Took a friend out to dinner last Wednesday who's on a short vacation from Dubai.  Choose a place to eat wasn't a hard task that night, thanks to the newly opened branch of Conti's in Katipunan.  Parking, on the other hand, was a killer given the limited space they have allotted for their customers.  Well, as long as there is good food, anything is possible.

We were greeted by their friendly staff and we didn't have to wait for so long before we got seats.  Great ambiance and cute interiors, if I may add.

They have a wide variety of food choices from seafood to beef to chicken to pork entrées. Even wider on their dessert menu.  Just thinking about it now makes me want to go back there for another food fest.  But for last Wednesday, we opted to have these set:

Mango Royale Salad (to share, P160)
Iceberg lettuce with fresh mango cubes tossed with our special house dressing

 

Chicken Ballotine (P225)
Meat-stuffed boneless chicken breast rolled in creamy sauce and
served with buttered vegetables and garlic rice

USDA Rib Eye Steak (P295/100g)
Certified choice of seasoned rib eye steak, served with Russian Potato salad

Salmon Salpicao (P295)
Served with buttered corn rice and apple potato salad

Chicken ala Kiev (P250)
Breaded and deep fried chicken breast filled with cheese
and herbs, topped with creamy sauce, served with
buttered vegetables and garlic rice

Mango Bravo (frozen) (P120/slice)

New York Cheesecake (P80/slice)

 I will definitely come back to try out other choices but preferably not on their peak hours since parking is a killer.  Two thumbs up!

It kinda seemed like I was living Elizabeth Gilbert's journey in Eat Pray Love when I went on vacation in Boracay last week.  Except that mine was all eat and I could only afford to spend a few days in just one location.

Real Coffee

I have been going back and forth to Boracay for some quite time now but last week, was my first time to try eating at Real Coffee.  I learned about this place from the movie When Love Begins.  And being the fan girl that I am, I had to check it out.  We got there about lunchtime having no idea that the place serves breakfast all day.  So then we decided to go American. Sugar overload!

Banana Pancakes

Banana Peanut Butter with Honey Toast

Marc's Melt (named after Marc Nelson!)

And here's a little something that I took as a keepsake from Real Coffee:

:)

It's a must that everytime I go to Boracay that I treat myself to Jonah's.  I don't mind walking the long stretch to Station 1 for a drink.  Banana choco peanut is a personal favorite!

Banana choco peanut (P90)

For our last night on the island, I decided that we go Italian.  Attraversiamo!

Cucina Italia Mediterranean

Aglio, Olio, E Peperoncino
(classic but simple pasta cooked with garlic, olive and chili, P345)

Pomodoro E Basilico
(San Marzano peeled tomatoes and basil with parmesan cheese, P345)

Margherita
(Tomato, basil and mozzarella, P390)

I'm not really fond of red sauce pasta.  But since I'm a huge fan both the movie and the book (Eat, Pray, Love), I decided to give it a try.  I would bet my life though that Liz Gilbert's spaghetti in Italy is 100x better than what I had in Aria.

“I found that all I really wanted was to eat beautiful food and to speak as much beautiful Italian as possible.”  

-- Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

And as a treat, major pig out session at Fish & Co. Shangri-La.

New York Fish & Chips (P 465)

Grilled Porkchop Basilico (P565)

I think I was on food coma 2 hours later.  Both menu choices are good for sharing, estimated budget per head: P400. Happy eating!