Table for Five

After our quick O' Noodle stall hunt in Mandaluyong last Saturday afternoon, we headed to Ayala for the family dinner. We took our reserved couch area at Mesa in Greenbelt 5 to celebrate Mother's day in advance. He'd been raving about this resto since he read about a certain good food review.:)

We experimented with Hito Flakes on Spoon for appetizer. Hmmm...so-so. Maybe next time we would try the Baked Scallops with Garlic Butter.

We had the Sinigang na Salmon Head for our soup. This one is OK.

From its Hito menu, my buddy tried the Crispy Boneless with Mangga Salad, another so-so. Giselle ordered the Baby Squid Adobo in its Own Ink— this one is yumyum. Nay ordered Seafood Pasta for Gab. But the kid didn't dig it that much. My buddy, Nay, and I ended up sharing the plate. Nay said that the pasta was salty. She was even proud of Ming Tree's version. :) My buddy and I, however, agreed that it was actually delicious.

He still wanted to order the Salpicao Ostrich but worried that we might not be able to finish everything. I was curious about Crispchon but I think we had had enough.

Our bill was reasonably priced. Our a la carte plus two bottomless iced tea, one ripe mango shake, one mango juice, and six cups of rice cost us only P1,500++. That was fair considering the location. The resto is strategically situated on a corner, near the middle ground floor entrance of Greenbelt 5, almost across Seattle's Best in Greenbelt 3. The exterior looks a bit intimidating, imposing a formal dining aura.

But the interior has a modern Filipino look and feel, reflecting a very casual tone. Personally, the orange (or is it flaming red?) couch sections are more comfortable and private than those seats on the other side and at the center.

We recommend making a reservation since the place is not so big, and has the tendency to be crammed full at peak hours. Also, if you want to dine al fresco and listen to music from the Greenbelt Park or nearby restaurants, you could occupy one of the few tables that Mesa provides.

Mesa is worth a second visit. ;-)

*****
My humor has been quite nostalgic for the past three nights. I've been missing home all of a sudden, weird thing. I'm not so sure if it's just the time of the month or some things have been simply sliding, as you would expect. But I hope it's the former.

I woke up that Saturday morning slightly raring to go, anticipating to spend the first half of the day outside, under the sun or the mall atmosphere, and the second half of the day with the family for our advance Mother's day treat. But it took us late in the afternoon to really get going. I was already a little bummed out. It must be the unsympathetic weather. Or the stubborn WiFi connection that he had been configuring since 12PM. Or, maybe, the day was basically droning.

But we shoved off anyway.

We looked for his group's O'Noodle trial stall along Barangka Drive. It took us several minutes of walking and a modest share of bad mood before we got the exact location. [He'd been very patient with me I knnnow.] We tried its cup of noodles with siomai toppings and cup of gulaman juice for our late lunch. Not bad. Or were we just hungry? =) I so hope it clicks.

Thank you so much for the 45 months, buddy ko. I'm so sorry for moping and for being extra sensitive today...*kugos*