[2020-Feb-19] One of my 2020 goals is to have a more balanced time spent with the 3 things that eats most of my time currently (foodie meetups, photography activities and running) aside from staying at home and binge watching TV series, movies, anime, etc.

When I started doing foodie meetups I also became part of a  few foodie/blogger/vlogger groups. I was almost always the first one to list whenever there are invites posted. As is normal with something new, excitement and eagerness drives me to act first, think later, haha.

This particular restaurant invite was more of a result of my status as a retiree (hence, normally available). When a foodie friend messaged me day prior if I wanted to join a meetup at this restaurant, I checked first if the location is accessible to regular commute and if the cuisine is something new/interesting to me (I used to quickly say yes first before checking, haha). I have seen ‘Lido’ as part of the name of a few restaurants and that ‘asado’, ‘pugon’ are almost always part of the restaurant’s tagline. I am curious both with the ‘Lido’ and the cuisine plus the location is very accessible to regular commute so I said yes.

On the day of the meetup itself, I ended up sharing a Grab with a foodie who has just returned from the Middleeast.  We were the first ones to arrive at the restaurant and we went ahead to take photos and videos.

When the rest arrived and after the usual chitchats, the food were served for picture taking.

And as usual also, after all others have finished taking their photos, I did a quick rearrangement of the flatlay to include ‘Bato’, hehe.

Of course, sampling the food comes next. The photo above shows the ‘samples’ I took for my first plateful.

Shrimp Foo-Yong is my top favorite among the food served. I have tried a version elsewhere that didn’t have any sauce but was still moist inside and was very flavorfull. This Lido CocinaTsina version reminded me of that. I am one who likes sauce/soups so this version I really like too.

The Pugon Roasted Asado was moist and tender with mild flavors.

If I were to name a least liked dish, it would be the squid. The squid meat was cooked just right so it was tender but the flavor is not distinctive/strong enough to make you order another one (unlike the Shrimp Foo-Yong). It is not a bad dish but less stellar compared to the rest.

After the meal, we were also served their coffee.

I like their coffee. Not too bitter nor too sour nor bland. I will definitely order coffee whenever I will eat here.