Everything at Steak: Cheapskate Steak

After a knuckle hard basketball game that Saturday, we headed off to Wilson Street to swing el cheapo steaks without bludgeoning our pockets.

Located oddly at a gasoline station, the place is a hit among steak lovers and families who like to have more by spending less. The place is indeed a vicarious attempt to have a quality, Filipino-style steak pegged at an amazingly affordable price.

On the counter were three orange orb lights that gives a warmth to the ambiance. It's a fairly small place, one that only accommodate around 20 tables, or maybe even less. Surprisingly, the size of the place is inversely proportional to the serving quantity of their entrees.

In any restaurant, one can never go wrong with the house speciality. So I ordered a T-Bone Steak(Php195) with cheesy swirl pasta toped with a meatball and a cup of rice and a 1/3 pound Burger(Php145)which is a ground chuck patties on a lightly toasted bun. It's a juice toasted burger with lettuce pickle relish, tomatoes, marinated in balsamic vinegar, caramelized onions, and American cheese served with a bed of home-style fries and spicy yogurt dressing on the side. As if it ends there, I actually ordered an additional patty and cheese(Php50). For a change since he is frequenting the place for a steak, Edgie ordered a Lamb Shoulder(Php195) with potato salad and a cup of rice. The side dishes were itself flavorful and they were plentiful.

We ended up with waistlines enlarged, belts crying for help, and a shirt bulging out from our tummies.

Everything at Steak is an ingenious concept of Chef Allan Chan who studied culinary arts in Vancouver. It is indeed a treasure trove of steak goodness at such a bang-for-the-buck value. At its price range, it is one of Manila's best and is astutely fitting for the gourmand eater in all of us, not minding the location.

Borough: Slice of New York

I just had my breakfast today at Borough by Il Pontecillo at the Podium right before my meeting. Of course, I ensured to it that I will be full during the entire course of the grueling meetings I am slated for the day.

For those who have been sleepy slackheads with what's going on at the metro, Borough is a new spot to check out too. It is a loft-style bar inspired by the slice of the Big Apple, and just like New York, it's also is a restaurant that never sleeps by offering comfort food Brooklyn style 24x7.

The place is cozy for a relaxing conversation. The light green walls were accentuated by wooden trimmings, brown painted, and furnished with photoframes akin to the Sinatra era. Aside from the warm, floral upholstered seats were high chairs in similarly muted floral design rising at the communal tables made of wooden planks. It's homey for a deep conversation over a cocktail or a bottle of German beer, especially in the smoking ledge where a Mafia-themed seats were located at.

Even Borough's culinary savoir-faire is a New Yorker resident, Chef Cuit Kaufman.

Whipping up the meal to welcome my morning is a Steak and Eggs(Php450 + 10% SC) composed of sliced tenderloin steak with two scrambled eggs and a doze of chilli sprinkled home-fries.Because my morning can't live without rice, I ordered a cup of Jasmine Rice(Php40 + 10% SC).

Polishing my meal is a Granola mixture with Yoghurt, fresh milk, and slices of fresh fruits(Php260 + 10% SC).

My only gripe though are the Chowking type plate and the water that I am not sure if it is distilled or purified as it tasted like those fountain drains straight from NAWASA pipelines because it taste like green algae. I know because I have been drinking those types of water when the filtered reverse-osmosis'ed waters are not yet introduced to the public.

It's an exquisite New York dining experience minus the Statue of Liberty.

HTC Wildfire: Budget Android Phone

The good thing about yuletide season is not the filled, hung stocking on the chimney wall. It is what you fill into those stockings. Can't quite get the metaphor? It's your capacity to buy gadgets like there's no tomorrow, thanks to a myriad of company bonus and 13th month and 14th month and what-have-you.

Let me introduce to you the latest addition to HTC phone lineage, the HTC Wildfire. This budget device is touted to be a crossbred between two equally powerful, Android-clad devices, HTC Desire and the Google's Nexus One. I say it's a budget device because without the Samsung Galaxy 5, it could have been the cheapest among its breed.

Similarly Android powered as its distant cousin HTC Desire, under its hood are premium specs: 528Mhz Qualcomm MSM 7225 processor, 3.2inch capacitive display, 384MB of RAM, and a 5megapixel camera. For its price point, one would only expects 2.8inch resistive display, 256MB RAM, and a 3.2MP camera. So you get your money's worth on the specs alone, being only tagged as Php13,990.

It has plethora of software a road warrior could ask for, including Android 2.1 Eclair(which can be upgraded to Froyo 2.2 if available), Leap which is neat for switching homescreens, FriendStream widget for checking out your friends, intuitive highlighting tool similar to iPhone, built-in Flash lite, and a Keyboard that which is probably one of the best virtual keyboards in the market. It also has Live Wallpapers that I find cool to pride when having Android OS. :)

One caveat though, aside form the fact that it isn't AMOLED, is that some apps from the Android market may not run properly because of its low resc screen, so future Android users might want to consider having at least 480x320 resc.

I am not really enamored at the sable brown finish because it looks so D.O.M.-ish, so a white variant is astutely fine for me. Trendy and modern, it's an immaculate white with a metallic silver band slicing the monotony at the back cover, just like the HTC HD2.

My verdict? HTC Wildfire may not punch a power wallop in comparative degree to HTC Desire, but it does deliver its job fairly well at its price point.

Loop Creative Dining

At the Zuellig Loop, back of The Column, is a restaurant with an obviously compelling name, you guess it, Loop Creative Dining. Seems like the creators didn't really bother thinking other names creatively but their menu.

Loop Creative Dining is a restaurant school of Institute of Culinary Arts and Food Service. It has an emblem of infinity, which may symbolize an infinite way to creatively concoct a menu, apart from the fact that a calligraphy design is a common and elegant integration of most dining havens.

Headed by Chef Joey Herrera, Loops promises cooking that goes beyond science; emotion and expression are elements that flourishes into an ultimate hearty meal, where creativity is their core competency.

The interior is modest, no fancy ceiling, but it was sleek and classy. Spherical lighting fixtures of the round table are astutely coherent to its infinity design.

That night, I got myself a Grilled Double-Cut Porkchop(Php380 + 10% SC), it was really thick with a home-made apple barbecue sauce. Mashed Potato Souffle(Php75 + 10% SC) added a flavorful goodness of the meat.

Topping it all, I grabbed a Grilled-Chicken Ceasar salad(Php195 + 10% SC), a combination of scrumptious chunks of grilled chicken breast, mixed greens, and Ceasar dressing. And the salad is probably one of the best salads I have ever tasted.

Although I ordered a Loop Iced Tea(Php80 + 10% SC), highly recommended, which has a mango tanginess and a right amount of froth, I was given a courtesy drink Butterbean(Php180 + 10% SC but was given FREE by the Chef), a Caribbean-based cocktail that is comprised of Malibu, Butterscotch schnapps and a doze of vanilla vodka c/o Chef Francis Tarin.

Although the menu is a paltry, it has all the categories you need on food and beverage, and they were done well. Customer service is snappy and efficient, parking space abounds.

Loop yourself in.

Bono Yaki: Bona fide yakiniku

Along the stretch of C5 of E.Rodriguez Ave. lies Bono Yaki, a new dining destination bound to satisfy your endless gastronomic pit with its smorgasbord, smokeless grill set up.

At the second level of where the Mercury Drug is located at is this restaurant that just had a grand opening last July of this year. The restaurant boasts of the best value-for-money buffet that and sushi bar via yakiniku theme. The huge mirror wall(with a reflection me while taking a picture of it) with a lighted Bono Yaki signage is a centerpiece of the interior's design element.

Upon entrance, you will be welcomed by a slew of friendly, well-trained staff who will guide you into your preferred spot and make everything ready for you. The ambiance is cozy for a nice hearty talk, redolent of a prestigious Chinese restaurant with demographics that are mostly professional crowds taking extended business courses into their mealtime.

I have been sinfully indulging these types of restaurants whenever my appetite ruthlessly sets in, and the best that I had so far was at the Urameshi-Ya, however they're darned too pricey.

Bono Yaki may change the way we do with grill outs with the combination of its cold kitchen desserts, cold cuts standards, and the comestible readily-cooked entrees. And they even serve ice cream for those who'd like to polish the eating session with conventional desserts.

On the buffet table, they have Gindara, salmon, tuna, tuna sashimi, squid sashimi, squid and of course, shrimp, but the shrimp was a hit. Their were even filler dishes that you can munch while waiting for your meats to get properly cooked. To top it all, they also have a salad bar with a plethora of eight compound salads.

We grabbed thin slices of bacon, meat, shrimp, and a whole gamut of grillables into our table, a viking feast that we never thought we can ravage.

Pigging and picturesqueing with me is a two-month pregnant Dianne c/o Francis. :)

Asus K42J: May "K" kaya?

Asus K42J may have a conventional design portfolio of other K series laptops, but the specs are enough to raise our eyebrows with wow gestures. But the question remains, "for a Php33,500 price point, may K kaya sya?" Does it wallop with wonder to compete with other Core i3 laptops in the market?

It is the latest addition to their K series computing workhorse. From the tradition of Asus K40IN, this one brims with ATI Radeon graphic card apart from the Nvidia chip of the former.

The looks department is a mixture of class and elegance with executive brown that that appeal for business users. The textured touchpad makes it devoid of fingerprint smudges. Although it comes in handy, the lack of scroll zone is a letdown.

Although not a LED technology yet, its 14inch 1366x768 resolution display produces sharp and vibrant images.

The Altec Lansing speakers though has an average speaker quality, so there's nothing to write home about it.

It has the usual port configuration as other laptops of its class which includes 3 USB Ports, 1 HDMI, 1 ethernet, and 1 VGA port. It also has an SD/MMC Card slot.

Above the lid is a 0.3 megapixel webcam that is not as stellar as the competitors because of its grainy cam quality, especially under a low light condition.

The processing power of Intel Core i3, coupled with the ATI Radeon's graphic performance is a lo and behold for this unit. It delivers definite computing punches because of its fast boot up time and application execution.

One caveat though is that it has one of the poorest battery life laptops in the market, only averaging of about 3hours for seamless computing with wifi and bluetooth on and 75% brightness setting. Well, what can you expect of ATI(or any AMD products for that matter).

Overall, while I am enamored for its blazing fast performance, battery life is a major trade off. And for a mobile professional like me who always work on coffee shops, battery life is a primordial soup of my business undertakings.

Samsung Champ: Cheapest Touchscreen Phone

Touted as Samsung Libre in UK, this phone, a Samsung Champ C3300K in AsiaPacific, was indeed FREE c/o telco service provider as a second loyalty reward for this year. It pays to be a loyal customer and patient at an occasionally erratic delivered services. Well, nothing is perfect as they say, and that holds true with devices as well.

Same goes true with Samsung Champ C3300K. It doesn't have the usual bells-and-whistles, a lowly 1.3MP camera, no 3G, plus other several other glaring omissions, but the name itself champs over when it comes to the cheapest touchscreen-implemented phone, being retailed at Samsung Mobile Concept Shop for less than 5grand.

With specs such as a TFT resistive touchscreen that enabled display with the support for 240 x 320 pixels and a descent 2.4 inch size of about 256K colors, this may pale in comparison as compared to other touchscreen phones, but it's sufficient enough to handle basic functionalities. It even has an accelerometer sensor for auto-rotation of the user interface layer called TouchWiz Lite edition. My real obvious gripe is that it dwarfed on my large fingers.

Compact and stylish with a nice convenient grip, the Samsung Champ is targeted to youngsters(or feeling-young few) who are enamored at the exciting features like TouchWiz Lite, social networking services, FM Radio that plays without the headphones plugged in. And it even plays on the stereo speakers. There’s a microSD slot as well to hold an extensive music collection.

I have been using several Samsung phones for quite a long time now and I somehow noticed some software stupors such as an old browser and poor SNS support, but overall this one is simpler to use with a solid-built design.

Le Bistro Vert at the Fraser Place

I first know this resto at the Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Now, with the syndication of world-class Chef Sau Del Rosario, Le Bistro Vert fortified their offerings via the fusion of chemical-free, local agricultural products with a twist of rich European style culinary culture. Environmentally-sound restaurants mushroomed in the metropolis, but seldom can you see one taking noble strive to help farmers by advocating their production for sustainability. That is the core value of this restaurant. Every diner becomes an ambassador of agricultural progress.

From being a coffee-based establishment(one that I am used to), they now metamorphosed into a restaurant incorporating organic ingredients into foreign dishes.

Located at the second level of Fraser Place Tower, Le Bistro Vert is a nice cozy hang-out for a warm talk without the feel of an overly commercialized cafe experience.

I was caught up in Valero without having a lunch yet last Saturday, so I thought of trying out at the Le Bistro Vert. The place is teeming with a distinctively indigenous theme with their virtually green-colored interior. The wall decor depicts aquatic motif, matching the overall design.

I had an Inch-Thick Grilled Porkchop(Php295 + 10% SC) for my meal as I was so hungry. It's a combination of mango topic salsa, garlic mashed potato, and a cup of brown rice. The meat was a bit hard though that I have to cut them with full force.

To conclude my gustatory session, and given a bit hard meat lunch, I had to grab a Le Bistro Vert Ceasar(Php210 + 10% SC) that contains salted egg, tinapa, and queso de bola. On top of the leafy greens were palatable twigs. The salad taste good, and is enough to aid in my digestion.

Le Bistro Vert is a unique concept of casual dining that is Earth-friendly, and is befitting for those trying to be fit.

Ultimate Taste Test 5.0 at the Fort

Food is what unites us all. It is the universal language of man that wherever it sprung from and whatever culture it once was derived at, it is still draws nations together into one common goal, satisfaction.

My friend who supplied pastries at a known coffee shop coaxed me to join and be one of the 1,000 foodies to review 50 concoctions of the country's finest food moguls.

Already on its 5th leg, Ultimate Taste Test is the gathering of up-and-coming box office wonders in the food industry. In this event, a number of concessionaires prepare samples of their specialties and hand them out to the reviewers of the event for food-tasting.

This event serves as the perfect ground for fresh food suppliers, restaurants and food manufacturers to present their latest food creations to the Filipino society. Food suppliers may choose to serve food from any food and drinks category: appetizers, main courses, desserts, beverages.

The formidable battle between connoisseurs' taste and concessionaires' feast began at the NBC Tent, Global City(at The Fort).

Topping off the review is a choice of a bottle of San Miguel Super Dry, Premium All-Malt or Cerveza Negra.

Congratulations to Anton and Rachelle and to all who concerted for this biggets F&B event of the year. Congratulation to OurAwesomePlanet(dot)com.

Time Traveler

Lately, the internet community was stunned by flooding comments about a man(or a woman) believed to have been a time traveller and was caught on a Charlie Chaplin tape.

The video link was shown to me by our organization president, James Kevin Ty, and asked my thought about it. When I saw the link, there were already streams of comments from my peers at the scientific community. But allow me to resonate what I just said:

Our current law of physics(and its compelling scientific understanding) only suffice to conclude that time is a dimension that can be traveled forward, not backward. At least that was how we initially thought it to be. According to Albert Einstein, the universe is exponentially expanding and not rotating. Even if one can bend the fabric of time and space by harnessing a "wormhole", it only brings us forward. Not only does wormhole currently theoretical, but it will also open a canister of worms due to its issues of instability, radiation exposure, and Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

Einstein's theory was constantly debated though. He postulated that light is the universal speed limit, that the mass will increase as the object will reach near speed of light. But with the presence of tachyons and torsion waves, it now comes for questioning. Einstein's neighbor at Princeton Unversity, Kurt Goedel, one of the greatest mathematical logicians the world has ever known, found a groundbreaking idea that may have pave the way for time travel. The river of time now has whirlpools in which time could wrap itself into a circle. He said that the universe if filled with rotating fluid, and anyone walking around the direction of the rotation would find himself back at the starting point, but ultimately backwards in time. His theory is indeed more than what a time dilation can offer.

Ok, even if we are going to assume that time travel is possible, how can he transmit cellphone signal wayback 1920s. Where is the signal streaming through. What particles(including vector bosson/wave carrier) do this signal require to be able to permeate outside the confines of our universe(provided that the man came from another point of multiverse).

If he came from a civilization way ahead of our time, why does he have a 20th century cellphone which would probably be archaic in his existing generation. Wouldn't they have holograms? Or even technology-driven(isotope-injected) telepathic transfer of information packets by that time?

Some even suggested that it was a hearing aid. Two possible devices in questions were:

- Siemens pocket sized carbon microphone/amplifier device

- Western Electric Model 34A "Audiphone" Carbon Hearing Aid

Oh well, science cannot declare both its nullity and authenticity without experimented and empirical data to prove its existence or non-existence. So as a man of science, I am currently suspending my belief until substantially proven right or wrong.