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was at Chef Bernard on Aguirre Street, Legazpi Village Makati behind AIM. It was so good, we forgot to take a picture. The other menu items were all right, but the pork binagoongan was outstanding. Prices are reasonable for the Greenbelt area—the basic meal cost less than Php300.

We were wondering why there were so many fashion designers eating there—turns out the restaurant is owned by a designer and a former model. Chef Bernard is open Mondays to Saturdays from 10 to 10.

Have you tried any good restaurants lately?

“Japanese spaghetti and pizza” sounds incongruous, like “Italian ramen and sushi”, but it works. Trust the Japanese to take an alien concept and do it better than the original. (If that sounds racist we’re sorry, but we’re fans of Japan.)

This was our second visit to Yomenya Goemon, the Japanese spaghetti and pizza place in Greenbelt 3 (2nd floor, nearest the carpark). We ordered the 10-inch Smoked Chicken and Four Cheese Pizza and the spicy Spaghetti Vongole.

Usually we prefer pizza with a very thin and crunchy crust, but Yomenya’s pizza dough is so delicious and chewy we would eat it without toppings. The pasta is perfectly al dente—add olive oil, garlic and clams, and we’re happy. Who needs complicated sauces when the pasta is this good?

Even the background music made us happy: Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue album. The Japanese and jazz.

For a pizza, a pasta, and two sodas our bill came to Php757. Very reasonable for this quality (A similar order at a fast food joint would cost more).

Anyone with the budget for it can put on designer clothes and dine at an overpriced restaurant in a five-star hotel. The truly sosyal don’t worry about keeping up appearances or give a fig what other people think. We had lunch with Ren at Sosing’s last Saturday and felt sosyal.

Sosing’s, the roadside carinderia beside a talyer on the corner of Zobel Roxas and Dian in Makati, has been around for ages and still draws crowds. You want ambience? It’s on a sidewalk under a tin roof with an old tree growing through it. You sit at stackable plastic tables and chairs and eat off plastic plates while passing cars belch exhaust in your face. And you love it because the food is good, cheap and unpretentious.

While waiting for our orders we made the acquaintance of this rooster whom we hope is not headed for the kitchen and a pot of tinola.

We had rice, menudo, pork barbecue, adobong pusit and gulay for less than Php100 each. (We had four 7-Ups, bringing the total to Php270 for two.) The hell with gourmet, this is a meal. It’s been quite cool lately, perfect for dining outdoors.

The resident cat came over to nibble on some plants by the table. He is very well-behaved and doesn’t bother the diners for scraps.

We love laing and will travel far and wide to get it. Recently we discovered that there is a Samareño version of laing, and we only had to travel as far as Dennis’s house in Makati to sample it.

Pinangat is basically laing and seafood wrapped in more laing. The Samar variation is like the Bikolano original, flavorful and intense, but not spicy. Knowing of our preference for laing that sets our hair on fire, our host served chilis on the side.

The pinangat tasted even better with a scrumptious Samar seafood spread: humongous prawns, crabs and slipper lobsters. When the seafood is this fresh, complicated recipes are unnecessary: serve immediately!

Slipper lobsters are not really lobsters, but “decapod crustaceans” doesn’t sound as tempting. They look like fossils from the Jurassic period, but are easy to open and eat—none of the slapstick comedy potential of eating crab in public (crab’s legs flying across the table, crabmeat landing in your seatmate’s hair and other disasters with pliers). Peel off the soft shell under the prehistoric bug, scoop up the meat and eat. Delicious.

Our host Dennis Lustico (the designer!) and his enormous Labrador Truman.

Throughout childhood our breakfast consisted of a warm glass of milk, a soft-boiled egg, and a sermon from our mother (“!@#$%^you’re late for school again *&^%$!”). So the second we became autonomous, we gave up a proper breakfast. And waking up early and being told what to do.

Our non-breakfast consists of

A cup of coffee, two if we’re not late for something. A friend recommended a local brand called 18 Days—it’s called that because coffee is supposed to be consumed within 18 days after the beans are roasted. (We thought it was a shortened incubation period for zombie plague.) Last Sunday we bought a 250g bag of Arabica at their stall in the food court of Cash & Carry. It tastes wonderful, and it makes the kitchen smell good.

A heaping tablespoon of psyllium fiber in a cup of water. Fiber is said to help lower cholesterol levels, which is always a good thing. There are many brands of psyllium fiber in the market; we take Megafiber because a friend foisted a bunch of samples on us and we got into the habit. The fiber in one teaspoon is equivalent to 14 tablespoons of oat bran—it would take us a while to finish that much oat bran, but only 20 seconds to drink the contents of this cup.

A Berocca (Vitamin B-complex, ascorbic acid, calcium, magnesium and zinc) effervescent tablet, because we like “effervescent”. Not for people on low sodium diets.

This is what passes for our health regimen. (To our credit, we’re not on any meds.) Then we go and have an evil lunch.

Rustic Mornings by Isabelo

Marikina is alien territory to us, even if we lived there for a few years in the 1980s. Every time we go to Marikina we marvel at how much nicer it is than the muddy, dusty neighborhood we remember. The other week our friend had a birthday brunch at Isabelo’s Garden in San Roque, Marikina. (This was between Xmas and New Year’s Day, when traffic was moderate.) We’d never been there, but using Google maps and GPS we found Isabelo Mendoza Street without difficulty. We’d have gotten there much sooner, but we were stuck behind a funeral cortege on the narrow streets.

There was some confusion because we found a garden with a restaurant in it, but it was called Rustic Mornings. The waiter assured us that it was the place—same food, same chef, same furniture, just a different name. There were tables in the very pretty garden, but we chose to sit inside—some of us are weirdly attractive to mosquitoes, and we wanted to have brunch, not be brunch.

Indoors it’s charming, with blue and white tiles and shabby chic furniture. The effect is Weekend in the Country, which is probably why the service was a little too relaxed. We had the hot dog with chili con carne, good, and the waffles, which were excellent. A big, lazy brunch with juice and coffee costs about Php600. (“Makati prices,” our friend groused.) They’re open everyday from 8am to 4pm, no reservations required. Verdict: We’d go back, if someone else is driving.

For the menu, directions, etc, visit the Rustic Mornings by Isabelo website.

Three times we’ve attempted to eat at Wildflour at Bonifacio Global City—twice we couldn’t get a table, and on Sunday evenings it’s closed. Last Friday we descended on the place with Mike of the Walk and Eat blog. We showed up at 1:30pm to avoid the lunch crowd, but it was still full. There was a table available inside, but the minute we sat down we realized we couldn’t hear each other.

Mushroom tarte flambee

This is a common problem among the newer restaurants: the acoustics are terrible. Of course we go to restaurants primarily to eat, but we do have conversations. Or are people too busy taking pictures of the food, checking their Facebook and tweeting their meals to actually speak to each other? Since we prefer not to yell across the table, we decided to get a table outside. Fortunately it’s gotten cooler since our summer in December. We noticed, though, that by the end of our meal the book we placed on a chair was covered with grit.

Escargot souffle

Our meal consisted of banh mi sliders–very good, a mushroom tarte flambee—not a big fan of caramelized onions, escargot souffle—delicious, but essentially it’s a little cup with a crust containing a minuscule snail, and their deservedly famous croque madame (which our kusinera friend Andresa has managed to copy haha). The bread is wonderful—warm and crunchy on the outside, soft inside.

Croque Madame

Wait for Mike’s proper review at Walk and Eat. With three different desserts, two glasses of Pinot Noir and a pot of coffee, lunch—which was really brunch—cost Php2700. Steep, but it was Mike’s treat. Verdict: We’d go back, if someone else is paying.

Lemon meringue

Wildflour Cafe and Bakery is on the ground floor of Net Lima Bldg on 26th and 4th Streets in Bonifacio Global City.