Its was my birthday and I was excited to celebrate it with my family for a little dinner together in Ayala Terraces. With so many new restaurants in town, we've decided to narrow down the list to a couple we haven't tried before, Hola Espana a Spanish restaurant owned by the Lhuilliers and La Maison, which I guess was a French restaurant which means "the house". Since my dad isn't really a big fan of foreign sounding menus preferring good old Filipino specialties like Pochero or Lechon Kawali, It was obvious that choosing from any of them is likely to be met by subdued resignation.
Our choice would have been Hola Espana as someone I know told me that they have their own version of the Lechon which everybody loves. We were there around an hour before our scheduled meet when we passed by La Maison. I asked Jenni if we could stop by and try to look at their menu. We saw some of the menus that looks great. They got steaks too. Dad would like it here I said to myself as I remember my mom told me that he misses eating steaks. So I reserved a table for eight. Bad mistake. I have no inkling that it was just the beginning of our terrible experience. Since my dad wanted to have steaks, I and my brother ordered them as well as some ribs, fish fillet, pizza for the rest of the family. I knew the steaks were expensive but I didn't mind expecting some kind of a gourmet delight after. The service was not really bad until they started serving the food in about an hours time. The long wait would have been warranted by the good food that was about to be served in our table but as soon as the appetizers came in, we were in for a disappointment. It tasted sour to me, something amiss. Then came the tomato soup which was ok but not great. Finally the main courses were served. One by one as like they were served, they fell off to my list of worst meal to eat. The steaks were so bland, so thin sliced as if reminding me again that the financial crisis is still here. The description goes as well to the other stuff. I would not have eaten it if not for the price we paid.
Looking at my brother who just tasted his first steak in his life and his first taste of a thousand meal worth of meat all by himself, his words echoed back and forth that his own version of Sinugba (homemade grilled meat) is way much better than the steak. My father I knew felt it too, had said its not the steak he had used to eat and with a resigned look continued to chew bit by bit as if tormented knowing that every 100 gram of those crappy steak was worth 400 pesos. It was earlier I mentioned that it was a French restaurant but the French wouldn't like it here either. Nor was the food. I'm beginning to think that the only French in this restaurant is the name. But unlike the French who would have streak out of the restaurant with the kind of cooking they just made, we stayed and complained only to ourselves knowing that shit happens sometimes.
I ended up paying a whopping P7,476.41 for a bunch of "gourmet" food that has does not even give a little justice to the cuisine, never mind the price. A rip off many others would say. We'll I still enjoyed the company of my family, a little consolation for the embarrassing experience. But life is like that, happiness is not measured on knowing how much you don't have but how little you complain.Enjoy life even if sometimes it sucks big time.
1 comment:
Bogs and I ate there once when it was still in its old location in Ayala. I forgot what we had but I remember leaving the resto with a bad taste on our tongues and promising never to be back there again. Well, you have to experience it to know that it's not worth it.
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