Staycation Chronicles: Crowne Plaza Galleria

Living in Manila could be very toxic. The insane city traffic, never ending heat and busy lifestyle could easily drive one nuts! I myself have been on the edge these past days due to tight deadlines, shoots and upcoming trip that needs a detailed itinerary. And a staycation at Crowne Plaza Galleria was just what I needed to de-stress. 

Hello, Crowne Plaza Galleria. 

Managed by the prestigious Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), Crowne Plaza Galleria is the hotel of choice of several business travelers. Its premiere location of being at the heart of Ortigas and right beside Robinsons Galleria gives it a strong advantage against its competitors in the area. 

First Bite: Papa Diddi's

I still vaguely remember the first time I visited Papa Diddi’s (which I have yet to blog). And just when I thought that Papa Diddi’s is all about cold treats, I came across its Sapphire Bloc branch and found out that this daddy can whip up savory dishes as well. 

Hello, Papa Diddi’s!

Unlike its cramped Maginhawa branch, Papa Diddi’s Ortigas branch is a lot more spacious and had more interesting interiors. Just look at that book chandelier! 

I passed by the area at bit past 9 p.m., coming from an event hosted by Real Living magazine, hungry and craving for something warm and filling. 

After a few minutes of flipping the menu pages, I decided to go with Champorado and Bagnet (PHP199) because I’m a sucker for breakfast dishes. 

First Bite: Vera's Place

Visiting Pearl Drive brings back memories as I have spent 5 years of my life there. No, I was not a homeless Ortigas girl; my alma mater is along that street. I would remember visiting Food Channel, Starbucks and Hotshots across my university. I have witnessed several restaurants come and go and shed a few tears when my favorites were among those that had to go. And fast forward to present, there are now more buildings and food choices around and one of which is located in Pearl Place called “Vera’s Place”.

Hello, Vera’s Place. 

To be honest, I was originally planning to eat at this Japanese restaurant along San Miguel Avenue but we had to change plans after seeing the prices of sashimi, sushi and wagyu. We headed back to Pearl Plaza with gloomy faces to match the grumpy weather. But the inviting homey Filipino restaurant adjacent to Where’s Marcel captured our interest. 

There were no customers when we arrived and we could not help feel iffy dining here. Then again, the weather was not exactly pleasant for people to go out so we assumed that it was because it was such a lazy Saturday night. 

Vera’s Place offers pocket friendly Filipino fare and we decided to go with solo servings of Gising-Gising (PHP135), Lechon Kawali (PHP250) and Kare-Kare (PHP300). Solo servings are inclusive of one cup of plain rice per viand. You could also order a sharing size portion of kare-kare for PHP550. 

Service was quick and our orders were served all at the same time. Presentation-wise, it was like the ones you’d expect from home. It was simple and zero frills. 

Gising-Gising had a nice combination of coconut milk and pork flavors. It was also a bit spicy making it slightly addicting. It also made me finish my cup of rice. I liked the winged beans too as it was not too hard nor too soft. 

Restaurant Love: Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza

A few weeks back, my college friends and I pushed to meet for dinner on a week night since our schedules are all packed with meet ups and travels in the next weeks to come. And since most of them are working in Ortigas, L and I had to brave the traffic going north. And we survived to have dinner at…

Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza.

It has been quite a while since I last visited Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza. I think it was over 3 years and it was with my favorite Takaw Trio (T3) friends. Anyway, this time around, we tried Mushroom Pizza (PHP375), Prosciutto Pizza (PHP445), Carbonara (PHP220), Pesto Pasta (PHP225), Nutella Soup (PHP195) and Crack Pie (PHP55, slice). 

We also ordered a pitcher of Calamansi juice (PHP150) to help us digest the food we were about to consume. (And it was a bit too sweet.)

M was amused with how the Pesto Pasta was served as it was all bundled up. It reminded us of semi cooked instant noodles. The texture itself was also a bit hard and it had a slight sweet taste which could have been from the cream. 

The pesto itself wasn’t very oily which was great but I wish that it had a stronger pesto flavor over cream.

First Bite: UCC Clockwork

Estancia is becoming a foodie destination with more and more restaurants opening. One of the restaurants that caught my attention was UCC Clockwork which apparently isn’t that new anymore. (I really have to explore the south!) But since I’ve never tried its famous corned beef, I had to visit.

Hello, UCC Clockwork!

The charming café/restaurant had a warm and cozy vibe; but what really attracted us was the buy one, take one cocktails (a deal they offer on Fridays).

Aside from our Lychee Mojito (PHP220), we ordered Mushroom Truffle (PHP150) and Pumpkin Soup (PHP120). We also got Fresh Corned Beef with Kimchi Rice (PHP350), Threesome Breakfast (PHP380) and Clockwork Cookie Cup Screams (PHP190).

The Lychee Mojito was refreshing but the lychee’s taste overpowered the rhum making it taste like juice.

Next served were our warm bowls of soup.

I wasn’t able to take a photo of F’s bowl but he finished his without any complaint so I’m assuming that it tasted okay. My soup on the other hand wasn’t the creamy kind that I like. It was just okay but I enjoyed it with the complimentary buttered bread.

Restaurant Discovery: Frankie’s New York Buffalo Wings

As a hardcore The Walking Dead fan, my Mondays are blocked for my 1 hour bonding with Rick, Glenn, Terry, Carol, Maggie, Michonne, and of course, Daryl. However, I can get lured by restaurants I have never tried before in an instant. I blame my tummy. >.<

K suddenly wanted to eat out and since he lives a few minutes from my office, we decided to have dinner somewhere in Ortigas. He recommended wings and honestly, I’m not fond of wings. I always think that you end up paying for the bones and not the meat. Anyway, I gave in as I’m not really craving for anything in particular and I had to be home by 9 p.m. so we had to decide fast.

Soon, we’re at Frankie’s New York Buffalo Wings, a wings place at City Golf.

Frankie’s has an industrial/basement chill vibe and I noticed that the diners are students and yuppies. Well, with the affordable prices, it’s not hard to attract the young market.

We decided to order the following: a basket of fries, three types of wings—Cheesy Bacon (PHP173), Nagoya Tebasaki (PHP173) and Caribbean Jerk (PHP173). We also ordered a slice of New York Cheesecake (PHP120) and a few bottles of Tanduay Ice to start the week right. :)

First served was the basket of fries and just like what they said, they use real potatoes. Yey! Nothing fancy about it though.

Restaurant Love: Detalle

It all started with a random invite from my favorite Dragon lady and heck, I wasn’t even one of the first people she thought of. *hurt* But since the invite involves a Comedy Improv, I was game. Who wouldn’t want a night of laughter anyway?! But the sweet surprise was… the restaurant where the Improv was held serves amazing dishes.

Hello, Detalle.

It was slightly hard to find the restaurant as it was in a rather sinister looking place. The landmark C gave me was that it’s at the other side of the Caltex along Meralco Avenue. But the best direction I got was that Detalle’s the restaurant right below the huge Century Tuna billboard. Now, that’s very specific.

When I arrived, C and F were sitting pretty (yet hungry) while waiting for the others to arrive. However, I was really hungry too so as soon as I sat down, I briefly said hi and went straight to the menu. I spotted salmon so I immediately decided on my main course. But I was not so sure with my appetizer and dessert. Notice “my”? Yes, I didn’t share. I was in my Joey-doesn’t-share-food mode. It was weird though as C, F and T (she arrived a few minutes after) ordered for sharing. I felt out of place.

Anyway, I went with the following: Squash Soup (PHP195), Grilled Salmon (PHP400) and Chocolate Revelry Ala Mode (PHP210). They, on the other hand, ordered Basque Fried Chicken (PHP280), Quattro Formaggi (PHP390), D Burger (PHP380) and Summer Pasta (PHP280).

First served was my warm squash soup. It wasn’t superb as it wasn’t the creamy squash soup that I’m used to (and love) but it was flavorful enough. It was lighter too which made it a good appetizer.

The grilled salmon was to die for! I was raving for it for weeks! I even had dreams about it! The salmon was grilled really well as it was still juicy when it was served. I loved the flavorful risotto. It had a tangy taste which delighted me BIG TIME. I guess my thing for sour food makes anything sour an instant hit! I also loved the caper cream sauce drizzled over the salmon. Yum!

Love at First Bite: BBQ Chicken

(Continuation of the Hunger Games day) Archery sure is a tiring activity. Our arms were stretched out and we were hungry. We were planning to go to Brotzeit for some sausages but something else caught the eyes of T and K while we were at Pearl Drive... a small Chimek (Chicken and Mekju [beer]) place. We just had a Korean dinner a night ago but that didn't stop us to check the place out.

Hello, BBQ Chicken!

The place was empty when we arrived. T guessed that perhaps they do better with deliveries than dine-in as the delivery guy comes and goes the whole time we were there.

We were torn between Spicy Chicken and Rice Syrup Chicken (both PHP320) but the server told us that the Rice Syrup tastes better so we chose the latter. We also ordered Spicy Dduk-Bokki (PHP220) and Cream Chicken Pasta (PHP255). Then we all ordered a glass of beer for a chimek restaurant experience but I also ordered a can of cola (as I really am not fond of beer).

Service was pretty quick as our orders arrived in less than 15 minutes.

We were glad that we were given an option to have the chicken deboned so that eating it will be less messy as it was covered in sauce (think Bon Chon). 

Archery 101: Gandiva Café and Archery Range

I am a big fan of The Hunger Games and I fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence when she portrayed Katniss way better than I have imagined. (Oh and as a LOTR fan, I get googly eyes whenever I see Legolas and his oh so smooth long blonde hair.) And just like about more than half of the girls who watched the movie, I wanted to throw some arrows and be just like Katniss Everdeen. Luckily, two of my friends were feeling adventurous and wanted to try archery too. So off to Gandiva Café and Archery Range.

 

Okay, it wasn't exactly my first time to visit Gandiva. My first time was with T1 and T2 but given that we're collectively named T3 (The Takaw Trio), we just ate. This time around though, it was time to unleash the Katniss/Legolas in me.

We had to sign a waiver and pay PHP980 (which covers the use of equipment and instructor's fee) before we could enter the archery range. (Note: You have to call to reserve your slots and you also have to be there 15 minutes before your schedule.) 

When we got in, we were given arm protectors and fanny bags for our 4 arrows. Then we can choose which bow we want.

First 5 to 10 minutes is for short briefing such as right stance, where our hands and arms should be and basically how to shoot an arrow. (To make it short, we need to have one foot behind the shooting line while in a parallel stance then we have to stretch one arm straight while the other arm/hand tugging the string and the hand should be right below the chin with the elbow pointing up then... let go of the string with the arrow.)

Restaurant Discovery: Matgalne

Korea has stolen the hearts of many Filipinos—from dramas to music to food. I’d say, I have this long-term serious relationship with samgyeopsal. Throw in the word “unlimited” and I am yours!

Eat-all-you-can samgyeopsal for only PHP299 for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) and PHP399 for dinner (5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.), then throw in more than 20 side dishes, not a bad deal right? I was lucky to receive an email from A about this place called Matgalne that serves Korean dishes at friendly prices. Since curiosity got the best of me, I decided to pay Matgalne a visit during elections.  

It was rather hard to find the place if you’re not familiar with going around Makati but one landmark to remember is St. Giles Hotel and you’re almost there. I was lucky that I could read Korean as we totally didn’t notice the hotel’s signage. But for easier reference, here’s a photo of the façade. :)

When we arrived, I was surprised that the place was quite packed. Yes, the restaurant was slightly small, similar to how most hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Seoul are but this one could easily seat around 30 people and almost every seat is occupied by a hungry customer. Again, I was lucky as I instantly got a seat as I was in touch with A.

My only shot of the spread as I got too excited to eat right away!

Soon, I started to fill my plate with side dishes. First one I took was the Chapchae (or jabchae), one of my favorite dishes! I love that the sweet potato noodles (Korean 101: Sweet potato noodles is called dangmyeon in Korean) are not as oily and the vegetables included were fresh and quite crunchy. I just love it.

I also got some Jumeok Bap (Korean 101: Bap means rice). It was really yummy! I love the sticky texture and the saltiness of the seaweed.

See that little ball covered in nori? Yes, that’s Jumeok Bap!

There were also a lot of “jeon” available such as ham jeon, mushroom (Korean 101: Mushroom is called beoseot in Korean) jeon, and zucchini jeon. The key ingredients namely ham, mushroom and zucchini were [separately] batted in eggs and flour. If you adore fried oreos, pancakes or anything batted in eggs and flour, you’d like these.

I have mentioned several times that I do not like spicy dishes but some manage to be my “exemptions” and one of which is Matgalne’s Dak Kang Jung (Korean 101: Dak means chicken), sweet and spicy chicken. It was flavorful and it wasn’t very spicy at all. It was just right, and an instant love!

Restaurant Discovery: Marufuku Japanese Restaurant

Eating out. It’s always fun especially when you go out with your loved one/s. Since I have been going out less and less these days (as I am really saving up and at the same time trying to trim down the holiday happiness stuck somewhere in my torso), I get stumped when asked where to eat. 

I had a lunch date with my dad a few Saturdays back and it was a day full of… well, revelation.

First, we need to secure a place that isn’t noisy so that we could actually have a conversation. Second, we need to make sure that the place can cook its food in healthier oil (for my dad’s sake). And lastly, it’s somewhere near.

After a few minutes of driving, we finally decided to eat somewhere along Pearl Drive and my dad remembered that there’s a new Japanese restaurant that used to be an Italian restaurant. We decided to give it a shot.

 

Konnichiwa, Marufuku!

 

The place is quite spacious and it exudes the Japanese restaurant feel. It felt though that we reserved the entire place for ourselves as we were the only diners when we arrived.  

Without any hesitation, we ordered Shoyu Ramen (PHP250), Salmon Sashimi (PHP450 for five slices), Salmon Onigiri (PHP100), Shrimp Tempura (PHP400), Japanese Style Fried Chicken, California Maki, Chicken Teriyaki and Wafu Steak (PHP780).

A Meeting To Remember: Borough

For some I-don’t-know-what-happened reason, I lost my appetite. And it was not just for a day or two but 3 weeks! This explains the fewer entries for the past months. But thanks to those green vitamins, the glutton is slowing coming back and craving for a lot of sweets! This entry though was about a lunch out that happened during my tummy’s-on-strike period. Then again, a glutton will always be a glutton.

Hello, Borough. *blush*

 

I have been eying this place since I read about it from several blog sites. One thing stood out, Mom’s Milk and Cookies (PHP170).

 

The food gods must really love me as just when I was in one of the gloomiest weeks of my life, there was a sudden change in plans for a lunch meeting. Instead of dining at Lulu at Rockwell, it was moved to Borough, the place my tummy wanted to visit for months. *lucky!*

Black Day Snacks at Milky Way Tea

I just realized that more often than not, whenever I go out with friends, we usually have at least two stops—one for a real meal and one for just-because-we-want-to-eat-more-even-though-we-are-already-full or more to put it simply, pure gluttony. This entry is the part 2 of the Black Day celebration where I was the only one in black. *pouts*

Hello Milky Way Tea!

 

It took me quite a while to pay this place a visit. But since Black Day is a special day, I just have to visit it with my Dongguk friends (minus one since D has another date *hurt*).

Black Day Lunch at Jang Ga Nae

I just adore my Dongguk friends. (Note: Dongguk is one of the universities in Seoul, Korea where I studied for 5 months with some students from UA&P and UP.) Without them, I won't be able to spend the fun Korean "traditions" or events such as Peppero Day (11-11) which is similar to Valentine's Day and Black Day (4-14) which is celebrated by those who did not receive any chocolates during Valentine's Day and White Day (3-14--which is when the guys give the girls they like chocolates).

Happy Black Day! Well, I am not sure if I said it right as if you reword it, it'll be "Happy Single Awareness Day!" For some reason, it sounds... wrong. 

Anyway, channeling the Korean in us, we thought of eating at Jang Ga Nae, a popular Korean restaurant along Escriva. We all decided to meet up at 12:30 p.m. but ended up meeting a bit later. 

I was the last one to arrive and to my surprise, T, K, and D were a NOT IN BLACK. *shocked*

Oh well. We were too hungry to be bothered with the lack of color coordination and decided to order. We chose ultimate favorite Bulgogi (PHP300), Gal Bi Jim (PHP300) and Dak Gal Bi (PHP350) as to avoid us looking too addicted to beef.

 

First served was the side dishes. K's eyes went from (-.-) to (o.o) as one of the side dishes was her favorite peanuts with sweet sauce (it tasted like sweet soy sauce). Other side dishes were kimchi, macaroni salad, greens, and bean sprouts (one of the side dishes I finished myself without offering a single strand... oops).

Hey Mister... Kabab!

Clueless of where to go to while waiting for our other friend, A and I found ourselves circling\ around Pearl Drive.

Japanese?

Nah.

Filipino?

Not feeling like it.

Argh! I’m too hungry, let’s go to Mister Kabab!

 That was how my friend and I ended up in the homey Mister Kabab.

The place was pretty much empty compared to the first time I went there with some colleagues. Perhaps it was because it was a Saturday and the restaurant’s regular customers are students from the university nearby.

I was too hungry that day for someone who had breakfast twice. I ordered Special Chicken Chelo Kabab (PHP150), Keema with Eggplant (PHP90), and Yogurt with Fresh Fruits (PHP66). My friend on the other hand settled for Special Beef Chelo Kabab (PHP155).

The service was quite prompt but they served my yogurt before my main dish(es). I had to ask them to serve it later. (Perhaps it’s actually an appetizer?)