraordinary. The presentation of it was great. The taste is really beyond my expectation for a novice cook. The texture of the flesh, the aroma and the play of garlic and butter is pleasing. On the other hand, I find the onion rings insipid and mushy; the crispy pata rubbery; and the grilled bangus burnt black. (LOL, I have to write this down. Wew! I find it really hard to be honest when the cook and the people behind the preparation are in your first name basis. It's just like criticizing your uncle's cooking.)
Anyway, redemption for them came when the Mango-Pandan dessert was served. It was blissful, quite climactic.
I just find them noble for being true to their menu. All of the food listed are available. This includes the porkchops I saw being left in the kitchen when the time for cooking ended.
Enough for their food. These are the things I noticed in the service and setting. First, the music is inaudible and often dies down unnoticed. Second, the ones who were assigned to set the table have done it badly. They have not even appropriately placed spoons, forks or chopsticks to aid our dining experience. The restaurant is not clean. The lighting is poor. The placement of rose petals and the bright cake on the table was presumptuous. The glasses for beverage were the ones used to serve the dessert. These glasses were cloudy. And lastly, the waitresses and their uniform don't match the theme of their Chinese resto. They're like ballet dancers in long-sleeved outfits.
Now for their menu card: the color of the special paper, the color of the fonts, font style and the placement of colored pictures of the food gave me a hard time. Also, unlike others, the menu does not give any mention of the main features of the food listed.
We graciously exited the first resto and went "andiamo" to the other one next door. When we arrived, they were still making finishing touches of the set-up, but the maitre d' did not seat us in a comfortable waiting area. We just stood in the corridor for a few minutes.
When the manager gave the headwaitress a nod, Mme. Villahermosa and I were asked to enter into the threshold using different doors. Once again, the people of the restaurant were presumptuous that we will be having a romantic dinner. Anyway, I was just excited to step on the red cloth carpeting and be seated in a table topped with a blazing candelabra.
They had it correctly this time. The setting was premeditated. I admire the hardwood chairs. The glassware and silver. They even had fine china. The place is clean and the lighting complements the sultry mood of the closed windows and the fiery candles.
The waiters were attentive and what they're wearing is passable for an Italian themed resto.
When they gave us their menu card, it's as if I'm seeing an original. It was top of the line. The color, the binding, the play of pictures and fonts, all of these things were perfect.
We were served Monte Cristo for hors d'oeuvre. When asked why it was named so, they weren't able to answer. It was sliced bread rolled with ham and cheese and fried with crumbs. It was so fatty that my appetite flew out of the closed window. It was presented well; the color, aroma, and I can say it tastes good. However, I believe it is not an effective appetizer.
The piece de resistance came as tuna spaghetti. It looks really delicious; it even smells delicious; it tastes delicious. Presented well in fine china, this pasta dish in tuna sauce was incredible. The tuna had that peculiar scent; the slight saltiness reminds me of the sea and the hint of sweetness, the fields of the earth.
Like many others, once presented with the food of the restaurant, forgetting to take a picture of it occurs alarmingly often if it looks delicious. So, I cannot give you a picture.
I enjoyed the main course, but the dish which followed took it all away. It was cucumber in vinegar. I know it's a kind of salad, but its presentation was so primitive. What's deliciously grand in dipping cucumbers in boring vinegar huh???
To continue, we had chocolate cake for dessert. Not bad. I had this at Julie's with sprinkles on top.
For their beverage, their iced tea was so refreshing, and the waiter was so sensitive in refilling my empty-by-the-second glass.
After our great experience in the Cucina Italiana, we were ushered to the second floor where another restaurant with a view awaits us.
When we arrived on the top landing of the flight of stairs, Gabriel the attendant was fidgeting but delivered the job quite well.
We were seated in a delicate table with a fantastic afternoon view. The sun setting in the nearby hills with clouds tinged in red and indigo added points to this restaurant. But what's its name?
Earlier, we had Zhinsi the Chinese Restaurant and previously we had La Cucina Italiana, but this time the name was not in the priority list of the owners. The waiter told us that they are having a Brazilian inspired setting... Ahh... okay... Perhaps this explains the bamboo fronds and charming hibiscus centerpiece.
The crude menu card was placed conspicuously on the centerpiece as if it's a part of a get-well-soon bouquet. It's printed in photo paper so it's glossy and sticks to one's fingers. The font size is small, not that informative, and really unworthy to be talked much.
We ordered everything they are ready to serve. It came as ginger bangus and vegetable lumpia.
The ginger bangus was palatable. The strong aroma of ginger and the fresh tangy and milky taste of the fish were a good combination.
The vegetable lumpia was unspeakable.
Water is the only available beverage in this restaurant.
The dessert is pictured below...
After talking with the waiter who seemed to have developed the temerity to ask us questions about the view, the food and the service, we're done!!!
-------------------------------------------
I gave them all very high scores. With a slight reference to criteria, I was generously biased for the following reasons:
1. they are not really cooks and restaurateurs;
2. effort is evident in most of them and the expense is obvious;
3. they seem to have enjoyed what they are doing; and lastly
4. they made my day. This reason is perhaps the most valid. I am a critic, and if they have made my day, then they have clearly accomplished the performance task scenario in GRASPS...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
A few moments later... when all the dust had settled in the hallowed grounds of SMA...
After this picture was taken, we went back at Chong's place. Partied and feasted grandly.
At 9:00 pm, we went back to Boljoon to watch Basketball...
