By CJ Juntereal I get asked for restaurant recommendations a lot, and it’s always difficult for me to suggest restaurants to people. Food likes and dislikes are subjective, and something I love may not be what another person loves. When making a recommendation, I always ask what people want to eat and if they have a budget. And then I go ahead and give suggestions from among the restaurants I like. I’d like to share with you three of the restaurants that I have been suggesting pretty frequently over the past couple of months. Crystal Dragon I love Crystal Dragon’s quiet elegance, and its intimate size. I also like their idea of offering mini lauriat menus for two or three people. It makes it a great place to hold quiet lunch meetings. Crystal Dragon’s executive chef Bong Jun Choi and chef de cuisine Chan Choo Kean serve dishes that are beautifully plated and subtly flavored, often with a modern aesthetic. At its heart though, Crystal Dragon is still premium Cantonese. Last week I suggested Crystal Dragon to some friends who were looking for a restaurant for their family’s Chinese New Year dinner—and then I shut my eyes and crossed my fingers because their 90-plus-year-old matriarch was picky and traditional about her Chinese food. After their dinner I received a message—mama had loved the food, and asked for seconds on the pickled pig’s ears appetizer! Now, I’ve never had the pickled pig’s ears, but I’d like to think that some of my favorite dishes won them over, too. There’s a seafood-filled steamed rice roll with a fragile wrapper and a surprise crunch inside, and deep-fried dumplings with a crisp, lacy exterior that are filled with plump prawns and salted egg-yolk. They are shaped like swans and are almost too pretty to eat. Crispy rolls filled with cod fish and foie gras may not be very traditional, but they are decadent and celebratory. Among the main dishes, my latest discovery is wok-fried beef tenderloin with a fragrant Sichuan pepper sauce. The chefs strike the balance between salty and barely sweet, making it a dish that begs for a bowl of rice. Chicken with walnuts and hoisin sauce is tossed in a sticky sauce and garnished with candied walnuts. I don’t often like sweet main dishes, but this one is balanced and it works well. The chefs also treat their vegetables with lots of respect, instead of just as an afterthought. Sautéed celery and mushrooms with macadamia nuts had each vegetable cooked perfectly until just crisp-tender—nothing wilted, nothing over-salted, and nothing drowned in garlic which is the default way many Chinese restaurants cook their vegetables. Crystal Dragon at the newly re-branded Nuwa, City of Dreams Manila is open during lunch, from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m. with last orders taken at 2:30 p.m., and dinner starting at 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. with last seating at 10 p.m. and last orders at 10:30 p.m. Call 02 246-9069 extension 457 for more information. Green Pastures “Pinanindigan ko talaga,” Chef Robby Goco told me when I asked him why he was going the extra mile to make his own sriracha, oyster sauce, banana ketchup, and special marinades that don’t use soy sauce. Goco has made a commitment to use only ingredients and produce from local farms and ranches, and sustainable fisheries in Green Pastures, his farm-to-table organic restaurant. He also avoids refined sugars. In fact, the only imported ingredient he uses is olive oil. Green Pastures recently launched a Filipino menu, an addition to the restaurant’s generally Western-style menu. “I cook Filipino at home all the time,” Goco explained, “But I have been avoiding the industrial flavoring used by most people and restaurants. It’s been a challenge, but I want to bring Filipino food back to luto ni lola.” Some favorite dishes from the new menu were jackfruit karekare, ukoy made from plump, whole river shrimp, shreds of orange sweet potato and carrot, and a coconut vinegar and cilantro dipping sauce, binakol, Manila clams steamed with coconut water, ginger, lemongrass, oyster mushrooms, and squash blossoms, yellow adobo, a Goco family heirloom recipe that uses turmeric to add both color and a hint of spice, duck a la Cubana, slightly sweet duck hash served with edamame, saba banana, fried eggs, and kale, and Philippork, basically a lechon sandwich with Bacolod cacciocavallo cheese and bitter greens. Another standout was Naaaks! fried chicken, inspired by a popular restaurant’s local-style fried chicken. Goco’s take uses organic chicken, a special marinade that he developed, fried sweet potatoes, and his own homemade banana ketchup. The result is even tastier than the chicken that was its inspiration. I used to suggest Green Pastures to people looking for great salads, but I think that now, people looking for healthier versions of Filipino favorites will also appreciate the recommendation. Green Pastures is located in Shangri-la Mall and at the Net Park Building, 5th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City. The Café at Hyatt City of Dreams I’ve always pointed friends looking for a good buffet in Hyatt COD’s direction. Their prices have gone up a bit recently, but they have also taken the quality and variety of their food offerings up a notch. The Sunday Sparkling Wine Brunch is a great example. The price is P2,999nett (with alcoholic drinks) and R2,799nett (without alcoholic drinks) but the variety and quality of offerings have also scaled up. The cold seafood section features small, sweet fine de claire oysters flown in from France, and local slipper lobsters. The oysters alone make everything worthwhile. They are perfect with sparkling wine, or even a crisp white wine (the alcoholic beverages include sparkling wine, red and white wine, house pour spirits, and selected cocktails). The Sunday Brunch now also includes indulgent servings of pan-fried foie gras served on bread that has been fried in foie drippings. I eat my foie two ways—with the bread as an appetizer, and on top of slices of “The Beast,” The Café’s signature Snake River farms wagyu beef steamship, a giant haunch that takes 72 hours to prepare. Maybe because it’s an American hotel, the Hyatt is serious about its beef—serving very good grilled beef short ribs with tangy chimichurri sauce, and slow braised beef shanks in red wine sauce. The Sunday Brunch also includes Spanish jamon iberico, and assorted charcuterie and cheeses. I also think that The Café has very good Asian food—including fresh sushi, buttery salmon sashimi, a variety of noodle soups (including laksa), and great siomai, Chinese roasted meats like duck and charsiu pork, and a serious Filipino section that serves lechon, crispy pata, and a pretty authentic sisig and pinakbet. Another section serves up all sorts of deep-fried goodies like fries, shrimp tempura, and calamari. And the dessert station has a soft serve ice cream machine for sundaes and milkshakes. Call 02 691-1234 ext. 1162 to book a table or reserve online at http://thecafe.reservation.hyatt.com. Children 12 years below enjoy 50 percent discount, while children below six dine for free when accompanied by full-paying adults.   Email me at [email protected] or follow me on Instagram: @eatgirlmanila.