Valentine's Day Date Options

Valentine's Day has always been a tad over-hyped for me.   It's been getting worse over the years.

Case in point, last year, we planned on having a quiet dinner date at Bonifacio High Street/Serendra.  We decided to just wing it and be spontaneous.  Nope.  Didn't happen. 

We paid dearly for our so-called spontaneity.

The entire area was packed!  It was just really noisy and the atmosphere was rife with something close to panic.  Restaurants were either booked up or had a waiting list.  Their hosts and servers were all irritable and frazzled.  Couples were scrambling to get into any restaurant.  Almost every restaurant that night came out with their own overpriced version of their "Romantic Dinner for Two" menu sets.  The cheapest one we saw was about Php 1,000.00++ per head.

We ended up at New Orleans Bourbon Street Steaks & Oysters.  By the time we got seated, we were grumpy, hungry, and completely stressed out!  The food was good and they even gave me a free box of heart-shaped chocolates, but it was just so far off from our imagined "quiet dinner date".  It's quite funny when I think about it now. 

The way I see it, there are three easy steps to beat the crazy commercial Valentine's hoopla:

1. Scout.  Start looking and asking around as early as now.  You might be able to get good deals if you plan ahead.
2. Be creative.  Hey if you've got skills in the kitchen, now would be the best time to show them off.  If concerts are your thing, there's loads of them happening on that day too.
3. Book ASAP.  Whatever it is, be it a concert, a date at a resto or something else, save yourself the stress and the hassle of last-minute plans.  You can do that on any other day of the month.

Since we're talking about this, I've got a Valentines date suggestion that's easy on the wallet,  romantic, and promises to give you a unique experience.

The Chocolate Buffet is a fund-raising event that my home organization (UP SHARP- University of the Philippines' Society for Hotel & Restaurant Progress) does yearly.  I used to help out with this back in college.  They've got a different theme each year and this one has got me intrigued.  For only Php 350.00 you get one main dish which is the Penne in Tomato Cream Sauce (served plated), and unlimited access to the dessert buffet.

Chocolate Buffet:

• Heavenly Chocolate Cake
• Chocolate Caramel Mousse
• Spiced White and Dark Chocolate Truffles
• Chili-Cinnamon Chocolate Mousse
• Chocolate Chunk Cookies
• Moist Peanut Brownies
• Flourless Chocolate Biscuits
• Chocolate Fondue

Everyone I know who's been to this buffet (including me) goes home giddy and high, what with the dizzying amount of chocolate treats available.  You get to help out hard-working college students AND you get a bang for your buck.  Now that's an awesome date. 

I had my heart set on making this our Valentine's date, but unfortunately, duty calls.  Yeah, one of the downsides of catering.  Not that I'm complaining of course.

Anyway, since I'm resigned to the fact that we can't go, I thought I'd share this with you guys to add to your list of possible Valentine's day date plans.  Just an idea.  Lemme know how it goes. :-)