May 17, 2010 –I was surprised to get hits from a certain link of mb.com.ph.  I checked it out and saw that the Blog-o-Rama’s feature of Between Bites came out already.  It was a manic Monday at work but I was so thrilled to start that week with a silver lining

 

 

Annalyn Jusay-Zoglmann writes for the Blog-o-Rama space in Manila Bulletin where it features different online interests, particularly blogs and bloggers.  Even before I ever met Ajay, I’ve been a regular reader of her site, Ajay’s Writing on the Wall.  She knows this because without warning in one of the events I attended as a newbie blogger in 2007, I recognized her, approached her and told her myself  

 

 

That evening when I got home, I went inside my room and saw the Manila Bulletin newspaper clipping of the Blog-o-Rama piece placed neatly on my table.  A few minutes later, my youngest sister Joanne rushed to my room and told me in an animated energy how she chanced upon the feature.  I never told my sister that I had that “interview.”

 

 

She was in my dad’s office for her “summer job” and for some odd reason she decided to pick up the Manila Bulletin newspaper sitting on his desk.  It was something she wouldn’t normally do, she kept telling me.  She was browsing through it and was about to stop but decided to see the Tech portion (which again is really unusual because that’s not her interest).  She is not the type to bother but eventually flipped through the page where she read my name.

 

 

She did a double take.  What a coincidence!  She showed my dad and both of them read it.  More than anything, that’s really a proud moment for me –my family chancing upon my name on a local major broadsheet by themselves.  Big deal?  Yes, it’s a big deal to me.

 

 

BIG, BIG, BIG THANKS Ajay for giving me a space on your Blog-o-Rama column in the Manila Bulletin broadsheet!!!

 

Congrats to you and Matt on the safe delivery of baby Lucy!

 

To my wonderful shobe, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!   Achi LOVES YOU.

 

Manila Bulletin Blog-o-Rama Link

 

xoxo,

Janey

Between Bites

www.janedchua.com

 

—

 

 

“13” for most is an unlucky number.  It’s just the opposite for my mom.  She claims that “13” is her luckiest number.  She was born on the 13^th of October.  Incidentally, this is the same birth date as her mom.

 

Bar One’s music lounge was where we wanted to celebrate the night –live band music and drinks in a not so crowded place.  It’s been the family’s favorite hangout venue as of late.  Tap Room of Manila Hotel just feels too far nowadays.  Since the bar was in Crowne Plaza, mom decided to stage her birthday dinner in one of the restaurants in the hotel.  The choice happened to be Xin Tian Di.

 

 

Crowne Plaza Manila is located in Ortigas Center, which is at the heart of the 2^nd business district in the Metro –next to Makati.  It is quite near Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE/Tektite).  The hotel offers fine hotel restaurant choices in Ortigas, from casual dining to 24-hour room service and in room mini bar.  The restaurant list includes its international buffet restaurant – Seven Corners, while Chinese specialty dishes are whipped up every lunch and dinner at the famous Xin Tian Di, which also has private function rooms and meeting rooms.

 

There was a bit of hesitation to eat at Xin Tian Di.  I’ve already eaten here on a business lunch with AFC during the Philippine Cable Convention.  Although I was satisfied, I wasn’t too eager for a repeat.  My gut instinct was right.  Service is usually adequate here but not that night.

 

On the Table

 

Assorted Barbeque Meat PHP 860

What better way to start a Chinese meal but with “cold cuts.”  Cold cuts platter included assorted barbequed pork and chicken meat, jellyfish and slices of century eggs.  It was served with ginger garlic sauce.

 

 

Salted Fish Rice PHP 540

The salted fish fried rice is a typical Chinese fried rice peppered with dried salted fish and a dash of fish sauce.  Xin Tian Di’s version was aromatic and appetizingly good.

 

 

Tenderloin Beef with Goose Liver PHP 1350

Tenderloin beef was cooked just right.  Broccoli was crunchy and retained its vibrant green color.  There was generous helping of foie gras, which was mouthwateringly excellent –rich flavor and was such an ideal partner for the tenderloin.  The leftover was my lunch the next day and it was still pure goose liver bliss.  Mmm-mm!  Delectable!

 

 

Chicken Lemon Sauce PHP 540

Tender chicken meat glazed with a beautifully yellow lemon sauce, which my sister Joanne found a tad bit too sour.  This was the least popular on the table.

 

 

Seafood Char Teow PHP 420

Xin Tian Di also has a separate menu for Malaysian/Singaporean dishes.  Char Kway Teow literally translates to stir-fried rice cake strips, which is a popular flat rice noodle dish in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore –usually prepared in hawker stalls.  The noodles are stir-fried with soy sauce, chili, prawns, bean sprouts, Chinese sausage/chorizo, eggs and chives.

 

 

We initially ordered Char Kway Teow that was supposedly served with chicken but 15 minutes later, the wait staff approached the table to say that our order was changed to seafood since the chicken wasn’t available.  I inquired why it was changed without prior notice –to which the wait staff can’t give an answer.  Instead she gave a haughty response, “I’ll shoulder the extra charge.”  I explained to her properly that it’s not the extra charge that was the contention –it was that the dish wasn’t what we actually ordered and we would’ve appreciated the advice especially there’s a change in price.  In the end, I still opted to pay for the dish with quite bigger hesitation now to return.

 

Fresh Buko PHP 270

Never had fresh coconut juice this overly expensive and there’s nothing special to it –unless it gives me superpowers to able to fly then I don’t mind adding a thousand bucks to the price tag.

 

Crispy Baby Squid PHP 300

The crispy savory baby squid was perfect accompaniment for any cold beer.

 

 

Xin Tian Di serves delicious Chinese fares for the usual exorbitant hotel restaurant price (our bill was nearly 5K with only 3 main dishes).  With that upscale price though, satisfaction should be expected but there are hits and misses in the dishes –inconsistency that you might think twice spending money on.  Particularly didn’t like the fact that they went ahead and changed the Char Kway Teow order without giving us any fair warning.

 

 

 

Xin Tian Di Restaurant

4^th Level Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila

Ortigas cor. Asian Development Bank Avenues

Ortigas Center, Quezon City, Manila.

(632) 623 7222

 

Xin Tian Di Album

 

 

–