2006 in restaurants

Over a bowl of beef noodle soup at Pho Hoa last night, I started jotting down as many of the restaurants I had visited in 2006. There's no particular order, but simply the ones I remember. The list may change as I work my grey cells further to recall what I did during the year.

In the Philippines:
Caruso along N. Garcia
Grappas (GB3 and N. Garcia)
Soms (Rockwell branch)
Gumbo (MOA)
Antonio's
Breakfast at Antonio's
Antonio's Grill (the one along the ridge road, although I can't be sure of the name of the restaurant)
Lemuria (Horseshoe Village, QC)
Kai (GB2)
Uva (GB2)
Swagat
Hue (GB3)
La Vigne (Yakal St)
Chef Laudico's Urdaneta Home/restaurant
Lolo Mao's (Podium)
Terry's (Podium, Pasong Tamo Ext)
Cantinetti (Pasong Tamo Ext)
Galileo Enoteca (Mandaluyong)
Gourdo's (Fort Bonifacio)
Trio (Fort Bonifacio)
Little Asia (Promenade, Greenhills)
Bizu (GB3 and Promenade)
Kikofuji (and a neighboring japanese noodle restaurant in Little Tokyo)
Amici (Pasay Road)
Cava (Makati Avenue)
Schwartzwalder (Makati Avenue)
Old Spaghetti House (Valero St)
Tsukuya (I have to double check that this is the name of the restaurant, but it's near the Paseo Center along Valero St, Salcedo Village)
Cafe Juanita (Bgy Kapitolyo)
Mati (Rockwell)
Bohdi (Ortigas Avenue)
Fez (Serendra)
Hap Chan (Makati Ave, Market Market)
Guava (Serendra)
Sala (Malate)
Lumiere (Makati Avenue)
Max Brenner (GB3)
People's Palace (GB3)
Kusina Salud (Quezon Province, in the height of rambutan season)
Manos (the greek taverna in Tagaytay, name could be wrong, but it's not hard to find)
* add to the list, innumerable visits to UCC, Pancake House, Cibo's, Mandarin Deli (in Cubao), Coffee Bean, Starbucks, McDonalds, Shakeys, Yellow Cab, Jollibee, innumerable chicken inasal places, Pho Hoa/Bac, Max, Aristocrat, Gram's Diner, Sugarhouse, Pazzo, Cafe Mediterranean, Mexicali, Hen Lin, all the food outlets in RCBC, Brother's Burger, North Park, Gloria Maris (which has become my family's Sunday hangout for some unknown reason - I suspect it's my sister's kids who force the issue), Dulcinea, the cafe in Powerbooks, the Press cafe at Fully Booked Rockwell, Figaros, Via Mare, Deli France, ....

Around the country, I've gone to restaurants in Cebu, Batangas, Puerto Princessa. Unfortunately, I can't remember most of the names! In PP, we always go to a favorite Vietnamese canteen, and another garden restaurant (Ka Louie!) where the food goes well with the friendly service and lovely interiors. In Cebu, friends took us to a great (and cheap) grill where we ate tons of food freshly grilled to our specifications. A lot of new restaurants in Cebu opened up recently, but the only ones I've gone to are the Thai restaurants. Along Batangas, it's been bulalo places and franchises of places you'd find in Manila, as well as road side cafes/canteens, plus dinners at friends' homes.

In N. America, I was in Montreal, Quebec, and San Francisco/Sacramento this year. I distinctly remember the dinner at Europea (Montreal), and I had good Vietnamese food with friends there, bistros in the city where we ate c/o sponsors of the conference. I'm trying to find the name of the diner near the hotel we stayed in that had great smoked meat sandwiches. And the famous Montreal bagels in the old Jewish quarter. We only had time for a quick lunch in Quebec, so the restaurant's name eludes me. While in SF and Sac, I was going for comfort food (Olivetti's, Bittersweet, a nice garden/cafe in Sac), and home cooked meals by my wonderful bro-in-law who makes the best smoked salmon! That reminds me how we went all the way to the only Pinoy canteen near Roseville to buy crispy pata for Greg. Wasn't that crispy, but his golf buddies were wowed by the sight. Trina also brought me to her favorite breakfast place near the airport, around the Burlington district. Those were amazing pancakes.

Right before the end of the year, I was in HK, where S and I took new-to-Asia friend A out for Hong Kong dimsum (City Hall), a dai pai dong in Sheung Wan, vegetarian food at the temple in Lantau, the Peak Lookout restaurant, a dessert hole in the wall near Carnarvon (TST), and of course home cooked risotto, bottles of champagne, a box of chocolate covered potato chips, and panetonne.

In retrospect, that was way too much money spent eating out in 2006!