thandie newton – Jellybeans in the City

I decided to treat a dear friend from the office to lunch at Kandle Cafe for her birthday.

Why?

Because a) it’s been years since I last ate there; b) I remember the place to be very Instagrammable and my friend and I are both IGers; and c) it’s reasonably near our office which means we can get back from our lunch break on time.

Kandle Cafe initially made a name for itself with its coffee brews and blends, given that the owners, siblings Khryss, Don King, Leslie and Eli Ong (from a play on whose names came the resto’s moniker – KANDLE), were all passionate about coffee culture.

The place is also marked by a design aesthetic that combines warm and homey interiors with nature’s beauty outside.

Along the pathway leading to the dining area, for example, abound plants and water feature installations. The steady sound of trickling water and the sight of verdant growths did have a calming effect on my work-frazzled nerves. Wood and metal furniture add a modern touch to the al fresco setting.

Inside, the sprawling space is lit with warm lighting, showcasing the fun and quirky collection of bric-a-bracs and whimsical accents.

This place is designed to be memorable, and to be a setting for great memories.

For our memorable birthday lunch, we ordered:

Chilean Mussel Pasta (Php380). Chilean mussels sauteed in a garlic and white wine sauce served on top of al dente tagliatelle and topped with grated parmesan.

Pork Tonkatsu (Php350). Tender pork loin stuffed with cheese, breaded and deep-fried to a golden brown, served with house-made teriyaki sauce, sesame cabbage salad and blue rice (yep, the color comes from the edible flower they serve it with).

For dessert, we indulged in a moist and heavenly Carrot Bar (Php100), a Lava Cookie (Php55) and a Maple Cookie with Bacon (Php80).

While the food items were definitely a sight to behold, there were hits and misses upon eating them. I think that the pork tonkatsu may be better accompanied by the sweet and peppery tonkatsu sauce rather than a teriyaki sauce which does not bring out as much of the pork’s flavor as I would like. The lava cookie, on the other hand, was lacking the rich chocolatey taste and gooey texture that I’ve come to expect.

That said, we loved the interplay of textures and flavors in the Chilean Mussel Pasta and the moist and richly sweet Carrot Bar.

The servers were also attentive and knowledgeable about their offerings, citing features or ingredients that make their dishes unique as they are serving them.

I definitely wouldn’t mind returning here for a nice and relaxed coffee break so I could try out the resto’s celebrated brews and more of its pastries.

Kandle Cafe is located at 113 Mother Ignacia Avenue, Bgy South Triangle, Quezon City, Sundays to Thursdays, 11am to 11pm and Fridays to Saturdays from 11am to 12mn. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 2 3724504. Or you can book your table via Zomato like I did. 🙂

We’re back in Westworld, thanks to an exclusive advance screening held by HBO and SKY.

Held at the Narra Rooms in the posh Shangri-la at the Fort Hotel last April 19 (four days before its TV premiere on April 23, Monday), the event was attended by selected SKY subscribers as well as members of the press and social media influencers.

By the time this post is published, the episode should have aired on HBO. For those who haven’t watched it yet, be aware that there will be spoilers below!

So far, my thoughts on the episode titled “Journey Into Night” are:

The inmates have taken over the asylum. When we left Westworld during last season’s finale, it was on the brink of chaos. Now we see the aftermath: bodies of both hosts and their human guests are littered everywhere, clear evidence of violent delights that have violent ends.
They are out for blood. Former Sweetwater sweetheart Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) has fully embraced her inner Wyatt. Together with her posse which includes earnest cowboy Teddy Flood (James Marsden) and femme fatale Angela (Tallulah Riley, now promoted to series regular) are hunting down the human guests who were present during Robert Ford’s (Anthony Hopkins) presentation of his new narrative (which has the same title as this episode – Journey Into Night), and subsequent death at Dolores’ hands (yes, he’s really dead as evidenced the maggotty rotting corpse in the beach scene which takes place a few weeks after the shooting). Having broken free of the restriction from killing humans, the hosts are rounding up all the other human survivors and shooting them down or lynching them.
A mother’s love knows no bounds. Former brothel madam Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) is continuing her search for her daughter in her past narrative, despite knowing that “it is not real,” enlisting the willing assistance of notorious bullet-ridden outlaw Hector Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro) and the reluctant one from narrative designer Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman).
Worlds are colliding. Last season, we discovered that Shogun World exists. Now, thanks to a robotic carcass of a giant robot Bengal tiger which the SWAT peeps say wandered too far from home, we can surmise that there’s probably a Jungle World as well.
The Man in Black (Ed Harris) still has something to keep him busy. Last season, he was told by Ford that the maze (the object of his obsession which turned out to be the hosts’ journey to consciousness) was not for him. In this episode, he was told by Ford’s young robot clone that he is now in the game.
Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) is acting all shady again. We know that this good-hearted head of behavior can be used as a weapon. Seeing him in a series of timejumps, from waking up to security personnel rounding up hosts for the slaughter to his run for survival with Delos director Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), we know he will prove be central to more violent ends from violent delights.

Westworld Season 2 premiered on HBO (SKYcable ch 168 HD | 54 SD) on April 23, Monday at 9am with a primetime encore telecast at 10am. A new episode airs every Monday at 9am.

New Westworld episodes will also be available for streaming within the same day on HBO Go, HBO’s online streaming service exclusively available to SKY subscribers.

Disclosure: I work for SKY and part of my job is promoting its products and services, especially the content it provides to its subscribers. I consider this privilege one of the biggest perks of my job: being able to share my love for TV shows and movies and the experience of watching and talking about them with like-minded people.

Tag: thandie newton

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