Staycation Chronicles: Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle

With Manila being enveloped by grey clouds and drowned by the bustling sound of impatient cars stuck in traffic, one cannot deny the fact that summer's over. Just the mere difficulty of getting out of bed is enough proof. But there is one way to get me off my bed... that is to indulge in a staycation. 

Hello, Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle.

If you frequent Malate or study at College of St. Benilde, De La Salle University, St. Scholastica's College or Arellano University School of Law, you must have noticed this tall white building at the corner of Arellano and Estrada streets. Formerly known as a convention center, this building has been renovated, redesigned and renamed as Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle in 2014. 

Promo Alert: Unlimited Deals this Week

Hungry but on a budget? Good news! There are a bunch of promos that could solve that problem!

PAPA JOHN'S

If you are a fan of pasta or Papa John’s, then this promo is made for you!

You also get two slices of pizza per order of unlimited pasta! Sweet!!!

JACK'S JOINT

Chicken or pork lover? Then why don’t you indulge in a kebab or two? Or how about a hundred? Yes, you can get it for less than PHP300!

Don't mind the date. They announced that they extended the promo till end of June. 

CIBO

You like more sophisticated dishes? Cibo’s offer might be the one for you.

Order any from Cibo’s Piatti Di Marghi menu and you can get unlimited serving of dip, soup or panna cotta of your choice! (I'd get panna cotta!)

This Cibo deal is available in its Shangri-La Plaza and Promenade, Greenhills branches. 

NOTE: Hurry! These awesome deals end tomorrow!!!

Backtrack: Racks

This has been buried in my laptop for quite a while now but I had to share this because I still remember how much I loved my hot meal and lovely dessert. 

Tired from another Rizal Rediscovery Tour (which turned out to be more like of a Binondo Food Trip), I headed to SM Megamall for dinner.

I do not want to walk far (since I walked the whole day… well, while chewing something at some point) so we (my mom and I) sought sanctuary at Racks. We thought that it was a good idea since it has been years since we last visited it. 

We normally start our meal with soup so we ordered Clam Chowder and Minestrone (PHP85/cup). Since we were not super hungry, we decided to just order one main dish to share—Pork Ribs (PHP275). For dessert we ordered Mississippi Mud Pie (PHP130).

When the soup arrived, both orders were not warm at all. My mom had to ask the server to warm it up. We had to wait for an additional 5 minutes for it.

Finally, warm soup!

The clam chowder was a bit bland and there was not much going on. True, the soup was thick and creamy but there was not much clams inside. In fact, the soup was pretty much forgettable.

The Minestrone on the other hand has a lot of vegetables, bacon, beans and ham. It was a bit salty and oily for me. I guess I am just not fond of soup with just too much stuff in it.

For the main meal, the Pork Ribs were (or should it be just "was" since there was only one big chunk of pork?) tender and seasoned well. It was also well-cooked (not burnt). It was a bit sweet and salty. However, the fat was a bit scary. We only took a bit of it and enjoyed the less scary meat instead.

The meal was pretty heavy because it was served with rice and potato salad. I had to skip the potato salad to make space for dessert.

Oh my chocolate galore! I was so surprised that the serving was quite big. For PHP130, it was a steal. It was definitely good for sharing.

The chocolate fudge brownie was soft and chewy and it was stuffed with melted chocolate inside while covered in chocolate syrup and topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

It was quite good. I managed to finish half of the mud pie. My mom though was not in the mood for sweets so I ate a few more and I got… sore throat.

Yes, the mud pie was good; but do eat it with caution. Make sure that you drink lots of water.

Racks is located at the 3rd Floor, Building A, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City