Pedro 'N Coi Pinoy Pop Chibog at the Fisher Mall

When Kris featured Miss Universe Third Placer Shamcey Supsup’s and her businessman hubby Lloyd Lee's restaurant, everyone just got ecstatic to try it out, as if the dining populace is bitten by a gustatory bug. 

That is true with my lady cousins as well. So the natural gesture of them having to have lunch with me is to go to this place nestled in the nook of the Fisher Mall, Quezon City. 

The nomenclature Pedro ’N Coi is derived from Lloyd’s second name and Shamcey’s nickname. The place is teeming with Filipino motifs, from our national transport, a Jeepney-inspired tables and condiment holders to the typical Filipino community as depicted in famous TV shows like Okidokidoc and Ok Ka Fairy Ko, featuring Doc Aga and Entering Butingting in their design elements. 

It is an unassuming, homey place that is imbibed with are Filipino spirit and tenacity, a fragile balance of Filipino satisfaction despite the scrimmage, with signages like Tubero and other means of living. Obviously, a brainchild of an architecture summa cum laude graduate in Shamcey is what is being exuded in the entire design tapestry -  a personal touch, a detail to the minuscule, a labor of love. 

Even their menu is somewhat iconic: Inasal Raymundo, Joey de Lechon, Belly Flores, Ihaw Moto, to name a few. But let’s look at what we have ordered. 

Peanut as a courtesy appetizer. 

Sizzling Sisig Awww. 

Shooli’s Chapseuy. 

The rice. 

Pata Kang Kare Kare.

Pinoy Lemonade. 

The hungry gastric tank satisfied and so we head down to the only coffee shop in the mall. Surprisingly, the mall is not yet graced by Starbucks, and perhaps the only mall in the metropolis without it, so we ended up sauntering at the SBC instead. 

The Plight of Pedagogy

The reason why the nourishing of the mind, particularly that involving the development of the science and technology, didn't take off is that the learning source is economically malnourished. In order to augment a meager income and take home pay, school teachers ended up selling tocino to each other, or some, by means of offering a cellphone load to their students. 

But the insitutionalization effort to make this happen is more than meets the eye. It doesn't only take increasing an across-the-board wage hike to school teachers. It doesn't only take improvement of the classroom conditions. Or of the modernization of the the schools' learning facilities such as free online research kiosks to those students who can't afford to pay monthly internet subscription bills. Or of appropriating budgetary allotment for the expenditures concerning education, and not so by buying Pentium 4 computers worth Php400,000 each. Or of curbing the glaring corruption which actually happened at the grassroots(I would like to mention that the Quezon City's Occupational Permit is a classic example of atrocious corruption right up to the face). It doesn't only take putting the budget level along with the spectra of our budget for militarization. Defending the country from territorial aggression doesn't necessarily equate to defending the country from ignorance. 

The country produces engineers, but they were nowhere to be found except in call centers, or worse had gone exodus outside the country for a greener pasture. Not that there's nothing wrong with that but it only means we're bleeding with those intellectual resource that we have been teaching for five years only to have ended up not being directly used for the infrastructure development this country needs. 

I want to be a tacher, my heart longs to teach science, particulalrly physics, or something to the sort that will have a direct impact to the understanding of the phenomenon around us, which will similarly impact to the understanding and fruition of technology that will harness the advantage and produce products for the general welfare. But I don't want to end up as a national carabao by working hard but with a deficit reward. Such is the plight, their plight. 

8 Cuts Burger Blends at Serendra, Bonifacio Global City

It has been a really toxic week and the group who are doing the primordial legworks of making things impossible possible at an impossible lead time, from the app support to the project management to the support services, just want to drop the technical baggage and have some smirch of beer.

The place would have to be something that is is just as few as 50steps from our Malaysian-based App Manager’s crib. And what could be perfect than 8Cuts Serenda. 

8Cuts is not really known go-to place when you want to have a doze of alcohol. It’s a burger and comfort food hangout. And precisely also the reason why it’s called 8Cuts as a form of celebration for the 8cuts of beef: chuck, rib eye, short rib, sirloin, brisket, hanger, flank and ox tail. And with the combination of that plus the way the flavour is optimised comes 5 different patty types. 

But we were not there for burgers. We were there to let go of our office baggages, not that it is becoming worse, but they are becoming too physically consuming. 

So what do we have in our table:

Poke Nachos - ahi Tuna marinated in soy, chilli and sesame, local chèvre, orange and wasabi tobiko, pico de gallo, wonton, taro and sweet potato chips. 

And our sides, fries. 

Because one side is not enough so we got onion rings.

The best thing is the German-volume sized beer. The size that you can only find in the real October-fest in Germany. 

Smirch!!!

Buffalo Wild Wings at the Conrad Manila Hotel

It was a very long, laborious day and we worked like a log, traversing from heads office to site to training centre and back to the head office(in another tower). So our newly founded subcultural assembly, from the whole IT group, mostly consists of IT project managers, application support and me as a sole IT asset management slave, which we collectively, fondly call “The Night Class” since we at almost a daily basis spent late night work because of a tremendous pile of work, decided to paint the town red. 

It was a Friday, a payday Friday that is, and as expected the mall that is close to our office is already cramming with the south’s foot traffic. And the nearest spot we could hang around into is the Conrad which is practically uncharted by mall rats. 

And given that SMaison is already closed, where else can we saunter that at the Buffalo Wild Wings. 

Buffalo Wild Wings is an American-based casual dining and sports bar, proliferated from Ohio, USA and had already set forth their commercial expansions at Canada, Mexico, and lately, at The Philippines. This franchise though is currently under corporate umbrella of the Bistro Group, hence explains our discount(thank you, Bistro Card). 

Let’s see what we have on our table.

Baby Back Ribs that is so flavourful. A pork meat is usually hard to crunch but this is probably the softest pork that I have ever tasted. It’s so flavourful that I ended up having more pork than beef, an outright violation of my gustatory rule of thumb.

Fries to complement the comfort. 

And who would want to miss their highly acclaimed buffalo wings. It’s relatively pricier than most, but, it was heavenly. Buffalo wings are served with 18 signature and dry seasonings of your choice— from barbecue with a mildly hot, sweet tang, to a really blazing hot variant. 

All in in all, that experience itself is topnotch as you can get to watch your favourite sports channel. But since, I am not really into sports other than bowling and golf, my gastronomic gusto leads to the cuisine, and those fall-off the-bone meaty goodness of baby back ribs and pork belly. 

Bossing's Grill at Ali Mall Cubao

For many years, I have been one of the panellists for the annual Philippine Astronomy Convention. And while I am swarmed by the busy undertakings and underpinnings of the event, I always made sure I will rake my rewards after. 

After dishing out a lecture about planetary terraformation, this time it’s a lesser about gastronomic degustation. And what could be rewarding than to load yourself with sumptuous feast. 

Bossing’s Grill proliferated as a one of the few buffet offerings from the seasoned restauranteur group of business genius Larry Cortez and Exec Chef Mau Arjona, the same group who brought to your Uncle Cheffy, Chef’s Quarter, Kuse, Beurre Blanc, Old Vine and Lorenzo’s Way. 

So I started off with a lachon. What else than a premium component of the buffet.

Crispy but cardiac-arrest friendly, so take it model

My all time favourite is a sisig, and what else to make it sumptuous than with a barbecue.

Something to get rid of your ickiness.

 And my poorboy tendencies. 

Yup, my poorboy tendency is my affinity to rice noodle.

Over all, it’s all about making most of it, the concept of maximization. At Php299++, it may not be wide-arrayed as most of the mainstream buffet joints that I have been into, but it’s adequate enough for you to be able to make most of it.