MANILA, PHILIPPINES - I have long been hearing great things about this restaurant that offers ramen knock-offs. Wrong Ramen is the name of the resto and their motto? Why compete with authentic Japanese restaurants that serve ramens that are equally authentic when they know they will never ever surpass them or at least be at par with them. So instead, this restaurant chose to cook ramens in the only way they knew.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - After many failed attempts to eat at Tim Ho Wan, I was finally able to try the place out last week! As usual, even though 6 weeks had already passed, a long line of would-be diners can still be seen outside the establishment. I was on the verge of getting frustrated yet again upon seeing the long line but braved through it this time since I was itching already to try their food out and since I was to eat with my family. Falling in line does not seem to be much of a chore when you are with someone, you know!
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Bread Pudding is love. I always get giddy whenever I eat pudding or I saw pudding in a store or a buffet table. I like it primarily because of its taste and maybe a little bit because of its mushiness but I love it more because of its simplicity and the comfort it gives me whenever I eat one. It feels like being transported back to the time when I was still a little kid and all I think about was sugar, candies, cakes, cartoons, jackstone and everything nice.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - It is weekly that I go to Rockwell and I always pass by this Chinese restaurant named Boon Tong Kee, sandwiched between Burgoo and Make Room on the 3rd floor, but it is only last weekend that we were able to try the restaurant out! Hailing all the way from Singapore, Boon Tong Kee reached our shores last 2012 and unknown to some, it humbly begun in Chinatown in Singapore and was not then the same extravagant establishment that it is now.
ORIENTAL MINDORO, PHILIPPINES - Having our lunch at Luca heightened our craving for a meal that would possibly topple over our experience there. We left Amihan Villa right after the sun had set to go to where the actions is: White Beach! Since tricycles are hard to come by from where we were, we asked the ever-helpful people of Amihan Villa to arrange one for us.
ORIENTAL MINDORO, PHILIPPINES - It was my first time to go to Puerto Galera a couple of weeks ago and I couldn't be more excited about it. After hearing so many stories about the place for so long now, at long last I was able to visit it too! Puerto Galera can be accessed easily if you are coming from Manila, the reason why many people flock the place during weekends.
ORIENTAL MINDORO, PHILIPPINES - I was able to go to Puerto Galera a couple of weeks ago with my friends and I could not be more excited about it since it was my very first time to go to the island! I have heard stories before about it and vicariously experienced the place through stories from my friends but this was the first time ever that I was able to set foot on it.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - It is only recently that we were able to try those Yakiniku-styled restaurants in the metro. You may be asking what took us so long right as restaurants like these abound here in our country due to the undeniable presence of Japanese and Koreans here? Well, prior succumbing, we had this notion that Yakinikus are somewhat pricey for their minute quantity and we initially thought that we could not possibly get full by these as we, as a family, are naturally big eaters.
CAVITE, PHILIPPINES - Bawai's is literally a hidden gem in Tagaytay City. It was a Sunday evening when we traversed the path to Bawai's and boy was the trip a little bit scary! Well first and foremost, it was dark already when we went there and we do not really usually go off the beaten track when we visit Tagaytay; we usually just stay along the main road as most of the attractions can already be found there, so it took us a lot, and I mean a lot, of wrong turns before finally arriving at the place!
CAVITE, PHILIPPINES - Ever wondered where you can get big and cheap bowls of Bulalo when you are in Tagaytay? I have long been looking for a place like this and now we found it! Mahogany Market Eateries is not new and probably, not an unknown place too in Tagaytay but it is a place that does not get much recognition either.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Sun, sun, sun! I grew up loving the sun. I think this is largely due to the fact that I grew up near the beach and sunny days beget jam-packed resorts, happy picnics along the shoreline and a good swim among many others. Sunny days simply mean happiness and bliss, which I always get whenever I was welcomed by it.
BULACAN, PHILIPPINES - In the frontier of a Saturday morning, in between sips of your favorite morning drink and a bite of your homecooked Tapsilog while sitting on the dining room you find yourself thinking on where to spend the rest of your weekend at. You thought hard, thought deep but gave up when you realized that you are devoid of any exciting options. You live in the metro where different sizes of shiny malls abound.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Ba Noi's, which serves Vietnamese cuisine, is a wonderful gem we have discovered in the midst of the hustles and bustles of Makati City. Ever since we had experienced Vietnam and had tasted their flavors, there was no turning back for us to those restaurants that served us Vietnamese delights that does not measure up, in any way, to those Phos and spring rolls we have tasted in the province.
ILOCOS NORTE, PHILIPPINES - Summer may already be ending in the Philippines but it still feels like we are still in the middle of it due to the dryness of the surrounding air and the scorching heat from the sun despite the occasional, intermittent rains that we experienced last week!
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Korean restaurants usually fall behind our go-to restos whenever we dine out not because we do not like Korean dishes but just because the other cuisines take up the higher tiers of our hierarchy of food preference! Good thing we dismissed it tonight and decided to go beyond our comfort zone and try this one Korean restaurant that fights over for those hungry people's attention in Hobbies of Asia.
SUBIC, PHILIPPINES - A new attraction in Subic has opened on the last week of March and I am happy to say that we chanced upon it while we were aimlessly road tripping around Subic last month. With its bright, colorful exteriors, Funtastic will really get your unfailing attention. They were on their 3rd week when we went there, right in the smack of Holy Week, along with a lot of people and there could never have been a more perfect timing than when we went there!
OLONGAPO CITY, PHILIPPINES - Opened in 1984, The Coffee Shop has become an institution in Barretto, a small barrio just outside the city center of Olongapo. The unassuming restaurant is accessible through a 10-minute drive from the city center to the northern part of Zambales. Even before my parents chose to reside near here and even before I had been born, this restaurant is already up and running and serving the largest, if not the best, tacos in town!
