RestaurantRow Afternoon Tea at Marco Polo
DINING SPECIALS: (clockwise from top) Afternoon tea at Marco Polo Ortigas; Goat Cheese Salad from Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island; Stacked Sandwiches from Mighty Quinn; and Pork Vienna from Pancake House. SAVOR AN afternoon repast of scones, mini sandwiches, and cakes amid panoramic views of the city at the Marco Polo Ortigas Manila’s Connect Lounge, located at the hotel’s 24th floor sky lobby. Afternoon Tea comes with choices of pastries and fresh sandwiches, served with coffee or tea. An option to upgrade to a smoothie, iced tea, or Möet and Chandon champagne is also available. The three-tier stand is P788 for two persons, which includes the complimentary coffee or tea. For reservations, call 720-7720.
Lunch at Solstice by Ilustrado
THIS month’s chef’s recommendations at Solstice by Ilustrado include Pan-seared Dover Sole Amandine, Slow-Braised Angus Beef Shortplate and Mushroom Lasagna. The executive lunch set is refreshed bi-monthly or so. The three-course meal is available for lunch and dinner at P650+. Also available is the Express Lunch in which one gets a package of one option of sandwich, pasta, salad, and soup. Guests can opt to choose their combination at P400+, and each order is paired with a beverage. For reservations, call 802-1891 or 0977-7488861).
Vanilla-inspired dishes
Swiss-based hospitality group Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts rolls out vanilla-inspired dishes at its hotel restaurants in Cebu and globally. The Vanille Salée promotion will run from Feb. 21 to March 21. Comprising of six one-of-a-kind vanilla-enhanced dishes, the concept is now being made available at Mövenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu, where the concept will be offered in a four-course dinner set menu at The Sails restaurant, featuring choices of savory vanilla creations. For inquiries or reservations, visit
New York-style barbecue
THE Standard Hospitality Group, the company behind Yabu and Ippudo, now brings the New York-style barbecue of Mighty Quinn’s in Manila. The menu features meats such as brisket, ribs, pulled pork, and chicken wings which are smoked for up to 20 hours. The best seller is the smoked brisket, plus a wide variety of meats and sides such as the four-pound Brontosaurus rib (P1,495), pork sausage (P435), burnt ends (P495), pulled pork (P485), and chicken wings (P405/six pieces). Mighty Quinn’s is located at 3/F SM Megamall Fashion Hall, Mandaluyong City.
Pancake House’s promo
PANCAKE HOUSE brings back its “Choose Any Two for Only P370” promo until Feb. 28. Choose any two meals, or even two of the same kind. The combos come with a glass of iced tea. The “Choose Any Two for P370” promo is available in all Metro Manila and Luzon stores.
“fynbos”: sweet kapokbos, strong and fresh buchu, dry rooibos, rose geranium, wild olives, honeybush — a mountainside riot of choice. BARTENDER Daryn Byron makes a cocktail at the Mothers Ruin gin bar, which stocks more 144 varieties of gin, in the city center of Cape Town, on Jan. 26. Piling in for afterwork drinks, around two dozen people pore over the menu at Mother’s Ruin, a speciality gin bar in Cape Town, where homegrown varieties are making a mark on the global scene. “There are so many flavors to experiment with,” says Simon Von Witt of Woodstock Gin, a hole-in-the-wall affair on a busy Cape Town road, with a coffee shop upfront and a distillery round the back that produces about 1,000 bottles a month.
The shop is a beehive of activity to meet an order due for export to Belgium the next day.
“Fynbos has thousands of varieties, so you’re looking at a massive amount you can work with,” says Von Witt.
His ingredient of choice is rooibos, a plant famous for the tea brewed from its leaves and the predominant ingredient of Woodstock Gin’s bestselling variety, aptly named High Tea.
“The rooibos is quite dry and the honeybush contrasts that — it’s slightly sweet and it just brings out amazing flavors,” he says. “It’s such a uniquely South African plant.”
Gin itself, though, has not been a typical drink in South Africa, where beer, wine and brandy dominate.
Some 78% of all alcohol consumed here in 2015 was beer, according to the South African Wine Industry Information & Systems body.
Gin accounted for just 0.1%, only ahead of South Africa’s cane spirit distilled from fermented molasses.
“I like that it’s easy to drink — sometimes too easy!” said Amy Bennet, visiting the southwestern city from Durban, sipping on Inverroche, another local fynbos-tinged gin.
She began drinking gin while living in London as an alternative to the heavy beers and ales on offer, she said.
‘EVERYBODY’S CURIOUS’
Mother’s Ruin attracts a large and varied clientele paying about 32 rand ($2.40) for a shot of top-quality local gin.
“From older people, to tourists, to young people,” says Pretorius, “everybody’s curious about gin... people want to taste it, experience it, see what the possibilities are with it.”
But as gin enjoys its moment, the oversaturated market in South African craft beers offers a warning.
“I don’t want to be in a bubble,” says Von Witt.
The trick would be to make a gin that appeals “to everyone, right across the board, from millennials to the older generation.” “We’re not there yet,” he adds. But Beard is hopeful. “The fervor around it will die out eventually, but there will always be those people who love to reach for a good, craft gin,” she said. —