Food & Wine Galore

I have organized numerous parties before and that involved tasting the food from the caterers. But never have I been invited to do food tasting for weddings. That all changed today.

My friend, Jhie, with hubby in tow, will be coming over this March to celebrate their wedding with their family and friends here in Manila. If I'm not mistaken, she asked the help of our friend, Tina, to do the preparations (venue, caterings, souvenirs, etc.).

Got an FB message from Tina asking me, Nikks, Tabs and Bryce, to represent her at today's tasting. The venue is at Dad's Place in Quezon City. Nikks & I weren't able to attend the previous tasting 'cause of another commitment.

Tabs picked us up at the office and we battled the traffic from Makati to QC. And thanks to the food gods, we reached the place at 5 pm. Perfect timing!

After we got our table, we immediately sampled the appetizers. They have bruschetta, pritson, cocktail salads and quesadilla. The quesadilla is our favorite.

For the main course: we tasted everything. from pork, chicken to beef. They also have pasta. Tabs & Nikks love the lasagna. I enjoyed the fillet mignon in red wine sauce. Would've been better if the food is warm though. I thought the string beans is not a good substitute for asparagus wrapped in bacon.

Then it's dessert time! They have fondue, banana crepe, buko pandan, mango something and coffee something. I didn't like the chocolate used in the fondue. It tastes cheap. The buko pandan ain't fresh anymore so it's yucky. The only thing I like was the mango dessert.

Around 7:30, we wondered why no one was speaking to us. We're extremely full already. It's time to do business.

Then a representative from Hizon's named Crenz approached us. She was busy attending to other customers too. She informed us that she could give freebies (fondue, Tiffany chairs and coffee & tea bar) only for today, if we decide to pay 5K for the reservation. Tabs had to call Bryce to give Jhie a call in the US.

To make the long story short, we grabbed her offer. We left the area with satisfied stomach (thank you so much, Tina & Jhie, for thinking about me when it comes to food tasting. Hehehehe). I even had to return a second time for the fillet mignon chunks. Teehee...

Then it's time for A-A-Alcohol. Remember last time I went to Resort World and I found out about the wine buffet they offer there? Well, it's time to try it out with my friends. I didn't want to drink by myself. Also, we haven't celebrated Tabel's birthday yet so this is a good time.

It took us quite some time to enter the place. There's a big event happening (some fiesta thing) outside so it's hard to get valet parking.

First stop, the restrooms. While waiting for Tabs & Nikks to finish their bizness, I went inside a fragrance store called Art of Scent. I immediately looked for a brand that I haven't tried yet. My Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce and Hollister SoCal are already in need of a backup fragrance.

I grabbed a Bvlgari AQVA perfume and sprayed it on my wrist. I left the place and told my friends what I did. They liked the smell! I decided to get one later. Teehee...

Beurre Blanc didn't have a wine buffet for tonight because of that damn fiesta thing outside. We were so disappointed. We tried to use our charm but the manager just offered us some salmon carpaccio and cake (since we told him it's Tabel's birthday).

After going through the wine menu, we decided to go for Gossips Shiraz, the same wine I had last time.

People watching time. We saw Jose Mari Chan with family leaving some show.

Before we left the place, Tabel got her chocolate cake. It was delish! Happy Birthday again, Tabs!

We joined our friends, Beng & Lani downstairs. We went back to the Art of Scent and I bought my new fragrance--Bvlgari AQVA. Of course, there had to be some picture taking (Lani, again, ang ganda mo dito sa picture na to!

We went back upstairs and looked for a place to continue the fun. New Orleans was our pick.

More people watching time. We saw Tweetie De Leon (still looking fabulous!), Phoemela Baranda, Julia Clarete, Daiana Menezes, Jeremy Marquez and Pops Fernandez. They were all heading to the party place, Republiq. I wanna see this place soon too!

Around 2, it was time to go.