H Cuisine (Scout Rallos, near Tomas Morato)

Me, Beloved, and her blockmates, Hannah and Ivy, ate at H Cuisine some days ago. Now, for otaku, the name might sound funny. The "H" here actually stands for the chef and owner of the place named Hannah. And, no, she isn't the same Hannah as Beloved's blockmate, but it is the reason why Beloved wanted to try this place out.

Apparently, this place has been featured in many shows and magazines, and is well-praised. Since I don't watch television, I didn't even know this place existed. It is found right beside the newly-opened and currently under soft opening Serenitea branch near Tomas Morato, close to the Timog rotonda. We have spent the entire afternoon at the aforementioned place, and since Beloved was hungry, we ate here afterwards.

Their specialty is the Most Awesome Angus Beef Belly (288 Php), which I ordered. Beloved had their Lengua Con Cetas (278 Php). Hannah ordered their Lemon Bacon Cream Sauce on Poached Fish (198 Php).

Rufo's Famous Tapa (Eastwood)

Beloved and I ate at Rufo's Famous Tapa a week ago. We were supposed to go to The Marketplace, pending a follow-up visit before we review it, only to find out that it was temporarily unavailable. Also, this was delayed because Diablo III. Anyway, since this was among the only choices at One in the morning, we decided to go ahead and try it out.

The place specializes in famous Filipino 'silogs and other strange but familiar Filipino dishes. Their main specialty is their tapa, or cured beef, which is probably obvious from the name. Despite being called famous, I have actually never heard of this place before, and I decided to try out the so-called Rufo's Famous Tapa (108 Php). Beloved had their Corned Beef Ala Rufos (75 Php) and we also ordered their Mushroom Adobo (104 Php). Finally, Beloved eyed one of their desserts and ordered it too: their Black Sambo (35 Php).

Hana (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Second and last stop for our Little Tokyo adventure was Hana. According to Beloved, this place specializes in Takoyaki, or octopus-filled balls. Since Beloved also saw that they serve some sort of coffee shake, it was pretty much a done deal.

Luckily, the menu here is better than Urameshi-Ya. It's filled with pictures and categorized cleverly: menu items belonging to multiple categories are placed into each of them. And while it still features Japanese words, they were translated instead of romanized. Also, I found the prices here to be quite fair, just a tiny bit higher than the Japanese restaurants we frequent.

Since this was the place's specialty, we ordered their Takoyaki (120 Php). We also got their Hana Maki (250 Php), because it looked beautiful in the menu. Finally, Beloved got their Coffee Shake (180 Php) and I got their Calamansi Juice (80 Php).

Urameshi-Ya (Little Tokyo, Makati)

Beloved and I had dinner at Little Tokyo a few nights ago. This special place features a small group of Japanese restaurants that serve authentic Japanese cuisine. As Japanese food lovers, we've been craving to go to this place since a few years ago. We finally had the chance to do so, and the area itself felt like another albeit small world, requiring you to pass through a Japanese garden to visit the interior restaurants. We tried out a couple of places on that area. Our first stop was the Yakiniku or Japanese barbecue place called Urameshi-Ya.

We researched this place before going, and we thought we got it all figured out. This is not your yakiniku buffet like YakiMIX or Sambo Kojin. First, this place does not feature eat-all-you-can meat, since the meat here was supposed to be authentically Japanese. In addition to that, the grill they use are live coal grills on small earthen pots. Similarly, though you get to cook over your table.

Now, what we didn't know was their menu was composed of purely Japanese and Romaji text. We can barely read what's in it. I had no idea what parts we were getting. Luckily, they had three set choices. We got the second least expensive, their Tarafuku Set priced at 2.1K Php. This is good for two to three, according to the servers, and, yes, we were aware of the steep price.

Joey Pepperoni (SM North EDSA)

This last Tuesday, me, Beloved, and friends ate at Joey Pepperoni. I mentioned the exact day because it's somewhat important. We were supposed to take advantage of the Tuesday-only all-you-can-eat pizza at Papa John's. When we got there, there was a mob waiting for the 6pm starting of the once-a-week promo. Surrendering, we decided to find someplace else to eat and found ourselves at a different pizza place, which, while does not offer unlimited pizza, still offers the same type of menu, and, humorously, has the same initials only in reverse.

The place is located at SM North EDSA's annex, at the first floor, very close to the SaveMore supermarket. My friends have taken advantage of their unlimited pasta offer, which they do not serve anymore. They do, however, offer two pizzas out of four choices for 199 Php, and most of us decided to take on that offer. Beloved and I got their Beef Bacon and Garlic Gamberi pizzas (199 Php) and, since according to my friends, the pasta here is good, we also got their Bolognese Pasta with Mozzarella Sticks for 170 Php which we added 20 Php to upgrade the iced tea to bottomless that came with it.