Tomato Mozzarella Roll

This innovative and quite refreshing roll was part of the cocktail spread during Citigroup Philippines' customer appreciation party on the evening of lucky Friday the 13th, at the renowned Top of the Citi.

The roll consists of a spike of tomato amidst green ice lettuce with a drizzling of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then wrapped by a thin slice of mozzarella. Handy salad, for which I happily went back to the buffet table again and again. It is a nice idea to do for a party at home, as an alternative to salad sticks.

The rest of the spread consisted of adobo in profiteroles - using tender chicken adobo flakes with a drizzling of adobo sauce (soy sauce and vinegar cooked to thickness), pasta pomodoro with crunchy prosciutto, chicken yakitori, fish fingers in cream of tartar sauce - breaded slivers of fish which were delicious when crispy hot and just off the pan, vegetable bruschetta, chicken a la calf - from the looks and texture of it, probably young chicken steamed or baked and stripped of skin, and pritchon - deep-fried suckling pig served like a peking duck, layers of a stalk of spring onion, crackling skin and meat smothered with your choice of spicy or sweet sauce and/or sour cream and garlic, all wrapped in a triangular tortilla. Very savory, but seriously artery-clogging, so I didn't opt for a second serving.

All of course catered by the Le Soufflé chefs at Top of the Citi. The bar had stocks of overflowing Chilean red wine, iced tea, dalandan juice. Specially featured was Ellie's roasted calf, which was chopped up, skin and meat in separate trays. Mocha with Spin Art band provided the entertainment. She is quite a figure, this Mocha, with a nice, powerful voice, but that night she was glistening with sweat from the faux fur midriff sweater she was wearing, despite her low-riding skimpily short shorts.

Top of the Citi is open Mondays to Fridays, 7AM to 9PM, but is only accesible to non-Citibank employees and guests in the evenings, with reservation required. It is at the 34/F of the Citibank Tower, literally on top of Citibank along Paseo de Roxas in Makati City, with customer parking in front of the tower entrance.

It is where the hubby and I go for dinner for special occasions, but I sometimes get lucky with an invitation for lunch. I love their version of crepe samurai - served soufflé style, and the specialty adobo plate - boneless chicken in adobo sauce with a salad of lettuce, onions and tomatoes in vinaigrette, and boiled egg slices, which I heard was a winning entry in a celebrated international cookfest. Most entreés liberally sport chopped bacon and that crispy prosciutto, too much for comfort, at least for me, but that doesn't keep me from coming back, once in a while. I just learned to avoid those dishes screaming bad cholesterol.