Return to the HELLENIC TAVERN

A year ago,
I discovered this quaint tavern in the highlands.

And that moment of serendipity
resulted in a drinking session that was One For The Ages.

My best friends and I swore a Black oath to Johnnie Walker,
that we would be back every year hence,
on the birthday of the inimitable HonHon,
whose account of that night
convinced Awesome Anton and MarketMan
to go up and Meet the Greek:

Emmanuel, a.k.a. MANOS,
who has since become a friend of mine.


Last weekend,
the complete cast of "We Love Liempo",

those family-friendly inveterate inebriates,
including Doc Elmo who flew in from Legaspi City,

returned to Manos Greek Taverna.


I arrived at 12:30am,
straight from the wedding of Chef Ricky Estrellado,
the Villamor Airbase "brat"
who worked his way up from GoodAh! on Sucat Road
all the way up to NOBU in New York.

Immediately,
I ordered the Feta Fries,

freshly-cut wedges of potatoes fried in olive oil
(the only oil used in this tavern),
topped with premium feta cheese.




In honor of Manos' homeland,
this was accompanied by OUZO
(a very reasonable P60/shot),
the anise-based national drink of Greece.



I usually disdain salads,
except when I'm in Baguio's Cafe' by the Ruins,
or here in Tagaytay's Taverna.

This simple yet succulent salad
goes perfectly even with our toxic mixture of
OUZO,
RED WINE,
SAN MIGUEL PALE PILSEN,
JOHNNIE WALKER BLACK,
and
JACK DANIEL'S BOURBON.





Before we knew it,
it was:

We all started seeing double...


And as we bade goodbye to the friendly staff
who allowed us to play our Beatles and Hall & Oates CDs,


and endured our pathetic barkada singalongs
of "Eres Tu" and "Umagang Kay Ganda",


it was way past 4am,
and to our bleary, alcohol-soaked & bloodshot eyeballs,
our beloved Greek Taverna already looked like this...

It's never looked better!!!

P.S.

Socky, I know that you would love to smote these
with some Old Testament-style extreme prejudice;

here's how those Marshmallow Lampposts on the Tagaytay Ridge
look like at night, from a drunken perspective,
perhaps the only way they can be appreciated: