I can't pinpoint what it is exactly but the vibe is quite different.  I feel its brighter and more casual.  

Food

Complimentary Bread

As soon as the Complimentary Bread was served, I knew it was the same food I loved.

Soup

♥ Goulash (330 php)

Signature Dishes

♥ Gnagi (860 php)

♥ Fresh Corned Beef (690 php)

Sausage

♥ Sausage Platter (1,550 php)

Raclette Grill

La Parisienne (1,190 php)

La Parisienne (1,190 php)

♥ Wagyu Skewers (1,490 php)

The  La Parisienne is good but the Wagyu Skewers is a way better upgrade.

♥ Wagyu Skewers (1,490 php)

Just watching and waiting for the Wagyu Skewers grilled slowly makes me salivate.

♥ Wagyu Skewers (1,490 php)

The raclette cheese and other vegetables complements the Wagyu Skewers well.

Fondue

♥ Classic Toblerone Chocolate Fondue (650 php)

♥ Classic Toblerone Chocolate Fondue (650 php)

Drinks

Fresh Mango Juice (150 php)

Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
It's great that Old Swiss Inn Makati is open 24 hours to make quality Swiss dishes available.  If we need to vouch for this time-tested establishment to convince you to dine here to enjoy the fun in eating Swiss then you have our vote.

Last Mother's Day, my siblings and I decided to treat our mom to a dinner Ziggurat Cuisine.  


It's really difficult to decide what to give to a woman who has given you her life and asking nothing in return.  She is always saying that she's already happy as things are.  Yet, we love her so much so we want to give her the world.  But, right now, we couldn't afford to treat her to a trip around the world so we the next best thing is to bring her to Ziggurat Cuisine that offers over 200 dishes from India, the Mediterranean, Africa and Middle East. 


Ziggurat Cuisine is located at Tigris Street and Durban Street near Makati Avenue.  It's unique facade really stands out.
The dining area is quite limited so aside from the long table on the side, small tables are set up with pillow seats.

Utensils are set up as soon as our orders are taken.

In honor of Mother's Day, I would like to dedicate this post to my mom.  I know everyone claim's that their mom is the best.  Well, my mom really is the best person I've ever encountered.
Most people are driven by pride, self-achievement, materialism and survival instincts - all reared towards ourselves.  But, my mom is different.  She's a giver.  She does everything for others and never (not exaggerating here!) thinks of herself.   I know I will never be as great as my mom.  (although I always strive to be).   But, I know that where I am and where I will be is because of my mom.   Because of my mom, I can positively view life with all its beauty and colors.  I've seen my mom's heart radiate through all kind of obstacles and hardships.  Her non-stop laughter, happiness and feeling of gratitude towards God and the world is unwavered by losses and gains.  And, every moment is so wonderfully bright as we enjoy working diligently, eating out, dancing, singing, watching movies, trying  new things and exploring the world.  

Food

Shurabat/Soupes/Sopas/Zuppas/Soups

♥ Canja (75 php)

The Canja is a Moroccan chicken soup with lemon and mint.  This is one of the most refreshing soups I've ever encountered.

♥ Indian Khumbi Yogurt (90 php)

The Indian Khumbi Yogurt is a creamy mushroom soup with a interesting spices: cumin, pepper, lemon and garlic.

Middle Eastern Kebabs

♥ Scallop Kebab (300 php)

The Scallop Kebab is one of the best kebabs I've ever tried.  I didn't even know you could make a kebab out of scallops.   The light butter, lemon, paprika and garlic worked wonderfully.

Rabbit Kebab (300 php)

We were all determined to try something exotic so we chose the Rabbit Kebab.  It was prepared using an early Arabian recipe.  It was heavily seasoned with paprika (something we failed to appreciate) with a hint of lemon, parsley, salt, mustard and olive oil.  It was so rubbery and difficult to chew. 

Rice and Grain

Turkish Eggplant Pilavi (100 php)

The Turkish Eggplant Pilavi  is a bowlful of long grain rice with small slices of eggplant, tomatoes and garlic.  We all loved this!

Persian Tadiq (120 php)

The Persian Tadiq is an Iranian rice with egg and crispy socarat (slightly burnt parts).  It is said to be enjoyed by Persian nobilities but I found it too plain and boring.

♥ Himalayan Mushroom Rice (100 php)

The Himalayan Mushroom Rice is a cup of premium Basmati rice with mushroom, cummin, fennel and anise.  I highly recommend this! 

Bread

Ethiopian Injera (35 php)

The Ethiopian Injera are cooked like moist pancakes and taste like sour dough. 

Speecialties from Around the Mediterranean

♥ Moussaka (150 php)

I've long been searching for the best moussaka.  I think their Moussaka is what I'm searching for!  

The Great Curries of India and Pakistan

♥ Bombay Yellow Curry Chicken (250 php)

The Bombay Yellow Curry Chicken is a spicy coconut milk and yellow curry based chicken dish spiced with tumeric, garam masala, chilies and ginger.  I loved this!  I'm going to try more indian curry from now on. 

Exotic African Delights: Northern Africa

♥ Duck Tagine M'ghdour (375 php)

The Duck Tagine M'ghdour is duck stew which has a very rich and bold flavor from the duck meat being lengthily simmered and recooked in the zesty tomato sauce.  It is also topped with egg.

Sweet Temptations

♥ Baklava (90 php)

Most baklavas I've encountered are expensive and tiny.  Their Baklava was not only generous in portion but its the best phylo pastry with honey, almonds and walnuts I have ever had!   I noticed that they don't use pistachio like the others but I loved it!

Drinks

Cold

Cameroonian Guava Shandy

The Cameroonian Guava Shandy is very smooth, bubbly and fruity.

♥ Einab Cold Arabian Flower Tea

Ladies will surely enjoy the sweet and fragrant Einab Cold Arabian Flower Tea.

Hot

♥ Indian Chai Tea

The Indian Chai Tea is a nice and soothing spiced and slightly sweet taste after-meal hot drink.


Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
I've never encountered such a small place with a huge variety of worldly cuisines like Ziggurat Cuisine.  I highly recommend this!  I hope to be back to try more of their exotic culinary wonders from around the world.

The family is constantly in search of new gastronomic adventures so for my mom's birthday I book us a reservation at Al Batra Restaurant & Coffee Shop.  I found this restaurant through Tripadvisor.  This is one of the rare halal restaurants in the Metro.  It's conveniently found at the heart of Makati too.

It has a huge green and white sign.  

But, it took as awhile upon parking to notice that the entrance is at the side as it is located on the second floor above 7-11. 


It was surprisingly very spacious and segregated into two parts: the cafe area with small table able well-cushion loft seats with a window view of Jupiter Street.   


and the dining area with big round black tables near the kitchen and the frozen fish display area.  There were foreign customers at the cafe area but we were the only group at the dining area.  Did I mention they are open 24 hours? 

The supervisor welcomed us and was quite hospitable but for the first time ever we've encountered this peculiar problem: they ran out of utensils so half of our group had to use plastic utensils (which was bought from 7-11).  The supervisor was kept apologizing about it stating that Middle Easterners only use their hands when eating.  Is this true?  So with plastic spoon and forks at hand, let's proceed to the food.  We occupied 4 big round tables.  And, there were many seating yet to be availed of so the shortage really surprised us.

Food


Cold Appetizers

Mixed Al Batra Appetizer Small (180 php)

Since our table wanted to try as much as we could of the menu selection starting with the appetizer, we ordered the Mixed Al Batra Appetizer.  It had Hummos (chickpeas and oil), Mutable (mashed eggplant oven baked with yogurt in olive oil), Tabula (mix chops vegetable salad with burgol seasoning in olive oil), Green Salad (carrots, tomatoes, cucumber,special spices olive oil)  served with 2 Al Batra Bread.  Although I usually love flat bread, the Al Batra Bread did not appeal to my liking because it was neither soft nor crunchy.  We also wanted to try the Sambusa best seller but out of stock.

Main Dishes

Meat Biryani (450 php)

We had no idea that the Meat Biryani would be goat meat with biryani spices in biryani rice.  I was the only one who appreciate this. 

Chicken Curry (390 php)

Being a curry enthusiast, I ordered the Chicken Curry.  It was good but it failed to stand out against the rest of our orders.  
 

♥ Broasted Chicken (360 php)

I'd never imagine myself ordering Broasted Chicken in a Middle Eastern before but our excited parents were so sold by our table's server that they ordered one for each table.  I'm glad they did because it was really good!  It was served with fries but we opted for rice.

Grilled

♥ Meat Kebab Small (300 php)

My cousins husband Matt who was the only man on our table was yearning for some meat so we ordered the Meat Kebab.  

♥ Meat Kebab Small (300 php)

The Meat Kebab is served covered under two thick and warm Al Batra Bread.  It was tender and succulent.  It is one of the best kebab I've ever tried!
 

♥ Lamb Chops Small (390 php)

The Lamb Chops was served skewer-style with grilled onions and bell peppers in between but without the stick. 

♥ Lamb Chops Small (390 php)

The Lamb Chops was another hit among us!  But, the experience would have been less tiring if we were not using plastic utensils to dissect the big chunks. 
 
Fresh Seafood

♥ Hammour (Lapu Lapu) (100 php/100 grams)

As soon as we arrived at Al Batra, my uncle was enthusiastic about their very affordable fresh seafood so he ordered one steamed Hammour (commonly known to us as Lapu-Lapu) for each table.   I usually encounter steamed Lapu-Lapu during our lauriat Chinese dinners but I have to admit, this tops all of those.  They use different herbs and spices which works like magic.  It was cooked with outstanding precision too.  All tables were amazed with the soft, moist yet solid consistency of our beautiful steamed Hammour.
 
Rice

Kabsa Rice (120 php)

Kabsa Rice is a tomato based rice.  It's my first time to try this but it felt as familiar as eating any tomato-based stew with rice.

Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
If you're looking for impressive authentic Mediterranean cuisine, definitely try Al Batra Restaurant & Coffee Shop.  We were all very satisfied with all our orders.  It is one of the best we've tried.  We'd love to come back...  Hopefully they have utensils enough for us by then and the air-conditioning is better.