On The Table Tokyo Cafe at the CentralWorld, Bangkok

Thailand is a potpourri of modern architecture and traditional elaboration, with Buddhist temples amidst the burgeoning skyscrapers and Byzantine buildings, and the fusion seemed communal in the urban landscape.

Same way as fusion restaurant, On The Table Tokyo Cafe, fused well into the mall's dining sphere. I normally put less penchant on restaurant found in malls because they tend to incline more into commercialization than into authenticity and quality entrees. On The Table veered from the norm. 

Elegantly tuck inside the mall's shopping section, On The Table Tokyo Cafe is a welcoming gustatory haven that raised the bar when it comes to taste and cultural concurrence. 

Pork Melted Cheese Curry Rice(THB 220).

Chicken Teriyaki(THB 185).

Salmon Teriyaki with Butter Rice(THB 255).

Seared Black Pepper Tuna Salad in light Japanese dressing(THB 240).

Strawberry, Banana and Peach Waffle with Vanilla Ice Cream(THB 110). 

The price were relatively ok given the quality of food. The verdict is hands down, I would definitely recommend this to the dining populace. 

Jeffer Steak at the Pantip Plaza, Bangkok

My tongue is chiseled such that it can only accommodate, let alone devour, common continental cuisine. I have been adventurously dining far and wide, restaurants to restaurants, city to city, country to country, but these are of austere and mainstream luxuriation, and I barely have any idea how it taste like in streets and suburbs. 

When we are in Thailand, if we are not in malls, we usually end up in fast foods with sparse and acclimatized food choices. 

Luckily, while happily cruising around a gadget-superlative and fashion-exuberant mall, we found this goldmine of gustatory goodness. 

Jeffer Steak is a local steakhouse in Thailand with branches mushrooming all over. They specialize in beef and steak dishes, plus some dashes of salmon, tuna, and chicken entrees too. it's a definite welcoming alternative to the usual fast food flair.

Fish fillet with spaghetti in mushroom sauce. She's really a spaghetti person. 

Porkchop and Chicken with veggie relish. 

Shake to conclude our meal. 

The food may not be that spectacular as compared to known steakhouses local or abroad, but they have a wide assortment of things that you can choose, from the safest selection to the most adventurous tongue. 

A&W at the Pantip Plaza, Bangkok

Mighty Kid, Menudo, Game & Watch-- these were things that we have outgrown with. Mighty Kid for a spanking new Nike shoes, Menudo with Maroon 5, and Game&Watch with Xbox. 

But there are things that we just can't leave out of the dusty myriads of our memory.

When we saw A&W Restaurant in a gadget mall(literally a gadget mall where everything being sold were just electronics and gadgets, a mall I fondly call a "gadget paradise"), we took no apprehension in going inside. 

Inside everything came into flashback, but the most vivid I can recall was their draft root beer and rot beer floats. 

Crepe. Nothing fancy if not because of the ice cream. 

Deluxe Cheeseburger and fries. 

Spicy curly fries. 

Chicken fillet with honey lemon sauce. 

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken with barbecue sauce. 

Never leave home without their signature draft root beer. This is where it all began. 

The road unlikely travelled

I took the road unlikely travelled, at least for a guy like me who has been living with single comforts. But I had to. I know her almost 7 years ago and she just captured my heart with unexplained loftiness and inviolable buoyancy.

So here are the excerpts of that event last Nov 27, 2013.  

In her humble abode. She was busy all morning for her hair and makeup. 

In our office. Yes, I was fixing stuff at the office at the day of my wedding. 

In the altar. 

Wish us the best of everything as we take this path together. 

9 Spoons at The Bayleaf Intramuros Hotel

Tucked in the old ruins of the walled city that has been a staunch reminder of our colonial past, The Bayleaf Intramuros Hotel is an urban sprout of what is conventionally classic and a timelessly traditional landmark. 

The unbeatable spectacle of the metropolitan Manila through its sky deck dining has been on the news and is enough to tickle your fancies. When my then-girlfriend invited me over, I was ecstatic to try out their penthouse dining with the panoramic view of the city skyline and the vast greenery of the golf course. 

The interior is replete of a uniquely thought design element of laurel leaf and a piano section where guests can saunter around, hear out the smoothly played jazz music. The lobby is already both a visual and auditory treat of their lives. 

Salad station. 

Omelette station. 

Assortment of bread. 

Noodle tops. 

Grilled tomato slices and a snake dog as i fondly call this sausage type. 

Croissant. 

Dimsum.

Steamed vegetables. 

Bacon and beef. 

Noodles to flush down the iffiness. 

A little bit of everything. 

I wished for an egg paradise. 

I have a profuse amount of bacon because of its crispy goodness. 

All in all, there were only a few choices to choose from as compared to a regular buffet restaurant that I have been into. But the choices are good enough especially if you're the type who may not have the time to relish morning appetite with wide  assortment of continental cuisines. Lucky me, I woke up late so I don't have the same amount of time the way I have when I'm in Spiral or Circles or Heat. 

A Boracay Sojourn

In a place where the breathtaking view of the sunset casting grandiosely and sailboats' silhouette slicing through it, I can probably be found just curling up in bed, glued to my favorite TV series "The Big Bang Theory" or "Agents of SHIELD". Yes, I am that resistive when it comes to anything beach-related. 

Until along came a Polly(albeit important)... the "polly" of my life. 

I planned out the proposal last March and so when August came, everything was almost already cleanly arranged. September came, and I have to face my most aversed environment, the beach-- the Sun-wrought, hot and melanin-awakening beach. Yes, I have to fly to Boracay to ask her to marry me. It was a surprise since she was thinking she's just with a family and her best buddy Janey, while I am left working my butt out.(I was still working for our astronomy yearbook that night when I got there). 

All my bags are packed(I travel light and I only have a small trolley bag for my clothes and a backpack for my laptop), ready to go, but only to be humstrung by a mishap along the way prior to the smoothly arrayed proposal: I was delayed for my flight that I have to have it rebooked because I overlooked and was fixated at the arrival date instead of the departure date, that I have to have my flight rebooked to the next one. 

Good thing, the folks at the Boracay Mandarin Hotel waited for me. I can just imagine them waiting from 9:30am to 11:30am. I arrived at the Godofredo P. Ramos Airport in Caticlan surprisngly on time(surprisngly since Cebu Pacific are never known to be sticklers of punctuality, for several reason, both sensible and senseless).

The Boracay Mandarin welcoming entourage took me to the cabin cruiser type boat alone, a la Napoles lifetyle privately charting a yacht for my own caprices. 

The event happened at the Don Vito Restauramt, an Italian restaurant heralded as the Philippine's Best Restaurant in 2011 by Asia Tatler Dining. My calculated thought process says it is maybe partly because they have a luxurious ensemble of fine wines to which Asia Tatler would really find it enticing.

The music "I would take the stars out of the sky for you... stop the rain from fallin' if you ask me too..." played. 

Then there goes a restaurant server handing her over the cake that says "Will you?" because I dread the entire "Willl you marry me" might not fit the cake surface. 

Then me, the 'kabogable me' in sudden apparition, bringing huge flowers. It's really huge, it's probably around 4feet tall(imagine forlorn flowers minus the stand). And a diamond ring that sealed it all.

The next day, we dined in at the same restaurant and the staff are apparently ogling at her ring finger. We became an overnight sensation that everyone knew and greeted us already by our name in a cordial manner. 

Let's see what they serve:

The bacon strip.

Dip-fried chicken.

Spanish-styled sardines. 

Pancakes and steamed hot potato. 

Filipino staple vermicelli and a fried milkfish. 

Sausages and Shanghai roll. 

Bacon and beef strips. 

Assorted bread. 

Relish.

Fruit medley. 

Salad toppings.

Freshly squeezed juice. 

Our welcome drink that we availed the morning after arrival.

We thought of daring to parasail but since she has a slight acrophibia(though medically undeclared), we just stayed at the boat. Then we scoured the expanse of the seashore, walking barefooted, hand in hand and feeling the murmur of the breeze from the glistening sea until we reached our hotel lobby.

Upon going home, we took the same cabin cruiser, just the two of us. We have all the spaces to dance our heart out.

And when I said WE, it includes her flower. The picture you see above is already at a plane. 

And here we are again, in Manila, working our ass out, so we can give each other a good and comfortable life.