dine•o•crat

Antonio's Restaurant in Tagaytay has become my go-to place for my friends visiting me in Manila. The location is, relatively speaking, remote, a long drive from the city, but the air is cooler in Tagaytay and the restaurant is practically in another, quieter universe. This is what I see in the morning right before I leave for a lunch at Antonio's. And this is the environment I'm in when I finally reach my destination. While the main part of the menu stays the same, there are a few variations here, some supply-based, some seasonal, to keep those who come here regularly from getting bored. To wit: tempura shrimp with cream sauce topped with caviar. On the right: refreshing and addictive dalandan juice. Dalandan is like a mandarin with green rind, its juice a staple of many local restaurants. Below: chanterelles with foie gras. One the left: ravioli pasta. Right: crispy lamb over Asian noodles. Below: chocolate panna cotta with cream and pistachios. Reserv...

"Would it help you if I spoke English?" the waiter asked the uniformly surprised and relieved members of our dining table. We had been puzzling over the menu in French, arguing over the terminology of the dishes when our young waiter, who had been a perfect francophone up until then, suddenly sounded like Daniel Radcliffe. Or Madonna in London. We would have been mad to say no. Willi's Wine Bar, a Parisian institution located near the Bourse (the stock exchange), just north of the Palais Royal, would surprise anyone who has old ideas about what a bar is like. Willi's isn't like any bar that I've been to. The food was brilliant, each dish a shining example of the possibilities that could come out of a thoughtful selection and preparation of the menu. The place is now over 30 years old, but it rivals younger places with its fresh approach. Apparently, it has a reputation for being a hangout for Anglos; no one told us the serveurs could be, as well. Left:  ...

Salumeria Roscioli in Rome is a narrow restaurant in a chic area of the city, on the Via dei Giubbonari. After window shopping at the trendy boutiques along the street, we headed to the restaurant for our meal for the night. You enter through a deli/salumeria/wine bar with an amazing selection of products, and arrive in the back where there are small tables for dinner. There's also a downstairs, in the wine cave, with a few slightly bigger tables for larger parties. Flawlessly presented with deceptive simplicity, the food was quite good. There were, however, no surprises with the ingredients or preparations, though both were first-rate. What you will get, however, is a breathtakingly deep wine selection and incredible variety of salumi, as well as the precise but simple cooking of the chef. Prego? Below, two views of some of the the wines and liqueurs for sale in the vineria. If you have a table against the wall, most likely one of these monsters would be above your ...

On another trip to Claude Tayag and Mary Ann Quioc's Bale Dutung in Pampanga, Philippines, I tried the special menu with lechon. In addition to some of the more customary fare at the restaurant , such as fern salad and balo-balo, the famous whole roast pork of the Philippines is also served. If you're a fan of this Filipino pork preparation, you should try to time your reservation at the renowned Capampangan food spot when the menu includes it. It's served in the following ways: traditionally, i.e., the meat chopped straight from the just-cooked pig all skin, in my opinion the best part, at least when it's still  hot and cripsy as paksiw na lechon , a more vinegary preparation as filling for Korean tacos, with the meat fried and shredded like pork floss and sisig, the spicy and sour concoction made from pig's ears. Here's Claude about to cut up and carve the roast. The first serving you'll receive is the meat of the pork. Get it while it's h...

"Nicole Kidman is next door, vous l'avez vue ?" asked our waitress after we sat down at Les Bouquinistes. My dining companions and I looked outside, into the inscrutable and slightly drizzly evening. The sudden appearance of a swarm of paparazzi, circling the building like giant fireflies, gave credence to her claim. "Really?" I wanted to ask. "Did she bring her career with her? Because she seems to have left it somewhere equally hard to spot." Besides, we had already found our star that night and it was food. Les Bouquinistes , Ze Kitchen Galerie 's neighbor, is breathtaking at night. The Seine is right in front, lit up and glorious, Notre Dame is in the distance overseeing the night's activities on the Left Bank. It was Fashion Week in Paris, which made the appearance of a celebrity logical, though her appearance in the restaurant next door was a mystery worthy of Poirot. Les Bouquinistes is Guy Savoy's more "affordable" o...