Valentine's 2014 at Cafe 1771

I never fancied myself as a romantic. Although I do love rom-coms. I also used to write killer love letters (for others mostly) and may have penned tens of poems through the years. But I do think it's just the 'artist' in me trying to express myself on a common topic which is romance.

However, I do like doing things for people that I care for. I don't do it everytime, but I try to do them when it matters.

During our first decade of being together, Valentine's always meant sending flowers to Chea. The last few years however, found me passing on the flowers, and just having dates. Ever since getting married, we had to sacrifice a few things to make our finances work. So instead of splurging on flowers, we spent the money on dinner.

Those times, we just decide on which restaurant to go to after we meet up after work. With all the restaurants in Metro Manila, you won't run out of places to have dinner. This year, however, I wanted to pick a fancy restaurant for our Valentine's date. And since the fancy ones might be fully booked during that date, I decided to pick one and make a reservation in advance.

I'm not as up to date when it comes to restaurants as compared to Chea. So I played it safe by choosing Cafe 1771. It's a known fancy restaurant in Ortigas. And since it's not in Makati, we won't worry too much about the Valentine's Day traffic.

So about two weeks from Valentine's Day 2014, I placed a call to Cafe 1771 in El Pueblo and made a reservation. They asked for my name, number and email address so they can send me the menu.

They also asked me which time I'd like to reserve as they had two batches: 6pm and 8pm. I chose the latter as Chea would be coming from Makati and being the second batch we wouldn't be in a hurry to finish our dinner.

I got the email later in the day, and found them to be a bit pricey. The menu was different from their regular fare, which are actually affordable, so it kinda surprised me. With their prices for Valentine's, I could afford some of the more expensive eat-all-you-can restos in town. But then again, i don't think a buffet dinner is what you'd call romantic.

A few days before February 14, I got a call from Cafe 1771 confirming the reservations. And I got a text again on the day itself regarding a 15-minute waiting period, or they'd give away our table.

I was anxious the entire day of the 14th, hoping Chea would like my choice of Cafe 1771. I told her the previous day that I made a reservation for dinner but didn't tell her where we'd have it. So it's a surprise.

A quarter to 8pm, I headed to Cafe 1771 as Chea was still at Pioneer, so I could make it in time and they wouldn't give away our seats. I arrived a few minutes before 8pm, checked in with the receptionist. They got my name wrong, fortunately, no one came along having the same misspelled name.

I got ushered to the second floor, which was the Wine Bar. I waited for Chea for a few minutes. She then texted me saying she was looking for somewhere to park. I replied and asked her to meet me in front of Cafe 1771.

I went down and saw her getting of her car parked beside McDonald's El Pueblo. I went to her, and walked her back up to our table at the Wine Bar. Our seat was at the center of the usually closed off area of the Wine Bar. Since they were expecting a lot of patrons, they opened up the area for diners.

Most of the tables were taken by couples, although some were taken up by groups. I actually felt under dressed with my long sleeved button up shirt and jeans as some of the guys wore coats. Good thing one or two guys, who looked like college students, only had cotton tees and jeans, so I guess I'm doing ok.

The lights were dim, and they had candles on the table, so the ambiance was pretty nice. Most of the diners were drinking wine, but Chea and I never really got into wine drinking so we went with water and a fruit shake.

Chea ordered the tiger prawns while I ordered the lamb. Both cost more than 1,000 pesos each but they were among the cheapest in the menu.

We waited for a while so we chatted. There was a girl playing the guitar by the windowsill and she was pretty good. I wish I could play the guitar that well.

A bit later, the food came. And they were delightful. I won't say that they're worth every peso, but they're good enough that you'd forget the expenses while you're savoring each bite.

The tiger prawns were big and tasted great. The lamb was all meat. I never liked some of the lamb dishes I ate before since they're often fatty. But this one kinda erases all my previous bad impressions.

Chea ordered a dessert, which actually came with a promo. They take instant pictures of you and you get to keep the picture. At least we didn't have to ask somebody to take a picture of us with our phone anymore.

Damnit. The image keeps getting flipped.

We were finished in a little over an hour. So after paying the bills, we went home.