Celebrating #KaiTurns40 at Highlands Prime Steakhouse

Do you know anyone who doesn’t get that excited about celebrating their birthday? My hubby is that kind of person. It’s not that he’s not grateful for being given another year of life. It’s just that he doesn’t like it when the spotlight is on him.

Kai also feels too self-conscious whenever people make a fuss over him. He’s a quiet guy who prefers being in the background listening to people. That’s exactly why even though he was turning 40, he wasn’t too keen on making a big deal about it.

Well, turning 40 is a big deal to me. So, I wasn’t going to let his 40th birthday pass without a celebration. I initially thought of planning a small party with close family and friends. However, because we have been busy with our recent move and all, I wasn’t able to really plan it. Instead, we decided it would be best to celebrate it with dinner, with the just the five of us.

Hubby took a leave from work on the day of his birthday, which was last Thursday, and we headed to Highlands Prime Steakhouse at the Mall of Asia. We’ve seen the restaurant plenty of times before but never got around to actually dining there. I’ve read of great reviews about the place so we thought hubby’s birthday would be a great opportunity to try dining there for the first time. It didn’t disappoint.

When we got there, there was an event happening at the main dining area. So we were taken to another enclosed area instead. I made reservations in advance so our table was ready when we got there. I loved our table because it was right beside the huge glass windows overlooking the Manila Bay. We had a really nice view.

I loved that the interiors of Highlands Prime Steakhouse made you feel like you’re in a log cabin, such as the ones I’ve seen before in Tagaytay Highlands. That’s really no surprise at all since Highlands originated there. The walls and the furniture were made of wood. It was very cozy. The servers were really attentive and accommodating. Totally love it!

After taking our orders, the waiters immediately gave us some complimentary bread and butter. Ziggy loved the bread!

For drinks, we ordered two Watermelon shakes, a Banana shake and a Frozen Iced Tea. All were good. The Banana shake looked gray though but Zoe still loved it!

Since this was a steakhouse, hubby and I really wanted to order steak. However, we knew the kids wouldn’t be able to finish whatever it is they wanted to order. So, I opted to share their food with them instead of ordering what I really wanted. But of course, I gave the hubby the go ahead to order whatever he wanted since this was my birthday treat for him after all.

The first of our orders to come out was the Mixed Seafood Pizza.

We’re a family that loves pizza and this one didn’t disappoint us. It was a thin crust pizza so it didn’t make us feel too full too soon.  I like the crunch of thin crust pizzas. This one had a generous amount of shrimps, fish, mussels and squid. The sauce and cheese didn’t overpower the seafood taste at all.

Whenever we order pizza, we also end up ordering pasta because we just think it’s a great combo. Haha! I chose one with white sauce, which I knew all the kids will like. This one is the Truffle Mushroom Pasta.

In this photo, the pasta doesn’t look like it has any sauce in it but it does. At first glance, you might think it won’t taste good but you’d be wrong. I loved it! The pasta was only lightly coated with the white sauce, which I think was enough. What I loved though was the crunch of the truffle mushrooms. I just wish there was more of it. I think next time I’ll order a whole plate just for myself. Haha!

I asked the girls what they wanted to eat and this was their first choice. It was no surprise when they chose the Butterfly Prawns.

The girls must take after me because I LOVE prawns. If only I can eat them everyday. This one was perfectly cooked. It was juicy and the sauce on top was just the perfect complement to it. I really wanted to eat more of it. Unfortunately, there were only three pieces so Zoe, Ziya and I just had one piece each. Dang!

I really thought that hubby would choose to eat steak that night. I thought wrong. Well, actually, he ordered BBQ Baby Back Ribs, instead. Take note, it was a FULL slab!

Since the girls don’t really like ribs, hubby ate most of the full slab. But he was generous enough to share maybe 20% of it with me. Haha! I could tell he really enjoyed it, which is exactly my goal for that night. Mission accomplished!

We were so full after the meal. Zoe could barely walk. I actually wanted to go to Cafe Breton for dessert and coffee. I wanted to give the hubby a birthday crepe but he vehemently refused. Like I said, he doesn’t like it when I make a fuss over him. I was so bummed that he didn’t get to blow some candles. But it was his birthday so I went along with what he wanted. So we ended up walking around instead.

Hubby and Ziggy rode the small ferris wheel in the mall. I wasn’t able to take a decent photo of that. But after that Ziggy asked to ride this helicopter. We were so surprised that he was so game to ride it alone! He really is such a big boy now.

Then, we found ourselves at Krispy Kreme where the girls and I ended up just having hot choco and coffee. Hubby and Ziggy had donuts. This is where Zoe finally gave Kai her birthday gift for him, which was this card she made the day before. It was made of a folder, photos, washi tape and twine. At the back, there are several sheets of sticky notes which reveals several short messages.

Ziya wasn’t able to bring her gift then but she gave it the hubby later on when we got home.  She made him some cute drawings. She’s the resident family artist and I swear she’s gonna grow up to be a really good one someday.

It wasn’t such a big bash after all. There was no party. No birthday cake and candles. But there was family, a lot of food, and a lot of fun.

In the end, I think it was exactly how hubby wanted his birthday celebration to be.