MONA LISA... Very Good Italian!

MONA LISA RISTORANTE @ Commerce Center, Alabang. Cousin Chef Joy and her mom, whom we lovingly call Mother, invited us for an Italian lunch. We haven't seen each other for a long time and this lunch served as a reunion, sort of.

Anyway, Joy (a certified Chef, mind you!) had been raving about this place in Alabang. And true enough, it was worth the trip from Makati. Personally, I really enjoyed their PANIZZA and their chicken and pasta.

 This platter has it all! 

Pepperoni, Swizz cheese,

Crostinis, etc!

Beef - Mushroom & Ham! 

 

 Alfalfa Sprouts

and Arugula for the Panizza!

 I was really surprised by this...

I loved the subtle tart creamy flavor 
with the grilled chicken breast & fettuccine

 I want my Calamari golden brown 
but it was good enough

 Of course, when you're eating good Italian,
you better finish the meal with a good Tiramisu!
Not soggy. A bit bitter. Perfect.

 

 Simple interior.

Waitstaff knows what they're doing!

 Monalisa, do you have a branch

somewhere in Makati or BGC?

Thank you, Chef Joy and Mother!

Repost: "Eat, Pray, Love at Balai in Talisay!"

CLUB BALAI ISABEL, Talisay

Less than an hour trip from Makati. Overlooking Taal. Serene. Most importantly, food is good. Fresh, not ordinary. Food & Beverage Head and Consultant is a cousin of mine (of course!), Chef Joy Oyson!, who also holds cooking sessions at the club who treated us to an afternoon of unforgettable food and to a tour of the place . Yeah… there are three things you can do well here. Guess… 

 We'll be back!

Food Inc.!

Lame documentaries are pointless. 

Documentaries must shock to get viewers' attention. There are fool-proof ways to scare viewers and one is to present graphic images, alarming statistics and yes, the truth. Plain truth. Present these things in the most creative way you can then, you're on your way to a box-office killing and why not? An Oscar nomination.

"Food Inc." is a good example...

It presents a real, modern world of consumers and suppliers (this case, food suppliers). Consumers being us and suppliers being pseudo-farmers. Pseudo-farmers? These pseudo-farmers are actually a handful of big food corporations that dictate on real farmers what to grow, and how to grow them. As simple as that.  

  

It's the how-to-grow part that's really the scary part. 

"We are paid to overproduce"

"Food Inc." tells of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms); of beef with E. Coli; of the addictive corn syrup present in almost all of our food (processed or not) like Coke, sweeteners, orange juice, tomato catsup, hamburgers, salad dressing (and even batteries??), among others; of chickens that "live in perpetual darkness to make them sleep more and quarrel less and that they're fattened so fast they can't stand up or walk;" of cows that live standing on their manure... and list goes on.  

 

Do we care? Of course, we do. But not enough to do something about it. We may care enough to complain that our french fries is soggy or our Coke is not fizzy enough to the counter girl with a smiling, hazy look but have we actually gone out of our way to check where the beef of the square burgers of the red-haired girl in ponytail and the chicken of the nuggets of the Gay Clown in Kabuki come from? 

How did we honestly feel when we found out that a typical family (each member is a walking heart attack) in the States (and probably a thousand more family with a minimum-wage earning father) eats fast food with gusto for breakfast, lunch and dinner because it's cheaper than buying from the supermarket and cooking at home?


Here in the Philippines, I still have to hear about a group of 'concerned consumers' who bitches on national TV about the suspicious source of raw food of these fast food restaurants use. 

What I've been watching are very resourceful people in constant search of fast food left-overs (which they magically transform into new culinary creations!)in black garbage bags left by the store's staff after closing for the day. But that is an entirely different subject for another (more shocking?) documentary. 

Typical American family who finds it cheaper to eat fast food.

Let's move on. "Food Inc." served it's purpose of shocking the viewers and delivering it's message. Okay... what's next? 

Now that we've seen thousands of blind chickens whose legs are too weak to carry their artificially fat bodies, can now we stop buying and eating chicken nuggets? Now that we know that cows are forcefully fed corn instead of grass (which is their natural food), can we now vow not to order a Quarter Pounder again?

Really?

Who Took The TLC Final Chowdown Challenge?!?

TLC Final Chowdown started at 2:20pm (April 22, Sunday) with four Fun Challenges as warm-up activities. Ramon Bautista and Erika Liboro were the perfect hosts who kept the crowd entertained for almost four hours! They were such pros! The Music Hall was jampacked. It was oppressively hot and humid that Sunday afternoon but nobody seemed to notice.

The 'infamous' Final Chowdown Menu:

One whole chopped, boneless 

CRISPY PATA 

from Gerry's Grill

H a l f  1 8 - i n c h 

WHITE PIZZA

from Sbarro 

ONE LARGE MILK TEA 

from Gong Cha!

The hosts, Ramon Bautista 

and Erika Liboro

Pros!

Gong Cha 

Drinking Challenge!

Sbarro 

Pizza Eating Challenge!

Mike Chan.

NAPA Restaurant & Bar

Salad & Buffalo Wings Challenge!

Gerry's Grill 

Tuna Sisig & 1/2 Rice Challenge!

Final Chowdown First Wave!

Wow! 

Final Chowdown Second Wave!

I quit!

Quitters!

Top 3 Winners!

Congratulations!

The Awesome Team would to thank our agency, our production group and the very supportive bloggers who made this event a success! Thank you! Til the next event!