A belated birthday 'bash' and how we waited for more than an hour for lunch

I met up with my BFF Gi today for lunch, which also served as her belated luncheon 'party' for two. She turned 30-something (when we girls hit our 30's, we stop counting!) on April 24, and since I missed her birthday celeb due to the crazy preps for The Eagle's arrival on the 25th, I made it up to her today.

As usually is our dilemma in a city as small as the one we live in, we always have a hard time deciding where to eat. The usual Chowking, McDo, Jollibee, etc. are too boring, too common and too crowded. We're always on the lookout for small, cozy, yet-to-be-discovered restos where the food is cheap on the price but not on the taste. Sadly, there aren't much of those here. Most of the ones that we think have potential end up closing shop even before we have even tried it. Anyway, today for lunch we decided to check out this cute-looking cafe that we saw months ago. It is basically an internet cafe but what initially caught our attention was their front window display- cute photos hanging from a string, and the photos were clipped in place by tiny, wooden craft clothespins. (I first saw a similar idea on Flickr and on this site and thought that it's a creative and great way to display photos on my bedroom wall or closet door. I've been meaning to do something like this but have yet to find the time to print my photos.)

However, we learned that they don't serve lunch but the girl on the counter was nice enough to point us next door, a "kitchenette" that just had their soft opening a couple of minutes earlier I presume, as the balloons were still on their front door.

When we went in, we first noted the decor. It was so trendy with its bright colors and the tall-back slim chairs. The place was not too large, lending a coziness to its ambience. After flipping through their menu (aside from the usual Pinoy fare, they also serve European, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican food), I ordered Chicken Teriyaki (it was spelled as 'Terryaki" on their menu) while Gi chose Chili Con Carne with Mexican rice.

While waiting for the food to be served, Gi and I decided to check out the second floor. As we climbed the stairs, we saw mounted on the deep pink-colored wall this huge gold-framed hot pink wallpaper with yellow flowers print. The effect was gorgeous. The gorgeousness continued when we reached the second floor, which mimicked the traditional Japanese restaurants- elevated platforms on top of which are those low Japanese style wooden tables surrounded by cushions. No chairs, of course. Each dining area platform is enfolded with sheer deep red curtains. The effect is Oriental romance with a splash of Western boudoir. I love it!


We just swooned over the beautiful decor, especially Gi who will soon move into her brand new house and we "oohed" and "aahed" to our heart's delight (we were the only people in the floor) as we smoothed our hands over the rich texture of the gold and red wallpaper and the multi-colored cushions.

Heady from the allure of our surroundings (we go gaga over decor that rocks), Gi decided to open her gift, which she also went gaga over. Since she was moving into a new home soon, I picked out decor-related gifts for her- two tall yellow green-tinted wineglasses and a figurine of an African lady holding a drum (a symbol of fertility? *wink*).

Since we had a lot of catching up to do, we chatted for some time before we realized that it's been almost an hour and our food hasn't arrived yet! We later learned that they confused our orders with the customers who came in later than us, and mistakenly cooked their order first. But surely it won't take a cook an hour to prepare our orders. Unless they ran out of main ingredients and had to rush to the grocery store to buy them, or they ran out of gas for cooking and had to go get one. But wait, they just opened today so it's impossible for them to run out of stuff!

We were already hungry so we decided to just bear it out and wait for our orders. I muttered to Gi that the food better be worth the wait. It was already 1:30 p.m. when our food was served, and after the first bite, I sighed in disappointment. It was just... okay. Well, forgettable. Let's just say that when we stepped out of that place, the decor was the only thing that impressed us.

My chicken "Terryaki"

Gi's Chili Con Carne with Mexican rice

But we're willing to cut them some slack as it was just their first day. At least our eyes were able to feast on their decor. They just need to work on their service and food.

But bad food aside, I had a great time. Whenever you're in good company, you'll always have a great time, even if the food sucks.