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An Essential Doc On Something Else
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Dr. Leonor Cabral-Lim on dining
Doctors will always be doctors. But when they aren't working as doctors, what occupies their time? In this section, a look at doctors who have a life outside their practice
Neurologist Leonor Cabral-Lim is a woman of passion. She displays that passion in her work and the various causes she takes such excellent charge of. In the National Epilepsy Awareness Week in September last year, she led the Philippine League Against Epilepsy (PLAE) in a nationwide salvo of lay forums, specialists' workshops, and fundraising activities.
Overheard during one of PLAE's super-busy meetings: "It's difficult to say 'no' to Dr. Lim when she wants something done," a fellow neurologist remarked.
That passion extends outside work, although, work and pleasure do mix occasionally. When Lim unwinds, her eyes, ears, sense of smell, and taste buds are kept open always for new gastronomic experiences.
"You always want to taste something new," she muses, especially when it comes to food and places that serve food. She gets really excited at her finds, which can be from reading newspapers or an introduction by friends, and urges friends and colleagues to sample them with her.
One of her favorite places to hang out at is A Taste of L.A, located along Roces Avenue near Tomas Morato in Quezon City. She likes going there because it's convenient to go to, being near Chinese General Hospital, where her practice is, and her home at Araneta Avenue.
Serving dinner until 2 A.M. (except Sundays), it's also one of the few fine-dining restaurants she can have very late meetings with colleagues. Of course, there's the spinach pizza--the particular "something" in a restaurant that keeps her coming back for another taste.
She says that whenever she discovers this something, "I want my friends to try it."
Here are four other restaurants that Lim frequents. "I like places that are not noisy, so you can talk--pero ako maingay ako," she quips in good humor.
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L'Eau Vive in Asia (Paco, Manila) Run by nuns, this restaurant offers French cuisine. Lim loves its onion soup with gruyére cheese and duck's liver pâté. One time, she had lunch there and was treated to bongo drum music by the nuns.
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Seafood Wharf (Army Navy Club Compound, Manila) for seafood that's still alive and squirming. People bring their balikbayan friends there. "Iba ang lasa ng freshly caught seafood," Lim says. Once you've tasted it, frozen seafood loses much of its appeal. However, it's quite impossible not to eat with your hands when you're scooping out crab flesh from its shell, she explains.
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Bistro Remedios (Malate, Manila) for the excellent Filipino cuisine, although the parking space is very small, she complains.
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Sze Chuan House (Roxas Blvd., Pasay City) for the hot 'n sour soup, a dish she has never stopped craving since her schooldays.
When it comes to cost, it is more important for Lim to get value for money. "There are restaurants that are very expensive,
ang feeling mo pagkakain mo, parang not worth the money--nothing spectacular [in the place]."
In this regard, her passion for food is not simply for the eating of food, but the entire experience of food and the sharing of that experience with others.
Michelle Ciriacruz
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"I like places that are not noisy, so you can talk--pero ako, maingay ako."
"There are restaurants that are very expensive, ang feeling mo pagkakain mo, parang not worth the money--nothing spectacular [in the place]."
TASTING L.A.
Dr. Cabral-Lim treated her friends, Dr. Filipinas Natividad (second from right) and her husband Manny, Dr. Paz Leticia Anacta (middle), and MEDICAL OBSERVER writer Michelle Ciriacruz to "A Taste of L.A." Dr. Cabral-Lim enjoys sharing her gastronomic finds with friends who find it hard to say "no." Says Michelle of her L.A. experience: "For appetizers, we ordered so-like-rockefellah!!!, a baked-oyster platter where spinach, double cream, bacon, and cheese garnish the oysters. The buffalo chicken wings with blue cheese dip, butterflied shrimps, spicy sisig, chicharon, and a sort of crunchy noodles with vegetables, we ate pica-pica."
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