Ployer MoMo3: Cheapskate's Android tab

Tablets have stormed the electronic sphere the way netbooks did some few years back. Have you ever thought that every brand produces their netbook in an insane volume, the way soaps and shampoos are being produced at? Well, gone are those days.

Today is a tablet era. And computing giants would like to partake the crumbs in the market bread once smashed by Amazon and now sensationalized by Apple. Everyone has their own iteration of "pad"/"tab"/"book" suffixes, Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Blackberry Playbook, Asus EeePad, Redfox WizPad, MSI WindPad, HP Slate, Viewsonic ViewPad, and a lot more.

Chinas's leading tablet dropshipper, Shenzhen Ployer Electronics CO Ltd, is hoping to acquire the commonly coveted space in an already crowded room with the advent of the Ployer MoMo series. This one right in my table is a Ployer MoMo3.

It's a capacitive 7inch tablet powered by Android Eclair 2.1. Under its hood is a 256MB RAM, 660Mhz Rockchip ARM processor, HD Video playback capability, 8GB internal memory, integrated 3G/Wifi cards, and an expandable external memory via TransFlash card slot.

Although I am enamored by the fact that this one uses Android as its computing platform, I noticed that its TFT capacitive technology isn't like the one I am used to with the iPad and iPhone. I keep on erroneously pressing wrong letters even if the device is newly calibrated. The trick that I have found out is to point the letters using your fingernail. Cumbersome.

Although the processor is just barely half of the Samsung Galaxy Captivate I have, it plays HD videos pretty impressively.

This one is available online at about $120 US.

Annabel's: Fine dining international lunch buffet

What used to be one of my most intimidating places in Tomas Morato is now but a land of predatory quencher, something that I have conquered with fearless presence, and at a ravenously half-famished stomach. I say intimidating because most of the time that I pass by the place, I always see packs of political figures either coming out from their SUVs or getting in, surrounded with an equally replete mobs of security personnels. It seems like Malacanang away from Malacanang.

The place is Annabel's Restaurant(or popularly known as Annabel's), a fine dining haven seated at the heart of the Tomas Morato's restaurant stretch, sandwiched between other known restaurants like Red Crab Alimango House and Alfredo's Steaks.

Ironically, Annabel's is not shrouded with fancy structures and assemblies, just pure and feigning complex of Spanish-themed house with a leafy foliage nestled inside its garden.

It's a lunch buffet week end, priced sat Php735 per pax care of a group buying site, from an original price of Php985. See how I optimize my food adventures? It's fine dining without mutilating your budget.

No wonder why it has been a favorite spot for private meetings, press releases, business luncheons, product launchings, birthdays, weddings, and other special occasions because of the lavish international cuisines without compromising the quality.

Buffet mainstays include Paella Valenciana, Lengua Estofado, Prawn Themidore, Fish Fillet, and Roast Chicken. But the flagship entree is the juicy and really mouthwatering US Beef Prime Rib Steak and the crunchy Pork Liempo, with a meat that was well-squeezed from its oil. The Paella Valenciana is a succulent mix of paella with generous servings of fresh crab, shrimp, squid, chorizo, and a mix of vegetables. But among the main entrees, I repeatedly ransacked the US Prime Rib Steak and Prawn Thermidore, yeah, like there's no tomorrow. Oh, my cholesterol and diabetes, spare me for this moment.

Other spreads include traditional soup and bread with lots of cheese varieties, salad bar that includes freshest chef-prepared salad, shrimp cocktails, and baked oysters. They even have sashimi and sushi bar to whet your appetite. If that doesn't break your tummy, try finishing it up with their pasta selection.

And my sweet tongue, of course, couldn't complete a meal without an assortment of sumptuous desserts. They have fresh fruits, Town Cafe Carrot Cake, fruit salad, cheesecakes, caramelized banana, etc.

And next time I'm here, who knows I will be talking with these folks on political and educational reforms to include scientific literacy development and technological advancement.

Vikings Luxury Buffet: A feast from the sea

Those who knew me well must have known that I am a buffet buster. Dining at smorgasbord setting has been my secondary profession along with my astrophysics pedagogics. And while most of the time, I conquered these places with gustatory triumph, there are buffet restaurants that I can say have won over me for having such a wide spectrum of food choices.

If I am going to take Shangrila Makati's Circles, Shangrila EDSA's Heat, and Sofitel's Spiral buffets out of the picture, this restaurant, seated at the San Miguel by the Bay fronting the SM Mall of Asia, would be my topmost buffet favorite, for being able to withstand with my apothegm "let's leave no tables unturned."

True enough, in Vikings Luxury Buffet Restaurant, even anyone from a Norse culture, where the real vikings came from, wouldn't be able to deplete the table from its myriad of contents. They have sumptuous fusion of delectable European Asian, and American dishes with live-action cooking stations.

Housed in a table that looks like the one used in a Galleon Trade, they have all I can think of to eat that day.

To start off your meal, they have hearty minestrone and creamy pumpkin soup, salmon carpaccio, caviar, and century eggs. Salad section has Waldorf, cauliflower and egg salad, potato salad, grape and olive salad, and pasta salad. They even have pastries of different varieties and cracker spreads.

I didn't write anything that I can see so spare me if I missed out something.

Their seafood area is composed of crabs, oysters, squid, octopus, shrimp, and fishes that you can have it grilled or cooked to your liking, and the waiter will just get your table number and deliver it while you savor other dishes. For meat lovers, they have the tandori section, baby back ribs, tenderloin steak, prime rib, lechon, roast ducks, and others.

The Chinese section is composed of a whole gamut of dumdum, Pata Tim, chicken oyster sauce, taoisi, pandit canton, etc while the Japanese have the usual sushi bars to boot.

Comfort foods include pasta and pizza section and a pastry area. And if you would like to accelerate the digestion process, they have shabu shabu style where you can have a Butane stove set on your table for a hotpot.

And of course, who would conclude meals without their desserts. yes, my favorite part. Frozen delights includes DIY halo halo, ice cream, yoghurts, cakes, chocolate fountains, fruits, all with your choice of fillings and toppings like leche flan, ube, and pinipig.

They even serve beer for the drinks aside from the usual Mango, Four Seasons, Dalandan, Pineapple juices, and the usual soda choices. But if you want to end your meal with a tea or a coffee, yes they have them too. Whether strong or mild coffee, or even a green tea extracted from the real tea leaves, they have it.

For just Php688 during week day lunch and Php888 during dinner and week ends, it was truly an epicurean experience. Next time, I will bring my entire pack of wolves.

Amazon Kindle: The world in grayscale

When I fetched my Mom from the airport, I get to play her Amazon Kindle. Not that it has an alluring and to-die-for aesthetics, it actually has none, but it's because when I unfurled it, there is this one eBook/AudioBook I particularly love, Einstein: His life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. A biography about the century's most revered rockstar in science is just simply compelling for me.

This is not my maiden experience in manhandling an eBook. I used to demo one brand, Franklin eBookMan, when I was a Product Management Officer in one of the electronics retail chains in the country wayback 2000. Yes, I started gadget lusting earlier than you can ever imagine.

The Amazon Kindle is among the myriad of eBook readers out in the market competing with Sony eBook Reader, Barnes&Noble Nook, BeBook Neo, and Kobo eReader. If you think that these readers are out to compete with iPad, then think again. They each have a hugely different market spectrum. Comparing an eBook reader to tablets is like comparing apple to oranges.

Though it isn't using touchscreen technology, isn't touchscreen, the buttons are pretty much intuitive. You simply have to note the five-way navigation button, home, back, volume rocker, and a power button. That's simply it.

The screen uses eInk(electrophoretic ink) technology, employing on a charged titanium particles dispersed in hydrocarbon oil that when charged will cause images to appear. Unlike your regular TFT LCD screen, this one doesn't have a refresh rate so it isn't straining to the eye. Also, it uses ambient light and not generated from its back panel like the ones LCD used, so the images you see on the screen appeared as a solid block of black and white.

To test the images, I tried using its integrated browser, and whoahhh, the internet world as seen by a color blind. It's the world wide web in grayscale. Some may find it weird but the experience reminds me of my Palm M105 and Palm M500 using AvantGo browser. Like what I said, I started fiddling techtoys pretty early.

Celis Restaurant at Hotel Celeste

This is the first time that I am here, but not quite literally. I was here back when this restaurant used to be a premiere French bistro operated by French national Chef Cyrille Soenen. It used to don its former name Restaurant Cicou.

Now the restaurant space was acquired by the hotel management clad by a new name Celis Restaurant with an assortment of continental cuisine in its culinary portfolio .

I noticed that the design synthesis of washer-like circles on their tables and chairs remained unchanged, including their chandeliers and lighting fixtures. This time though they have added classical Sicilian couches, somewhat reminiscent to what is featured in the family portraiture of Michael Corleone.

Once again, the payday week end only expedited traffic build up, and malls ended up congregated with thick crowds. And my enochiophobic tendencies lead me to Celis Restaurant.

I had a feast that night. It was a STEAK-ALL-YOU-CAN buffet. Although it isn't a CAB or USDA-certified, it's still a US Angus Beef which is synonymous to quality and succulence, tossed with different choices of sauces in their carving station.

You can start a meal by DIY-ing a salad with your own dressing preference in the salad section.

Then head off to the carving station and grab that sumptuous juicy steak cooked according to your doneness. There are other entrees like Oven-Baked Fish Fillet with Mediterranean tapenade that you can pick, if you felt a little icky on steaks. One that I particularly love is the Sauteed Mixed Seafoods.

Along with that, you can check out their side dish station: Zucchini and Mushroom, Garlic-Herbed Mashed Potato, and Asparagus and Cherry. Pasta station includes Spaghetti Aglio and Pesta Pene. Dessert section has a bevy of fruits and savory cakes to satisfy your sweet tongue.

Lastly, I laud the servers for the commendable brand of customer service, they always want your dining experience superb and comfortable.

I was hoping though that they can offer more cut varieties like RibEyes, Delmonicos, and Prime Rib but with a sub-1grand price for this buffet, I wouldn't ask for more. It's just Php599 folks.

Toshiba Camileo S20: Pocket camcorder

I am self-professed urban backpacker. It is because I always bring all my essential elements of my digital lifestyle with me. Plus, I am not an advocate of all-in-one devices, because of the inherent tendency that one feature is a trade off of the other.

So the trick is to would be to bring devices with light and compact components, from mobile phones to digital camera to laptop. So you figured already why I have 13" MacBook Pro instead of the 17", and I lug around a digital camera instead of a dSLR kit. Although I have cellphones of the three networks, this is more like having no choice. I don't think Apple or Samsung or Nokia will ever create a triple-SIMed iPhone or Galaxy S or N8.

Talking about light and handy devices, how many of you brings camcorder. I know what you have in mind, camcorders are even way heavier than dSLR and if the latter can already shoot full HD video, why bother right?

If you're like me who is an adversary of bringing multifunctioned devices, fret not. Toshiba has a rather smart solution against full-pledged, heavy camcorders with the advent of Toshiba Camileo S20.

The white S20's body is reminiscent to the Sony Ericsson Z800. But more than that, it has a fairly nice compact feel, small enough that it can even fit in your pocket. No more unsightly bulges.

Let's throw in the specs:

It has a 5MP CMOS sensor, but Toshiba had done a hefty job in interpolating the still images up to 16MP resulting in somewhat lack-of-details. It records H.264 video, with four different quality options. The three operates at 30fps including 1080 full HD, 720p, and VGA. A further mode runs at 60fps with a lower resolution of 848x480. Invest an SDHC media to ensure that you have enough storage though for your optimal settings. Software and button controls are pretty much intuitive.

The only letdown I see is some detail compromise when running at low light condition. The 4x optical zoom works except in 1080p, probably because it requires surplus pixels on sensors which are not available in this resolution. Similarly, IS(image stabilization) doesn't work at this setting too.

Not available in the Philippines but you can always order online for $150 US.

Basix: Asian Continental at Dusit Thani Hotel

The obvious reason why I am not as frequent in Thai restaurants the way I usually am in the French, Italian, and Chinese cuisines is the distinguishing fact that Thai foods can normally cause a thermonuclear reaction in my stomach. The tangy spicy food is just a gustatory fireball for my standards.

So when I was about to go try the Dusit Thani Hotel's Basix Restaurant, I was a bit apprehensive at first. Little did I know that they serve epicurean pleasures of Asian Continental and not just purely Thai. Thank goodness.

Dusit Thani's other restaurants are Umu, an award-winning Japanese flare with live cooking sections and an al fresco dining fronting the zen-ish panorama of Kai pond and manicured garden, and Banjarong, an exclusively Royal Thai setting. Basix on the other hand is a fusion cuisine.

The huge magisterial gold pillars welcomed me with an enthralling grace like an awaited royalty. Or so I thought, but truth to the matter is that I got this steal deal from a group buying site for only Php699, 50% off from its original offer. I have so many vouchers actually that hunger may not pang me anymore for the next century or so.

Basix buffet offers an assortment of crusty breads with terrines, a bevy of DIY salad with your preferred dressing of choice, fresh shrimps, mussels, and oysters that can be baked and deep fried either with butter garlic or cheese. They also have a wide array cold cuts and ready-to-devour roast beef, lamp chops, among others. Chinese dumplings, Japanese style tuna, sashimi, sushi bar and an Indian tandoori section is a delight for your Asian Mediterranean gusto. And for a dessert person like me, you can either go for the crepe making corner, dip a fountain of chocolate, pick up a whole gamut of cheese and chocolate cakes, taste their in-house milled ice cream, or concoct your own halo halo with different sago to your heart's content. To top it all, they have wines, beers, and cold beverages to conclude your feast.

I always prepared these kinds of smorgasbord by going at an empty stomach so I ended up getting 20 pieces of baked oysters with cheese.

Happy Lemon: World's yummiest drink

I have been to their Greenhills Promenade branch countless times but never had a chance to blog as it happens, when it happens, because of the ever thickening wave of crowd. And you know damn well that I hate crowded places. But I just can't hate Happy Lemon. In fact, I love it for being a feel good drink, or what they trumpeted as the "world's yummiest drink" emblazoned on their branding credo.

And sure enough, they revolutionize the whole tea experience. It's simply the iconoclastic combination of rock salt and cheese, of having to seep through the smooth foamy top without using straw or stirrer. It's not just the ingredients but the total drinking savoir-faire that has been a winning formulation for milk tea lovers.

Together with Pachuchai, we trooped to the second branch of Happy Lemon in the Philippines, located at Eastwood Mall. And with only few people, we saunter around and Happy Lemon-ed our heart's delight with Green Tea with Rock Salt and Cheese(Php90) and Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese(Php100).

The other avant-garde among other establishment's ordering system is their electronic table number that look like IronMan's Arc Reactor Unit when lit up. Once it lights up, than means your order is ready for claiming.

Happy Lemon has been on HongKong for quite a long time already, in act it has branches as many as Starbucks there, but relatively new to the Philippine scene. Although tea bars like Kozui, Serenitea, Bubble Tea, etc mushroomed in the metropolis, we are still a young and underserved tea market.

And I've heard form Pachuchai that they will be opening a branch in Rockwell too. Oh, I love it.

Wine and dine

I'm neither a wine connoisseur nor a seasoned sommelier. And my knowledge about wine is as scanty and minimal as my knowledge about keeping-a-lasting-relationship. But before I will end up sulking in my bittersome demeanor, I would like to steer clear that this is a non-romantic post. Oh yeah, I haven't posted anything romantic yet.

Still my knowledge is a heap compared to an average dinner.

You can't be a complete food critic without having to tell which wine goes along with the type of food you are eating with. There are several wine tasting / wine pairing courses and seminars all over the metro though that you can enroll. Some restaurants even offer it for free.

One might ask, what's the rule of thumb in dining with wine. Gone are those days that when you eat a juicy steak with white wine, you can see gasps around your dinner table. Now, almost anything goes. Restrictions of white wine and red wine have long been gone, and winemakers are becoming more creative that they tend to integrate it with the cuisine's fusion concept quite literally.

The key element though is a right balance. You can either for contrast or similarity in taste. For example, chocolate with sweet wine, or perhaps rich flavored food with lighter textured wine. Just make sure the wine will not drown the taste of the food, or vice versa, rather either neutralize or compliment it. And if you're on an assortment of cuisine, go for the dominant taste as a deciding factor on which wine to get. Otherwise, choose a wine that's closer in origin.

Also, save yourself a wallet by buying wines not from department stores or grocery shops but from wine retailers. Some of them are Santi's, Ralph's, Cyrano, Galileo Enoteca, Terry Selection, and Bacchus. But if you don't want t go through the hassle of hopping from one retailer to another, here's a simple suggestion. Go to Wine Depot if you're on a shoe-string budget, otherwise Bacchus for midrange to high end wines will do. Good thing about these retailers is that they loosely allow you to have a free taste of you can't decide which one to get.

So you see, I never go to Rustan's to buy it.

Watches: Men's must-have jewelry

Ever wonder why men's watches are more expensive than women's jewelry combined? Read on.

My fetish on watches is not about the design features and overall craftsmanship. It is about just having it, after all watches are the only men's must-have jewelry. And the cliche is true that:

If one has to know a man's bragging capacity, look at his car. If one wants to know a man's ranking in the corporate world, look at his pen. And if one has to know a man's financial worth, look at his watch.

Watches don't only tell time, it depict ones character and power.

For some, they settled in wearing sports watches(Rudy Project, Casio, etc), because of their rough and kinetic lifestyle. While others have to wear trend watches(Fossil, Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, etc) because they have to flaunt their brand of zippy and ever-changing fashion. Still others, me included, preferred wearing legacy watches(Rolex, IWC, Baume et Mercier, Patek Philippe, Omega, etc). Had I not been into the corporate world, I wouldn't have known the importance of these commonly-taken-for-granted apparels like ties, cufflinks and watches.

When you are in front of a client, it is imperative that you show him not just the power to make decisions but the suggestive fact that you can be trusted with his money. Representation is a key factor in sealing the deal. So wear premium quality leather shoes, premium cufflinks, designer ties and a Swiss legacy watches, and that will make your client feel that you are of equal footing with him in terms of economic standpoint. And lastly, when signing a contract or any business papers, make sure that you pull up Montblanc or Visconti pens. Or the likes.

The Rolex Daytona in the picture is not mine. It's from a friend, though I was ramming down his throat to give it to me as a birthday present.

Mister Kabab: Hole-in-the-wall Persian cuisine

For midnight munchers, this is one of the places among the list of 24/7 hole-in-the-wall joints. For us, it is merely a place where we can fill our gastronomes to counterbalance alcohol contents from our literally dampen and sober spirits.

Today is not those days, surprisingly. I went to Mister Kabab, West Avenue to have my fill after a meeting at the Manila Planetarium. And while I have eaten at the place on numerous occasions, I didn't have time to blog about it, probably because we are always tipsy every time when we're there.

If you crave for a flavorful, spicy strong, Mediterranean cuisine with no frill, no fuzz and not hurting the pocket, then this place might just be right for you.

The place is a bit like a Pares but Persian style, non-airconditioned but open side walls with huge hall to accommodate epidermal flats of tables and benches all over. They have three branches now because of their ever growing market spectrum, one on Ayala TechnoHub, the other in Pearl Drive Ortigas and the prime branch in West Avenue(they used to be located at Quezon Avenue before) but I don't know if the TechnoHub and Ortigas branches rolled on a 24hour basis.

Their specialty includes Special Chelo Kabab(served in either Chicken or Beef variant), Ox Brain, and Keema, to name a few. I ordered a Special Chelo Kebab Beef(Php140), Keema(Php70) and Biryani Rice(Php40). I would suggest ordering the Keema and Rice a la cart because the Keema Rice costs about Php140, and that's just ordinary rice. You have to add Php11 for the Biryani Rice option. See how economically cautious a buyer I am?

Radiation: When is it hazardous

See my new phone wallpaper? It's a radiation cipher.

Speaking of radiation, although it's a bit of a superlatively late posting, but for the purposes of my Mom trying to grasp the danger that one might get from the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima Japan, I will, as much as I could, try to post the imminent danger(or its absence) in an utterly layman's term. Help me out on this:

First, there has been no meltdown. The plant was shutdown less than 10% of its full power. This has to be done as far as nuclear safety is concerned because if the heat builds up, it will cause the containment vessels to melt.

Radiation is measured according to Sievert-- a quantitative measure used to determine biological effects of radiation ionizing materials. Reportedly, there were around 3-5 microsieverts of radiation level in the air molecules per hour around the area. That's little higher than normal, but not something that should cause mass hysteria.

Let me give you some comparison as a basis of your health frazzles:

If one flies a lot from Maryland to Detroit to Narita(I use these as example because these are the usual stop overs of my Mom going to the Philippines), he could get a 1,600 microsieverts per year. My Mom isn't flying a lot, so this health risk is only observed from those people in the aviation profession, pilots and flight attendants particularly. Ordinary passengers can get around 30 microsieverts per year, or conversely 5 microsieverts per hour, just the same amount of the radiation level up in Fukushima.

If you are trapped in a bar with smoking bar hoppers, you get around 8,000 microsieverts a year because of the radioactive dust that settled into the tobacco leaves. See the danger of smoking? Smoking gets twice the amount of radiation one gets than those workers in nuclear powerplants.

Everybody gets radiation, from watching TV to your annual X-Rays, even having your dental check up, but these are the radiation levels that are still within safety nets.

Di'Mark's Pizza: Taste of a legacy pizza

Exactly four hours after we stuffed-to-death our tummies with anything we see at The Peak buffet at the Imperial Palace Suites, here we are submitting to our exhaustive overindulgence to Di'Marks Pizza Tomas Morato(right beside Antonio's). That's how our(me and my college room mate's) day has always been. We exaggerate our uncompromising taste, and we challenge our unbridled intestines.

Di'Mark's Pizza has been in gourmet Italian pizza business since the 1950's with a reputation anchored at its name by being the most deserving legacy pizza place to exist that long. In a food industry where businesses come and go, and pizza parlors mushroomed and withered, they remained in the bustles for bringing out the best pizza without compromising the taste, ingredients, and service despite the plunging economy and wide-scale trend of commercialism.

I have eaten lots of pizza in the Philippines. And while I love some other establishment's offering, none of them really quite have satisfied me as far as overall experience is concerned. What I particularly like about Di'Mark's is the ambiance. The background music isn't annoyingly loud, in fact it is piercingly soft that it feels like it is coming from inside you. And that people have to talk almost in whispers yet they can clearly hear each other. See how cozy that is.

There are empty bottle racks that makes me think that at some point of their long years in operation, they may have offered wines to their customers. And the restroom, you have to be here to see how marvelously iconic it is.

We got ourselves their bestsellers: Mad Scramble Pizza 17"(Php671), a mixture of Italian sausage, meat pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, onions, garlic, black and green olives, chicken and tomatoes, Spaghetti and Meatballs(Php210), an Italian spaghetti topped with profuse amount of cheese and meatballs, a courtesy bread(Php0), and a pitcher of house Iced Tea(Php260). Spent a lot? No, we only paid Php570 for all of those c/o the voucher we got from a group buying site. Where else can you get that value.

We devoured them all and left nothing but wares, literally exterminated what was in our table, and just as what Terminator said, "I'll be back."

The Peak at the Imperial Palace Suites Manila

Right at the penthouse of Imperial Palace Suites lies a poolside restaurant called The Peak where we have our latest gustatory escapade. The strikeforce, me and my college room mate, known to be usurpers of any food and beverage discount promo of any kind.

Imperial Palace Suites is located at the heart of Tomas Morato's restaurant row, where good food, vogue lifestyle, and urban crescendo proliferate.

Having located at the hotel's topmost section, its penthouse, one can view the motionless pinnacle of the scout monument despite rushing to-and-fro of the busy megapolis.

Whether gazing out in the window or glancing the cascading waterfalls, it's a nice place to talk about just anything under the sun amidst a lazy week end afternoon. One can even dip at the pool to accelerate the digestion process while reaching a gastronomic limit at the buffet.

Although not as many choices as most buffet that we have been to, The Peak's continental service and excellent cuisine is just enough for its price of Php350. Their entrees include Asian variation on Fridays, comprising of Chinese, Japanese, Thai with live Teppanyaki cooking, while on Saturdays, they have the Pinoy's best All-Filipino cuisine with off-the-grill barbecue.

Since there were only few food choices, I manage to scrimmage the 'grillables' section. At the least, they have wide variety of sauces to boot, so once can have their thin slices of what-have-you cooked in different flavor and taste. One good way to remove the icky-ness(umay factor).

Again, just like any usual buffet places that we have been into, we were the first to come in, we were the last to leave.

A typical office boy's lunch

Despite the incessant stipulation of my MobilityReel not to blog about this, I just can't barred my overflowing gusto of this quaint little find in Eastwood. He prefers to keep mum about it in order to maintain the non-commercialized culinary joint free from price perversions of the mainstream restaurants found in malls and prestigious metropolitan spaces.

Those who knew me well know how I roll my week with the apothegm, "fast-food on weekdays and fine dining on week ends." Well, that fast-food is this cafe. Technically though, this is not a fast food.

Zuppa Cafe | NamaNama is a two-fold type culinary spot that offers Asian comfort food and continental cuisine on a 24x7 upkeep. Not only do they serve delectable dishes but in a non-compromising servings as well.

That afternoon, we grab ourselves an Asian Grilled Chicken with Laksa Rice(Php130), a grilled chicken fillet marinated in Asian spices on lakes rice, Hungry Hungarian Pasta(Php110), pasta chopped with Hungarian sausage sauteed in garlic, oil, chili with courtesy bread, Chicken Laksa Noodle Soup(Php120), a chicken broth noodle with coconut cream served with strips of fish tofu, fried tofu, and chicken strips, and mantou bun, and Caesar Salad(Php65), a garden fresh salad dressed in honey and topped with croutons.

This restaurant never failed me. Some of my favorites were Chicken Marsala, Thai Bagoong Rice, Pesto Presto, and Wild Mushroom and Tofu Rice.

So who says a typical office boy's options are just McDo, Jollibee, and KFC. Not me.