Kenneth Surat

If you told me months back that I will be having brunch in the middle of the desert with a very tropical environment, I will tell you right away “ARE YOU KIDDING?”.

But as we all know, everything is possible in Dubai.We drove around (somewhere along) Emirates Road and found this amazing “brunch haven”.

The Farm makes you feel as if you are dining in one of the posh tropical restaurants (with a modern and western touch) in the world. Coupled with a perfect weather and breeze this place is a perfect place to relax, dine and have a good chat with friends (i miss this kind of place).

As a designer, the ambiance of the place always add up to the “i like it” factor. The Farm so far is up there in my Top List.

When we arrived, they have handed us an Ipad which I was hoping to be a souvenir, but sadly it was their menu (genius). The food was amazing also, which includes a nice vegetable chip to munch on while waiting for our orders.

The food was just fine, a bit on the pricey scale, but all in all it was a great experience. During the time the we have visited, the service was a bit of a downgrade (hoping that it was just that time—let’s give them the benefit of the doubt this time).

Would I recommend this place? YES!—-and i think I will go back there before the nice weather will leave us.

Check out the link to know more about The Farm

 At one point in our “lazy afternoon” days, with 2 of my friends, we thought of looking for the best burger in the country—-this brought us to Abu Dhabi!

A friend of ours told us about this “wagyu burger” that apparently creating a bit of a buzz not only in Abu Dhabi but also in Dubai. So we drove (about) a little less than 2 hours to reach Monte Carlo Beach Club in Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi.

I ordered this one—-> the signature wagyu burger,  mix of french and sweet potato fries (this one i really love) and a truly refreshing glass of Iced Tea.

I love the tenderness (if you can say that for a burger) and how juicy it feels in very bite. If you haven’t tried a wagyu patty yet, I will suggest to get this one and combine it with this sweet and salty side dish.

This photo I took from Monte Carlo Beach Club’s FB Page (see link at the end of this blog) —-this gives justice to what i ordered.

Aside from the wagyu burger, I enjoyed the look of the beach club, complete with white sand. The breeze was lovely (well, good thing it was not the peak of summer when we had our cravings)

photo taken from Monte Carlo Beach Club’s FB Page

photo from Monte Carlo Beach Club’s FB Page

To know more about this place you can visit the following websites:

http://www.montecarlobeachclub.ae/about-the-club/saadiyat-island/

http://www.saadiyat.ae/en/hospitality-and-leisure/monte-carlo-beach-club2.html

https://www.facebook.com/MonteCarloBeachClubSaadiyat?ref=ts&fref=ts

What is Wagyu? (check the wikilink below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagyu

Last Saturday was my birthday, and reaching this milestone age (cough cough** I am, and will always be 26 in my press release) was the reason why I started to really be active in blogging—in short, pagtumatanda nagiging papansin.

I decided today, that instead of receiving gifts I will be the one giving it away. I love how my business can bless people, even as simple as giving a Surat Mini Blank Book away. I made a Q&A promotion in my facebook page and I got a good number of entries. In the end a girl from India won (she was the only one who gave the answer—worthy winner).

Saturday is church time — I love that I will be leading worship in our church the day of my birthday, what a great way to spend my birthday morning, serving God and be with my spiritual family.

For lunch, we headed straight to a meeting with some of our church leaders, to my surprise they prepared a cake for me and aside from that, we had a very tasty Indian meal. Tandoori chicken and filipinized biryani (mixed with minced beef). Thanks to Auntie Candice, she really made the food Filipino friendly—I think I got 4 servings of biryani

Filipino friendly biryani and chicken tandoori ala Candice 

My first birthday cake. I love the flavor—Honey Cake- I can’t believe that this just came from Spinneys, so it means, it is very affordable. I recommend this for those with picky sweet tooth like me. –thanks to Marlon, Uncle Bernard, Reagan and Auntie Candice——aaawwww.

After the meeting, I went home to prepare for my birthday dinner. I booked a Korean restaurant along Oud Metha Road, which I will make a review in a separate blog. Before heading to the restaurant, I finished and took an appointment for my US Visa application first. Please pray for me. Will update everyone once I’ll get the result (hopefully good news).

I invited my closest friends to join me for my birthday dinner. Because it was in a Korean restaurant, it was only appropriate to get the “Korean room” where everyone will sit on the floor. The only problem was, it can only hold a maximum of 20 people, good thing people arrived in batches so the size of the room didn’t become an issue.

 We enjoyed the meal. The service was superb—> I love that in this restaurant, eventhough serving was very demanding they are still smiling (a lot of hands-on stuff for the waitress—like preparing for the bulgogi and bibimbap). All my guests loved the place and said that will go back there.

The very helpful and cheerful waitress (cho) preparing our bulgogi.

Spicy seafood casserole and honey chicken (this is like bonchon chicken but better)

My dinner bday cake—the rice cake version. They surprised me with this, complete with closed lights pa.

The room was filled with laughter and kaaswangan (our term for teasing people, but with good intention). Being away from home, this is the closest set of people that I can call family, so I couldn’t ask for more.

God truly have blessed me for the past year. There’s nothing compared to His love. and with that,I am truly thankful. I am excited what instore for me this year. I am sure it will be great! 

Have a blessed day everyone!

One of my ultimate favorite entree when i was in France! Du melon et du jambon de Parme. The first thought of eating melon and cured pork ham blowed my mind but the first bite of this “favorite european summer dish”  made me feel like i am in a scene from ratatouille! I LOVE IT!..now i am hunting this here in the land of shawarma and hummus!

Last night, after our super rush sale adventure (thank you TopMan), we tried to look for a place to just chill and talk. I’ve been passing by this place every time I go around Dubai Mall but havent really had a chance to experience it….so we tried it!

We ordered 2 chocolate based drinks: Iced Mint Chocolate and Hot Banana Chocolate (which i requested to be iced blended). Both were amazing, although, we are looking for a place to have a chit-chat, the place was kinda busy and we really cant hear each other….but still, i really love the design of the place!—— Systematic CHAOS always catches my attention!

I have been dreaming to have a place like this. A cafe and a bakeshop in a very homey environment. In my case, i want to have an artist studio with an array of canvass—empty and painted— and furniture that i personally designed and created

ok—nuff about my dream.

Cafe Arabia, embodies part of my dream, but fell short on the whole homey feel..it’s almost there. The moment you entered the patio, I thought I will be smelling the scent of freshly baked carrot cake but instead i got fried fish being served for lunch. I ordered an apple cake and cinnamon milk tea and it was still so-so. Although the food was not that nice, i still recommend this place if you just want a place to hangout and chill after a long day from work (if you’re from abu dhabi) or to rest after long hours of driving from a road trip.

After years of trying to move on and accepting that multiply site is not anymore the “in” thing in blogging website I thought of starting a new blog with a search for the best carrot cake in Dubai.

Yesterday I realized that we actually have a Lime Tree Cafe near our office and of course I immediately ordered a slice of Carrot cake…it was indeed heaven on a plate.

I’ve tasted a lot of mouthwatering carrot cakes from Dome, PF Chang, Magnolia and the one’s in Al Nadha (i’ll get you the name soon) but before i’ll blog my verdict, I think it will be fun and filling (yehey) to look for more bakeshops and taste their carrot cakes (MORE MORE MORE CAKES FOR ME!!) ……so watch out for future posts regarding my search for the best carrot cake in town!!!….

- K A N U T O

it’s true when they say that you havent tasted chinese food unless youve been in china!!…..



the pansit is a ..PANSIT
the siopao is…SIOPAO….
and rice….RICE (50 fils/kilo)…everything seems so big and very cheap

I really enjoyed eating here. I then really accepted that my taste buds are authentic asians. Everything about chinese food is just mouthwatering.