Now it's Mediterr-Asia

Hand it to today’s young culinary entrepreneurs to come up with unique restaurant concepts to meet varying demands of the different sectors of the dining populace. Their minds are fertile, creative, and intense. Their quest for culinary perfection is insatiable, resulting in a huge choice of restaurants.

From the creators of Romulo Café, restaurant Cerchio (pronounced tzer-kyoh), Italian for circle, is so named because the owners realize that people love to gather in circles – as in circle of relatives, of friends, of associates – when they need to bond.   

The food is Mediterr(anean)-Asian, incorporating the ample use of olive oil and grilling of the former, and the latter’s taste characterized by fresh harvest and catch.

Their creamy pumpkin-malunggay soup with croutons makes a perfect starter. There are pastas and pizzas from Italy; chicken wrapped peking-style; tortillas; Brazilian peri-peri chicken, cooked twice to seal in the flavors; melt-in-the-mouth slices of juicy grilled Norwegian salmon teriyaki on a bed of pineapple rice; crispy squid heads with a perfectly subtle taste of Indian cumin.

Cerchio is on the corners of Scout Limbaga and Morato, in Quezon City. Call telephone numbers 351-5279 and 355-0995 for inquiries.

These days we constantly hear Christmas songs everywhere as the spirit of the season inevitably creeps in. The supermarkets and stores are now in a frantic struggle to capture the attention of Christmas shoppers and just as well, for it is the “survival of the cheapest,” considering shoppers’ tight budgets.       

Food is about the most practical gift and is a very welcome one, too. We browsed through some outlets and found a wide selection of gift baskets. Check your favorite supermarkets – Shopwise, Rustan‘s, Metro Gaisano, Makati (in Alabang), South (also in Alabang), Robinsons, Puregold. Each has an array of imported and local products beautifully packaged in attractively made baskets, from the regular models to those designed like reindeers.

Prices range from P600 to more than P7,000, depending on the contents. You may opt for a pre-selected basket or choose your own items and baskets for a more personal touch.

Filipino goodies are perfect gifts as well. Bakery products from the original La Moderna Bakery in Guagua, Pampanga are carried by Butchie’s Recipes located on Wilson Street in San Juan. They are the original bakers who brought their products to Metro Manila. They can make gift packs of pastillas, gorgoria, San Nicolas and sampaguita biscuits. They can also fill orders for typical Pampanga food prepared for gift-giving.

Sister Emma Alday, who manages Casarap, a rural restaurant in San Jose, Cavite, is mounting an exhibit of gift items recycled from waste, nature’s discards and clay. This opens on Nov. 27 at 10 a.m. at the St. Scholastica’s Archives and Museum and runs until Dec. 4. Knowing how creative Sister Emma is, we know her collection will be worth a visit.

Beverage sweeteners are commonly used by those conscious of their calorie intake. There have been conflicting reports on how healthy are these concoctions really are, so we leave the final word on this to the medical experts. Meantime, we have come across at least two brands of local sweeteners made from coconut sugar. One is called Gloto distributed by Sweet Nothings Marketing Corp. This is organically made from the sweet juices of coconut palm’s toddy or tuba. It is a source of vitamins and is supposed to reduce bad cholesterol. However, it is a bit more expensive than other sweeteners available in the market.

E-mail comments and questions to this new address: [email protected]. Ms. Castillo’s former address has been hacked. Please ignore any e-mail sent from that address.