juls random thoughts

Last night, hubby and I had dinner at Barcino's Gourmet. Been hearing a lot of good feedbacks about this place in my egroup for quite sometime now and medyo matagal ko na ring inaaya si hubby to try it.

Since last night I picked him up in his office kasi wala syang dalang kotse, and we're both hungry and he's so stressed with work, we decided to try the place.

It is in front of the driving range in Julia Vargas, on second floor, above Razon's. when we got there, the place is full of people. i heard that it's a small place so i thought they won't be able to accomodate us anymore but i think they expanded their place kasi there is this small door which leads to another dining area together with boxes and boxes of wines. we thought that this must have been their stock room converted to dining area to accomodate more customers. i was not prepared for this dinner so i was not able to check my file containing the "must-try" food here though i somehow recall most of what they recommend. This is a Spanish bistro so not one of our expertise. The only Spanish resto that we tried was “Mingoy”, which I used to pronounce as mingoy instead of min-goy. We decided to try their paella (P390+), tapas gourmet (P500) and ordered a bottle of red wine (P280+). Total bill: P1,300 +. It was good, something new and something different but I don’t think I’ll be a frequent guest of this place. I just don’t see anything special in Spanish food, I’m more of the steak, baby back ribs, sushi and seafood type of person. At least we tried the place now and yeah, the people who recommended the place are not telling a lie, food is indeed good. And now that I checked my files, I just found out that we only tried one of the recommended food. Hahahaha!!! What my co-egroup was recommending was arroz ala cubana, a can of baby eel, paella and a bottle of cava (champagne).

Some of the other restos they’re recommending are for special occasions like Valentine's date, birthday, etc:

Firelake Grill in Tagaytay – now I know why this place near Café Breton sounds familiar, that’s one of the place they were recommending. The place has an unobstructed view of Taal lake. I love the place actually since its not crowded (refer to entry about father’s day). Food to try: steaks

Massimo’s in Tagaytay – no view of Taal lake but the interior is warmly decorated with artsy lamps. Recommended food: for appetizers – warm artichoke dip; for main course – steak, beef tenders; for dessert – gelatos, molten chocolate cake. Or if going with a group, try the coccinillo. Price: around P1500 to P3500 for a meal of 2.

Prince Albert in Intercon – according to them, they serve the best steaks and sea bass for a stiff price, a meal can cost P3,500 to P6,000, so I guess I will never get to try this resto since it’s way too expensive.

Top of the Citi – this is on top of Citibank building and they’re serving Le Souffle food.

Gulliver’s at Great Eastern Hotel in Makati ave. – this one, we tried already. They’re prime rib is the best! Tried this resto for our valentine’s date in 2006. Really highly recommended.

Rastro in Rockwell – recommended food: spicy gambas, sardine pate, boquerones and steak with coffee gravy.

then saw in the tv that The Highlands in SM MOA is highly recommended too but expensive. I am actually curious about the place when I saw it but now I got more curious when I saw it featured on tv.

Happy eating!