First Food Trip in Makati in Years!

Because I live out in what qualifies as Metro Manila's boondocks (we do have a great view of the Sierra Madre range here), I rarely get to go to Makati. This year, we went twice in a single week! Last Sunday it was to watch Seussical, a delightful musical, well worth seeing. Hunger and nostalgia drew me to Wendy's for merienda. There aren't too many Wendy's around anymore, and certainly not where we live. Their baked potato with chili and cheese and now their terrific thick milkshakes are the ultimate in comfort food. I am always on the lookout for strawberry milkshakes, ever since McDonald's stopped serving them. Up to last year I could get a good strawberry milkshake from McDo at either the branch in front of Ever Gotesco Commonwealth or the one on Quezon Avenue that was near my hospital Capitol Medical. I often got my milk quota from those strawberry milkshakes while pregnant with my daughter, so it's not surprising she loves them too (pinaglihi as they say). We used to reward her with a shake after getting her shots from her pedia at Capitol. So kudos to Wendy's for making the shakes, though I miss their sour cream baked potatoes, which were my favorite in childhood.

That hardly qualifies as a food trip, of course. What I'm really referring to is our visit yesterday to see my mom's balikbayan friend at New World Hotel. I've heard of those who treat balikbayans by bringing them to expensive steakhouses and Italian restaurants, to have them protest that they get that kind of food often where they live. Clearly an excuse for the relatives to eat out in style for once, understandable these days when eating out is so costly around here. But in our family we always make sure to treat returning expats to a real Filipino meal. In this case, to a fusion Filipino meal, at Sentro 1771.

While waiting for our meal, we sipped their lemon pandan cooler. The mellow pandan flavor along with the hint of sweetness offsets the tartness of the lemon, making it a welcome refreshment even for my calamansi juice-wary daughter.

I had been feeling dizzy and had just learned from a blood test that I had a low red blood count. Even if it weren't for that, we would have ordered their signature corned beef sinigang, of course, with its stimulating combination of sour broth and salty chunks of meat.

The Chinese would consider the flavors of the meal well-balanced, for we also had catfish in a sweet, teriyaki-like sauce, the kesong puti salad with its zesty herbaceous dressing over tomatoes, onions, crunchy lettuce and mild pesto-laced white cheese, and an earthy, ketchup-laced tortang talong with bangus. The last was a smokier-flavored version of my three-year-old's favorite tortang talong, which I intend to try at home next time I have leftover bangus. My daughter has achieved fame in her pre-school for raving over tortang talong, insisting on buying eggplant during their grocery field trip while other kids were on the lookout for sweets. This just goes to show that the way to get kids to eat vegetables is to present them in interesting, kid-friendly ways. Of course, as far as my kid is concerned, the food at Sentro is kid-friendly, but then she has more sophisticated taste than most pre-schoolers. The only item she didn't take to was the catfish, but then she has an aversion to soy sauce and similar brown sauces these days for some reason. but my husband, who is not fond of either beef or fish devoured the sinigang and the catfish as well as his favorite crispy shrimps.

After our meal, our friend offered to treat for dessert, and full as I was I couldn't resist an opportunity to visit Qoola, which we'd gone to last year. My mom and daughter are fans of frozen yogurt as well, and delighted in the creamy flavorful swirls and the variety of toppings offered. My daughter always goes for blueberry with rainbow sprinkles and rice krispies, my mom favors plain yogurt with kiwi and almonds. As for me, I can never resist mint and chocolate ice cream or yogurt, so I swirled the too together and added raspberry, another favorite flavor of mine. With already a variety of flavors in my cup, I went easy on the toppings, just adding a bit of granola and chocolate-covered rice krispies for crunch. I was a bit at a loss as to which fruit would possibly go with all three flavors so decided to forgo fruits completely for once.

Then it was back to New World again to visit my mom's cousins at their furniture store, Domani. Surprise, surprise, we found the shop now had an adjoining cafe called Tutto Domani! It had been set up in May, but somehow we had missed the item in the Inquirer heralding the new cafe. They had just served someone a pasta puttanesca when we were there and the smell was tempting, a pity we had no room for a meal. But our gracious relatives insisted on serving us strong espresso, a souffle-like dessert called chocolate delight, and their unique warm pastry called crounds. The last selection was truly the crown of our merienda. Inspired by the little hot Japanese cakes, crounds are made from crepe batter, molded into balls and coated with Parmesan cheese. As much as we had already eaten, we could not resist these melt-in-the mouth treats.

All this good food made the long trip worth it. We hope to visit Makati again soon after the Christmas rush dies down to savor more good food, following the first and best food trip we've had in years.