The quest for good food continues....
Manila Day 2
~*~*~*Cafe Breton, Greenbelt*~*~*~
It was a super relaxing day as we had no errands to run and it was just a typical lazy Sunday. We woke up, dididada-ed for a while before heading off to Greenbelt in search for brunch.
We were spoilt for choices in Greenbelt as there were too many alfresco cafes around. Finally decided to have crepes at Cafe Breton, a place where we both haven't checked out before. The choices were abundant. There's an array of crepes both sweet and savoury to suit different cravings.
Seeing how easy it was to make the crepe, I told Pingu that I wanna get a hotplate too. "Hunny, i promise i'll make crepes for you everyday" :P
His answer? "Nah..we'll just come here for the crepes". Seems like my plan to get a hotplate isn't working.
The fun part is that you get to make your own crepe (which starts from as low as 45 peso). You get to choose whatever ingredients to go with your sweet/savoury crepe such as fresh fruits, spreads (nutella! yum..), sauces, preserves, mushrooms, sausages, hams, cheese, etc.This is my gourmet crepe. Mine's got mushrooms, ham and mozzarella.
Mmmm..it was super cheesilicious!
Pingu ordered something off the menu. It was a typical breakfast crepe consisting of egg, sausage, tomatoes and caramelised onions.
The crepes are undeniably delicious and there is definitely something for everyone whether you're a vegetarian or a hardcore meat-lover.
Being our typical gluttony selves, we naturally progressed to trying the sweet crepes.
This is La Manifique!
Aptly named, La Manifique is generously spread with a thick layer of Nutella, topped with whipped cream and almond flakes. There are banana slices in the crepe too. All super fattening ingredients but oh-so-comforting to eat.
Sinful? DEFINITELY!
After such a heavy brunch, we decided to do some 'malling' to walk off those calories.
Saw this outside a bar.
We did our grocery shopping at Rustan's (it's similar to our Bangsar Village Grocer, quite 'atas'). I needed to get some ingredients as I was gonna cook dinner that night.
Nope, I didn't get these 'kuih-like' food.
I'll grab these local kuihs next time. Am quite curious to find out how they taste like.
Look, they have ensaymadas for take away.
6 for 53 pesos, damn value for money!
We had no idea what's a 'Bibingka'. And oh, have you any idea what's a red duck egg? (i'll let you know what that is later).
Bibingka tastes a bit like those 'kaya balls' we get in pasar malam. But instead of kaya, you get to taste the savoury taste of salted egg (that's the red duck egg I was talking about) and some sweetness from the sugar and egg batter.
We had fun checking out this exhibition - The Spoils of Love
Featuring: Museum of Broken Relationships.
Some interesting exhibits to share....
"We broke up on skype"Choi! (*touch wood* in Cantonese)
My ex presented to me 2 Ralph Lauren bears not long after we started dating. One half is the brown one here, the other has white fur. He's Malay, I'm Chinese. We decided I would take the darker half of the pair, and he'd take the lighter fur bear, so we'd have something to represent each other when we're away from each other. I didn't display anything of our relationship in my house/room as my parents didn't approve of my dating him and I had to keep our relationship a secret. No photos of us, no cards, no romantic trinkets. Only the little "Malay" bear that sat on my bed for the rest of the relationship. When we broke up, I cried into the bear and hugged it to sleep for nights. Eventually, I packed him up and no one noticed the bear's absence.
It has been said to never give anyone a pair of shoes as a Christmas gift because it is thought that the shoes would make the person you give them to walk away from you.
Few months after Christmas of 2004, we called it quits.
Superstitions? I don't believe in superstitions. I just walked away. Today, I'm still walking but without the shoes.
July 12, 2003 - April 14, 2004
It lasted 300 days too long. He gave me his mobile phone so I couldn't call him anymore.
A head massager. One of the things one doesn't give back to an ex-girlfriend.
Basketball jersey
2008
Manila, Philippines
He was a player....
~*~*~*Market! Market!*~*~*~
We went to Market! Market! as I couldn't find some ingredients (herbs) at Rustan's.
Found this aptly named jewellery shop.
No-lar! I'm not desperate okay? :P
Our dinner for the night.
Roast chicken served on a bed of roasted potatoes, carrots and onions.
In case you're wondering what those green stuff underneath the skin were, I stuffed thyme and rosemary underneath the skin to make it more aromatic.
Wanted to make salad but decided against it as we had too much food for the 2 of us already.
Excuse the poor picture quality, the skin was actually super crispy while the meat tender and juicy. :D
A bottle of Asti sealed the deal. Yummilicious!
Manila Day 3
~*~*~*Powerplant Mall, Rockwell*~*~*~
One of the reasons Pingu brought me here was to try Diamond Hotel's famous ensaymada.
As it was a public holiday, there was a food bazaar going on.
I fell in lurve with these chocolate coated mochis. They're da bomb! I've never tasted melt-in-your-mouth mochis like these ones before.
Bought a vanilla flavoured mochi ice cream from the same stall.
I was told to wait a couple of minutes for the ice cream mochi to warm up a bit before eating.
I called these 'atas' cookies!
I've seen luxury bag cakes and cupcakes...but never cookies. This is a first for moi.
The cookies cost about RM10 each.
Guess which one's my favourite arm candy. The Hermes Birkin? The LV Speedy? or the quilted Chanel?
Cute mini Nissin cup noodles.
My quest for all things pink/red.
Found: this bottle of pink Gatorade while shopping at Rustan's (again).
Found: Red duck eggs (the ones in Malaysia are coated with black sandy-looking stuff)
~*~*~*The Cake Club of Diamond Hotel*~*~*~
The ensaymada is a delightful explosion of cheese and cream.
It is so good that you'll want to savour every single morsel to the last bite. And lick every damn cream off the plate. :P
Our 2nd helping of ensaymada. We ordered the one with ham this time. Surprisingly, savoury and sweet both gelled very well together.
But somehow, the cheese didn't melt like the first ensaymada. Though the former didn't look too good, it tasted so darn good!
Each ensaymada costs around 130 peso (RM10).
Enjoying a refreshing glass of green tea smoothie.
If you're a coffee lover, enjoy a cup of Japanese kohii (coffee) at Kohikan (Cake Club) of Diamond Hotel, 2nd floor Powerplant Mall, Rockwell next time you visit Manila. And don't forget to try their ensaymadas.
Comes in 3 flavours: original, ube (with yam), and ham.
~*~*~*Sentro, Serendra*~*~*~
I arranged for a dinner with my host parents (since my student exchange days eons ago) to catch up. It's been more than 10 years since I last met Daddy Ed (yup, I used to call him Daddy Ed then). He was the President of Rotary Club Makati West at the time and he's still an active member now. In fact, come July 2010, he'll be the District Governor of the club.
Me and Pingu with Daddy Ed and Mummy Mariz.
We had filipino cuisine @ Sentro. I didn't take piccies of the food until dessert. (I didn't wanna appear rude by clicking away at the food). :p
Crepes with cream and corn filling.
Coffee-peanut pie, Mummy Mariz's fave.
Manila Day 4
~*~*~*Mall of Asia (MOA)*~*~*~
MOA is currently the largest mall here. And since I've only spent like 2 hrs here, I guess I've only seen a small portion of this place. Sigh, so many things to do, so little time ....
I'll definitely be back...
View of the Manila bay...
Found: Another pink item. Strawberry soy milk. :P
Time to head home :(
Had some lousy filipino-chinese food @ the airport.
L-R: Some green-ish coloured drink (can't remember what it was), wantan mee, crab siew mai, shark's fin siewmai.
I ended up passing the wantan mee to Pingu as I was feeling nauseas. Decided to have the porridge instead.
The chicken porridge was pretty good though. I would have been able to finish it if not for my lack of appetite and wooziness. I was falling slightly ill towards the end of the trip. Parting definitely didn't help.
More piccies to come i promise :)
[note: Pingu was back for a week and he just left last nite. I'm happy that we managed to spend a blissfully adventurous week together. I can't wait to see him again end of this month. Can't wait :D ]
