After the rain

It’s still very much a wet season and the rains come every day, but the reprieves are getting longer and nature’s fury has abated somewhat. If you were like most of the people in Metro Manila last week, and that includes me and my wife, chances are you got stuck at home one of those “furious” days when the whole of the metropolis was inundated and there was just no let up. I woke up to such weather one gray morning last week and thought it was a good excuse to stay home, review the past publications of my Motoring Today columns, then get the multi-media player set up for marathon watching buried under pillows and comforters the whole day. 

Such weather was also perfect for all-day breakfast, with left-over rice from last night fried, bottled sardines in oil out of the pantry, the big fat “tinapang bangus” unwrapped from the freezer, the small “dilis” fried to a crisp, and a whole egg fried perfectly, with edges curled and brown, the yolk whole and runny. Yes, this is how to spend a perfect rainy day at home.

But being cooped up indoors led us to planning an outdoor Sunday for the family. The weather was clearing, and the sun was out more hours during the day, so the “summer capital of the metro” seemed the perfect destination.

Tagaytay City is now more and more a favored destination because of its proximity and the excellent roads leading to the city. I enjoyed the occasional trips to Baguio in the past, and half of the fun was driving long hours enjoying the scenic views. But the long hours now seem endless as they have become much too long, so Tagaytay, with the same climate and quaint charm, presents itself as a more practical option for short weekends. More so for our family of foodies who will drive hard and long for, yes, a good slab of steak.

When hunkering for steak in an out-of-town setting, no other place comes to mind but Antonio’s. When we got there, it was almost 2p.m., a rather late hour to start lunch, but the parking lot was full. Inside the spacious al fresco dining room, all of the tables were occupied, many of the diners just starting on their late lunch. Everyone in the metropolis apparently wanted a great lunch away from the city.

Of course, lunch for me was a great big juicy fatty slab of rib eye, grilled but pink inside, perched high atop a pool of glorious oil which I shared with Enzo, a friend of my daughter Tin (DJ Suzy to her fans in Magic 89.9). The girls got sea food pasta and prawns and scallop thermidor which they thoroughly enjoyed. All orders came with a salad of garden greens with arugula, caramelized walnuts in raspberry dressing and a chunk or two of blue cheese, a small bowl of soup and a choice of dessert. It’s still the steak to beat, believe me, perfectly seasoned, marbled and tender, but the price has gone up some. One order of their rib-eye which is good for two persons is now a whopping P4,900.00 ++! A bit too hefty, if you consider that a group of four out to lunch would shell out a little over P10,000.00 on a whim.

Having said that, Antonio’s grilled rib-eye steak is still the one to beat in taste and heft. The olive rice that went with it (my choice) and the homemade gravy were likewise perfect, there was no more room for the free dessert. Just coffee to cap an excellent meal.

And whenever we find ourselves in Tagaytay, the Bag of Beans Coffee Shop is always a stop-over. Most Tagaytay regulars know of this place, and there is always a beeline for their famous raisin bread which rivals the ones of Baguio Country Club. Most of the time, we catch the loaves still warm from the oven because I understand they bake these the whole day. Such is the demand for their popular raisin bread that customers sometimes end up squabbling for the last few pieces, and customers who queued up too late leave the store irate. The bread is definitely good because the dough is soft and the raisins aplenty, though it’s not exactly cheap at P135 for the small loaf. Their English pies are also good and these come in flavors of beef and potatoes, chicken and mushroom, etc, a bit pricey as well at P125 each. My wife, Baby likes to buy these because they keep in the freezer long and are perfect for instant meals.

This place has grown from the small coffee shop that it was a few years ago. As the name suggests, the business started out with a good blend of native coffee, and the English pies, the raisin bread and the breakfast came later. Now it is a fully-developed dining place serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, with gazebos and quaint table set-ups in the sloping property right beside the bakeshop. Good job for this growing family business concern. If you have a handle on at least one or two good products, the business has wonderful potentials.

Drycleaning woes

One of my few guilty passions is a nice, crisp fine white long-sleeved shirt. The fit must be perfect too, so the bespoke tailoring of Ascot Chang was, for me, a value-for-money choice. I value the few shirts that I acquired from the local Ascot Chang franchise and trust only the best drycleaners to handle them for me.

Imagine my chagrin when I was told that my regular drycleaner, Metropole, a big chain of drycleaners with several franchises, reported that they couldn’t locate one of my Ascot Chang shirts. To be fair, this cleaner has always been professional and reliable, but their offer to settle my loss was what floored me. Apparently, the fine print in their service form says that the maximum amount they will pay is equivalent to “ten times the service fee charged for servicing the item” in question which is P120. This means that they are willing to pay only P1,200 for a P7,500 shirt that, at that time, was fairly new. Consumers are warned to pay attention to the fine print and know the risks you face. Personally I still think that this arbitrary amount is too small a recourse for loyal clients.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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