After three months of delivery food and making and eating home-cooked meals, it was very nice to sit down and be served again, as restaurants have reopened. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until my son Turo and I drove to Eat Fresh in Marikina for takeout. It was already allowing dine-in but with safety protocols. So we sat at our table and just relaxed. What a simple yet pleasant experience.

We had chilled, freshly made juices, salt and pepper squid, char siu pork over braised noodles, stir-fried Hong Kong noodles with peanut sauce and beef tendon. I wanted to hug the servers. I was very happy.

At Rockwell, Wooden Spoon has also opened for sit-down dining. It’s still far from what it used to be, as people still have to adjust to the new normal.

I, too, am trying to adjust. I was at Wabi Sabi, the vegetarian restaurant in Timog, Quezon City, and boy, did I also miss their food. I had my usual vegetarian banh mi and vegetarian chicharon.

I have a few recent discoveries. Match Point has delicious chicken relleno and galantina. The relleno comes with dripping gravy sauce, the galantina with light creamy sauce. I had these not only with rice but also with whole wheat pan de sal (tel. 0917-5225450).

Dedet de la Fuente’s Mamachang Machang is a giant machang loaded with mushrooms, red eggs, chestnuts, Chinese chorizo and tender pork. All this one finds in the core of a sticky rice cone. This is the best machang I have tried (tel. 0917-8660662).

I also got to try a delicious deep dark chocolate cake and cappuccino cake. One look, and one would know the maker went to culinary school. Simply yet beautifully made. It’s not too sweet, the icing is outstanding, and the cake nice and moist. It reminds me of the early days of Cookie Monster! (Follow @bakes_by_maria on Instagram).

It is nice to see the dining scene slowly heading back to normalcy. That’s great news for us restaurateurs. I also pray Meralco goes back to its normal rates and not the shocking bills it’s been sending many of us lately.