Vyne Restaurant: Worth the skip

After a journalism forum at the nearby Mind Museum, I was wondering if I can still make it to a concert from afar after a blog tour organized by Zomato in Vyne Restaurant. It turned out, outside the concert venue was a basketball event that I would actually more prefer to attend. Eventually, the Vyne event ended at around 11:30 PM, already too late to still go there. I may have missed the two events, but the resto visit at Vyne really made up my night.

J.P. Enriquez, the owner of the restaurant and the same guy behind the Hyve Bar just next door and the Skye Lounge, said that Vyne was intended to be "a concept restaurant that has the flavors from all over the world." Indeed, the world was fused into one restaurant.

First served was the Pork Chasu Bun. For me, the appetizer alone can already satisfy my cravings because it was delicious.

Although I'm not really a fan of seafood, I found the other two appetizers, the Thai Scallops and the Mini Crab Cakes, delighting for me too.

Thai Scallop (left) and Mini Crab Cakes

Then in comes the sizzler, the prawn and ravioli laksa. Although I can "survive" a certain level of "spicyness", the soup really got me. While it's yummy, I also got a craving for a cold beverage because of it being hot and spicy. A blogger friend of mine told me that she loves spicy foods and just consumed the spicy soup in a jiffy. I was appalled by her.

And in came the salads. I liked the presentation of the Apple and Bleu Cheese Salad, but I liked the taste of the East Asian Salad. I liked the latter so much (maybe partly because I don't eat apples that much) that I "murdered" the dish.

Apple and Bleu Cheese Salad (left) and the East Asian Salad

Now, enter the Ramen Carbonara, a Japanese twist to an Italian noodle dish. In my honest opinion, although I liked the dish (especially the pork cuts), I find the taste too much carbonara. I prefer a good balance of the two sauces.

However, our blog tour of Vyne took a huge turn after the restaurant's trademark hamburger came. It was a tough luck that we, a group of four, had to cut the hamburger equally. But I really wanted to solely eat the burger. The 200-gram beef patty was cooked medium-rare, but it was still delicious.

At first, I thought the restaurant tour was already satisfying enough. But hold on! The main courses were yet to be delivered at that time. In the tour, we were offered the Pan-Seared Sole Fish and the US Angus Rib-Eye Steak. While the beef dish, like the burger, was cooked medium-rare, I found the steak too delicious that, like what I did with the East Asian Salad, I almost consumed all the steak (and the french fries, the side dish) on my own.

The Pan-Seared Sole Fish (left) and the US Angus Rib-Eye Steak

And now, the dessert. The lemon cheesecake was designed to be like an ice cream popsicle, which I found interesting. The cake overall was delicious, and I also lorded over the dessert like the others.

Blogger friend Dems Angeles, who also went to the Rappler journalism event
earlier in the day, "modeled" the lemon cheesecake.

To keep the customers alive, some nights have specific themes. It was a Wednesday, so it was music quiz time. We stayed for the music quiz contest co-presented by Play FM where on the line were John Legend concert tickets. We lost the quiz contest, but it was fun.

The "wild" crowd during the John Legend quiz contest.

Vyne Restaurant is located at the eighth floor of the W Building near the Bonifacio High Street in Taguig City. The restaurant is open at as early as 11:00 AM from Monday-Saturday. For reservation, follow its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/VyneManila and its Twitter and Instagram pages at @vyne_ph.

LaBS goes to Cabuyao for third installment

The Laguna Blogging Summit finds a new home in the Malayan Colleges Laguna in Cabuyao City for its third annual summit on October 3.

Now presented by Elabram Systems, 3LaBS will focus on social influence.

The summit will bring back past speakers Grace Nicolas, Pocholo Gonzales, Lloyd Luna, and Janette Toral.

Also, Rod Magaru, the perennial host of the summit, will make his debut as a speaker as he will talk about lifestyle and celebrity blogging.

Also joining the list of first-time speakers are Manila Bulletin's Art Smaniego and Saddleback Church's Pastor Boris Joaquin.

Skippy's Bar and Grill: Aussie culture being spread in PH

Skippy’s Bar & Grill is a sports bar and restaurant bringing a piece of Australian goodness in the Philippines. It offers scrumptious and filling grubs for every hungry tummy, Aussie or local alike.

In here you will find honest-to-goodness Aussie comfort food like the imported Aussie Meat Pies (choice of chicken or beef) from Down Under, the famous Aussie burger, Aussie steaks and lamb chops, and fish and chips are fast-becoming house specialties.

And rightfully so, because Skippy’s never scrimps on ingredients and serving-size, making it great for hungry foodies or for a group of friends who just would like to have a great time!

The bar boasts of an excellent selection of Australian beers like Victoria Bitter, and Crown Lager as well as other top-notch imported beers to toast on.

Its owners, Sydney-native business man, Steve Bird and his wife Tina, envisioned the place to be a laid-back, no-fuss pub where a mate can grab an ice cold beer, eat brunch until 3PM while cheering for his favorite sports team showing in live HD. And true enough just over a year in operation, it has become a place where great food, lots of laughter and awesome mates gather round.

Open daily from Monday to Sunday, as early as 9AM, it serves breakfast for as low as PHP165 with great selection to choose from. Not a breakfast person? No problem, Skippy’s has its affordable lunch menu for only PHP195 ready to make any tummy happy. Serving breakfast from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and lunch from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, one can enjoy great meals any time of the day!

Not only that, at Skippy’s there’s always a reason to celebrate starting from its PHP60 cocktail with 40 different selections to choose from happening Sunday to Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM! Calling all beer drinkers out there, Skippy’s offer a 4+1 local beer selection during its crazy long happy hour starting from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM every Monday to Saturday, and all-day during Sunday Fun Day.

What’s more is that, Skippy’s flavorful chicken wings--14 pieces of this delectable intense wings are up for grabs for only PHP150 from Sunday to Tuesday when availing of the 4+1 local beer promo. Like Skippy’s Philippines on Facebook and be in the know with all the events and promotions on your favorite all-action sports, Rock-on Friday and Saturdays with local blues and rock artists performing live or just about anything Au-some!

A Tour at One Asia Center

One Asia Center is located inside the Crown Center at the intersection of Jupiter and N. Reyes streets in Makati City.

One Asia is a new office space where you can set up your meetings and do office works while you're outside your actual office.

The area is spacious enough to accommodate many people. What's more: you can also tweak the office and conference room setup any way you like to suit the specific purpose of the meetings.

So if you want to have a different kind of meeting place, come to One Asia Center, fourth floor, Crown Center, Jupiter St. corner N. Reyes St., Makati City, infront of Starbucks and SM Jazz Residence.