The One with the Portugese Restaurant

I originally started this blog to be a little bit more adventurous about food. I have been finicky and picky about food ever since I was a little girl. I would choose not to eat at certain places when I feel that it's too commercial (cos come on, who likes to eat fried breading when you're supposed to be eating chicken, right?). Amazingly, I found a restaurant right outside my office that offered great food. 

I'm someone that likes great experiences. I honestly don't mind spending for food if it means great company, amazing beverages and best of all, it's something I won't see off a 24-hour convenience store. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some entitled person that would only eat at the more expensive restos. I would gladly eat at a hole-in-the-wall place if it could offer me something good.  

Fast food burgers are fun only when you don't have time to enjoy yourself. 

I remember, while working for Merlin, I would eat burgers every single day. Why? Cos it's convenient. McDonald's was a 5-minute walk away. I would leave the burger joint with a whopping chicken sandwich (chicken fillet deep-fried to artery clogging goodness, dripping with mayo), large fries (dripping in bad cholesterol) and a huge Coke light (to which the lady in the counter would always give me Coke). It was almost too easy and too convenient to think of food as a way to get by the day and to give you a spurt of energy that you need to train someone, or to come up with a confounding 3-page report of which agent has taken what course or to compute for the ROI of getting people into some 100,000Php training in Ateneo. It's so easy to not think of yourself as a person when your work gets the better of you. Moreover, it's easy to always think you're invincible to artery-clogging elements in food when you're not really thinking of yourself to begin with. 

Now, I kind of know better. Working for StarTek, I'm glad I found people who appreciate good food like I do and tend to think that McDonald's and/or Jollibee would give us heart attack on a bun soon enough. I came in early to work one day and glad I asked a very hungry Belle to eat with me. 

The strip along Jupiter is peppered with date places. It's odd to ask a friend (or a couple of friends) to head into one of those restaurants and sample their best sellers, or to ask for wine and fish or steak. I have always had that mindset - that restaurants tend to be for couples and fast food is for singles. So, I'm pretty glad that people around me don't tend to be as narrow-minded as me. 

It's this nice place called O'sonho in Jupiter. It's got amazing food about and it's a Portugese fusion resto-bar that is open until 11PM (we know cos we stopped by at 10.30PM and it seems like they're about to close). The great thing I can tell you about it is the good service we got from the people. It seems almost too good to be true. 

O'sonho's Peppermint Fishbowl Iced Tea - great for sharing. That's Belle with the bowl. I was half-expecting fish, but hey... That would be a little bit freaky. 

Salmon croquettes as starters 

That's some dory fish fillet swimming in some great saffron sauce. Can someone say yum?! 

They have Peri Peri chicken which swims in some saffron sauce too, with some rosemary rice. I also got to sample some Spinach salad that was cooked to perfection.

It's easy to settle for everyday meals when you're single. I guess it's easy to settle for something when you're single, period. But sometimes, life has a way to let you experience the best in life, with or without anyone. So what are you waiting for? Drive your car to the nearest "date place" you can think of and sample a dish. Trust me, a love affair with yourself is better than no love affair at all.

All pictures of the food (and Belle) were taken with a NokiaE72. The only business phone which I will invest in. 
The burger picture was legally obtained from Stock Xchng. 
Belle is an LMS Administrator who has worked for StarTek for over a couple of years now. Belle has promised me that she will take me on more culinary adventures.