Manila Eats: Soi

Tucked in a corner of the Greenhills Theatre Mall is a little Thai resto (that honestly seems a bit out of place).

Manila Eats: TGI Friday's

Friday's - Such an oldie but a goodie!

I can still remember the first time I ever ate in this particular branch. It was back in the 90's, it had just opened, and the concept of 'refillable drinks' was so cool. Haha, how ancient!

Manila Eats: Army Navy

It may be hard to believe but sometimes it's such a chore trying to decide where to eat in Eastwood.

Fortunately, an Army Navy recently opened right beside our office building. How convenient!

Cheap Thrills: Tapsilog Centrale

Breakfast food for dinner? Yes please!

Manila Eats: Angel's Kitchen

Considering we're in the Greenhills area a lot, we never really noticed this particular restaurant. A tita suggested we eat here and it was the perfect setting for a quiet family lunch.

Manila Eats: Sunrise Buckets

Ever had one of those "I just want to be on the beach" days?

Sadly, there really isnt anywhere in Manila (particularly a sandy place with the sound of waves crashing) that you can escape to - but in Sunrise Buckets, you can at least kind of pretend that you're in one of the beachfront restos in Boracay.

Manila Eats: Magnolia Flavor House

If you grew up in the 80's / early 90's, there's a big chance that (at one time or another) your parents must have taken you to the Magnolia Plant for a treat.

Like many places that hold a lot of our childhood memories, the Magnolia Plant along Aurora Blvd is but a distant memory. Recently though, a new ice cream place (in the same area) opened up.

Manila Eats: Nolita

If you read foodie blogs, you're sure to have come across Nolita reviews. Since we're always craving for pizza (actually we're always just craving for food, period), we headed to High Street on one sunny Saturday afternoon to get our Nolita fix.

 

The Phantom of the Opera in Manila

After years and years of hoping and wishing that my favorite musical would come to the Philippines, my prayers were finally answered!

Manila Eats: Mamou

Waited for a special occasion to satisfy our Mamou cravings, and what could be more special than the eve of our anniversary (and my birthday)? ♥

Manila Eats: Roboto San

We're such a sucker for these buffet places. Knew we had to try Roboto San, just to see if it could give Sambo Kojin and Yakimix a run for their money.

Manila Eats: The Flying Pig

We work in Eastwood (we've probably mentioned this a couple of times now) and its a bit surprising that we still draw a blank when deciding where to eat for lunch/merienda/dinner. Maybe its because we've already tried most of the restaurants in Citywalk and the malls (Eastwood mall and Cybermall). Also, to be honest, the remaining choices aren't all that interesting.

On one special date night (the anniversary of our Kill Bill date 8 years ago ♥), we finally decided to eat in The Flying Pig. Have always talked about trying this out together, so it seemed like the best time to do so.

Manila Eats: Beso Cucina Vinoteka

The restaurants in the Bonifacio High Street Central area have been on our checklist of places to try out. Beso was next on the list, and perfect for our barkada get-together.

Manila Eats: Gigi Coffee & Cupcakes

A new coffee shop-type place opened in Eastwood, not even 5 minutes away from our office building. Knew we had to try it once I heard they sold cupcakes!

8 years strong.

Had a wonderfully happy week-long celebration. I always feel extremely (and doubly) lucky that my birthday and our anniversary fall on the same day.

♥

Off celebrating our 8th anniversary! Thank You Lord for 8 wonderful years ♥

Lookie, its a baby Babar! ☺

Samphran Elephant Ground & Zoo
Bangkok, Thailand

Pure Shores.

Pandanon Island,
Cebu

Manila Eats: Toast Box

About a month ago, I stumbled upon a foodie review of a place in Manila that serves a drink called Milo Dinosaur. Wondered why we never bothered trying this resto out, considering we're in Greenbelt A LOT. Two weekends ago, we finally had the chance to eat in Toast Box.

Manila Eats: Yabu

Suuuuper late post of the time we visited Yabu to try it out.

Manila Eats: Banapple

Who doesn't love Banapple? Aside from their yummy cakes, they also serve inexpensive (and extremely filling!) entrees. We love having lunch here because we always go home busog!

Manila Eats: Crisostomo

After days of intense crispy pata craving (on Cholo's end, at least), we ended up in Crisostomo. It wasn't really our first choice but there are only 2 Filipino restaurants in Eastwood and we figured it was worth trying.

Manila Eats: Som's

Can't even remember the first time we tried Som's. We actually discovered this place because just a few steps away from the restaurant is my dog Fudge's vet. So while waiting for the doggie to finish getting groomed, we usually pop in here for some of their yummy Thai milk tea.

Old School Boracay.

Our first trip to the island, back when boats from Caticlan would dock right at the shore of White Beach (which explains why there are Boat Stations 1, 2, and 3). Tourists who didn't want to get their legs and feet wet could even opt to hire a bangkero to carry them on their shoulders.

Manila Eats: J. Co Donuts

There was so much hype about this Asian donut chain opening in the Philippines, that we knew we had to go try it out for ourselves.

 

Manila Eats: Flaming Wings

Flaming Wings (in White Plains) is one of those places we go to when we can't decide where to eat. Love that its inexpensive, the area is easily accessible, and the food is always the same - yummy!

Manila Eats: The Frazzled Cook

The times we've eaten at The Frazzled Cook were with family, for 2 separate birthday celebrations. Love how both times, we practically had the place to ourselves. Its one of those really good hole-in-the-wall restos that you're scared will someday become popular (and will eventually be difficult to eat in without a reservation).

Manila Eats: Zensho

Zensho is definitely one of our favorite foodie finds! We love, love, love Japanese food and this sit-down buffet type restaurant is worth every peso.

Last of the Siem Reap series.

Our Cambodian temples and jungle/waterfalls tour was the best (we were able to see so much and go to so many places!) mainly because we had a really fun tour guide. I guessed it helped that he's young (so he understood that we were noisy, and took so much time taking photos, and were over-all magulo) and also that he was tried and tested (a friend of ours had already gone months before and he was their tour guide).

Meet Ratanak (or Nak as we called him, or Rat/Ratan as Kring called him haha).

"We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing"

Kids cooling off at the fountains in Bonifacio High Street.

Siem Reap Eats: Street Food

Friends who've been to Cambodia kept telling us to try this 1 particular dessert that was being sold on the streets.

True enough, it wasnt hard spotting the pushcarts that sold these crepes.

Siem Reap Eats: Ecstatic Pizza

A cult favorite in Cambodia is the notorious ecstatic/happy pizza. Google it to find out why!

Siem Reap Eats: Khmer Kitchen

Cambodian cuisine is also known as Khmer cuisine. One of our travel musts is to always try the local food/drinks.

Khmer Kitchen was conveniently located in Pub Street. And it was so full when we decided to eat there for dinner! Good thing a table freed up and we were able to try it out.

Siem Reap Eats: Blue Pumpkin

Siem Reap may not be as hot, sticky and humid as Manila is, but after a morning of walking around the old market and Pub Street, we were in need of a nice, cool place where we could rest our aching feet.

the Pub Street experience (interesting finds)

Fancy a fish massage?

the Pub Street experience (night)

As expected, Pub Street is a lot more alive at night, crawling with tourists and locals alike. 

the Pub Street experience (day)

Pub Street in Siem Reap is basically just a street (and a few side streets/ alleyways) filled with restaurants, stores, and you guessed it - pubs.

Temple Run: Pre Rup

Pre Rup was our last temple destination (and last climb!) of the trip.

Temple Run: Banteay Srei

After our trek through the Cambodian jungle and our swim at the waterfall, we headed to our next stop: Banteay Srei also known as the temple of the women and the pink temple.

Thank God our bus had dozens of umbrellas on board. This day was the hottest of all the days we were there and the temple (which was made of red sandstone) made it even hotter.. at least I think so hehe. 

Kbal Spean

On the third and last full day of our Cambodian tour, we got into our bus and headed out of the city. It took about 2 hours before we finally reached the jungle.

This river is what greeted us after a loooooong (and tiring) hike.

Temple Run: Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is easily the most recognizable of all the landmarks in Cambodia. Its so famous that its even printed on their bills!

We had already visited it earlier in the day (to catch the sunrise) but we went back in the afternoon to explore the rest of the HUGE temple.

That's our group, walking towards the back of the temple. Look how pretty the path is! Felt like we were literally in another world.

Siam.

Grand Palace
Bangkok, Thailand

Temple Run: South Gate of Angkor Thom

 

Thats Kring and I approaching the South Gate on foot.

Paradise.

Photo taken at 5:34am

Boracay
Philippines

Temple Run: Ta Keo

Ta Keo actually wasn't a stop on our tour. But while we were in Cambodia, a friend of ours tweeted us saying that this was one of the places they visited (and they had so much fun) so we decided to add it to our tour too.

It was a good thing that our tour guide was nice (and young), so we were really able to tell him where we wanted to go and what we wanted to eat/see, etc. There were actually supposed to be more stops on our 3-day tour but because we were such a big group, and because we spent so much time taking photos in each stop (hehe, guilty), we didn't get to go to all the places that were on the list. We covered all the important places though.

Temple Run: Ta Prohm

Next destination for our 2nd day was the Tomb Raider temple!

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

We were up waaaaay before the crack of dawn on our 2nd day in Siem Reap. First thing on our agenda? Catch the infamous Angkor Wat sunrise.

Beautiful Coron

Kayangan Lake
Coron, Palawan

Temple Run: Phnom Bakheng

The last destination for our first day was to this temple to watch the sunset.

Temple Run: Elephant Terrace and King's Pool

Destination #2