A Subversive Dinner at Restaurante Pia y Damaso

"Subversive was defined as seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution." 

Restaurante Pia y Damaso is located at the second level
of Greenbelt 5

From the name of the restaurant itself it's quite obvious that Restaurante Pia y Damaso had been inspired by Noli Me Tangere, a novel written during the time when The Philippines became a colony of Spain. After dining there I'd totally say that their tag line "Subversive Filipino Cuisine" is rather apt and its not just because of the era that inspired the place.

The restaurant had been around for some time now, although I haven't really been there before since I'm a bigger fan of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. (For Spanish or Spanish-Filipino cuisines my main pick would be Barcino and Amalia's.) Anyway, my friend and I were having our usual food cravings and we got attracted to the place as we were passing by so we decided to give a go.

The place is rather small but I found the interior to be rather charming. The seats are inviting and comfortable and the chandelier casts a soft glow to the whole place, giving it a classy ambiance. The table piece is made of paper with details about their restaurant and the menu book is a bit of an artwork itself. Scrolling through the list of menu makes it even more interesting as some of the menu's had been inspired as well by the famous Noli Me Tangere.

I ordered a Smoked Tapang Usa (deer meat) and my friend went for Smoked Bbq Mango Pork (now, that is seriously a long name for a menu.) The deer meat was quite tender and juicy, although, a little salty for my taste but the green mango gave it a zesty twist and the garlic rice with the roasted pepper omelette sort of balanced the saltiness of the meat.

I had a taste of my friend's order and I had two thumbs up for it.The pork meat had a rich smoked, zesty taste to it and the concoction of garlic rice, scrambled eggs, pinach, apple, raisin and pinenut, made it oh so good!

Though, the real highlight of our night had been the Guni-Guni (Sisa's Dementia). It's a truffle cake with white chocolate almond pastille, dark chocolate mousse and ganache. It really made me go oohhh and ahhh upon tasting it and judging my friend's reaction, I'm certainly not the only one who had that toe-curling experience. It has a bittersweet taste to it, with the almond adding the right contrast for the velvety texture of the cake.  I would definitely recommend this to every chocolate lover out there!

As for the service I'd say, not that bad. I didn't see the name of the waiter who primarily attended to us but he was rather lax as opposed to his colleague who had been more attentive. And if you're paying a service charge on top of your bill, of course you would want to receive an excellent customer service, right?

So would I go back to this place? Well honestly, I'd most likely go back there only to have a taste of Sisa's Dementia once again and as well as to try the other desserts and also for their ambiance.

Their take on the traditional Filipino food is indeed subversive, but I have expected the fusion to really explode on one's tongue and I did not entirely experience that. As for the serving and the prices I find them to be reasonable, although I'm sure that those with bigger appetite will not entirely agree with me.

Smoked Tapang Usa
       (Salted deer meat from Nueva Ecija, with green mango pickles, roasted pepper omelette on garlic rice)

Smoked bbq mango pork
(Smoked barbecue pork with a mango marinade - served with a spinach, apple, raisin, pinenut and garlic rice with scrambled eggs)

the delighful Guni-Guni or Sisa's Dementia!
(Sugar free version of Sisa's Dementia-truffle cake with Belgian white chocolate and almond pastille, dark chocolate mousse and ganache <3)

My Once and Always Love: The Phantom of the Opera

"If you need me I shall be in Boracay," laughter erupted from the crowd last night when the supposedly retiring Monsieur Lefèvre uttered these words as he was exiting the stage. Looks like the cast of this world famous Broadway production had a great time at the shores of Boracay! 

Well, if they had a great time vacationing, I could say the same thing while watching their performance. I had been in love with The Phantom of the Opera for years now and I've always wanted to see it live along with Les Miserables and Miss Saigon. Since my birthday is just around the corner, I thought that the perfect way to celebrate it would be to watch The Phantom of The Opera.

The first time I came across this piece was when I was just 7 years old.  At that time I didn't have any idea about the story nor did I understand it when I read the synopsis. What primarily attracted me to it was the cover of the book which depicted a beautiful lady in an old-fashioned gown. (I can be very visual sometimes.) I thought it was just another 'Cinderella' story.

I spent days reading the book, struggling with some very 'Old English' words and while I was able to realize that its not another fairy tale, reading it did not help much in understanding its premise. The second time I read the book was during my sophomore year in high school and I totally fell in love with it. It had been a memorable read and I found myself swimming in a pool of emotions. I love the genius of the Phantom, and I felt sorry for his miserable existence but I hated the way he played upon the innocence of Christine. I feel for Christine's plight and her innocence and naivety touched me, but sometimes I also hated her character for that. As for Raoul, at times I love him, but at times it seemed like something is lacking in his personality. And who wouldn't be in love with the songs composed for this piece? Imagining it all coming to life truly excited me.

My stomach fluttered as I was waiting for the show to start and I was at the edge of the seat the entire time, singing with the actors, anticipating every act. When they played the overture I had goosebumps all over. I had a clear view of the stage and as well as the whole orchestra and somehow it felt surreal. I wish I was able to take a photo of the whole set up - stage, orchestra and all but the camera on my phone did not come close to even capturing a fraction of that night's magnificence. I was totally enthralled!

When Claire ( the actress who played the role of Christine) sang 'Think of Me' I was captivated by her. She's absolutely beautiful and her voice even more so. I was at the edge of my seat waiting for Anthony's voice to join hers and I must say that he's perfect for Raoul's part. His voice has a rich quality to it. The scenes of Carlotta had been a treat as well, it, watching Andrea channeling the primadonna antics of Carlotta was really hilarious! Though, the most special moment for me was when the 'Music of the Night', was sung. I'm a big fan of Ramin Karimloo and I was kinda hoping that he's gonna be the one playing the part of the phantom but nonetheless, I was hypnotized when Jonathan sung this song. 

Another part that stood out for me as well, was the Masquerade Ball. The act opened to an astonishing ballroom filled with life size statues and it was still a sight to behold. It was also fun to watch the cast singing lively and dancing gaily in their fancy costumes. It was a night of celebration where everyone could hide in their fancy masks while laughing and flirting against each other, whereas for the Phantom hiding behind a mask had been his whole life, a life of torment and anguish where Christine had been his only definition of happiness albeit the fact that her heart never entirely belonged to him.When Eric sang these lines, "Masquerade, paper faces on parade, Masquerade, hide your face so the world will never find you", I felt like my heart would break. Who wants to hide forever in the darkness, especially when you have so much to offer and share to the world?

I cannot mention every single member of this ensemble, but I definitely applaud and congratulate all of them -the actors, the orchestra players as well as the ones who worked behind the scenes. The whole production had been truly spectacular and it made me fall all over again with the Phantom of the Opera. As for the genius behind this masterpiece, Mr. Andrew Lloyd Weber, I'll be forever grateful that he created and shared this masterpiece to the world as surely, Phantom of the Opera will be heralded as a literary treasure forever.  

Cybercrime Prevention Act or Digital Martial Law?

The latest buzz within the Metro is not just about the astounding performance of the casts of the Phantom of the Opera and its not about the upcoming show of David Guetta either. What the people are wagging about right now is the controversial Cyber Crime Law.

The day I became active in using social media accounts was also the day I resigned to the fact that whatever I post will be available to everyone and could and might be considered as derogatory  and can be taken against me. I know that people can hate me or like me and judge me based on what I say or what I write in my accounts, but at the end of the day, I still think I have all the right to rant and rave regardless of what other people will say, because as they are entitled to formulate their opinions about me, I'm also entitled to formulate my own opinions and discuss them as I see fit. I can honestly say that despite my straightforward opinions I have never been abusive towards anyone and I certainly don't mind people correcting my mistakes. That being said, I can never be sorry for being brutally honest and for expressing my thoughts and I'll never will be. 

In a nutshell, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is divided into three categories: (1) offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems, (2) computer-related offenses, and (3) content-related offenses. I don't have anything against having a law that would protect people from fraud, cyber bullying / libelous notions and most of all cyber prostitution, I do think that we should have had done something about these things a long time ago. I read the whole article to understand what's going on, and while some of the clauses are reasonable and well defined, there are some that seem to have been included without a thorough consideration. I'd also say the same thing about enacting this law, it was signed without proper discussion or review.

The first time I heard about the proposition of this law I was already skeptical. It seems too hurried. There should have been more deliberations on what would constitute as online libel as opposed to merely basing it on Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code. Is that Penal code really even updated and in lieu to our current situation? Delving deeper, this law would protect us, but it would also exploit us, especially with the amount of power that will be entrusted with the Justice Department and we definitely don't want to give them more license to further abuse their authority.  

People like me who blogs, rant, rave and talk about whatever in their social media accounts will no longer have the freedom to do so. We can no longer complain that a certain restaurant have a shitty customer service or even voice out our opinion about certain anomalies going on within the society. And speaking of anomalies, isn't it a little suspicious that this became a law in a very short period of time following the wake of various parodies about some of our Political Leaders (i.e Sottomy, Noynoying, etc) and considering that there are tons of pressing issues in the Philippines since when did online libel become a top priority?! Can we do something first about the horrid transportation system in the Metro?!! They are not just merely stifling the freedom of speech, this law actually makes me feel like they are also insulting my intellectual faculties. So I'm supposed to hear no evil, see no evil and definitely speak no evil! Seriously?!! Well there you go, long live the democratic country of the Philippines!!

And what about this Law??

Wait, did I just type in the word democratic, because this is more like a scenario from those dystopian novels I'm loving these days. If they really seek to protect the netizens as they are claiming, they ought to have a discussion first with the people and I mean the ordinary citizens, to have a more defined guidelines that would constitute a cybercrime. This is a subject that should not be pass abruptly but ought to be discuss and argued over. It is also unacceptable for some Senators to issue an apology for signing this law without thoroughly reading the clauses or to apologize for overlooking certain paragraphs. Seriously?!! I think I'll be overlooking certain Senatorial candidates as well at next year's election. I wonder though, if there will be any reliable candidates for next year's election. Kindly enlighten me. 

Oh well, I guess it would be pointless to come up with some witty parodies now, after all who wants to pay 1,000,000 or spend 12 years in jail? I know I don't. 

You could read more about this law through these links:
Cybercrime Prevention Act 2012
GMA News: Digital Martial Law