Iloilo City Weekend

Went to Iloilo last weekend for a business trip. I haven't been back in almost 3 years and so many things have changed. There are more commercial places now as compared before. But the must-eat places still remain the same. :)

I would not miss eating in Breakthrough, where you eat in front of the beach. Too bad I couldn't try most of the seafoods because of my allergies but food was still delicious.

They have a big basin in the middle of the restaurant. And when you look inside, you'll see this...
Crabs! Crabs you can choose yourself and have them cook.
You can also see the fishes in an aquarium.
But for people like me who cannot really eat too much seafoods, they have sisig, lechon and inihaw na baboy.

My companions said the aligue rice was heavenly. Too bad I couldn't taste it.

Smallville is also a place in Iloilo that should not be missed, specially for the young ones who like to party. This is where a cluster of bars are located.

We had dinner in Mojave. A restaurant in Smallville which serves delicious Buffalo wings and Ribs.

Their complimentary popcorn was good. Crunchy with just the right amount of sugar and salt.
Spicy Buffalo Wings

Shrimp and Ribs. This dish is one of their best-sellers and I can understand why.
They also have a display of beers available around the world. Notice the green bottle 3rd from right. Is that Soju? :)

I love going to business trips around the country because I get to taste the local food but I always end up wanting more time to spend in their other tourist spots.

So again, I resolve to go back to explore the city further.

Chelsea @ Serendra

I have wanted to try the food at Chelsea because I have been hearing good feedback about it for some time now.

Since Mac and I came from the airport and we were already passing by The Fort, we decided to stop by Serendra to have lunch. We haven't been to Serendra and High Street in a while so we went around to window shop for a bit also.

Chelsea is a cozy place with a nice ambiance. Honestly, the food is just ok for me, nothing really spectacular.

What I loved was the complimentary bread which they serve before your food comes.

That's a big bulb of garlic at the top. Perfect for garlic lovers

We had the bacon,lettuce and tomato salad for starters. I liked the simple taste of this salad and the dressing was just right.

For the love of Bacon!

For our main meal, we shared their pork-chops. This was just okay for us. But I loved the apple slices that came with it.

I was too hungry, I forgot to take a picture until we were already halfway through the meal.

We were not able to try any of their desserts because we were already full. Our total bill was P1,300.00 for the food above and 2 drinks. A bit expensive (we could have eaten in an eat-all-you-can buffet for the same price or less) but I guess you are paying for the place and the ambiance.

Chelsea is located at the Piazza Serendra inside The Fort.

Something Fishy Again - Breakfast Buffet

The famous Something Fishy breakfast buffet has improved with more food choices and the same affordable price of P130.00 per person.

Here are actual pictures of the food in the buffet:

Goto and La Paz Batchoy

Waffles, Banana and Bibingka
Pancake and plain rice
Ham & Egg rice and Garlic rice
2 kinds of pancit

Sausages

blurry picture of Adobo and pandesal
Ham
2 kinds of egg
hotdogs and pork
Tapa and Tocino
Lumpiang shanghai and bangus

*Something Fishy is located at the Eastwood Main Plaza

Christmas Food is back - Baliuag Bibingka

In Baliuag, Bulacan our signal that the holiday season has already started is the availability of Bibingka, Bicho and Puto Bumbong stores around the Church.

I loved the Baliuag bibingkas and I always get so excited when September comes because it means that my Dad would always buy me Bibingka for pasalubong when I was a kid.

In high school, my suitors know how to win me over - by buying me bibingka.

When Mac was still courting me, he would always bring bibingka as a gift whenever he would drop by (yes, I am cheap that way).

There is nothing like eating a freshly cooked bibingka after attending the simbang gabi.

I have tried a lot of bibingkas being sold around the metro but still, nothing compares to what we have in Bulacan.

I have so many memories of the bibingka and bicho bicho that I just start to be sentimental whenever I eat it.

I have been a suki of Marissa's bibingka for years now. Her bibingka was witness to my past relationships and Mac courting me, our relationship, and even now that we are married, we still go together to have bibingka.

Really soft on the inside with a generous amount of salted egg and cheese at the top.

Marissa's bibingka is now priced at P55.00 (I think) and they also have puto bumbong. Each order comes with a free salabat or hot tea.

She sells Bibingka at the Baliuag Plaza beside the San Agustin Church.

Nina's Fried Itik (Plaridel, Bulacan)

We ate out with Mac's family to celebrate his niece's birthday.

L-R: Madie, Tin-Tin, Medel, Andrei, Mac, Me, Fhem and her mom

They treated us out to dinner in Nina's Fried Itik restaurant. It was our first time and if you are not familiar with the place, there is a really good chance that you will get lost. The place is in the looban, going to Bulihan.
It is a floating restaurant that specializes in fried Itik. You can also buy fish chips that you can feed to their big fishes below the bahay kubo that you will eat in. Their fishes are really big. We went at night so we really couldn't see them but even in just the dark picture, they look scary.
The food is priced relatively cheap...
and tastes like home-cooked meals.

The chicaron bulaklak
Loved the pancit
They said this was good but I didn't dare try it. ( The sinigang na hipon at the lower right corner was also good )

Sisig

So if you are in Plaridel, Bulacan and looking for a place to eat that serves home-cooked meals, I recommend Nina's.

Mogu Mogu

I love Nata!

So far, I have only seen Mogu Mogu in 7-11 and Mini-stop convenience stores. It costs P30.00 for a 320ml bottle. It is a bit expensive but I wonder how it will be priced in the regular grocery stores.

There are 4 flavors that I know so far, Mango, Lychee, Grape and Strawberry.

It's chunky and delicious.

Something Fishy Buffet

Something Fishy has always been famous for their buffet breakfasts. Call center agents within Eastwood would always eat here because it was cheap. I am not sure how much it is now but last time we had buffet breakfast there it was only around P200.00 (i think that was last year).

The breakfast was just okay. Nothing spectacular and it does not compare to the hotel breakfasts.

But we saw that they are now offering buffet lunch and dinners and knowing that Something Fishy was a sister company of Dad's & Saisaki, we gave it a try.

The lunch buffet costs P420.00 and bottomless iced tea is P80.00 (they will actually insist you get the iced tea saying that they only serve tap water and not filtered water).

Sushi buffet
The dessert station has halo halo, leche flan, buko pandan and chocolate fondue

Couldn't get near the buffet to take pictures of the food in the trays because there was a line so I instead took a shot of Mac's plate which includes, beef tenders, bopis, liempo, lechon, fried chicken, caldereta.

They also have tempura, kare-kare, hito, spaghetti, marinara, carbonara, pesto, tonkatsu, lechon kawali.

All in all the buffet was ok, food was just ok (nothing spectacular). But worth it if you are really hungry because of the wide selection of food. However, Dad's is still better.

San Miguel Oktoberfest 2010 is an Awesome Visual Spectacle

I have been to a lot of San Miguel Oktoberfests over the years. And I would have to admit that it gets tiring after some time. It was always the same every year, with just a little addition on the bands and activities.

• The big parties in 2007
  
• Third Eye Blind in 2008
• The smaller Oktoberfest inside a tent in 2009

For me it was almost always the same thing, but this year was different.

The 3d lights and sound show was amazing when you see it projected in such a big building. It actually blew my mind. :) You can watch an exerpt of it in youtube. Just click here.

I also like the program this year as they presented different kinds of stuff (unlike the previous years where almost all performers are pop bands) from pole dancers, to the Philippine all-stars dancers to fire-dancers. It surely kept me entertained.

The opening is truly awesome. That's the Microtel building in Mall of Asia where the 3d projection was shown and fireworks to signal the start of Oktoberfest. The Sensurround sound system completed the experience.
Drumbeaters

and firedancers. That's Rachel Lobangco by the way. (hehe)
Pole dancers
The Kitty Girls
Mocha Girls (+Mac) I still think the old members (now Girls Inc.) are prettier.
I am sure this crowd enjoyed the show as much as I did.

Looking forward to the next run

P.S. I am sure Mac loved the show too. That's him with all the Oktobabes.

Microtel Mall of Asia

Had a complimentary stay in Microtel beside Mall of Asia.

Haven't really stayed in any of the Microtel hotels because I did not really know the quality of the hotel. Good thing we were given the opportunity to stay for the night so that I can see how it is.

The lobby was fairly modern and elevators were new.

The controls were very modern
We got a standard room with 2 double beds, there's also another small couch by the window so another person can fit in one room.
The flat screen TV and the mirror counter.

There were no mini-bar and ref though and room service for food was not complete yet as they were still fixing their restaurant.

There is also construction going on at the back of the hotel and the pool side so it can get a little noisy but they tell you about that before you check in.

Bathroom was clean with the standard soap and shampoo
You can request for a room with a city view (view of Mall of Asia) or ocean view (as pictured)

Microtel was an average hotel that you can stay in comfortably, I cannot rate it based on the price because I do not know how much is the one night stay exactly.

They do have a breakfast buffet at P330.00 pesos but we did not wake up early to catch this so was also not able to try and see what they serve.

Maybe we can try staying in Microtel Baguio this December. We'll see how it compared to Microtel Mall of Asia.