My dad celebrated his golden day last Sunday, October 30, 2011. The night before, we had a pre-birthday family dinner at Hap Chan. Jeff and Mark were also invited over for dinner.

Mommy and Gia took charge of the orders. I just made sure that they get Hap Chan's Shrimp Siomai. :p I also wanted some hakaw, but I just decided to do away with my cravings since the dimsum they ordered were already too much. :)

Dimsum galore!!!

Shrimp Siomai - Php 80.00

We also had chicken feet and Mark also requested for asado siopao. :p

Chicken Feet - Php 75.00

Asado Siopao - Php 75.00

Jaoey took hold of the menu and chose the crispy fried chicken.

Hap Chan Crispy Fried Chicken - Php 240.00

Yang Chow Fried Rice - Php 190.00

We usually frequent Hap Chan because we love their food. I just wasn't able to enjoy the food that time because of my uncooperative stomach.

Nido Sweet Corn Soup - Php 130.00

Sweet Corn with Crab Meat Soup - Php 130.00

Mixed Meat Canton - Php 185.00

Fried Squid with Salt and Pepper - Php 240.00

Plus our appetites went low and our cravings were lessened because of their very slow service.

Fish Fillet with Tofu Hotpot - Php 270.00

Hap Chan Special Hotpot - Php 270.00

But then again, we still had a fun dinner and managed to devour everything on the table! :p


HAP CHAN TEA HOUSE
Circumferential Road, Antipolo City

~~~~~

The big day came and Jaoey and I were up early to hand our gifts to the golden boy. :)


Each of us also helped in the preparations for daddy's birthday feast. Gia and Jeff did all the slicing and preparation of ingredients and I was the one in charged in cooking the spaghetti and frying the chicken and shanghai. But of course as always, it was again my dad who cooked almost everything. :)

The Golden Boy

On the table:

Maki and Sushi

Homemade Pork Siomai

Fresh Lumpia

Homemade Pork Empanada

Fried Chicken

Spaghetti

Garden Fresh Salad

Chicken Feet

Beef Caldereta

Lumpiang Shanghai

Bagnet

Homemade Pork Embutido

Lechon Paksiw

Shrimps

Adobong Pusit

Crabs

Grilled Bangus and Tilapia

Grilled Oysters

Fruit Salad

Leche Flan

Cake from Tita Ching

Cakes from Mark

We started the celebration late in the afternoon with a prayer which was led by Tita Tess.


And then the feast began!!!


Aside from our relatives, Daddy's friends also came and they had some rounds of drinks after dinner.

Daddy's Friends

Photo from Tito Francis

Tito Francis and Daddy

Photo from Tito Francis

Everyone enjoyed the feast. Every food in the table was a hit! And I guess the best part was when the visitors got to take home some of my daddy's specialties. :p

Thank you daddy for all the delicious food!
Happy birthday!!! We love you!!!

More photos HERE :)

Date of visit: September 30, 2011

One of the many things that I missed during Mark's absence is our Friday dinner and movie dates. He would pick me up from the office after work on Fridays and then we'll head to a place for our dinner and movie date. So when he got back, after a week's worth of vacation from work, I was very much looking forward to our first Friday dinner and movie date. :)

We both wanted to dine in a restaurant we haven't tried before so we chose to dine at the Spaghetti Factory. We had a hard time in choosing what to order because their menu was very inviting--the dishes look so delectable and the prices were very affordable. But having pastas as their specialty, Mark and I decided to just do away with rice and the rest of their menu and just have pastas instead.

Mark and I, on our first Friday dinner date after more than a year :)

Mark went on the safe side and ordered their Alfredo Fettuccine, while I was a bit adventurous that time and chose their Homemade Ravioli Ricotta Spinach. We both were frustrated at the sight of our plates when our orders were served. We were expecting something that is but enough to fill our tummies, but we were served with the opposite. Their servings weren't really that generous, not even reasonable for their price.

Alfredo Fettuccine - Php 179.00

We tried to be optimistic and gave their food a chance but we, once again, failed. Mark's Alfredo was just plain tasting. The garlic toast was rock hard and the sauce was not enough to even coat the fettuccine.

My Ravioli Spinach wasn't also a hit. I don't know about the fettuccine, but my raviolis were not al dente and were a bit hard to chew. My dish was overflowing with sauce, though not so tasty. I'm not sure if I was just frustrated with the serving and all, but I didn't really find mine delicious.

Homemade Ravioli Ricotta Spinach - Php 239.00

Their service wasn't also impeccable. Their staff were inattentive. We had a hard time calling their attention just to follow up our orders. :|

With food that is not something to die for and service that is not so good, our first time at Spaghetti Factory will also definitely be our last.

Mark didn't really enjoy our dinner so we decided to take out some food before our movie date. He didn't want to play safe this time, so he had burgers at Taters. :p

Here's Mark eating burger before No Other Woman starts

Our first Friday dinner date was a disaster, good thing our movie date was definitely awesome!

SPAGHETTI FACTORY, Glorietta 5

2/F Glorietta 5, Ayala Center

Makati City, Metro Manila

Philippines

(02) 501-3176

Date of visit: September 29, 2011

Mark paid me a surprise visit at work one Thursday afternoon. We were actually supposed to have lunch but something came up on his side so it didn't push through. I was really feeling sad about it, until I got a text message from Mark around half past 3pm asking me out for some snacks. I initially thought it was just one of his practical jokes when he instructed me to come down to the lobby to meet with him. Though very hesitant, I still went down and when I got to the ground floor, there he was, at the building entrance, smiling sweetly as I approach him. :p

We both wanted to try out some new restaurants and I thought the Ayala Triangle Gardens would be the perfect place. We walked around the area and this Filipino-home-style ambiance caught our attention the most.


It was late in the afternoon and there were only a few people dining in so we had the liberty to choose our seats. We chose the seats at the leftmost side of the restaurant, which gave us an ample view of the whole place.


Mark and I both loved Kanin Club's simple yet homey interior. Everything was just so Pinoy. The colorful stained glasses and the sliding windows and dividers were what I loved the most. The place actually reminded me of the houses and structures in Vigan.


Okay, so much with the restaurant's interior, let's now go to what we really came here for...the food! :D Our drinks were served a few minutes after we placed our orders. I had sago't gulaman while Mark had dalandan juice.

Dalandan Juice (Php 67.00) and Sago't Gulaman (Php 90.00)

We were in a Filipino restaurant so I already knew what Mark would have---his all-time favorite Kare-Kare. Unlike other kare-kare dishes that are just overflowing with veggies, Kanin Club's kare-kare had a generous amount of tender beef tripe and pork leg chunks. The veggies were also cooked just right, not too soggy and just had the right crunch. It's rich peanut sauce was also perfect as is but was made more delectable when paired with bagoong. There's actually no surprise that this was a hit for Mark (even if eaten with sour rice). :p

Kare-Kare - Php 358.00

It actually took me a while to finally decide what to have. I've been hearing raves and been reading a lot of good reviews about Kanin Club's Crispy Dinuguan and Sinangag na Sinigang. I don't eat dinuguan but I was a little curious about how the Crispy Dinuguan was proven to have convinced non-dinuguan eaters to actually love the dish, but I guess I still wasn't adventurous enough so I opted for Sinangag na Sinigang.

Sinangag na Sinigang - Php 224.00

It was actually my first time to see a dry sinigang. I was still trying to contemplate on how this dish would be like, and was amazed on my first spoonful. It really tasted like the sinigang that I grew up with. And that distinct sour taste that I really love was really captured by the dish. To whoever is behind the birth of this dish--the sinigang-inspired fried rice, the pork liempo, and the vegetable tempura--you are such a genius! Some of the veggies were a bit hard though, but there's no denying how innovative this dish is! :D I just wish they were not a little carried away when adding in green chili. :p

By the way, here's another photo of Mark and I. I'm still not convinced that Mark's photo from my previous posts increased my blog traffic, but I'm still posting another photo of him anyway haha! :p

Mark and I in our very late lunch/super early dinner at Kanin Club :p

With a restaurant with an ambiance that is so cozy and relaxing and with food that is perfectly delicious, who would have thought that a very bad service would come with it? Yup, I would love to give them a perfect 10 but because of their unresponsive waiting staff and not so good service, I don't think they deserve such rating. :p

We had to follow up our orders many times. You would also hardly see a waiting staff roaming around to check for customers request because they were all busy stamping those paper place mats, and to think that it wasn't even lunch/dinner time. *sigh*

But then again, I think there are still a lot of good food here that we have yet to try so we'll still be coming back. I just do hope their service would improve on our next visit. :)

KANIN CLUB, Ayala Triangle Gardens
Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati Ave., Bel-Air
Makati City, Metro Manila
Philippines
(02) 621-6109


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