Aint'-ie Dainty


May mention ako na "fancy restaurants", actually masarap pakinggan at common naman ginagamit na adjective for restaurant, pero di ko pa natingnan what do we really mean when we say "fancy"? 

Going home, I pass by Balibago  where It is such a sight seeing all those fancy restaurants. Dainty Asian Cuisine is likely to catch your attention. Exterior and exterior design can be viewed at the same time because of the glass walls. More or less the cafe in Nepo area follows the same design.

It was such an intriguing place for us since we moved to Angeles two years ago. The look is intimidating enough that we didn't try to dine for the longest time. Then, my wife told me that they had ordered for take out from dainty - realized that indeed quite expensive. What was interesting is that it does not look like an Asian Restaurant. For me, I thought it could pass for a french or an italian restaurant. From then on, I had an objective to have a dine-in experience.

At the start of year 2013, we finally settled to dine at Dainty for our wedding anniversary. I came all the way from Bataan that night and arrived at around 9PM. My wife by then starving, had quick snack at a tusok-tusok. She could no longer eat on the dinner proper. She got full from tokneneng and isaw from the sidewalk.

The next experience was on Dainty Cafe just this weekend. The car was parked where Dainty is abot-tanaw. The agreement was to order only one dish to avoid a large bill but we ended up ordering almost exactly the same set of dishes from the last time we visited the place. We had lumpiang shanghai, chopseuy and yang chow (minus the zipo egg), for the ultimate reason of having the least prices among those found in the menu.

Taste wise, the dishes taste chinese. I mean we cook spring rolls and chopseuy at home which taste Filipino - they do it the chinese way. So categorically, the food is more than ok. I just have a very little problem with the crew. I think there is enough numbers to serve the customers. It was just quite difficult calling their attention. The Nepo cafe is quite small, the crew must have been more attentive finding out if customers need their services. Anyway, they are generally friendly and polite.

Overall, the experience is fine and our next objective is to try the other dishes - even if it takes one dish per visit. This means we are coming back.


Left: It's not that I found my best angle for this photo, this was the best I can take so as to photograph myself. Selfie shot eto, hindi lang halata. Notice the beautiful background. Right: My wife and Elmo as I try to get an artistic shot with the lamp.
I love the tables and chairs.
I

Take two! we ordered them before and ordered once more - spring roll, chopseuy and yang chow.

Susie, who?

My apologies for using the same photos from previous blog posts.

I was so eager to share this story with my office mates with my typical exaggerations. Actually I don't make things controversial, I make them interesting.

As for sharing this for the blog, I have lots of  hesitation. For security purposes, this is the sanitized version of weekend outing. Saturday morning, I met up with this person for us to get a ride. I did not doubt that I was about to meet a fine person - he would not let us tag along for the trip if he is not. To my surprise, I got messages of apologies on my phone for making us wait for a while.

He was just as cordial in person offering lots of food the moment we stepped in the car. Few more minutes, I learned that he is associated with Susie's cuisine. I mean "The" Susie's cuisine!

By the way, we talked about lots of things but I was not able to have the courage to ask who Susie is.

As an aftermath of that encounter, here is the anthology of my trysts with the restaurant long before I met him..

My Project


Free Black Forest
I usually go (to our Angeles) home friday night. There are instances when my wife is on duty and yaya has an assumption that i have enough money to have dinner outside. Basta, dahil siya ang in charge tipidin ang mga ulam pag wala kami mag-asawa, di niya ako shine-share sa ulam kapag friday night.

We go through, or I go through tough times that I don't have enough money for dinner. I texted my wife to make sure that I would be included to what Yaya would prepare for that night. I also texted directly to yaya.

I have doubts. Armed with my close-to-credit limit credit card found myself at Goldilock's counter asking, "May minimum po ba pag gumamit ng credit card?" I got a friendly response that it's fine to charge kahit P69 lang ang kakainin ko.

What's more exciting is that they offer free slice of cake for the day. I got a slice of black forest for free!

My Project
I recently had a project. I was supposed to finish an essay and/or a short story. it's been almost 15 years when I last joined (on the spot) contest. When you're no longer a student, walang mga on the spot. Send an entry and wait. I have problems with work ethics - I always fall asleep, and work area - my work area is my bed so i always fall asleep.

I sort of feel a plateau in my career. I am on the phase of freeze. I have to set aside everything while waiting for my wife to finish her residency. I can't go back to school nor take review classes and short courses. I think winning literary contest would provide an interest and break the monotony.

So I found a work area. There is a (forgive me if I say) less popular coffee shop in the area where I find solace and the mood to write. That's my place also when I have deadlines for submission of grades. I had a total of three nights accomplishing my project which I have a limit of P130 each visit.

day one - tuna sandwich and batman blast    
day two - spaghetti and service water
day three - tuna sandwich and slush

Summer, di ako nagcoffeee.

Ooh yah      
I have two jobs which both give salaries in cash. The ATM payroll system is on process for my primary job.
I always have problems with pag-papabarya. I usually receive (di naman karamihan) one-thousands and five-hundreds.

So hirap magpabarya, two best options are always Jollibee or McDo. Mas malapit sa McDo pauwi kaya more on dun ako. Statistically, I have significant contributions on their hot-fudge sundae sales. P25, mababarya ang P500 or P1000 ko. Frequently, the cashiers ask if I have smaller bill.

For a change, I went to Ooh yah which is a milk tea house for the same purpose. There was a time, about months ago when we had our interest on milk teas. It's been quite a while since I last visited a milk tea house and I end up taking wrong order.

Anyways, nabarya naman ang P500 ko.