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| pastitsio (photo courtesy of Jhen) |
It has been a while since I bonded with my friends Karen Anne and Jhen so I was really excited to see them again. It was an advance celebration of sort for my birthday since I have a work schedule on my actual natal day (boo!). So I decided to move the celebration a day before yesterday night instead. I've been head over heels with the delicious food I tried at Cyma Greek Taverna on my last visit so it was very easy for me to choose again Cyma as the venue for this special get-together with my friends. Since I've promised myself before that I would try the other delightful offerings here in Cyma, I deemed this would be the right opportunity to fulfill that promise.
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| iced tea |
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| Roka Salata |
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| Roka Salata (photo courtesy of Jhen) |
It was me and Karen who first arrived at our meeting place in Eastwood Mall. While waiting for the others to arrive, we decided to go straight to Cyma so we could get a more desirable table to dine for our small group. Cyma is one of the bestselling restaurants at the second level of Eastwood Mall Veranda.Thus, nabbing a seat inside may prove to be a challenge. Not that I mind dining al fresco but I feel much comfortable dining inside the establishment.
First to arrive was the fresh arugula salad or Roka Salata (P330.00/solo), a favorite among frequent diners of Cyma. Now I understand why this salad has such a cult following. It's one of the best tasting salad I've tried. The Romaine lettuce was ultra-crisp, the Greek vinaigrette has that sweet vinegary flavor, the candied walnuts provided that addictive crunch, even the slight bitter flavor of the arugula provided a nice balance of flavor.
On this sophomore visit to Cyma, I'd ask yet again if the frappe drink were available. But those drinks eluded me yet again. We were given single served Iced Teas (P160.00/each) for refreshments. Karen initially asked for her drink to be bottomless but our server said they would just refill her drink upon request. When she did asked for a refill, I belatedly learned it costed us P115.00 the single refill. I felt this was a little rip-off since the server didn't thoroughly explained that that would be the case. Good thing, Karen only asked for a single refill and glasses of water were also provided.
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| server crying out "Opa!" |
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| Saganaki- Greek traditional |
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| Pastitsio |
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| Chicken & Seafood Yiouvetsi |
I also ordered the Saganaki, this time I chose the Traditional Greek w/ Kefalograviera Cheese (P350.00). Truth be told, aside from their flaming cheese is really good, I intentionally ordered the Saganaki also for the show. It was enthralling to watch their presentation: from the time that they flambéed the cheese and they cried out "Opa!" till they set the cheese appetizer down to our table, still in awe with the whole fire blazing charade. However, I do prefer the Cyma Original variant of the Saganaki with the mozzarella, parmesan and extra virgin olive oil. The texture of the cheese in the Greek traditional Saganaki was akin to eating an egg omelette that was heavily seasoned with salt. But that was easily remedied when you partnered it with the provided crusty bread.
I was also able to try the Pastitsio or Baked Macaroni (P260.00), which I initially wanted to try on my first visit to Cyma. I wasn't too crazy with the Greek Bechamel sauce on top of the layered macaroni noodles but I'm enchanted with the meat sauce that pooled below the noodles. I scraped as much meat sauce as I can with every forkful followed by some macaroni noodles and the littlest of the bechamel. I drizzled it with some of the provided chili oil and it made this already good macaroni dish into something more wonderful.
I also liked Karen's order of Chicken & Seafood Yiouvetsi (P400.00), a Greek version of paella but instead of rice, they've used rice shaped pasta called orzo. It's one flavorful meal with a very tangy taste from the tomato based sauce. By the time that the main entrees were served, Jhen already joined us and each of us were debating which dish fared better. Karen fought that her ordered dish was better, while Jhen said that the baked macaroni dish was more delicious.
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| Pasta Vassilikos |
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| Pasta Vassilikos (photo courtesy of Jhen) |
While my friends argued between the two aforementioned dishes on which one is better, I already had my pick. And it wasn't even my dish, it was Jhen's. It was the Pasta Vassilikos (P450.00). I ordered this for her since she was quite indecisive which among the menus to order. Since she loves oil based and creamy pasta, I chose this for her. It's penne pasta with chicken loukanika (or chicken sausage) that has a very peppery flavor submerged in a mouth-watering pesto cream sauce topped with cubes of feta cheese. Karen also liked this dish, as well as Jhen, saved for the feta cheese. I almost gasped wind when Jhen dismissively said she didn't like the taste of the feta cheese. I adore feta cheese to the hilt. And this dish was a sure winner for me. Now I know what would be my repeat orders when I went back to Cyma, the Bifteka (Greek Wagyu Burger) and the creamy pesto goodness of the Pasta Vassiliko. Incidentally, both dishes has feta cheese on it. *wink*
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| Karen Anne |
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| Jhen |
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| Karen Anne & Me |
I really appreciate that my friends always take time to meet me whenever I set a get-together. But this night was extra special since this time the reason why we got together was to celebrate my birthday. Never mind if my hair is slowly diminishing. What matters is I do have friends that matters.
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| photo courtesy of Jhen |
Deney and his beau, Lei also joined us at the latter part of this dinner but I'll tell you more about it on my next post when we transferred to another food establishment for some desserts.
2nd Level, Eastwood Mall Veranda
E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave.
Bagumbayan, Libis, Q.C.
709-1955
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