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When it’s warm and sunny, we want ramen. When it’s cold and rainy, we want ramen. It’s a basic food group.

Notice all the new Japanese restaurants opening in Metro Manila. Recently we had the excellent kurobuta katsu at Ginza Bairin in Glorietta 2, facing the new hotels. The restaurant was full and we had to wait almost half an hour to get a table, but it was worth it. While you’re enjoying your katsu a waiter comes around offering extra servings of miso soup, shredded cabbage and rice.

Santouka’s ramen with a side of pork cheeks.

On Sunday in the middle of the storm we tried Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, the ramen place at Glorietta 4 (facing SM). Juan had pronounced it the best ramen he’d ever had. They don’t accept reservations; there was a 15-minute wait for a table.

Santouka’s Miso ramen with char siu

We can’t claim to be an expert, but the noodles were delicious, the broth flavorful, the pork cheeks evil. “You were right,” we told Juan. “This is the best ramen we’ve ever had.”

“The ramen at Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen at the Shangri-La East Wing is the best ramen I’ve ever had,” Juan declared. “But this is close.” (Dissenting opinion Walk and Eat prefers Santouka to Ikkoryu.)

Next stop: Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen.

Any mention of ramen brings up Juzo Itami’s Tampopo.

Pinoy addition to the ramen ritual: After separating the chopsticks, rub the two sticks together to remove splinters.

Don’t forget to apologize to the pork and eye the noodles affectionately.

Do the Japanese make the world’s greatest movies about food? Must see Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Matt Czap’s animation of Badger’s Star Trek pie-eating contest story in Breaking Bad, versus

The Lardass Barf-o-rama story from Stand By Me.

We have very fond memories of the fortnight we spent in Eastern Europe many years ago: the magnificent architecture, museums, concerts and operas at very affordable prices, the cheap liquor and the heavy all-meat meals (meat fried, breaded, stuffed with cheese and served with an egg on top) we consumed while wearing all the clothes we had brought because it was still freezing in late March. Those were good times.

How we could’ve remained ignorant of the existence of Balkan on Perea Street near Greenbelt 1, Makati, we have no idea, but we rectified that by going there twice last week.

Balkan serves Yugoslavian home cooking in a cozy, unpretentious setting. Meaning it’s like having dinner in a real house (for living in, not getting photographed in).

We recommend the cevapcici—spicy Serbian sausages served with rice, and the sarma—pickled cabbage rolls stuffed with beef, rice and spices. The house specialty is jagnjetina—baked lamb, which is as fall-off-the-bone tender as the menu promises, but rather bland for the Filipino palate. We kept imagining it as caldereta or adobo, or anything with a thick sauce.

Prices range from Php280 for a platter of sausages with rice to Php700 for the baked lamb. They serve San Miguel beers, Php50-70, and their wines start at Php370 the bottle. The place is open daily from 11am to 1am.

Yes, it is a doorstop.

On our next visit we will try the Balkanski kebab—”grilled chicken breast embraced by smoked bacon”, dzigerica (pork liver steak), and palacinke (Nutella crepes). And crack open Rebecca West’s classic travel journal and Balkan history, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.

We have a suggestion for the management: Could you install a TV with cable so we can watch Djokovic’s matches with the full atmospherics? (What happens when we boo?)

Balkan is on the ground floor of Maripola Building, 109 Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati, telephone (02)846.0744 or 0917.547.4188 (Look for Marko).

The first couple of times we went to Wildflour we weren’t impressed: we found the prices too high, the acoustics terrible, and the food fairly ordinary. But our friends kept wanting to meet at Wildflour, and after several visits we have grown to like it. They do have the best bread in the city.

At their branch in Podium they offer a pastry board: you can choose any four pastries for Php400. We picked (from bottom to top) the dulce de leche—a pastry filled with same and topped with chocolate, the old reliable sticky bun, the Nutella and banana danish, and the vanilla cronut.

Yes, the cronut, invented (and trademarked, oops) by Dominique Ansel in New York.

This mutant pastry, half-croissant and half-doughnut, is deep-fried, rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and glazed. Do not eat it by yourself! It is pure evil. Bring two friends and spread the guilt. And then skip dinner.

On a recent trip to Aristocrat for our chicken-barbecue-with-java-rice fix, we were greeted by a life-size standee of Aristocrat’s Nancy Reyes. So picture our consternation when we spotted the real-life Nancy Reyes at the next table.

Nancy asked us if we had tried the Torta de los Reyes, their new chocolate dessert. We confessed that we hadn’t, and proceeded to correct this oversight.

The outer layer is a thick, dark chocolate. The inner layer is chock-full of marshmallows and meringue. It’s so intense, we had the weird urge to go to confession.

It goes especially well with black coffee.

For months we’d been walking past the “Inutak” food stand outside the supermarket. The other day we finally tried it.

Inutak is a sticky rice cake slathered with coconut cream. It’s very rich and evil, meaning we approve enthusiastically. Inside it looks like a smooth sapin-sapin/halayang ube. We’re guessing the name “inutak” comes from the brain/marrow-like texture of its top layer.

Many years ago, our friend Tina wondered why no one has come up with a dessert of dried mango slices dipped in chocolate. After many years of pointless searching, she found it.

It’s intense and insanely brilliant. On their own, dried mango and chocolate are good; together they are awesome squared.

Are you thinking what we’re thinking? This is an instrument of world domination! With this weapon, we would crush all competition.