Ed and I have been on a light-dinner-diet for more than a week now. That's why we feel soooo hungry when we wake up in the morning. Today, we decided to eat out for breakfast. We went to Vega Center near UPLB because we thought we'd like to dine in at Chowking. But when we came, it was jampacked by people who have just finished attending mass. So, we decided to eat at Bugong, which dine-in restaurant is located inside the Vega Center. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we like Bugong less. We actually love their menu line-up & ambiance more than the other fast food restaurants ;-) And we've kept coming back.
Since it was early, I decided to have a "breakfast" meal. I ordered their Herbed Kesong Puti, which I've been wanting to try for quite some time. I got toasted wheat bread topped with kesong puti and slices of fresh tomatoes, served with two pieces of fresh basil leaves and hot coffee. I think they purposely put the basil leaves on the side because not everybody likes it, but me.. I LOVE BASIL! I think fresh basil has milder flavor than the dries ones. Anyway, I love the freshness of this meal. I wish i can have this everyday! P135.00 as of writing.
I've always had a BIG appetite ever since... so it became normal for me to have another set ;-) I also ordered their Omu Rice (omelette rice). For the filling, you can choose between roasted chicken and frankfurters that goes with rice. It is finally drizzled with barbeque & other sauce (can't recognize!) and then served with hot coffee. It's a simple but beautiful meal that is priced at P99.00 as of writing.
I've been talking about what I ate... Ed ordered a quarter chicken meal with mexican salsa and iced tea... a "not-so-brekky-meal" ;-) which in the end, he shared with me because he's not a fan of chicken breast :-)
We've discovered Faustina's two years ago (I think) and have fallen in love with their crepe and pasta. Since then, we've eaten there countless of times already and we'll keep coming back to try the rest of the items listed on their menu :-)
We decided to have our dinner at Faustina's earlier. I'm actually torn between having pizza & pasta or rice meal... (I actually thought of ordering both, and just take out the leftover pizza which I am planning to eat for breakfast, lol) but since I want to stick on my diet, I decided to omit the pizza & pasta (for now!)
Pumpkin Soup(PhP93) - For starter, Ed and I both had Pumpkin Soup, served with a piece of garlic bread. It's like the comfort food for me (the one that I wished for but momma "never" made, lol). Well, I really liked it.
Grilled Soy Ginger Chicken (Php196) - Ed had this char-grilled chicken marinated in a soy and ginger sauce, served with steamed rice, a side of green salad and garlic mayo dressing. You get to choose which dressing you would like to have: garlic mayo, french, or tomato french. Yummy!
Pan-fried Fish Wrapped in Bacon (PhP218) - This is my first time to order this. I saw in the menu that this is Cook's Favorite so why not give it a try ;-) It's a pan-fried fish fillet marinated in citrus and herbs, wrapped in bacon, served with steamed rice, a side of green salad and garlic mayo dressing. I had two garlic mayo dressings, one for the fish and one for the salad. Had I known that the fish will come with garlic mayo by default, I think I would have chosen french or tomato french for the salad. But hey, it's no big deal :-) I like how the bacon added flavor to the fish, which by the way is very soft and juicy. Having this, I got that "healthy eating" feeling! Good stuff ;-)
And lastly Ed had Apple Shake (PhP65) while I had a Hot Chocolate (PhP52) made with tablea from Batangas and a spot of milk.
Prices indicated above are as of writing, July 11, 2013. You may check their complete menu and prices from their facebook page: Faustina's Complete Menu
Faustina's
Lola J Building, 10278 Ruby Street, Los Banos, Laguna 4031
When in Los Banos, ride a jeep with "UP College - Kanan" signboard. Tell the driver to drop you off at Raymundo Gate. It's just about a 100 meters upon entering the UPLB campus. Faustina's a minute walk from Raymundo Gate, you won't miss it ;-)
Edward and I have been craving for sashimi in the past few days. We tried eating at a Japanese restaurant in Alabang but the sashimi that day was not available. So today, right after our Saturday Swimming, we went to Ippon-Yari Authentic Japanese Restaurant for lunch. Yes, it is posted on their entrance the word "authentic" and hey, that really are!
When you eat there, you are served a vegetable salad and toasted rice tea (cold). This is a plus point for the restaurant.
I ordered salmon sashimi, agedashi tofu, miso soup, rice, and orange juice.
Vegetable Salad Vinaigrette
Shake (Salmon) Sashimi - This is an all-time favorite that I ALWAYS order whenever available. I also liked the seaweeds that came with it. Too bad Uni Sashimi is now out of the menu. It's one of my favorites too!
Agedashi Tofu
This is ME. Didn't they say not to take photo against the light? :-D
Ed ordered chili beef ramen with egg & nuts, (I actually forgot how it's called), maguro (tuna) sashimi, miso soup and iced tea.
Chilli Beef Ramen with Egg and Chopped Nuts - Ed wasn't able to consume all this so I came to rescue! Lol
Maguro (Tuna) Sashimi - This one is also very fresh, just like the salmon.
This is Edward enjoying his food.
The waitress offered us free coffee after meal. Another plus point! But since we were so full, we decided not to have it.
Overall it was a very satisfying meal. There is really a big difference between coming out of a foodplace just full and coming out full and happy. We were very satisfied and happy.
Total Bill: PhP1,220.00
Other Plus Point(s):
The friendly security guard who assisted us in parking. They offer 20% discount on Sundays and Regular Holidays
Business Hours:
Daily 11am-2pm / 5pm-11pm
Location:
National Highway, Brgy. Turbina, Calamba City, Laguna
Edward's long-time friend had his birthday last month and invited us to join them in their 2-day 1-night barkada outing at White Beach Puerto Galera, Mindoro. We were able to reach Calamba, Laguna at around 7:00 am and took the most convenient route which is from Calamba Exit via Alabang-Calamba-Sto. Tomas Expressway or ACTEX (also known as South Luzon Expressway or SLEX) straight to Batangas Exit via Southern Tagalog Arterial Road or STAR Tollway.
FEES:
ACTEX Calamba Exit = PhP25.00
STAR Tollgate to Batangas City = PhP67.00
================================
One-way pass = PhP92.00
Travel time = around 1-1/2 hours
We decided to leave our car or "Park 'n Sail" at Batangas Port. You may bring your car to Puerto Galera via Roll-on Roll-off ferry, a.k.a. ro-ro but this is not advisable because most resorts have no parking areas especially those near the beach, plus, it is more expensive.
Approaching Batangas Port. We turned left going to the parking entrance. No, we didn't enter this arch.
The Batangas Port Terminal was jampacked that day! Well, I kinda expected a crowd because we went there on a Saturday but didn't expect so many! I guess those people (just like us) are trying to make most of the summer season.
There are different shipping lines that can transport you to White Beach. They are recognizable by their boat color: Gallerian (blue), Father & Sons (yellow), and Minolo (red). We bought tickets from Father and Son's Shipping Lines (FSL).
Round Trip Fare to White Beach via FSL = PhP500.00/person
Environmental Fee (one-way) = PhP10.00/person
FSL also transports to Sabang and Muelle. Here's the link to their website for the updated fares and trip schedules.
You had to confirm your roundtrip ticket back to Batangas at the
Father and Son's Shipping Lines Ticketing Booth upon arrival because it gets fully-booked fast. We booked the 1:30 pm schedule so we won't catch the bigger waves in the late afternoon.
Edward's friend is a geodetic engineer who happens to have a colleague whose family owns a resort there. We stayed at Moreno's Resort. It's a 3-storey apartelle, no swimming pools, but have enough rooms to accommodate several groups, some have AC, some have electric fan only (for the budget-conscious). It's not beachfront but that's fine with us because it's just a few blocks away from the shore. We stayed at room H on the second floor; it has a toilet & bath, 1 single bed, 1 queen-size bed, and an electric fan. It only cost us PhP750.00 for a 24hr-stay (very cheap!)... Well, this is actually a discounted rate because of our friend! :-)
After checking-in, we decided to grab some food at the beachfront restos. Ed and I love seafood but found out that the restos are offering only either: prawns, squid, tilapia, or milkfish (a.k.a. bangus), if not chicken or pork. We're kinda disappointed and ended up ordering Sinigang na Hipon. The waitress happens to be a fire dancer at night and invited us to watch her perform. It was something I looked forward to.
Ed and I... (Sorry, no pictures of the food. It took a while before it was served. We were so hungry that we ate it as soon as it landed on our table! LOL)
We decided to do snorkeling in the afternoon. We rented a boat for PhP1,900.00 which took us to a drop-off point where we had to transfer to a smaller boat for PhP200.00/person. The smaller boat was the one to take us to the corals. Manong bangkero asked us to jumped into the water and hold on to a hose tied securely to his boat. We were dragged by it going to the "fish feeding area". We really enjoyed that ride because as we saw live corals in different forms and different fishes while being dragged. It was really a fun experience!
Here's the video of our ride:
Unedited video
Some photos:
Group shot going to the snorkeling area
Corals
... and some fish
Sea Urchin (Uni)
Ed and I. Oh how we love this ride :)
I bet everybody's so tired when we came back to Moreno's resort but no it didn't keep us from "gathering" that night :-)
Overall, it was a fun (although quick) weekend escapade! Looking forward to more weekend getaways with friends!
We went to SM Calamba to do some grocery shopping but decided to eat early lunch first before everybody else does. We wanted something Italian so we dined at Joey Pepperoni (our third time). We ordered Gamberi Pasta, Margherita Pizza, and Rosemary Chicken with Rice. The food preparation usually takes 20-30 minutes, maybe the reason why their placemats have games printed on it.
I love
seafood and it always comes first to my order list. Gamberi Pasta is a
savory mix of pomodoro sauce (tomatoes + garlic + olive oil + basil +
seasonings) with shrimps and bacon, served with a bread stick. The pasta
is cooked al dente and there are fairly enough pieces and bits of
shrimps and bacon.
For 2-person sharing, the 8" Margherita Pizza is more than enough because we had our own full meals :-D Good thing it is low in calorie, topped only with mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes and basil leaves. I have bigger appetite than Ed so I ended up eating 3 slices of it. I had no choice :-D Hahaha
Ed had Rosemary Chicken with Rice (Pollo al Rosmarino con Riso). We
already had pasta the night before at Faustina's Los Baños so he chose
rice this time. Me? I didn't mind having pasta straight in a row :-D By first look at the chicken, we thought that this is not
what we had before and what was posted in their website. The chicken
seemed dry and overcooked, very different from what we got in our
previous dines. What we had before was similar to what was shown on
their website:
So the verdict? 3 stars out of 5. Will we eat at Joey Pepperoni restaurants again? Well yes, but will definitely not order the Rosemary chicken again. I hope that all restaurants out there, especially the franchises, will be consistent in serving high quality food so the paying customers will get the value that have been paid for.
We used to work in a company located across Paseo de Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Because of this, we had almost tried all the restaurants in the area. We both LOVE Japanese food and Fu Japanese Restaurant is our favorite place! Actually, there used to be many Jap resto in Paseo de Sta. Rosa: Ippon-Yari (across), Fu, Ichi, Umenoya, Ryuma... but the last three mentioned are already closed, sad to say. I said Fu is our fave because the freshness of the food they serve and the ambiance of the place. Those who have eaten there before may say that the place isn't as fancy as the others, or the staff from other restaurants are dressed better, blah blah blah... but that's actually what we liked about Fu. It feels homey (especially for Japanese nationals) and less commercialized. So we were able to enjoy our food feeling relaxed, laid back.. ohhh I want to go back.
In the picture, you will know that WE LOVE SASHIMI! Mouth-watering... We rate this restaurant 4 out of 5. Will we eat at Fu again? Of course, YES!!! And we promise ourselves to try each meal on their menu. :-)
Isdaan Floating Restaurant and Theme Park, a.k.a. Isdaan, is located at National Highway, Calauan, Laguna and is operated by the Barrio Fiesta group of companies. Isdaan is a Thai-inspired theme park serving Filipino cuisine. You can see menus from Barrio Fiesta, Mama Chit, Bakahan at Manukan, among others.
The owners did not skimp on the architecture of the restaurant. You will see structures of mermaid buddhas, giant monkeys, life-size naked scupltures & crocodiles, and some random cartoon characters.
They have a "Tacsiyapo" wall, like the one that you will see in their other Isdaan branch in Gerona, Tarlac. You can release your anger here! You may buy a glass, plate, even TV and smash it on the wall, targeting your word of preference (i.e. "Kabit", "Ex-Wife", "Magnanakaw") while screaming the word "Tacsiyapo" which literally means "P_tang Ina" (in Tagalog) or "Son of a B_tch" (in English).
During our visit, some areas of the park are still under construction... so I guess we can still expect more of the amazing structures and attractions.
