There is a quotation I always associated with good manners. I remember it as “Courtesy is the lubricant of social intercourse. I could not find an exact match in a quick Internet search but I did find this: “Politeness is the grease that lubricates the machinery of business.” The quotation is attributed to the Carson City News, Nevada, 15 March 1924.
In the world of business, there are many general and specific skills. Some of these skills have to do with actually doing the work and some of these skills have to do with managing interpersonal interactions. Because business requires often disparate individuals to work together, some type of lubricant is required in order to smoothen rough patches. Courtesy is one of these lubricants but often something more is necessary.
In statements of values, it is often called teamwork. It is that ability to set aside personal differences in order to work together towards a common goal. It requires personal accountability. It requires the ability to manage conflict in a positive manner, which is different from conflict avoidance. More importantly, it requires an underlying trust.
The reality, of course, is that trust must be earned and the foundation of trust is knowledge. It is almost impossible to trust someone you know nothing about.
This is one of those great challenges for managers. How do you create the venue for the sort of social interaction that creates intimacy and trust?
The way to the heart
It’s been said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. In the Philippines, as in many other places, you can probably say that about both men and women. Food is a great social lubricant.
In fact, one of the more important of the little competencies every manager needs to bring to the table has to do with food and drink. The person who can be relied on to know the great holes in the wall, the soon-to-be hot new eating place, is often sought after.
In this week before Valentine’s Day and the Chinese New Year, I thought it would be great to talk about a few places worth checking out.
Not really secrets
It was a book conceived in 2006 and finally published in 2008. I snagged a copy of the book as soon as I spotted it at a bookstore. It was called “Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets.” While doing the research for the book, authors Ines and Elian were constantly asked the question “Which is the best restaurant?” A few years after, the Manila awards were born.
The awardees for Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets, except possibly for Best Newcomer, are rarely unknown. The list is, however, a good place to start if you want to choose a restaurant known for providing quality food in a particular category. It is important to remember that previous year’s winners were declared ineligible for 2014 (and don’t become eligible again until 2016) so it is good to look at previous year’s winners also.
For 2014, the MBKRS lifetime achievement award went to Glenda Barretto of Via Mare. The Via Mare chain includes both the casual café restaurants and the upscale Oyster Bar. Both restaurants provide consistently excellent food and service. These are tremendously reliable restaurants.
The MBKRS list for best restaurants in particular cuisines was unsurprising for the most part, featuring old reliables such as L’Opera, Kashmir, Cyma, Cafe Juanita, Korean Garden and Peking Garden. The Milky Way group dominated their categories, reigning supreme in Spanish (Circulo), Thai (Azuthai) and Japanese (Tsukiji). Others in the list: Antonio’s for continental, Champetre for French, El Chupacabra for Mexican and Ziggurat for Middle Eastern. Except for Champetre and El Chupacabra, neither of which I have tried, I can personally attest to the quality of all of these restaurants.
Best newcomer for 2014 is Blackbird. Housed in what used to be the air control tower of the old Ugarte airstrip in what is now the heart of Makati, Blackbird is a charming little place featuring contemporary European and Asian cuisine. It is operated by Chef Colin Mackay of Sala and People’s Palace.
The list of winners for MBKRS specialty restaurants included my favorite pizza joint, Gino’s. The original Gino’s occupies the second floor of a building that houses Mercury drugstore on the ground floor. It is on Katipunan in the Diliman area and its original clientele were students and residents of the area. It shares space with a doughnut place which is also owned by the Templo couple. Jutes Templo, the mind and hands behind the pizza has been known to declare that he wishes he could get away with serving nothing but pizza. This is, hands down, the best pizza I have ever had outside of Naples. It is a brick oven pizza. When it arrives at your table, you will see the places where the crust is well singed by the extreme heat. The dough is freshly made and formed. They make every pizza to order. They make their own cheese. The burrata, freshly made cheese with cream inside is heavenly. It is served either with extra virgin olive oil and basil or with a Bolognese sauce. The pasta is freshly made every day and the salted egg pasta is a taste sensation. They now have branches in Makati and Podium but, in my opinion, the one on Katipunan is still the best.
Raves and faves
Looloo.com publishes a list of most reviewed restaurants regularly. As reviewers typically focus on newly opened restaurants, this is always a good place to find new places to go. For 2014, their top 10 included three ramen houses (Ippudo, Ramen Nagi and Ramen Yushoken), 8 Cuts (also named best burger joint by MBKRS) and restaurants (Silantro, Wicked Kitchen, Yushoken) from places rapidly becoming havens for foodies.
For ramen fanatics, other places for good ramen include Ikkoryu, Santouka and Wrong Ramen (at BGC).
Foodies who want to avoid sticker shock know to head out of Makati when looking for their fix. The Kapitolyo area in Pasig is home to Café Juanita, the original Charlie’s (burger), Haru (Japanese), Locavore (locally sourced, modern Filipino), Open Kitchen, and Silantro (Mexican). Paranaque has Cru Kitchen (queso de bola cheesecake!), Yushoken and the original Omakase. The San Juan area is a haven for foodies (Greeka Kouzina, Alex III, King Crab). In the eastern part of Quezon City, the eating begins in Katipunan all the way through the campus of the University of the Philippines up to Maginhawa.
There are many great places to eat in the Diliman area, including Gino’s and my favorite burger joint, Snack Shack. Our most recent find, however, is a place that specializes in that heavenly, crunchy delight, the Ilocos empanada. Cheekily positioned right in front of a branch of Farinas Ilocos Empanada, Balay ti Empanada boasts of the best empanada I have ever had outside of Batac. The empanada is made by a lady imported from Batac. The crust is perfectly light and crunchy, the filling generous. This is Ilocos Norte style empanada using green papayas. They make the sausage for the empanada themselves and you can order the sausages to go in packages of 500 grams. They have other things on the menu but this restaurant is worth going to just for the empanada.
Happy eating!
Balay Ti Empanada is at 193 Katipunan Ave. cor. Rajah Matanda. You can email Maya at integrations_manila@yahoo.com. Please like the Integrations Manila Facebook page or visit her archives atmanilastandardtoday.com/author/maya-baltazar-herrera/ or integrations.tumblr.com or www.mayaherrera.aim.edu.