a bite of brownie

Linguini Fini is an Italian restaurant hailing from New York (what, not Italy?) that boasts of homemade pasta (and I’m a sucker for fresh pasta). But for now, I have to pass because we’re trying out this new diet of no carbs and sugar, so far it has worked, 5lbs less in more or less a week after I started. Haha on to the review.

I ordered Eggplant Parm which is a medley of breaded eggplant slices, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. So it’s like lasagna really, pasta being replaced by eggplant haha! They had to check the kitchens if that’s available and I was like O_O. (And because of that we developed this new rule that if our first and second choices are not available, we will walk out) Good thing it was.

First look, it’s quite rich and appetizing. The chopped basil was a nice contrast on the melted mozzarella (and is that some grated bits too?) and the crispy looking batter of the eggplant. Cutting through the plate however, almost all the tomato sauce has been absorbed by the eggplant slices and because it looked fried to me, oil has already seeped in the eggplant making it soggy. So imagine that being baked.

Verdict: 1/5
I know this isn’t a pasta dish, but if those eggplant slices were prepared properly (salted and rested), baked nstead of being fried, it would have made a difference. Oh and they gave me a disappointing bread, not focaccia (what happened to Italian?)! Maybe next trip here, we should try their fresh pasta so we can properly rate this resto.

who doesn't love fish tacos?

Tacofino is another one of those accidental finds that we discovered while waiting for dinner reservation for yet another restaurant. This time we were planning on trying Pidgin at Carrall Street and on the way there we saw this Gastown gem.

It was happy hour so the menu was priced reasonably and an appie of nachos and fish tacos sounded like a good plan. The surprise order here was the chicken wings which turned out quite well that before I tasted Phnom Penh, I've already given the best chicken wing crown to this joint. A few days later we went back here just to make sure it's not a fluke and tried the steak tacos and chicken tacos plus the quesadilla, I'd still go for the crunchy fish tacos next time and maybe try the dinner menu too but the place is always packed and it's a miracle to not stand in line on both occassions I visited.

There are several branches scattered around the city the only ones I've tried are the Gastown and victoria locations. I like that they have slightly different highlights for each store but the one in Victoria was a hit and miss. Their fish tacos were a bit soggy and not as crisp as the ones in Gastown, but my second visit there was better, they also had some seaweed toppings and an of course, you can't be a millenial Vancouverite without an extra dollop of avocado, which of course costs extra.

I'd like to try the Yaletown and Tofino stores next time and see what fish taco goodness is waiting for me.

Verdict: 3.5/5

Last pitstop for ReiMart’s special day (looks like a week to me now), is Feria. A restaurant in Radisson Blu hotel serving international cuisine (more on Asian and Mediterranean) to their patrons, they have a promo during Tuesdays, for 800Php/head. Perfect for celebrations like this one! We were joined by Gladys, Kuya Nik, and Teresa.

We immediately went to the sushi section and were greeted with sashimi slices and maki rolls. I had a plateful of sashimi for the first round. I had lots of salmon sashimi, some tuna sashimi, and an unidentified maki. The salmon sashimi had some hard parts when I ate them, not bones, maybe just a little frozen than it should be. None of that melt in your mouth goodness, times like this I miss being in Vancouver.

For my second plate, I took a more diverse route, getting paella, lechon slices, pork menudo (ikr?), pizza, and made my own Mexican chicken shawarma. I should cut down on carbs, I know, but it’s a buffet! Haha

Third plate, I’m pretty much getting ready for dessert, I got some elusive xiao long bao’s (yay!) and some more of that chicken shawarma hehe. Paired it with a very refershing basil infused cucumber lemonade! Waaa I should have taken more of this drink, if I only knew!

I think I got the prettiest dessert plate, and I mean just look at that beauty! 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream topped with rice crisps and chocolate drizzle, meringue, macarons, and chocolate coated marshmallows! Whaaaaat??

Verdict: 2/5
When I go to buffets, I usually just concentrate on one section, but here, I found myself circling about. Looking for other stuff to try, there’s not a lot of choices, maybe they toned it down for the promo, but they do have a nice desserts section. Bottomline, I’ve had better.

Still on our special day bingeing, ReiMart and I met with Sandy at Kayu for another round of dessert (yes we had dessert back at ICAAC but so what?!). The restaurant is located inside a subdivision so it’s tucked away from the usual hustle and bustle of the metro.

Seated on a booth while waiting for our party, the a/c was directed at us or maybe it’s just because I was so full from the previous meal not an hour ago. We looked at the menu, found nothing light we could try consuming, so I asked for the desserts menu. We asked the server which is the bestsellers and we ordered those.


I got the Sizzling Caramel Bar and it did not disappoint with the sizzling part. The waiter had to call our attention before he poured the caramel onto the sizzling plate. We watched it with awe as it produced that crackling sound and the caramel hugged the ice cream, bananas, and the pudding. It’s a dessert channelling the sisig plate that we all so love. After that, dissecting the dish, I found it a little underwhelming. Because that’s that, pudding with ice cream on top and banana slices around the plate. But among the 3 (yes, 3) dishes we had, this was the first to go. Am I just too technical about this dish? LOL


Drei got the Chocolate Fix for his dessert. It’s got chocolate n-ways! Crunch, crémeux, gelée, and the non-chocolate stuff in there, vanilla ice cream and milk crumbs. Well, if you ask me, this is more complicated than my dish. It's also better looking! But I don’t know, maybe you get more than a fix with the amount of chocolate there, and I can’t believe I’m saying that because I am such a sweet tooth, but Drei had to finish his plate alone haha!

Sandy got a Nutella Cheesecake, the only best seller left that’s not on our table. So this is the hazelnut galore dish, from Nutella truffle, candied hazelnuts, and hazelnut flavored granola crumbs, the works! We also had a hard time finishing this one because of the sweetness level haha!

Oh, Sandy and I got the Strawberry Lemongrass mocktail because I’m the designated driver! And well, I haven’t been exactly putting down crates and barrels of liquor haha so yeah mocktail it is!

Verdict: 2/5
Just went here for desserts, I heard they have this tapas menu you can order and a few tables around a fire pit. Would have been nice to dine there, when you’re cold, but it wasn’t available when we arrived.

Since my last visit to Cebu, ReiMart enrolled at this culinary school, International Culinary Arts Academy Cebu, aka ICAAC. And once in a while, when he’s not assigned as dishwasher (yeah, because apparently they take rotations on every station so they get to experience everything) or in any other stations, he get to dine in the restaurant! And as part of our bingeing for his special day, we had a meal in the restaurant to try the dishes prepared by his fellow classmates.

For appetizers, I had the Seafood Chowder and it was the bomb (saying that may trigger a funny memory for poeticnook haha)! I had chunks of every bit of seafood in there and it was such a joy to eat. The soup was thick and very flavorful. ReiMart got the (stacked) Onion Rings as tall as a 12in ruler. Perfectly crispy and light with a nice dipping sauce. And yep, you guessed it, we finished both plates haha!

Our entrees came and the serving size is huge! I really think they put 2 servings in my Blackened Seafood Pasta. The fresh pasta was was blackened with squid ink and it’s sitting on a seafood broth (yes, broth! I was a little surprised when ReiMart told me about it before my plate came) with clams and shrimp. I thought the pasta was al dente but unfortunately needed more flavor. With a broth, I’m not sure how to do that, haha! I finished all the seafood in it but had to leave behind some pasta (I know, the Pasta Gods are frowning down at me!). ReiMart had the Lamb Chop Risotto and if I felt my dish was huge, his plate was so enormous I had to take another second look and even uttered a “good luck” to him. Surprisingly, he managed to eat all of it!

Initially we thought of ordering 2 desserts, but by the time we reached it, we were so full, we had to share a Blueberry Cheesecake instead haha! The cheesecake was so so and light, but what I really loved here was the lemon and blueberry gelées on top. The lemon coulee particularly had a nice sharp taste to it which cuts through the richness of the dessert. We both thought that the nuts on the plate were a little out of place.


Verdict: 2.5/5 (don’t kill me, ReiMart!)
Maybe there’s more to like with the other dishes I haven’t tried. I heard they have an Unli-Steak Night that won’t hurt the wallet. Culinary students from this school should be proud for running the kitchen that night without getting yelled at. I would have liked to see ReiMart in there, I’ll definitely send one dish back, just to throw him off. Haha! Maybe next time.