A Taste of Vietnam at Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila

I traveled all the way down south and spent a couple of hours at Crimson Hotel Filinvest City, Manila to get a glimpse of "A Taste of Vietnam", a feature feast of CAFE 8, Crimson's buffet restaurant. During the occasion, they flew in Vietnamese Chefs Vo Van Chien, Nguyen Thi Khanh Ngan and Tran Kim Hoang Trong to make sure everything prepared on the menu will be as legitimate as you were to have it in their home country. It was also witnessed by the Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines and the people from the Vietnamese Embassy. That's a tall order but it was achieved. Using the freshest ingredients, springy rice noodles, duck meat, sweets, it was all so good.

The Pho had broth that was a little oily on top, but just right to have with the noodles and fresh basil and the slices of meat. I had seconds but wasn't a fan of the cilantro so I had to ask them to remove it. Oh yes, the Vietnamese Chefs would all make this for you with fervor!

The Salads were also something to enjoy. The crunchy peanut bits, the vines, the mung bean sprouts and chili were just so good with the fish sauce based dressing. I loved it!

I had to wait for quite a while because the Fresh Vermicelli Spring Rolls were a hit. You'll only see it on the table after 5 minutes, and it'll be gone because most of the customers were having 2-3 each time they go here.

The desserts were based on Rice Cake, a little tapioca with pandan, and some mean Banana cake that's all chunky. I had seconds of these.

Of course, they won't stop you from getting seconds of these Pho. Just let them know your preferred heat level and they have separate bowls for Chili which you can adjust according to taste.

If you think Vietnamese cuisine have barely rich flavors, take this intense Shrimp pot all on your plate and I bet you, you'll love it!

The chicken strips were tender, a bit spicy but I was all for it. They pretty much had this sauteed like a stir fry. Pretty good.

Oh no, this isn't Adobo because it was more on the chili and anis flavor, so it was like liquorice. It wasn't gamey at all.

This was the ceremonial Banh Mi which they prepared with a very long Baguette. They had chicken strips and fresh vegetables with liver pate.

Now you don't have to stare at my photos all day and take the trip to Alabang (just right in front of the South Station) to get your own taste of Vietnam. This will only happen from March 10-18, 2017 so if you're around the area, please do yourself a favor and dine in on Cafe 8!

For more information about their food:

Crimson Filinvest City, Manila

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http://www.crimsonhotel.com/

ASUS Launches ZenFone 2 for Southeast Asia

It was an awesome trip indeed! We had to go to Jakarta, Indonesia to witness the Southeast Asian launch of the ASUS ZenFone 2 and their other products. Yes, it's the phone that is rumored to beat all the competition in its class. It's my first time here so it was something I was definitely looking forward to. I've heard so many things about this place. Jakarta has its own charm, a little dated but they prove to be true to their heritage, a history that dates back centuries rooted in religion, built with wars and culture.

As with ASUS, they sternly believe that in order to become great, they have to do the legwork in making the best phones specs wise but have it affordable that most consumers would be able to get one when it finally comes out of the electronic shelves (rumored to be May). It looks kind of simple on paper but in real life, designing a dream phone/phablet like this would cost an arm and a leg if they did it on their own. ASUS had partnerships with other manufacturers so they could get the best there is architecturally but keep the prices down since these components are made by the experts themselves. It's some sort of synergy, a meeting of minds where you make the best fit hardware for your mobile devices.