The Slanted Charm

**(GUS) I'm temporarily turning the floor over to my friend Sunshine Nugget, who wrote about our fun, fun dinner together recently. Thanks, Fenny, for the wonderful pics! **

Grumpyurbanslacker said that he wanted to try Vietnamese when he comes to visit. After much planning and research, he decided that he wanted to try The Slanted Door. Right after he decided I called up to make reservations. It was a month ahead but all the preferred time were booked so we settled on a Sunday night at 7:45pm. We couldn't believe how packed the place was! GUS joked that the place resembled a bus transit station. As usual, I couldn't decide what to eat so he made all the decisions.

**Note from GUS: I think the reason you couldn't decide what to order was because, in your words, the menu was more French than Vietnamese!**

We started with the appetizer, the slanted door springrolls.

Then seared dayboat scallops with mango, toasted lemongrass and spicy fish sauce. I really liked this one very much! The scallops were cooked just right and I really liked the fresh and pickled mango. Was so glad that we ordered this over the others!

For the main course we tried the grilled ranch brother's berkshire pork chop. I know GUS loves pork! My oh my, it was really good, I really like chewing on the ribs but I don't know what GUS thought of my dinning etiquette and I didn't care to check with him and used my hand. Haha..

And the grass fed estancia shaking beef. We have no idea why it's called the shaking beef and we forgot to ask the waitress. But the beef was good and I really enjoyed the watercress in lime sauce! Haha.... I was ready to go to bed after being so contented with the meal... Hehe..

But we couldn't leave just like that, so GUS ordered the Vietnamese drip coffee. It was a tad too sweet for me but he loved it. **Note from GUS: It was fantastic noh!! :D**

I was really full and we couldn't even finish our main courses but GUS had to entice me into ordering a dessert. Good call GUS, because we orderd the almond milk tapioca. Oh my god, it was really awesome. I could just come to this place again just for this dessert and nothing else! The brown thing is puree kabocha and the white part is tapioca in almond milk and the grapes were garnished with caramelized almond I think. Bottom line is I like this dessert! Yummy!

I had such a great time and towards the end of the meal I was laughing so much, I hope the food wasn't spiked with happy substance that's why we all loved it so much! Hehe...

Thanks GUS for the wonderful time!! :)

**The Slanted Door is located at 1 Ferry Building, #3 San Francisco, CA 94111. Tel 415.861.8032 for reservations**

Philippine Pavilion doesn't cause palpitation

Yours truly was in Shanghai recently, and decided to check out the World Expo 2010 and see what the fuss was all about.

For a very brief backgrounder, the World Expo is a six-month long event hosted by one city every 5 years. The central theme for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai is “Better City, Better Life,” focusing on sustainability, green products, and urban planning.

I had decided to focus on the Asian and European pavilions, and duly checked the map to find out which gate (and subway stop) was most convenient. Getting there via the Shanghai Metro system was a breeze, although the walk to the Expo gate was on the longish side.

As luck (fate? pure chance?) would have it, after entering the gates, the first pavilion i saw was the Philippine pavilion. So, let's see what our dear countrymen can expect from visiting it.

Check out the facade above and below:








Pretty creative and colorful design, although i'm not quite sure about the symbolism. That boxer glove, though, surely must have been sponsored by the Pac-man. :D

There was a fairly long queue to enter the pavilion. I had heard that if you were a Pinoy, they let you bypass the line, and enter instantly. Not sure if this was true. If it was, i surely would have availed of it. Finally, after 20 minutes or so, the entrance opened, and we surged inside.

And what exactly is there inside the Philippine pavilion? Well....let's see. There is a food court-type of snack area that takes up around 40% of the total floor area. Here, you can order such Filipino delicacies as ensaymada, leche flan, turon, and the like.





RMB25 for a small piece of leche flan? Rip-off!

One can also book an appointment to avail of a free ten-minute hilot massage (see below):





If you're up for shopping, you've come to the right place. One would think the Greenhills tiangge was transplanted to Shanghai, with various stalls selling trinkets, jewelry, souvenirs and what not.





Fancy that ubiquitous polo shirt with the Philippine map embroidered? The poster of Dingdong Dantes (partly hidden) beckons you to buy one pronto.





And of course, a big stage was set with performances from various Pinoy bands. When i was there, the repertoire consisted of classic love songs, which was well-received by the mostly Chinese audience. Hmmm, maybe if they brought over Mocha or some other girl show bands, the locals would be doing the macarena pretty soon.

Oh, there were the de rigueur wooden artifacts and tribal handicraft-type of things, courtesy of the National Museum, maybe? Nobody gave them much of a second glance, though.





So, to conclude, going to the Philippine pavilion is pretty much like going to the SM Megamall. Except that going to Megamall is actually better, dahil mas mura dun ang leche flan!

To whoever conceptualized this debacle of a pavilion, leche!



For more extensive blog posts regarding the World Expo 2010, check out the ff. blogs:

The Blooming Pen
The Road Forks

INNOVATIVE DAY CARE CENTER SERVES ICE-COLD BEER

How's this for a clever marketing come-on by Zanzibar bar-resto, located across the street from the renown (and always crowded) Sans Rival bakeshop in downtown Dumaguete?





I'd say they had me at 'hello'. :D


(Many thanks to Meg Koh for the photo, taken with her multi-million peso SLR camera)