The question made me laugh, but I was careful not to laugh too loud because at that point, it really did seem like there was a chance that we might crash.

I was on Cebu Pacific’s flight 5J 529 bound for Busuanga, on the island of Coron in the province of Palawan. The trip was spur-of-the-moment. I had planned to spend the rest of the week writing but the opportunity to travel came and since I have always wanted to see Coron, there really was no other answer but yes.

The plane had left the airport just a few minutes after the supposed departure time, a miracle in a county where half hour delays seem to be the norm. Takeoff was smooth. It was a 35 minute trip, and since I lacked sleep from staying up to work the night before, I immediately fell into a light sleep.

I was awoken by the kid behind me kicking my seat. I told him to stop it, and was about to go back to nap when, and I don’t know how else to describe it, the airplane, a small two propeller that held about 80 people, fell about half a foot in the sky. I’m sure it didn’t actually fall, that the movement was the effect of the pilot trying to keep the plane steady, but that’s what it felt like.

You know when you go on a carnival ride and it dips all of a sudden? That’s what it felt like. It was a feeling that we were going to be familiar with for part of the trip.

The captain came on the loudspeaker, explaining that the weather was bad in Busuanga and that we had been advised to circle to the north for 20 minutes before doubling back to land, which is what we did.

Those 20 minutes were spent in silence, the adults by speaking as the plane lurched again and again. The only noise were made by the children; babies crying because they were bored, the kid behind me, asking his sister again if we were going to crash. He sounded quite hopeful.

I looked out the window. There was nothing but clouds. At one point, the white fluff parted to reveal deep blue ocean dotted by lush green islands. My first thought was, I don’t mind dying here. The view was quickly covered by more clouds, something that would not change until we reached Manila.

I believed that we were going to be okay, but part of me didn’t deny that there was a chance that we wouldn’t make it. Granted, it wasn’t the worst turbulence I’ve encountered in my life, but it was the worst I’ve experienced as an adult, when the thought of crashing isn’t so abstract. I worried that my family wouldn’t be contacted, that they would find out when they heard my name being read on the news as part o the passenger manifest. I wondered who would come to my funeral. I also prayed. I looked out the window. It was wet with rain.

To pass time, I played peek a boo with the antsy baby seated on his father’s lap across me. He was amused at first, but the novelty of it wore off and he started getting antsy again.

The captain’s voice came on again. The weather hadn’t let up yet, so we were flying back to Manila. The cabin was still silent as we changed course, the clouds an wind seeming as if it was following us, chasing us back to Luzon. A stewardess explained that there was zero visibility in Busuanga, that the pilot could not see the airport at all, that it was all clouds. The crew, I have to say, were calm and professional and a little bit badass, the flight attendants walking the aisle, smiling as if things like this happened every day. Maybe it did. Maybe there was really no danger at all, that it was Mother Nature’s version of a carnival ride. But even carnival rides have accidents, and Mother Nature is more fickle than Uncle Engineering.

Clouds gave way to greenery, which gave way to fields, then roads and structures. The plane seemed to be gaining speed, gunning for the airport, unsteady but unwavering. Structures became the city, which became The Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Our landing wasn’t smooth, but nobody seemed to care. We were back on land, slowing to a complete stop. This is he only time I have seem passengers follow disembarkation rules to the letter. No one turned their cellphones on while the plane was still moving. No one unbuckled their seatbelt while the Fasten Seatbelt sign was on, and no one stood up to he their luggage until it was sure that the plane had truly, finally come to a complete stop.

Some people seemed to have recovered by the time it was time to leave the plane, and by the time we were on the shuttle being ferried back to the airport, the whole adventure had become a minor inconvenience. I say mint because the alternative could have been much worse. People called friend’s and loved ones joking that they had just gone on a joyride. I was telling friends that they could have been the last people I had spoken to. Nobody raised their voices, nobody complained, though everyone did ask what the airline was going to do about it. To the airline’s credit, it handled everything professionally, which I think a lot of people didn’t expect, given its reputation for spotty service.

The ending may have been anticlimactic, a bunch of passengers lining up to rebook their flights, but sometimes, boring is good. You’d think that what could very well have been a horrible accident would deter us, but most of us are flying out again tomorrow. Hopefully, we get there this time. And hopefully, I don’t get seated in front of a kid who kicks the seat, no matter how charming his questions are.

I wouldn’t have discovered it either, if I hadn’t wen assigned to write about it for Appetite magazine, who graciously let me blog about it after publication, too.

Its interiors match the billboard’s red and black, but that is where the similarity ends. The inside of the restaurant has a romantic theme, its ‘patio’ looking like a window display.

The restaurant is named after the two most common condiments at the dinner table. Its menu items are a mix of different cuisines, specifically Italian, Indian, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern, all of them prepared as authentically as possible, right down to the ingredients, many of which are imported from their respective countries.

The Sample Kebab Platter (Php490) is made up of two skewers of assorted meat and veg served with salsa and really, really good yogurt sauce. The meat (beef, beef tenderloin, chicken) is juicy, the vegetables (tomatoes, onions, zucchini) beautifully blackened. While tasty on its own, pairing the kebab with the yogurt sauce really brings out the flavor of the meat. I din’t know what they mix in that sauce, but whatever it is, it is quite addictive.

Likewise the Chicken Tandoori (Php295), which is basted in Indian spices. Alas, it is not cooked in an axial tandoor, but that doesn’t stop it from tasting good.

The restaurant also serves an interesting array of pizzas, the dough made fresh and baked in a pizza oven. The Frutti di Mare Pizza is topped with assorted seafood such as fish, squid, and mussels in the half shell, the seafood tender, it’s flavors standing apart from the cheese and tomato base.

The Chicken Pesto Pasta (Php 390) is interesting, the dough generously layered with a savory-sweet pesto and dotted with bits of chicken.

Salt and Pepper serves pasta as well, some of them quite elaborate. The Seafood Linguini in Bouillabaisse Sauce (Php 295) is rich, and is filling enough to share. The pasta is thinly coated with flavorful sauce, with big servings of seafood.

If it’s a rice dish you’re looking for, the Nuts About Fish (Php 270) is quite interesting. Soft fish covered with a dry, nutty crust. Eating it gives one the weird sensation of trying something familiar but adventurous at the same time.

Salt and Pepper is a good example of a book that should not be judged by its cover. It may look informal on the outside and slightly intimidating on the inside, but the important part is that the food, of which the restaurant offers a varied, hearty selection.

Salt and Pepper
205 EDSA cor.
Rochester Sts.
Greenhills
Mandaluyong City
Metro Manila
(+632) 725-7454

Romulo Cafe is one such restaurant. Its menu is built around the dishes served in the home of Carlos P. Romulo, statesman, journalist, and everything else in between. Both Quezon City and Makati branches are decorated with CPR memorabilia, pictures of him with various local and international political figures, as well as more casual ones of him and his family.

I have it on good authority that many of the dishes rely did come from the Romulo table, something I am envious of, because it must be nice to eat good food all the time.

We started off with Pinoy Nachos (Php100), sweet potato and taro chips topped with tomatoes and a mixture of melted mewing puti and keso de bola. The slight difference in the flavours of the manors and gabi chips keep the flavors from becoming monotonous, while the tomatoes cut through he rich cheese. It tastes nothin like regular nachos, but is just as addictive.

The Beef Kdereta with Keso de Bola, I hear, was/is a popular in the Romulo household. And with good reason. I’m not usually a fan of kaldereta but I liked this version. Maybe it’s because of the cut they use, which the menu describes as ‘stewing beef.’ Maybe it’s because of the olive oil they use in the recipe. Or maybe we just don’t serve very good kaldereta where I come from. Whatever the reason, the beef was tender, the sauce rich but not overwhelming. A classic comfort dish, warm and hearty.

An absolute favorite of mine was the Ginataang Sigarillas with Tinapa (Php150). Sigarillas cooked in gata is a fairly common (and very yummy) household dish, but Romulo gives heirs a boost with the addition of bits of dried fish whose saltiness cuts through the thickness of the coconut cream, it’s texture disappearing into the cream so that one can concentrate on the sigarillas’ crunch. Like the kaldereta, it is great paired with steaming hot rice.

The restaurant has different kinds of rice on the menu, but the waiter recommended that we try the Kalkag Rice (Php145), explaining that kalkag is a type of dried shrimp. Sounds like bagoong rice, right? Except for the presence of tiny shrimp, it is not like bagoong rice at all. It’s more salty than briny, a dominant flavor that recedes once paired with heavier dishes.

Another dish that I really liked was the Flying Tilapia with Three Sauces (Php 295), so named because of the way the tilapia is presented, it’s sides split halfway on both sides and deep fried so that the fish looks like it has grown wings. It’s quite perverse when you think about it, but it does make it easier to separate herbs meat from bone. Like its name says, it comes with three sauces, but is quite good on its own.

We ended the meal with the Crispy Suman at Latik (Php65), basically bite-sized pieces of fried suman dipped in latik and served in shot glasses. He Suman is firm and slightly crunchy, the sauce thick and sweet.

True, a lot of stuff on the menu is stuff that you can probably get at home. But what makes the dishes in Romulo Cafe interesting is the history behind them, the knowledge that what is on your plate played a part in the life of one of the country’s greatest statesmen. The fact that they taste good doesn’t help, either.

Romulo Cafe

32 Scout Tuason cor.
Scout Lazcano
Quezon City
(+632) 332-7273
0915-6623121

148 Jupiter cor.
Comet St.
Bel-Air Village
Makati
(+632) 478-6408, 822-0286

The restaurant is a bit hard to find on the first try, because even though it is well lit, it tends to recede into the building. Once you find it, however, you won’t forget where it is, in the building, at least.

The menu lists a variety of dishes, some traditional, others new takes on classic themes (perhaps this is where the artisanal comes in).

The Pork Gyoza (Php125 for 5 pieces) is your regular Japanese dumpling stuffed with minced pork and cabbage. Not bad, but a more unique starter would be the Mushroom Gyoza (Php125 for 5 pieces), dumplings stuffed with a mix of shiitake, oyster, button, and shimaji mushrooms. The gyoza is savory sweet, with a meat-like consistency, so you don’t miss out on texture.

Mushroom Gyoza

If you want something with a bit of crunch, the Soft Shell Crab/ Crisp Prawn Salad with Buttermilk Dressing (Php275) is something to try.The crab gets soggy fast, so be sure to dig in right away. The dressing complements both shellfish and vegetables, the greens adding texture and contrast. We were lucky to get the soft shell crab, as it is only available when in season.

Soft Shell Crab Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

The Seafood Kilawin ala Japonaise (Php320) is subtle, refreshing. I’m a fan of raw or half-cooked fish, so this got high marks, the sauce preventing the fish from becoming one dimensional.

Seafood Kilawin ala Japonaise

I also liked the Beef Tataki with Chips (Php280), the restaurant’s version of steak tartare. The beef, seared Kitayama Wagyu sirloin, is soft and sweet, and the sweet potato chips that accompanied it were fun to eat.

Beef Tataki with Chips

The fried Squash Blossom (Php275), “fresh squash blossom filled with prawn mousse, pork, and lime salt,” makes good filler if you’re still hungry, but isn’t any different from others of the same type out there.

Squash Blossoms

Ramen enthusiasts will want to try the Nomama Ramen (Php295). The house specialty is made with chasu (Japanese stewed pork) and a special sesame soup blend, thick and evenly flavored.

Nomama Ramen

An interesting and surprisingly heavy alternative is the Thai Green Curry Ramen (Php290). There is just a hint of coconut in the broth, and the chicken that tops the dish has a nice sweet glaze.

Thai Green Curry Ramen

I’m still not sure how ramen can be artisanal, but I’m happy that the meal was good.

Nomama Artisanal Ramen
G/F, FSS Bldg., Sct. Tuazon cor. Sct. Castor
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Philippines
+632 921-4913

If you like tart desserts, this will blow you out of the water. The filling is creamy, supported by a thin, sweetish crust. Its got the right ratio of sweet to sour, meaning that if you take a spoonful, your face will immediately scrunch up in tart-induced delight. How can you not want something like that, especially after a rich meal?

This pie may look simple, but it tastes like fireworks in your mouth.

No, I didn’t get the pie for free, just in case you think this is an endorsement. I had to pay for my pie, then made the mistake of taking it home for Christmas, where my family all but demolished it. My mom, who is not fond of pastries, still thinks about it, and will every now and then ask if I can buy another one for her. I keep telling her that I will, but am secretly making plans to eat most of it myself. I can’t help it. It’s that good.

Who says money can't buy happiness?

Check out her Facebook page for other pastries. A recommendation would be the chunky chocolate chip cookies, which are absolutely divine. I know this because I got some, at a time when I was feeling low. They are great things to cover the hole in your heart with.

Earnest Bakes
earnestbakes@gmail.com
09178135819
Facebook

My favorite dishes here are surprisingly healthy, so I don’t feel so bad when I eat off my friends’ plates. I like the Roka Pasta (Php300 for the solo serving), which is spaghetti sauteed with arugula, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts, and fresh tomatoes, then topped with cheese. You can taste the freshness of the vegetables, the arugula barely wilted, the tomatoes, and I know this is going to sound trite, but it’s true, bursting with flavor. Garlic bits add to the sweetness. This is what summer would taste like.

Roka Pasta. The regular Coke in the background is not mine, honest.

I like to end the meal with the Yiaourti Me Meli (Php170), Greek Yogurt topped with mountain honey and pistachios. This is actually a meal in itself, since the yogurt is so heavy. The yogurt is thick and tart, just the way I like it, so that I can swirl the honey in to create a milky golden mix that’s not too sweet and not too sour.

Yiaourti Me Meli, I love you so,

These two dishes come up to almost Php500, but they’re an instant pick-me-up, especially on a bad day. The fact that they’re both healthy adds to the appeal, too.

Cyma
www.cymarestaurants.com

The first thing you will notice about Thaipan is that it does not look like a restaurant that serves traditional Thai dishes. All glass and angles, done in mostly white, with bright accent colors, it looks more like a restaurant that serves tea and pastries, or at the most, fusion cuisine. But appearances can be deceiving, and this is one of those instances where the book should not be judged by its cover.

Thaipan Interiors

There are air-conditioned and open air dining areas, the latter looking like a private garden, despite being beside the road in the middle of the city. We were given lemongrass tea to cool down, and to stabilize our blood sugar while we engaged in the important task of ordering.

Chilled Lemongrass Tea

The soups come by bowl, so I had the Tom Khaa Kai (Php125), chicken soup flavored with galanggal and coconut cream, while my friend had the Tom Yum Kung (Php130), everyone’s favorite hot and sour broth flavored with shrimp and straw mushrooms. Both were served warm, though I would have preferred mine piping hot.

Tom Yum Kung. Should be Tom YUM! Kung.

The Tom Yum Kung’s sourness had an undertone of sweetness,no doubt from the shrimp. The Tom Khaa Kai was fragrant, the galanggal adding another dimension to the chicken stock and coconut cream.

Tom Khaa Kai

We had the Pad Thai (Php310), which came wrapped in a ‘package.’ The dish, which contained rice noodles stir-fried with shredded pork, bits of tofu, and bean sprouts and flavored with chives and peanuts hit the spot, not too sweet, and with enough of a hint of sourness, and just a little crunch to keep the overall texture from being too homogeneous (Look, Ma, I used homogeneous in a sentence! This is where your education money went!).

Pad Thai

We also tried the Pla Lad Prik Sam Ros (Php310), “deep fried fish drizzled with tamarind chiu sauce and garnished with fried basil leaves.” The dish was, in a word, awesome. Fried fish is always a winner. But fried fish paired with sweet and slightly tangy tamarind sauce is something else altogether. You don’t actually get to taste the basil, since the leaves are fried, but they do add a nice crunch and helps round out the dish, texture-wise.

Pla Lad Prik Sam Ros -- that's fried fish to you.

We also had Thai Iced Tea (Php90, I think), which was milky and not too sweet. Not bad as Thai Iced Teas go, but since I like mine really milky, and so sweet that the cow that the milk came from got a toothache, I thought that it was passable. My friend, who has more practical, less heathen taste when it comes to sweet things, liked it just fine.

Thai Iced Tea

Thaipan is a bit hard to find, especially when it’s your first time. If you’re going there at night, look for the brightest house on the block. You can’t miss it.

Thaipan
120 Dr. Lazcano St., Tomas Morato
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Philippines
(+632) 352-4926

Its interiors are reminiscent of a French apartment, bright and airy and tres chic. You go in and want to live there.

There are many wonderful things on Cafe 1771′s menu such as the coffee and cakes, among which is Chateau’s famous Coffee Pie, which tastes like buttery heaven.

Another popular dish, especially if you are with friends, is the Tomato Cheese Fondue (Php950), basically gruyere cheese fondue heavily flavored with tomatoes. The fondue comes with unlimited bread cubes that you dip in the sauce, making for what are essentially tiny deconstructed cheese sandwiches.

But what has become my absolute favorite dish in the restaurant, perhaps my absolute favorite tomato pasta dish in the metro, is the Spaghetti with Roasted Tomatoes (Php290). A simple dish, yes, but the simplest dishes are often the ones that are hardest to make. There is a good ratio of sauce to pasta, just enough to coat the noodles but not so little as to leave the Pinoy (or in my case, Fil-Chi) in you wanting more. The noodles are firm, a good example of al dente, the kind whose flavor makes up part of the dish’s overall effect instead of just being background for the sauce. When I ordered the dish, I was going to eat half and save the rest for later. I ended up finishing the whole thing.

I always like hanging out in Cafe 1771. The food is good, and the ambiance makes it easy to spend whole afternoons there without noticing. It’s the kind of place that you can treat like home, especially if where you live doesn’t look like a French apartment.

Cafe 1771
El Pueblo, Ortigas Center, Ortigas
631-7340

I had been here before, so I knew the drill. When I arrived, A was munching on bread sticks and three kinds of dip (a pate, a bean dip, and a tomato-based one), which had been offered to help tide her over before her companion (that’s me) arrived.

22 Prime offers you three kinds of dip with your breadsticks to tide you over before your meal--or companion--arrives.

I decided to try their Surf and Turf, dubbed their “signature menu,” because it combines two of my favorite things–steak and seafood. I know I’m a glutton. Leave me alone.

The Surf and Turf is composed of: a bowl of the Chef’s Soup of the Day, Caesar Salad “22 Prime,” Grilled U.S. Angus Rib Eye Steak (200g), Jumbo Prawns, Twice-baked Potatoes and Tagaytay Vegetables, a glass of their Wine of the Month, and a Chef’s Dessert Sampler. Not bad for Php1,695.

After placing our orders, we were asked to choose our steak knives. I picked a nasty looking one that looked like to could cut through the steak, the plate, and the table, if I tried hard enough. A picked something a little less conspicuous.

The soup of the day was cream of mushroom, a fairly straightforward deal for a steak restaurant. Served hot, it went well with the breadsticks, which I used to stir in butter into the soup. Not that the soup needed butter, I just like adding condiments to my food, sometimes needlessly.

22 Prime's Mushroom Soup warms the belly.

I’m not sure what makes the Caesar Salad “22 Prime,” but it was good nonetheless, the lettuce leaves shining with the gloss of the dressing.

The Surf and Turf, when it arrived, was good, but was a bit of a disappointment. The shrimp, while fresh, was a bit tougher than expected, as was the steak. Both were still good, however, the shrimp’s sweetness subtly altered by grilling. And the beef was fairly juicy. All steaks come with a choice of two dressings, which were left untouched. I loved the sidings, and demolished the baked potato and the grilled tomato, no problem.

Dessert was an eclair, panna cotta, and a sponge cake, all bite-sized. The sponge cake tasted like the normal sponge cake. The panna cotta was lovely, smooth and creamy, the jelly on top providing an interesting contrast to the sweetish cream. The eclair was yummy, but too small for me to actually describe what it tasted like, especially since I shared everything with A. Let’s just say there was some cream involved, and some chocolate, and pastry. I’m no help, I know.

For dessert, personal-sized pieces of sponge cake, panna cotta, and an eclair.

I don’t come here often (and the prices will tell you exactly why), but 22 Prime is one of those restaurants that I like going to when I’m looking for fairly good food and a lot of privacy. A enjoyed the steak too, and that’s what counts.

22 Prime
22/F Discovery Suites
25 ADB Avenue, Ortigas Avenue
Ortigas Center, Pasig City
1600, Philippines
Tel: (63 2) 719.8888 / 914.9888

ttp://www.discoverysuites.com/default.aspx

As 2011 comes to a close, I would like to wave goodbye to the year that was with the last meals I’ve had on some of my trips this year.

First is the puto and batchoy my friends and I ate while waiting for our plane at the Iloilo airport.

Batchoy at the Iloilo Airport

The Front, Iloilo Airport - Puto

Next is the lackluster coffee and Japanese cheesecake that tided me over while waiting for my flight to Manila in the Bacolod airport. Bacolod is normally one of the best places for food in the Philippines. This was not one of those times.

Bacolod Last Airport Meal

Last is the last meal I had before leaving Penang, Malayasia. I have no idea what it is, only that it was the best meal of the year. The lone restaurant beside the Penang Airport is basically a turo-turo (in Tagalog, it literally translates to point-point, refers to a cheap roadside restaurant where customers point to what they want) that lets customers assemble their own meals. Mine consisted of noodles, super hot curry something, and a fried egg, which I paired with milk tea. I still dream about this meal.

My best meal of the year.

Goodbye 2011!  You were quite interesting.