Have breakfast all day at Café 1771

Breakfast is downright my most favorite meal of any day.

Manic Mondays become less of a frenzy and weekend mornings are something that I’d always look forward to no matter how late I get to go home from a night out with friends because there’s just something about breakfast that is plain comforting and which makes me just feel so blessed.

To have the chance to enjoy a meal after waking up from a long night is truly something to be thankful for –and I bet after you treat yourself to a hearty breakfast meal at Café 1771 on any given morning, you’d most definitely be adding one more thing to be thankful for.

From its cozy and homey feel, Café 1771 is really another good reason to wake up in the morning. The stylish café and the adjoining lounge with a quaint library ambience provide a relaxing environment for you to indulge in a leisurely breakfast.

Have a taste of Café 1771’s early morning pleasurable treats such as the café’s own invention, the Hole-In-One Corned Beef, corned beef hash and fried egg with a slice of wheat bread. They’ve got their own version of what a Crispy Bacon is as well –and I say it’s simply a sin to miss out on this one because this bunch of crispy strips are honest to goodness the crispiest and the least oily of all the bacons I have ever tasted. Definitely a treat for the bacon lover!

But these specialties are incomplete without your choice of eggs. Bring out the egg connoisseur in you and have a bite of Café 1771’s Egg Florentine in a Boat. This one is a delightful mix of flavors served to you in one piece –in a delicate puff pastry boat stuffed with spinach, and topped with ham or smoked salmon, poached egg and hollandaise sauce. There’s also the Bacalao and Scrambled Eggs which is an unlikely mixture but is a surprisingly excellent breakfast buddy to our usually meaty companions.

For those who enjoy something sweet in the mornings however, Café 1771 has got their own sweet and savory food offerings with their thick Sour Cream Pancakes smothered with irresistible Caramelized Banana and Candied Walnuts. One bite of all these inside your mouth and you’ve definitely got a saccharine party!

On the savory side the café has their Waffle with Herbed Ricotta Tomato, Sour Cream Pancakes with Bacon and Eggs, and Smoked Salmon Omelette –simple, sinful and definitely something flavorful to perk up your mornings.

Enjoy your breakfast with fresh fruit juice, freshly brewed coffee, or hot tea but what’s important is that know in your heart that you can have it all anytime of the day, every day with more style and always flavorful only at Café 1771.

Café 1771 is located in El Pueblo Real de Manila, ADB Avenue cor. Julia Vargas Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City. It’s open from 7am to 10pm (from Sunday to Thursday) and 7am to 12 mn (from Fruday to Saturday).

Champagne Room features the finest from the French

Inside Manila Hotel, there is a room filled with classy couches and table pieces, gold wrought-iron chandeliers and crystal trees. This room is made for those who want to enjoy a unique dining experience that even true blue French men and women would most definitely cherish.

A room which will delight you with its undeniable Old World elegance and charm, Manila Hotel’s Champagne Room is open for a wonderful meeting with French food and wine served to you in only the best of ways.

For someone who has a relentless goal of losing a few pounds, I still consider myself to have been quite lucky to be invited to a special dinner hosted by Manila Hotel at the Champagne Room to indulge in an eight-course menu of some of their finest French food and wine choices.

French cuisine is all about savoring good food and enjoying other people’s company in the process. There is no rush in dining because you’re in it to explore all the sensations that your taste buds could ever experience. There are a lot of good dishes to discover at the Champagne Room, but let me share with you those which delighted me the most.

Starting off my journey on that eight-course menu, it was such a pleasure to relish the first dish on the appetizers list: Poached Lobster Tail in Vanilla Custard with Oscietra Caviar, served with Vouvray, a sparkling white wine with hints of mango and pineapple flavors. It was smooth, clean, salty and refreshing, a meal reminiscent of a good morning by the beach.

We were also served with House-Smoked Duck with Salade Cesar served with Cotes de Castillion red wine with a dry but fruity flavor. I deeply enjoy salads, and this one was something familiar yet served to you in a unique way, which those who get easily bored with the look of salads would most likely delve into in an instant.

As per the main dish, I’d say I really fell in love with the Pan Roasted Giant Sea Perch with Tomato Confit and Brown Butter Hollandaise served with sparkling white wine with peach, pear and pineapple flavors all in one glorious glass. Again, this reminded me of a summer day out on the beach, simply enjoying a light yet tasty meal full of happiness.

Ending the 4-hour feat of finishing an 8-course meal, I favored the Chocolate Pots de Crème with Maple and Salted Foam as the best out of the three desserts served. This dish is basically good chocolate fudge served inside an egg shell with white salty foam on top to balance off the sweetness from the fudge. What a lovely sensation for the taste buds this meal was. I honestly could’ve had one or two more servings of it, if only I wasn’t too full to the brim!

Most definitely, I’ve come to realize the way the French appreciate the value of food as an art and as a part of their everyday life. Every meal is an exquisite artwork which is meticulously prepared and served with only the pleasure of eating it as a goal in mind. Champagne Room’s Executive Sous Chef Christine Zarandin is doing an excellent job, and she’s really an artist of food in her own right.  

With its timeless beauty and grace, The Manila Hotel’s Champagne Room remains to be one of the classic restaurants where old and new gourmands can indulge in their cravings for a truly French dining experience. For inquiries and reservations at the Champagne Room, please call (02) 527-9469. 


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Eating your way to being Sexy

Sisters behind The Sexy Chef: Rachel and Barni Alejandro

It’s so difficult to go on a diet. It seems like no matter what I do it’s always going to be on my yearly resolution. I’ve tried going to the gym but I wasn’t able to lose as much weight as I would’ve wanted to and I really felt that it was mostly due to my poor diet. Even if I was working out, I didn’t really give much focus on eating less or eating better because I justified it as being alright, because I did work out after all.

However, now I know better. It’s not enough that you work out, but you must also know how to handle your food intake well enough to achieve maximum results if you’re really committed in losing a fair amount of weight on your body. And with The Sexy Chef, this can be possible.

With The Sexy Chef’s diet programs, not only are you going to lose weight on your body, you’re also going to lost all that weight on your conscience because you wouldn’t have to cheat your way into eating something good, because The Sexy Chef offers something good and healthy at the same time.

The Programs

The Sexy Chef’s got eight programs made available to help you achieve your goals. There’s the Sugar Buster Diet Program which is for those with a stubborn midsection who want to achieve a slimmer waist and help lower the chance of diabetes with the use of foods rich in Omega 3s, Fiber, Calcium and Vitamin D. For P1,100 a day you’ll be eating your way to lowering your blood sugar, and a sexier waistline.

SUGAR BUSTER: Chinese Chicken Salad

SUGAR BUSTER:  Shrimp Scampi

For P1,000 a day, the Pounds Away Diet Program is a nutrient dense, calorie-controlled diet program which includes all food groups –including rice –and works on the principle of eating the right weight-loss promoting functional foods in the right amount, and at the right time. This diet is more suitable for those who are very active or for those who simply cannot follow a low-carb diet like the South Beach Diet.

POUNDS AWAY: McSteamy Burger

POUNDS AWAY: Cookies & Cream cheese cake

The South Beach Diet is a two-week diet plan featuring high lean-protein recipes. In this diet, the clients eat small frequent meals throughout the day consisting lean proteins that help the body battle and regulate hunger. For P875 a day, this diet will be able to help you get the proper amounts of lean protein, good fats and fiber in every meal to help you lose weight without having to sacrifice your health. 

SOUTH BEACH DIET:  Albondigas (Spanish Meatballs)

SOUTH BEACH DIET: Spinach Frittata

There is also the Fight Fat 14-day diet specially designed for Sexy Solutions, a new service of non-invasive treatment by Belo Medical Group. This program provides 3 meals and 2 snacks every day, each containing a mix of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, beneficial fats and the 4-fat diet nutrients also in the Sugar Buster Diet Program.

The Sexy Chef also has two diet programs for those expecting babies and those who have just given birth to one. Their Health for Two Program is suited for pregnant mothers who wish to consume a nutritious and well-balanced diet during their pregnancy. They’ve also got the Body After Baby Diet specifically designed for new moms who want to lose weight while at the same time keep their energy up and get restful sleep. On this new program, new moms can shed 4-6 pounts and up to 5 inches on their waistline! All of this while still ensuring that the quality of their breast milk is not affected. Both these diet plans have been created for The Sexy Chef by U.S. Certified Nutritionist Nadine Tengco and supervised by Dr. Joey Shinshioco (OB-GYM-Perinatology).

BODY AFTER BABY DIET: Stir-fried Malunggay Noodles

BODY AFTER BABY DIET: Baby Vietnamese Shrimp Salad

Their Lose Big Diet Program is the diet program followed by the contestants of the just aired Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition, the famous weight-loss reality TV show that’s now in the Philippines. The diet features recipes that helped the contestants lose fat quickly and safely –and you can experience this too if you want big and healthy results, fast.

 Nutritionist Nadine Tengco w/ the Alejandro Sisters

Whether you’re doing it to be achieve a sexier figure, or mainly for health’s sake, going on a diet is a big step towards big lifestyle changes that you should face head on if you want to have long-term results.

So don’t be afraid to ask for assistance if you want to take this journey. Call the Sexy Chef at 72-8881 or (0917) SXYCHEF (799-2433) or visit their website at www.thesexychef.ph or www.facebook.com/thesexychef and get just the right answers to achieve the right kind of body.






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