Abet and I skipped fine dining for our anniversary this year, we need to save our money for our backpacking trip next week. So instead of going to Paseo Uno which we originally planned, we wanted to go somewhere that wouldn’t burn a hole in our pockets like a hotel dinner buffet would. My second favorite cuisine is Mexican and his is Japanese (#1 is Italian for us both) and on our shortlist were Jalapeño Cantina Mexicana in Ortigas Home Depot and two Japanese restaurants. Guess who decided to give way? He loves me, yes he does!

Boy, was he glad. The food we had was great, just great. It’s my new favorite Mexican restaurant.

We always order quesadilla when eating in a Mexican restaurant, and here we got their Grilled Tomato and Cheese Quesadilla:

We also got the Baked Jalapeño Cheese Dip (P140):

Pardon the bite mark.

Make your own fajita–so much fun!

My only complaint about the place was that it was too dim inside, in the indoor upstairs area where we were seated. Dim places strain my eyes. I had to take the photos above with flash. I avoid taking photos with flash in restaurants so as not to annoy other diners, but there were only two other tables occupied in our area, and both groups were really noisy, so I guess it was only fair, hehe.

Overall, we enjoyed the Jalapeño experience and I’m glad we dined there to celebrate our third year as a couple. The food were all great and reasonably-priced. For our meal above with two bottles of beer and two glasses of iced tea, our bill was just exactly P800. We were already too full to get dessert.

Of course, no dinner date will be complete without dessert, we walked to Metrowalk para magpababa ng kinain, and a little while later I got to have a Kahlua Chocolate Sundae, my favorite thing to eat at Icebergs:

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Jalapeño Cantina Mexicana

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Until this afternoon, I was probably the only Chuvaness fan in Manila who has not tried Pepper Lunch yet. The first two branches (Rockwell and Shangri-La) aren’t too accessible to me. Luckily, Pepper Lunch opened at Alabang Town Center two weeks ago. I dragged Abet and May there for lunch today.

May’s Beef Pepper Rice (P198)

I enjoyed everything about my Chicken Pepper Rice, and I don’t even like peppercorns. I guess it made a difference that their peppers are freshly prepared each morning, with just the fragrant outer shells used. Their honey brown sauce was just to die for, May and I practically drowned our food in it.

I can’t believe it took me this long to try Pepper Lunch. It was worth queuing for more than 15 minutes to order and smelling like our food afterwards. With the ATC branch nearby, the only thing that’s keeping us from dining there more often is the price. Don’t get me wrong, the food was worth it, but Abet and I shouldn’t be spending so much at this point. Still, I’m dying to try the salmon chicken rice and the hamburger + cut steak combo. Next payday, perhaps? I just need to make sure we don’t go there during lunch time.

Abet took me to the Pluck and Struck concert at the Insular Auditorium in Alabang last Saturday evening. It was my first time to watch Abet’s professor and mentor, Sir Ruben Reyes, in concert. He played Brouwer’s Concierto Elegiaco and I was in awe: he really is the best. Perf de Castro performed one of my favorite pieces in the whole world, Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, and I was utterly disappointed, both with the guitarist and the orchestra. What a bummer. Jovianney Cruz’s Liszt Piano Concerto no. 1 was fantastic, so it was still a good concert overall.

I was looking at shoes at VNC (great stuff there, by the way) when I heard “I Wish You Love” playing from outside the store, and I just had to follow the music. A small crowd had gathered to listen to him play standard tunes. Lolo was really good–he took requests–he must have been a hotel or bar pianist in his younger years. I have a video of him playing “That’s All.” It was a nice treat to hear good live jazz music when I least expected it.

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Abet and I watched Marley and Me on DVD–Marley looks exactly like our Labrador Retriever, Django! We were cooing during the movie. I wish our dog lived with me instead of with my boyfriend–I only get to see him on weekends–but I don’t think I can handle all the feeding and the cleaning up.

I hope y’all had a good weekend.

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After a two weeks of dieting and religiously going to the gym after work, I felt that I needed to reward myself with seriously good chow for the weekend. Last Saturday was a good time to try Charlie’s Grind and Grill, which I first read about on Our Awesome Planet and which my officemate Gelo has been majorly raving about. Anton of OAP claims that Charlie’s serves the best burgers pound-for-pound (parang si Pacquiao lang) in Manila, and that opinion alone is enough for me to bump up Charlie’s on our ever-growing ‘Restaurants to Try’ list.

Their specialty is the freshly-ground handcrafted black Angus burger, freshly-ground meaning they grind and grill the beef as you order:

At P175 with the fries, this baby was a steal. The beef was juicy and flavorful with that distinct grilled yumminess, the vegetables were crisp, the bun was fresh, and the hand-cut fries were the best fries I’ve had. I’m trying to recall if I’ve had a better burger… maybe I haven’t. It’s definitely well worth the hype.

I ordered the small Philly cheesesteak–Batangas Triple A sirloin beef steak with caramelized onions, sauteed peppers, and cheese (P220):

This ‘Hungry’ size is already good enough for two, I can’t imagine how starving one might be to finish the bigger ‘Starving’ size for P380. My cheesesteak was more ‘cheese’ than ‘steak,’ which was honestly fine by me.

We ordered half a dozen buffalo wings (P150, served with veggie sticks and bleu cheese dressing):

The wings were crisp despite being drenched in the tangy buffalo sauce that went perfectly with the bleu cheese dressing. Abet and I were already full from the burger, fries, and cheesesteak by the time we attacked the wings, I didn’t think we’d be able to finish them, but we did. They were that good.

We’re already planning to go back to try their fish and chips, pulled pork sandwich, and meatballs marininara pasta. We also want to try the newest additions to their menu: their desserts. We were so full after our meal to have desserts. (We did get some Angelati Italia gelato a few hours later–yum!)

Oh, and Abet has a couple more reasons why he liked Charlie’s aside from the good food: they serve American craft and premium beers (Corona was at P130), and the naughty urinal below *snicker*:

Charlie’s, we’ll be back!

Charlie’s Grind and Grill
16 East Kapitolyo Drive, Pasig City

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