Kogi Bulgogi's Promo 'til June 30, 2015

Kogi Bulgogi's Promo 'til June 30, 2015

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Ssambap all-you-can for Php 299

Son loves to eat pork and kimchi.

This would have been really great, if they only

placed less rice per serving.

Their rice bowls costs Php 145.

Value for money.

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Endless Korean dishes for Php 399.

This would have been a better option.

***

Had to post this before the month ends.

Gotta go back for more Korean dishes.

We asked for more kimchi. Guess what?

They gave us a really big bowl of kimchi.

Kogi's kimchi is "fresh". 

You'd wonder why I said it's fresh, right?

It's a fermented vegetable, how can it be fresh?

Oh... it doesn't have a stinky smell.

I could never eat kimchi because of the smell

but I ate Kogi's kimchi because it smells "fresh"!

Figaro Coffee

Figaro Coffee

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What made me decide to write about this experience

is this ... I noticed that Figaro now has branches in 

four other countries, China, Saudi Arabia,

Papua New Guinea and Malaysia.

  I remember going to their branch in Tomas Morato 

and at the Shangrila Plaza Mall in the early 90's.

I'm not really a coffee drinker, but I really loved their

paninis and pasta dishes.  Hubby drinks the coffee.

This time,  I got their red velvet cake. 

It wasn't extra special, but it was moist and

I was able to eat the entire cake.

Their three cheese pizza.

Son's favorite breakfast food, beef tapa.

Their coffee is strong and bold. 

Coffee lovers will surely like this blend.

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This is a late post, about four months late!

I have a backlog of about a year.

I just hope to find time to blog about the other 

places and restaurants.

Chef's Noodle, Robinson's Magnolia

Chef's Noodle at Robinson's Magnolia

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I was watching television, saw this commercial

of Chef's Noodle and really got curious.

Went to Robinson's Magnolia the next day.

Loved their comfy yellow chairs.

Iced Tea

Kimchi

Chicken Bibimbap

Beef Bibimbap

Their noodles ...

Egg with their logo.

All these for Php 500 including the iced tea.

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Red Ginger, City of Dreams, Manila

Delightful merienda at Red Ginger, City of Dreams

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Congee served in cute mint green clean glass bowls.

Banh Mi served on a wooden chopping board.

Glad it was wrapped in paper first

and not touching the wooden board.

Nasi Goreng on a crystal clear glass plate.

Mocca Chiffon Cake, a must eat!

I wanted to eat more cake ... maybe next time.

Their Menu

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Father's Day 2015, an advance celebration

Father's Day is still six days from now.

But we decided to celebrate ahead since

some of the grown up college kids start school

next Monday.  It's always good to spend time

with the family, catch up on each other's lives,

over a cup of rice, haha , not coffee, and a lot

of food.  This year, we had a simple merienda cena

of seafoods (fried tilapia, sinigang na bangus

and steamed alimasag or blue crabs).

I didn't want to serve the usual store bought

rellenong bangus and pork barbecue anymore!

The Hubby bought ISAW instead.

Manggang hilaw, kamatis at bagoong alamang,

suka na may siling labuyo and patis na may kalamansi

ang mga sawsawan.

Syempre, hindi mawawala ang pancit na 

aking paborito!

Dessert was 'walang kamatayang' fruit salad

and a salted caramel crunch cake from Cakes2Go.

Just the perfect sweet ending.

Sarap nung cake and for only Php640,

it's sooooo worth the price and the calories!!!

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Advance Happy Father's Day to the Hubby!!!

Click the link for El Nido 2015 (a late post)

El Nido 2015

Sunrise taken at 25,000 feet.

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Our first stop in El Nido ... offered a few

prayers for our safe journey to the beautiful 

islands of El Nido.

The drive to El Nido took six hours through zigzag

roads, with a short stop mid-way for a simple

turo-turo lunch.

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Simple, clean, budget-friendly accommodations,

booked two days before our flight.

Btw, booked our flights to Puerto Princesa

one week before our expected date of departure.

All of the nicer and more expensive hotels were

fully booked.  Our driver was the one who booked

our hotel at El Nido.  The accommodation cost

Php4,ooo per night which included buffet 

breakfast for three.

Our daily fare ...  simple, tasty and filling.

Our hotel only serves breakfast.

No lunch or dinner and no room service.

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Hubby & Son walking around the beach,

 where our hotel is located.  El NIdo Beach Hotel

 is just one of the few beach front hotels in the area.

Our first meal / dinner, at a nearby restaurant, 

about five minutes away from our hotel.

Tour Package A

which includes the different lagoons and lunch

plus a trip to Commando Beach.

Soft, white, powdery sand at Commando Beach

where we had fresh ripe buko before heading back

to the hotel. 

A looong, tiring but fun day riding the banca or pump boat,

 lunch at the Secret Lagoon, jelly fish stings,

 braving the strong winds and large waves while it rained hard.

It was a bit scary at first, but after looking at the

other foreigners with us, none of them showed 

any sign of fear. They were quiet, sleepy and calm.

I was probably the only one with the jitters.

(Hee hee hee Ha Ha Ha As if naman I got out of the boat ever! 

Sa Commando Beach lang ako bumaba no.)

***

I finally uploaded these pictures, it's been 6 months!

Kung hindi lang Father's Day next Sunday

and need to honor the Hubby somehow!

Here goes...

Happy Father's Day B!!!

Thank you for our memorable trip to El Nido.

I wish you good health and only the best in life.

Love always :)

***

P.S.

If you want to go to El Nido, plan ahead.

The amount I paid for our PAL flights and

the road trip is almost as expensive as taking

a chartered plane. Hindi ka pa mahihilo

sa 6 hour zigzag drive.  ... and you can probably

book at a more luxurious hotel.  Even the tours

can be booked prior or through your hotel, 

where you can ride the speed boats instead

of the bancas.  (Our banca even had some

engine trouble!!!)  Oh well,  that's part

of the adventure really. But when you're 

as old as I am, you wouldn't want the 

adventure anymore.  We cut short our trip

and went back to Puerto Princesa to sleep

and rest before our flight back to Manila.

Eto pa...  our original flights were MNL

to Busuanga or Coron.  The drive from Coron

to El Nido is 11 hours. What???

huhuhu

So, I had to get new tickets for the three

of us, since the drive from Puerto Princesa 

is only 6 hours.O diba? 

Kaya Plan and Research AHEAD!!!

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This trip was really quite memorable.

Son and Hubby had a heart to heart talk

after not just a couple of beers but a lot of

Red Horse Beers!!!... while I stayed in the 

hotel and slept early. 

 Kaya nga dapat maganda ang hotel 

kasi I stay in the room for almost 

half the time and my travel buddies

know that perfectly well.

***

Breakfast at Spiral after a restful sleep

Breakfast at Spiral

Sofitel Manila

My breakfast plates

Cheese & Deli

Japanese Breakfast

... and there's more!

Didn't take photos of all the food

stations.  There were just too many.

Breakfast was quite good.

However, their bacon is too lean,

and extremely dry.  That was what

I noticed after having had many breakfasts

 at other Accor Hotels (Novotel).

They must get their bacon from the same supplier.

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Our room

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We had a good night's sleep at Sofitel.

In fact,  my back didn't hurt a bit.

At first, I thought that the mattress was

old and lumpy, not firm like what I have 

at home, as prescribed by my doctors.

As I was fixing the pillows, I noticed 

that the mattress was covered with probably

a couple or more duvets/comforters.

I was wrong!  It had a mattress topper

or what is called a "memory foam".

So that was what's on the mattress.

Guess what?  Hubby bought me a

memory foam for my firm bed the day after.

I have been sleeping better, but not longer.

Four hours of sleep is better than 

sleeping every other night!