Ryuma's Takoyaki

    If you can find it, outside the Ramen section, on a corner facing the Laguna blvd, hidden past all the kitsch and quirkiness of the main Ryuma...is their Takoyaki stall.  

     Ryuma's fare has improved greatly since it first opened.  The menu is extensive, very reasonably priced, with food portions quite satisfying.  Of course the place is decorated in a surreal, gaudy way...and their weekend dance performances quite...unique...but all this can be fun and entertaining. The mariachi is good by the way.

  You'll forgive them anything because the most important thing is, the food is very good.

     Sometime ago I enjoyed this blog post by gabmesina.blogspot.com, which best captured my impression of Ryuma restaurant.  I like how she blogger said it all, through her words and her photos!  

    http://gabmesina.blogspot.com/2013/04/happy-birthday-mum.html

     I've grown to seek their Takoyaki---tastes so much better than those from kiosks in other places here.  Also, an order is Php 20.00 for 4 balls.  At 5 pesos per authentic ball, this is worth the walk (from where another Takoyaki kiosk is located).   I spied students and employees grabbing some to snack on (to lunch on, even).

Socrates' Secret

I do want this place to remain...secret.

Just because it is an ideal place for me to enjoy, in peace.  It is spacious enough for busy dining hours, but I like it spare, like this.

The interiors are very pretty, blue and teal walls...not exactly the usual Greece blue, but just as attractive; various owls in many shapes and forms; comfortable seating,  lovely lamps, interesting curios. Most of all, an inviting children's corner with wood furniture.

moussaka...there is also a vegetarian variant. They serve whole wheat pita 

The food! So delicious, so rich in flavor and scent. Ingredients are obviously not scrimped on. Portions are just-right to generous servings and picture-pretty presentation.  
I was told the chef was trained by a Greek chef.

lamb gyro

The design draws one in, and it's a really good thing the food equals the care put into the decor details. They even have board games for guests to play with...but really, the food is enough for me to come back.  I see this place as perfect for ladies getting together; and apparently, some faculty members of a nearby school have been coming over for the same reasons I would...the calm ambience, and the dishes, of course.

Okay, it is in the Laguna Central Mall...below Shopwise. At the corner of Laguna blvd. and the Tagaytay-Sta. Rosa Highway.It is next to...what happened to...Kenji's Steamboat? Where I enjoyed the Bak kut teh? Sayang...


These next two photos were taken at Ble, in BF Homes, Paranaque...

This was actually the only dining space (plus a table outside) they had.  As of a few weeks ago, they have a new branch on another street also in BF.

Oh, Socrates' menu has a good selection of popular Mediterranean favorites, except maybe for seafood like calamari...which Ble, pictured above, serves.  Ble is in Aguirre St., BF Homes, Paranaque, and from a tiny, 12 or so-seater nook, now has a branch on another street. It is owned by a Greek couple.  There are equally pretty pendant lamps but again, my photo fails to capture them.  Again, love the blues, but they are a bonus for the actual attraction---the food.  

The King (Bee's) view

of the mount Makiling, is gone. Gone. Gone.
Remember my post last year? (ha! Right. Assuming I have followers, am I. My imaginary ones, at least)

http://lagunagingerlily.blogspot.com/2011/10/makiling-versus-makati.html


You don't see the mountain anymore.  Instead, construction has begun on this site, which was where loud events as the San Miguel Oktoberfest were held.  The images on the fences show more "Paseo" shops. It was inevitable.  The darkening of this Santa Rosa-Tagaytay highway.  I won't even take a picture.

UPDATE 04/2013
Okay so I've finally taken a picture.

Now I need a Feng Shui master.  Is there anything auspicious about King Bee facing the mountain?  Now that view is obstructed. Well, c'est la view.

"ate"

     Something really struck me about the shopping style in Paseo de Sta. Rosa, and moreso in SM Sta. Rosa in our first year.  Customers called the sales girls "ate! ate!" and not "miss" as I did all my life.  What was interesting was, I would study the customer calling "ate" and see that she, the customer was actually a middle-aged woman, and the sales girl inevitably not over 30.  If it happened to be a salesman, of course then the customer would say "kuya". Ate Tagalog for "older sister" and kuya for older brother. 

     I remember thinking, I must have missed a "Pinoy Big Brother" paradigm shift beginning from bedrest till birth and throughout my child's infancy.  Is this the norm in Metro Manila now too?  Then again, I do use the Ilonggo "manong" and "manang" frequently when addressing strangers like, the maintenance people, if I don't know them yet, or vendors on the street.  I use it only when they look older than me, though. I also never use "sister" or "sis".

    The most amusing thing about this "ate, kuya" phenomenon is that it was used to address my toddler...who was visibly the only child with me.  We walked into ACE Hardware, which usually has the sales associates lined up along the aisles, like in SM, greeting repeatedly.  So we walked in, and "hi, ate!"..."ate, anong gusto mo..." "ate ate ate!" . My kid was bewildered. I wondered if she thought she had a little sibling hidden somewhere.

    Seriously, it was quite an unusual thing for me, hearing strangers call the toddler customer "ate".  And I really feel like it is a new thing, or confined to the province.  I would appreciate you telling me when this started, and if it has been happening all over the country.  It's not a life-changing thing, it's just interesting.

    Then again, with the opening of more foreign brands shops in Paseo 4, 5 and Solenad 2, I noticed that calling the sales people "ate", and sales people calling US "ate" isn't the norm.  I do note, that the customer service training of these popular retail chains is even better than before. They do serve well.  And here in Sta. Rosa, the sales people are so friendly, many of them have struck up conversations with me.  It's probably due to my lugging the toddler around, but I find that the neighborhood really is friendly.  And for some reason, many of the service crews, waiters, and sales people are residents of Cabuyao, Laguna next door. That ought to be the subject of another post.

Tropical Hut hamburgers

     Why is the Tropical Hut fastfood restaurant in Paseo de Sta. Rosa still open? It can get totally empty some days. When we remember it's there (at the far end of the strip facing the highway), next to Razon's, we remember we like Tropical hut burgers and we would rather have these most of the time than Jollibee's.  I also love their chicken sandwiches, and each time we remember to go to Tropical for a snack, I remember how much I love them.

      The only other Tropical Hut I know of is the one in BF, Paranaque, attached to the only other Tropical Hut grocery I know.  If you are my age and if you grew up in Metro Manila like I did, then you would relate.  You would recall the Tropical Hut (original one?) at the corner of Ortigas and EDSA, across the POEA building. 

       I usually couple my sandwich with their mais con hielo.  I do wish they had sundaes like the other joints.  

       Who is the market?  Well, they were tuned into that FM station that plays annoying insane canned laughter, and this was playing. So figure it out.  What fun, though!

        Eva Eugenio! "Kay rami nang, winasak na tahanan...kay rami nang matang, pinaluha, kay rami nang pusong sinugatan...o tukso, layuan mo ako!"

      As classic as their burgers, I guess haha.  Kind of hokey but I like it this way.