Shoot First Eat Later

Sunday Lunch at Laguna Garden Cafe

For our last meal in Cebu, Tes insisted that I try the food at Laguna Garden Café at the Ayala Center.

Right across was Café Laguna which was managed by other relatives. This group also had another restaurant in the mall called Lemon Grass. All restaurants were quite popular with diners.

Having tried all three restaurants Tes said she preferred the food at Laguna Garden Cafe.

We met up with Tes’ only brother, Manoling who was based in Cebu.

The siblings had their favorite drink/dessert, Guinomis. I tried a little of it and not so sweet but the coconut milk tasted a bit oily to me. They were happy with it though and that’s the important thing. Tes even asked for extra pinipig on the side.

guinomis P75

I liked the tokwa’t baby which was nice and sour.

tokwa’t baboy P85

For a healthier alternative we ordered the seafood kare kare. It was quite good. Our only complaint was the ultra slow service. It took almost an hour for the food to come out despite our frequent reminder to our waiter. The people on the next table who arrived after us were already eating while we stared their food longingly.

seafood kare kare P295

The bagoong was so good and not too salty.

bagoong

I wish the laing had more coconut flavor. It was not as spicy either unless you crush the small chili.

laing (pinangat) P170

My favorite was the bibingka which was light yet so creamy and moist in the middle. I would go back just to eat this bibingka.

bibingka P85

The prices were surprisingly reasonable. If not for the slow service I would highly recommend this place.

Laguna Garden Cafe Menu

Laguna Garden Café
The Terraces
Ayala Center Cebu
Cebu City, Philippines
telephone: (+63 32) 233-8600
fax: (+63 32) 233-8602
email: lgc@cafelaguna.com

Dinner at Arano’s

For our second dinner in Cebu we went to Arano’s for some Spanish food.

Arano’s was located in Fairlane Village in Guadalupe. From the outside it looked just like an unassuming house.

The small restaurant was very simply decorated with pictures of friends and Señor Arano when he was a young and handsome jai alai player.

I told Señor Arano he reminded me of Tom Selleck.

Angel Ibarlucea y Arano

Tes’ brother Manoling and his daughter Janina have been going to Arano’s since Janina was a little girl. Now that she’s about to get married she brought her new family to continue their tradition. They all spoke in Spanish and I just sat quietly and ate since I flunked my Spanish classes in Ateneo.

Manoling ordered the next 3 special dishes in advance. If you plan to try these be sure to call first. These dishes are meant for sharing among 4-5 people.

The black paella was just satisfactory to me. It didn’t have much flavor from the squid ink. It tasted better when eaten with the gambas and chorizo.

paella negros P500

The fish used for this was lamon-lamon (Blackspot tusk fish) which was native to Cebu. It was a light and very flavorful dish. The fish was hearty yet tender.

pescao & salsa verde P560

This was my first time to try goat meat and I didn’t like it. I found it too strong and overwhelming. The Spanish speaking people in our table liked it very much.

baked goat thigh & mushrooms P900

I loved their homemade lean chorizo. I must have eaten 1 1/2 pieces. It was so flavorful and I ate it as ‘ulam’ with the paella.

chorizo P70

My favorite dish that night was the gambas. Small succulent pieces of shrimp were bathed in spicy, garlicky tomato, pimenton and olive oil. It was the best gambas I’ve ever eaten. The spicy sauce was just perfect for dipping bread in as my friends did. I spooned the shrimp and sauce on my paella negra and swooned in happiness.

gambas al jillo P90

The beans had a strong smokey flavor from the chorizo and bacon.

alubias P240

I was astounded by how good the coffee was and it only cost P25 a cup. Señor Arano said it was a special blend from Bacolod. I should gotten more information so I can buy the coffee beans.

brewed coffee P25

crema P20

You really can’t beat these prices for a home cooked Spanish meal. For those who live in Cebu and those planning a trip I urge you to try Arano’s. Just make sure to reserve a table and order in advance. Double the order of chorizo and gambas ok? And have a cup of coffee for me.

Arano
31 Fairlane Village, Guadalupe, Cebu City
telephone: +6332-256-1934
Open from Monday to Friday from 6:00-10:00 PM

Lady Gaga at the Mall of Asia Arena

A few days ago my friend sent me a message, “Do you want to watch the Lady Gaga concert? I have an extra ticket.” Let me tell you right now I’m not one of the ‘little monsters’ but I immediately replied, “YES!!!”

Even though I’m not a big Lady Gaga fan I do know all her hits. But then you would have to live in a cave not to know her songs, right? I do admire her hard work and talent to rise to where she is now.

I was also excited to see the brand new Mall of Asia Arena. We watched the concert last night, day two of the Born This Way Ball Tour in Manila.

Your ticket will tell you which entrance to go to. I was very impressed with the high level of security which made it look like an airport just with many, many doors thus there were no lines at all.

Your ticket is scanned and the shield opens.

There were snack bars on all levels.

On the second level there was Krispy Kreme and several ladies selling Chef Tony’s popcorn.

Sections were well indicated on the ceiling.

This was the view from lower box section 220 blue. I managed to take one picture of the front act, DJ Zedd before the usher led us out again. By the way, I really, really enjoyed his music.

Usher: “Ummm, ma’am your tickets are for yesterday’s show.”
Us: “Whaaaaaaat??!?!??!”

Breathe in, breathe out. After a calm and collected call to the one who gave us the tickets we were then brought to the 3rd floor where the corporate suites were. No one noticed it but I was doing an invisible dance of joy.

Each suite was leased by a company for their own use or for their vip guests.
“We have 31 for lease on a long-term basis called Premier Suites and we have 10 on a per event basis called Events Suites,” Tejerero says.
The suites can go for one- to 5-year leases depending on the company and would cost about P9 million to P12 million. source

These are just some of the companies with their own suite in the Arena. Asia Brewery has one too since I saw a friend who came from there.

I managed to get pictures of an empty suite after the concert.

This was the seats next to ours. There were glass dividers in between suites.

Three lucky, lucky concert goers.

Chef Tony, may I make a request? Can you make cheese popcorn that’s not sweet? Please?

Here’s what the corporate suites look like from where I was (rooms with yellow lighting). This was as full as it got on the mosh pit.

The view from our suite was to the upper left side of the stage. When Lady Gaga stands on the right side I don’t see her. I didn’t mind since I could watch from the big screen.

I swear I saw a horse come out on stage in the opening number.

The castle opens and closes. The musicians were actually standing on the sides of the castle.

I recorded Lady Gaga’s performance of Bad Romance.

I took a break during one of the unfamiliar songs. There was a really nice bathroom inside the suite.

I spied an Illy X7.1 Iperespresso pod espresso machine and requested a decaf espresso. The wait staff in the suite were all very friendly and well trained.

These were just some of the food available in the suite.

I wish I was able to try some of the banana cream pie.

Cool ride with a keyboard!

Lady Gaga proudly introduced her guitarist who’s a Filipino. He’s the tiny guy with black hair in the foreground.

Thank goodness she didn’t wear real meat again.

Alejandro

The encore was the popular “Edge of Glory.”

After the great concert we stayed behind and I learned a lot of trivia about the Mall of Asia Arena.

Here’s the division of seats in the Arena.

seating options in the arena

These are the retractable seats conveniently hidden.

There were approximately 12,000 seats available that night. For basketball games there will be 15,000 seats and for boxing matches there will be 17,000 seats.

When they moved the stage barrier they also swept lots of trash.

It took 12 hours to set-up the stage which was brought in via 2 747 cargo planes including all the speakers and hydraulics. It will take the hard working foreign and local crew just a few hours to disassemble the elaborate stage.

The scoreboard lowers just like in the arenas in the USA. Even the speakers were high tech!

Ample parking for 2,000 cars was just across the Arena.

Mall of Asia Arena
Sunset Avenue, Pasay City, Philippines
telephone: 831-7000 local 2939
website
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Cebu Best Pasalubong Atbp

If you’ve ever tried Cebu Best Mango Chocolate from Philippines Airlines and have been looking where to buy it you’ve come to the right place. We went to their store while we were in Cebu just to buy this elusive treat.

If you’ve never tried this delicious sliver of dried mango dipped in dark Belgian chocolate then you must try it. I never thought mango would go well with chocolate but it definitely a perfect combination.

If I’m not mistaken Cebu Best Pasalubong Atbp in Salinas Drive is the only store where you can get the Mango Chocolate.

They also sell a few other food stuff like dried mango, dried pineapple and banana chips.

I didn’t buy the Mango Chocolate because 1 piece costs P25 and I know I can’t stop at eating just one. My friends bought a few boxes as presents for balikbayan guests.

A box of 12 pieces sells for P330 while 24 pieces will set you back P600.

Cebu Best Pasalubong atbp- Mango Chocolate

The store was quite big and had colorful murals but only a small counter was used for the food display.

I tried a small pack of these spicy peanuts with dried mango bits and ended up buying a whole bag that contained 20 small packs of peanuts. The 30 gram bag costs P15 each while a bigger 60 gram bag costs P30. I bought the small bag for portion control otherwise I would easily finish a big bag. That’s how much I loved it.

Spicy peanuts and dried mango bits was another strange combination that worked. I really liked the small peanuts that I find tastier than the more common bigger peanuts. The spice level was just right for me and and the little bits of dried mangoes provided a nice sweet and chewy touch.

Cebu Best Pasalubong Atbp (across Golden Cowrie Native Restaurant)
Salinas Dr. Lahug, Cebu City
telephone: +6332-272-6217, 272-6218

In Manila you can order Cebu Best Mango Chocolate:
telephone: +632-632-2166 (for pick up in Pasig City)

Mövenpick Resort & Spa Cebu

Anyone planning to go to Cebu has a major decision on where to stay. On my recent trip I stayed in the city at Marriott Hotel which was conveniently located next to Ayala Center. It was great for shopping and there were lots of dining options.

But if your objective is the beach for sun, sand and r&r then you have to stay in a resort on Mactan island.

By a wonderful coincidence my very good family friends were in Cebu at the same time I was and they invited to have lunch at Mövenpick Resort & Spa Cebu where they were staying.

I abandoned (their words) my college friends and took a cab to Mactan island. It was a Saturday and the traffic was light. My cab fare was P250 one way. It took about 30 minutes to get to the resort.

This was the main lobby of Mövenpick (formerly Hilton Hotel). When I left it was raining and windy and half of this area was wet.

I wasn’t really excited to eat lechon for lunch. I was more excited to see the presidential suite of the resort.

The suite had two bedrooms. This was the master bedroom.

The second bedroom had two twin beds and it’s own bathroom. There was another bathroom just off the living room. I liked the Tivoli Audio radio in the bedroom plus the little Toblerone chocolate given at turn down service.

This was the gorgeous view from the balcony of the suite.

Shangri-La Resort was next door.

My hosts were given a lechon from Cang’s lechon so we just ordered some garlic fried rice and green salad to go with it. I found the lechon just ok. Some parts were bland while other parts were really salty. The skin was also not consistent. Depending on the part of the pig the skin was either crunchy or not.

My coffee came with 2 pieces of Mövenpick chocolates.

Mövenpick Resort & Spa Cebu
Punta Engano Mactan Island
6015 Cebu Philippines
telephone:+63 32 492 7777
E-mail:Resort.Cebu@moevenpick.com

website
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Dinner at Abuhan Tres

When we were at Ayala Center earlier I was surprised to see so many local and international restaurant chains from Manila. I voiced out my wish not to eat in any of them. I wanted to eat in a truly Cebuano restaurant. My wish was granted when we were brought to Abuhan Tres for dinner.

This restaurant is a favorite of Tes’ niece and her fiancé. They eat there at least once a week. They were already raving about the popular pochero even before we entered the restaurant.

We started with a very interesting salad with puso ng saging (banana blossom or bud), dills (dried anchovies), gata (coconut milk) and lemongrass.

puso sa saging P60

When they said pochero I had in mind a chicken and pork stew with saba (plantain bananas) in a tomato based sauce. But when the dish came out it was bulalo. It seemed in Cebu bulalo (beef shank with bone marrow) is called pochero.

I may be the only person in the Philippines who never eats bulalo with rice. For me I treat bulalo as soup and not as ulam (viand). The soup was very flavorful but I found it a tad salty.

pochero P365

Look at that gorgeous bone marrow. While everyone was busy eating the beef and soup with rice I delicately picked the the huge bone and banged in on my plate for the bone marrow to spill out. I got a spoonful of white rice and mixed it in the bone marrow. Wow heaven!!! And that’s how I eat my bulalo folks.

Gasp, you can ask for extra bone marrow from the waiter. They skim it off the huge vats of pochero in the kitchen. If only they had Knorr or Maggi seasoning I would have eaten more bone marrow and rice with generous dashes of Knorr. Thank goodness they didn’t have it.

bone marrow

While the boiled pochero was just ok with me I fell in lust with the sizzling pochero. Now this was ULAM to me!! I just loved eating all the tender litid (beef tendon) with the super tasty gravy. I would never have imagined such a combination – boiled beef shank with American style gravy but it worked! We even ordered extra gravy.

sizzling pochero P410 extra gravy P35

I also enjoyed the cubed tangigue or tanigue (Spanish mackerel) sautéed in lots of garlic and olive oil. It’s a healthier and equally delicious alternative to the more common beef salpicao.

salpicao tangigue P185

But my most favorite dish that night was the fried lapu lapu in pepper sauce. The fish was perfectly fried to a tender crisp and the mildly spicy black pepper sauce was spot on. Outside a Chinese restaurant this was the best lapu lapu I have ever eaten. It was such a big hit with all of us we ordered a second fish. Too bad it didn’t taste as good as the first one.

lapu lapu in pepper sauce P325

sauteed vegetables with tofu P125

I was so shocked that the bill for 7 people was only P2,000 or less than $50 and we had two orders of lapu lapu. The Cebuanos in our table explained to me that they are known to demand good food at rock bottom prices. That’s just the way they are. I like the way they think. This was why I thought our merienda of fried food at Sunburst was expensive at P900 for four.

Abuhan Tres’ menu
house specialties, appetizers salad soup & vegetables
beef noodles & seafood, chicken pork mixto & rice
desserts beverages & shakes

Abuhan Tres
Unit 108 i2 Bldg. Asiatown I.T. Park, 6000 Cebu, Philippines
telephone: (+6332) 412-3025

Mon – Thu: 10:00 am – 2:00 am
Fri – Sat: 10:00 am – 5:00 am
Sun: 10:00 am – 12:00 am
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other Abuhan branches:
Abuhan Uno
F. Ramos St., Cebu City
telephone: (032) 253-1881

Abuhan Dos
176 F. Ramos Street, Cebu City (near Robinsons Mall)
telepphone : (032) 253-5774
Open 24 Hours

Merienda at Sunburst Fried Chicken

I was so hungry since I didn’t eat anything at the lounge in the airport. It was already 5:00 pm and we wanted something near and fast so we went to Ayala Center after dropping off our luggage at the Marriott Hotel.

Sunburst Fried Chicken was recommended by a friend who used to live in Cebu. She said I just had to try their fried chicken skin. So why not, coconut?

They managed to stay open since 1971 so it must be good.

The interiors looks nice enough for a casual dining restaurant. The floors were very greasy and slippery though.

The fried squid was very tender and quite flavorful although it had a very oily aftertaste. I don’t really know why we ordered fried calamares when we were going to order two more fried dishes.

calamares P238

My first comment was, “why top fried chicken skin with fried potato chips?” Not enough oil, fat and cholesterol? Anyway, the fried chicken skin was just as good as you can imagine. There’s nothing really better and more sinful than eating fried chicken skin. No need to fight over a little piece of skin on your chicken. No chicken to finish just to get to the best part. I loved, loved it but to be honest I couldn’t eat more than 3 pieces. I felt too guilty already.

chick’ n crackers regular P178

I’m not a big liver eater unless it’s in the form of pâté. But it was highly recommended so we ordered it. True enough it was good. There were even some gizzard mixed in.

liver P171

I still can’t believe my first meal in Cebu City was a fried food extravaganza.

fried food galore

The coleslaw was unlike any coleslaw I’ve ever tried. The cabbage was finely chopped, the dressing was watery and sweet. In short I didn’t like it. But oddly when eaten together with the fried chicken skin it tasted better. Somehow the two complemented each other.

coleslaw P89

Eric had the fried skin with chicken attached. He said it was just ok.

sunny solo ribkeel P99

Rizette had the healthiest choice.

pancit molo P70

This was probably our most expensive meal in Cebu considering it was just merienda. It was an unusual experience and one I don’t regret.

Welcome to Cebu!!! Let the eating begin.

Sunburst Fried Chicken menu

Sunburst Fried Chicken
Level 2, The Terraces
Ayala Center
Cebu City
telephone: 232-2305, 233-9271, 233-9275

Cebu City Marriott Hotel

I wonder why I don’t go to Cebu more often since it was only an hour’s flight from Manila. My round trip plane ticket on PAL cost only P2,500. I think I should travel around the Philippines more.

My friend Tes goes to Cebu regularly to visit her brother. Her first tip to visitors to Cebu is upon exiting the airport, go across and up to departure area and take the taxi from there. It’s cheaper! Take the white taxi which has a flag down rate of P40. Our cab ride to the Marriott Hotel cost P200. If you take the yellow taxis outside the arrival area the flag down rate is P65-70.

Actually this taxi tip works for Manila’s Naia airport too. The taxi cabs from the departure area are much cheaper. I recently had to take the taxi from Naia airport to Greenhills, San Juan and paid only P150 since it was early in the morning and there was hardly any traffic. If I took the yellow taxi it would cost 30% more.

Check out the unique sitting area at the Mactan-Cebu International airport.

Cebu City Marriott Hotel

Tes insisted we stay at Marriott Hotel since it was conveniently located right next to Ayala Center. And I’m so, so glad we did.

Such hospitality!!

We had really comfy double beds. There was even a lounge chair in the room which I never got to sit on.

Here’s my roomie, Tes, posing for my blog.

The bathroom was a decent size and very clean.

I always take pictures of the hotel’s toiletries since I myself research the toiletries of the hotels I will stay in so I will know if I have to bring my own stuff or not. I like hotels that offer L’Occitane toiletries.

Rain shower heads seem to be the norm in hotels nowadays.

This is the view of Ayala Center from our room.

The Garden Cafe is where you have breakfast and buffet meals all throughout the day. Tes and I didn’t get breakfast with our room but our friends Eric and Rizette did. We joined them on our last day and sneaked a taste of the chicken tocino and longganisa. Both were so good!!

Garden Cafe

The pool wasn’t big but I loved the lounge chairs. There’s a single and a double size.

Barbecue by the pool

Fifteen minutes after we checked in we went to Ayala Center via this walkway from the hotel. A short five minute walk and we were in the middle of the mall.

It looked like your typical Ayala mall, open and green. Beautiful!!!

Tes, me, Eric and Rizette

Cebu City Marriott Hotel
Cardinal Rosales Avenue · Cebu City, 6000 Philippines
telephone: 63-32-4115800
sales: 63-32-4115800 ext. 8026
website

Philippine Airlines Domestic Lounge at Naia Terminal 2

A few months ago I went to Cebu with three of my college friends. Only one of us didn’t have a Mabuhay Elite card given by Allied Bank/PNB Mabuhay Miles credit card. That’s why even though we had economy class tickets we were able to go in the PAL’s lounge at the airport.

It was quite crowded. I guess a lot of people had the same cards too.

I kid you not. These were all different sandwiches!!! Can you guess what I ate? NOTHING!!! I’d rather use my carb cheats in Cebu than eat these mini buns.

At least they used stale looking croissants for one sandwich.

You can never go wrong with their fantastic arroz caldo (chicken porridge).

arroz caldo

All I had was coffee. I did take some sandwiches for Tes who we left outside the lounge.

After a quick snack we left the lounge to join Tes, in the middle, since she was all alone at the seating area near our gate.

Kouign Amann from Gourmet Finds

What is kouign amann? It probably sounds new to you since I’ve only seen them in one other place. In the US it’s starting to become popular too but not as widely available yet.

Kouign amann is (pronounced kween a-mon) is a Breton (from Brittany, France) cake. It is a round crusty cake, made with bread dough containing layers of butter and sugar folded in, similar in fashion to puff pastry albeit with fewer layers.

The resulting cake is slowly baked until the butter puffs up the dough (resulting in the layered aspect of it) and the sugar caramelizes. The name derives from the Breton words for cake (“kouign”) and butter (“amann”). Kouign-amann is a speciality of the town Douarnenez in Finistère, in the west of France, where it originated in around 1860. from Wikipedia

kouign amann – box of 6 P450

When it arrived in my house last Saturday morning I didn’t even bother to warm it up in the oven as advised. I took one bite and nearly swooned. The bread had a dense but flaky texture. The whole was moist like it was dipped in syrup but it wasn’t too sweet. I later realized it was so moist due to the large amount of French butter used. I could taste the difference with local butter. It gave the pastry such richness and sublime flavor not found when using local butter. French butter has a much higher fat content that’s why this pastry was so good.

To let you know how much I loved the kouign amann, I received 6 pieces and ate 1 piece stretched out the whole day. I shared one with my friends who came to the house for dessert after our dinner out. The other four pieces are individually and tightly wrapped in foil and stored in the freezer for future emergencies. I didn’t have enough self control not to eat the rest so I hid them.

That’s one of my eccentricities. The more I like something the more I want to keep it in the freezer for future consumption. Just like my chocolate peanut butter chip cookies from Levain sitting in the freezer waiting for just the right time for me to eat them.

If you want to try this truly delectable, super buttery pastry you need to order it 4 days in advance.

New Products of Gourmet Finds
The Best French Macarons in Manila

Gourmet Finds menu (click to enlarge)

Check out her new DCs or Doughnut-Croissants!!! I love the salted caramel best. (post coming soon)

Gourmet Finds
cellphone: (0921) 762-2240
pick up is at Narra Ave. Forbes Park, Makati
email: gourmetfinds@yahoo.com
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