Murray's New Orleans at SM MoA

The family ate at Murray's New Orleans Bourbon Street Ribs, Steak and Oysters a while back.  Ambience was nice, but a bit on the dim side. We came for dinner and there were few people.

Bar Area

The bar area looked cool, but the drinks were expensive with the service charge . I tried a Kiwi Margarita, and it tasted faintly of kiwi, but mostly of alcohol. I'd have liked a bit more kiwi to balance the alcohol. On the up side, the serving was pretty big.

Kiwi Margarita

The food was good, but nothing extraordinary: I liked the meatballs best in one of the dishes they served (can't remember the name) out of many, and for a place that's supposed to cater to a different set of taste buds, it was disappointing… I was expecting something on the spicier side. I also had to complain because of a service-menu issue, but they were very accommodating once it was pointed out.

Would I come back to this place? Probably not.

What would you buy in bars?

Note: If you're reading this and you're underage wherever you come from, I'd like to remind you to follow your home country/state's laws regarding drinking.

I normally drink at a house with my friends, and we tend to drink either beers or mixed drinks. It's why I had that post a long while back. For several reasons, I prefer drinking in a private location, but there are times when I end up outside with them. During these occasions, its either pitchers (to share) or beers for me. Why?

1. I'd rather not get drunk in public

Because it comes with a host of problems from the humiliating to the horrifying. Your Blood Alcohol Levels\ (BAC) increases depending on how much and how fast you drink, but the liver can only metabolise one drink an hour. There are charts available to calculate it, but you only need 1-2 drinks in an hour to get that buzz.

and

2. Liquor, especially hard liquor, is awfully expensive in bars

The mark-up is usually at least twice the store price. This is due to many factors, like why Starbucks is so expensive. It's another story if they're serving something special, but even those you can buy anywhere becomes insanely expensive in the right/wrong places.

For some people, either the former and/or the latter would be fine. But it's just not for me…

Volume Discrepancies

I was drinking with my friends when I noticed the difference between two unopened bottles of Tanduay Ice Peach:

Tanduay Ice Peach

Now, I really like this flavor out of all the Tanduay Ice flavors. It's on par with Gilbey's Premium Strength in terms of cheap alcoholic beverages I like to drink. However, I noticed that the bottle on the right has a significant amount - around one mouthful - more than the one on the left. Is the one on the right overfilled? Is the one on the left underfilled?

Either way, it made me question quality control because of failure of standardization. Or is it normal for bottles to be filled this way? It won't stop me from buying my next bottle - for now. But it does bring to mind other things...

Alcohol in Toners?

Most people would say that you should not use any toner (or face product) that has alcohol in it, and I agree. This is because of it's drying, inflammatory and oil stimulating properties. Thus, for most people, alcohol-free toners are the way to go. And it should rightly be.


However, alcohol-free toners are rare among low-end products in the Philippines. A good, cheap replacement may be a green tea or apple cider vinegar toner. Short shelf life for the first and the smell for the second are drawbacks to these two options. Witch hazel may also be an alternative, but be sure that there is no alcohol in the distilling process or the ingredients list.



On the other hand, I'm not much bothered by the alcohol content in a toner. I live in Metro Manila, Philippines: There is a lot of pollution over here and oftentimes even a double cleansing (oil and water) may not be able to take everything off at the end of the day. I also prefer not to wash my face in public. No other toner works as well in removing all that gunk as well as an alcohol-based one on-the-go or after face washing (You cannot use your toner as a replacement for your cleanser).



It may not be the healthiest solution, but I can live with it (for now). Thus, at the moment, any product that has alcohol content is not necessarily a turn off for me. Call it hypocrisy, recklessness, youthful folly. Maybe I'll be better (or richer) when I'm a bit more grown up. I've seen that some toners are effective, even with their alcohol content. Some faces are also capable of bearing the alcohol. I think I'm one of them. Here's hoping for the best.



I know I will probably regret this in the future.


:(