Sci Fi Cafe

Sci Fi Cafe is a food establishment at the top floor of Robinson's Galleria.

The menu

+maria cessna galecio , Tita Fe, Thirdy and I ate there a few weeks back. We got curious with all the toy displays among the glass windows.

Easel stand. Didn't get to stare at it but I'm assuming it's full of celebrity pics.

Pan a little to the right to show the entrance

The place is a bit small. There's about 7 to 8 tables inside and about 6 or so tables outside. You would want to be seated inside so you can roam around and look at the displays while you're waiting for your orders. Of course, you can still go inside just to take a look around if you're seated outside. But being inside immerses you in the theme of the restaurant.

Mostly clear windows for viewing the displays both inside and out

Motif is science fiction so you basically find movie versions

Thirdy and myself among the displays

Aside from the amazing collection of sci fi action figures, there are a lot of costumes and props you can wear and get your picture taken. You won't get your full cosplay-on, but there's a few props you can try on.

During our visit, the most worn props are the Star Wars Clone trooper helmet and an Iron Man helmet. The Darth Vader helmet was out of commission that day so we never got to try it on. I was able to put on the Storm trooper helmet and gotten a picture with Thirdy. It seems that Thirdy didn't like it as he kept pushing it away from my face when I was holding him. The Iron Man helmet was too narrow. That, or I have a wide face. Let's just say it's the helmet.

I need to get one of these!

There were also light sabers you can fool around with too. So with all the props-wearing and picture taking going on, the area gets a little bit crowded. So if you're the snotty, grouchy type, you may want to avoid this place. But if you try to get into the spirit of the cafe, it really becomes a one-of-a-kind dining experience.

Everybody likes E.T. So does Thirdy!

Looking at the menu, you may be put off by most of the prices, as most of them cost upwards of 300 pesos.

There's a good variety of selections, which should cover any kind of preference you may like during your visit.

Still, I wasn't really in the mood of spending too much that day. It was fortunate that the patrons at the next table had their orders already so we got a chance to see what some the menu were.

Chea saw them having the Save The World Platter which looked pretty big enough for the three of us. Tita Fe's a small eater so we were thinking it should be enough. But on the safe side (and Chea always love to order pasta), we also ordered their Carbonara. I also ordered a bottomless ice tea this time instead of the usual can of Coke.

Carbonara (I think). Sorry for the fuzzy picture. The camera on my phone sucks at low light.

The carbonara tasted great. It was creamy and not too salty. The bread sticks were ok too. Not too hard.

This platter could actually save a world. 

Another angle. That's roughly 14 inches long. I'm talking about the plate :D

When the platter came, it looked bigger on your table. It had squid and onion rings, fish and fries, nachos and bbq chicken wings.

The nachos had a generous serving of cheese and salsa. I'm a big fan of chili con carne, so I really liked it. They didn't scrimp on the ground beef so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The fries were large cuts, weren't oily. It's not crispy, but had the exact degree of firmness. The fish fillet was pretty good too. The batter was just the right amount of thickness and taste.

The chicken wings were ok. I think we ordered the regular ones as I didn't find it too spicy.

The rings were pretty ok too. I haven't eaten onion rings for a while. The batter is enough to coat the rings and with a little bit of crisp in them. The squid rings weren't too rubbery too. My only complaint is that the onion rings (the coating mostly) tasted like squid rings. I guess they mixed the onion rings and squid rings in the same bowl during coating and fried it all together.

Overall, the food is great. The ones we ordered was worth the money. They also employed a lot of people, so I guess that's part of the reason for the prices.

I didn't notice if they had smaller meals like burgers, but with the small place and the tendency of people to linger and enjoy the place, I don't think they can afford to serve patrons ordering small inexpensive menu items.

It's a great place to visit once in a while to bring your kids, and even hang out with friends. Just get into the spirit and have fun.

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The Long Search for a Sound Bar - Part III

October 13,2013, we brought Thirdy down from Antipolo after a three week stay at his grandparents.

I wanted to drop by Robinson's Galleria since there was a sale coming up (October 15 - 20) and I wanted to see what sales they already have. Honestly, I haven't been inside Robinson's Galleria for so long despite me working just a few buildings over near El Pueblo.

I was with Chea and Tita Fe (and Thirdy of course) when we went through all the floors, nooks and crannies of the mall. They've expanded and rennovated through the years, so there were quite a few areas that were new to me.

I wanted to look through the electronic shops in Galleria for a sound bar. So from the parking, there was an Abenson's so we checked that first. There was this really big home theater with about 4 floor stand speakers that I think were about 5 feet high, a subwoofer, a center speaker, and a floor standing control panel. It was tempting at only 12,000 pesos, despite it being a 2007 model.

I did a google search just now, and the model looks like the Samsung HT-TWQ120.

I wouldn't mind this 2007 model

I was really sorely tempted about this. I'm not an audiophile, but this looks like it will pack a lot of punch. The control panel is also touch digital.

Unfortunately, it's a bit bulky. We live in a small house so I don't think I'd have enough space to put these in. Not to mention, there will be a lot of wires going around, which is why I wanted to go with a soundbar, which just needs two.

The sales guy who was attending to me, tried to put the model down saying it was a 2007 model, but still, I thought it was a steal at only around 12k.

Anyway, we left and did all the floors of Robinson's Galleria. We spent most of the time looking at some women's shoes (Chea and Tita Fe mostly) and some kiddie stores.

We spent a lot of time at a MotherCare shop since Chea bought Thirdy some clothes, and her other godchildren as well.

Thirdy was his usual hyperactive self, so I had to chase him around the store. It's good that the place is a bit spacious, and there were a lot of aisles to get lost in, so I had to keep Thirdy near all the time. The sales people were very helpful and attentive, so it's always a pleasure buying from their stores.

I forgot to take a shot of the store since I was holding Thirdy most of the time, but here's a shot of the paperbags. How about a little love for the dads out there?

A shot of an OshKosh store. We used to come away with something whenever they're on sale, but not this time.

We passed by a Robinson's Appliance Center, so I went in for a quick look. I was pleasantly surprised with what I found inside. They had about 6 models of soundbars, the largest collection from all the electronics and appliance shops I've visited.

They had about 2 LG models, and 3 Philips models and even a Promac, which only cost less than 2,000 pesos. I was actually tempted to get the Promac brand just so I could finally own a soundbar. But then again, I thought I should check if it's cheaper to get it from the store, or order the same models online, such as from Amazon. I think I could wait a couple of months more before finally getting one if it means I could get a better option.

We were getting hungry by then so we decided to look around for a place to eat. Since we were nearer to the top floor, we decided to check out the food establishments there.

At the far end, we found Sci Fi cafe. We decided to eat there since it was new to us and I don't think there are other branches we could try out. It's rare enough as it is that we go to Robinsons' Galleria so it's unlikely that we'll get another chance to try it out.

Oooh. Bright lights.

After our late lunch, we decided to head home to get some rest.

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Goodbye BayanDSL

I mentioned here before that I've been with Bayantel Broadband Internet since the early 2000s. I'm not sure of the exact date, but I think it's been 10 years or so since we've subscribed with them.

Through the years, it was mostly a positive experience for us. We've had problems with the connections, but the technical support has mostly been stellar. It was rare that we had a downtime that lasted for more than 2 days. Whenever we called, a technician would drop by within the day (if you called early) or the next day.

In the last two years or so, other Internet Service providers, stepped up their game, and offered faster internet packages at roughly the same price.

Despite that, I've decided to stick with Bayantel for my DSL. I was at the 1mbps plan, and i consistently got 80-100% of the speed during the day, and after 10pm, I get speed boosts up to 1.5mbps.

But since a few months back, it became hard to resist the other competitors' packages. PLDT really stepped up with their new plan, especially the 1699 plan (phone was 700, dsl was 999 i think) which had connections up to 3mbps. The tech forum I frequented, had members who got upgraded already by PLDT and they consistently hit 3mbps on their downloads.

And here I was paying 1399 for 1mbps. Just 300 pesos more and I could be getting thrice the speed of what I'm getting with Bayantel. But then, the only way I could get in on that, was by subscribing with PLDT and that would mean I would be getting another landline phone which I don't have use for. I was determined to keep my Bayantel landline number since it's been with us for more than a decade.

So I decided to stick it out with Bayantel. I'm thinking Bayantel would try to stay relevant by trying to match PLDT's packages.

And matched they did. About a couple months back, Bayantel came out with a new set of packages, which included a plan 1799 (400 for the phone + 1399 for the dsl) with speeds up to 3mbps.

New packages, baby!

By then, I was seriously considering upgrading to the plan. PLDT was still cheaper by 100 pesos, but they're notorious for having inept CSRs and their technicians usually take a week or more to get around to your place once you report a problem. So I thought that 100 pesos was a small price to pay for having a faster turnaround on problems.

But I was also paying for the internet plans of my wife's iphone, and for my mother and father's tablets as well. And I was planning to finally get a data plan for my own phone. Here I am, a very senior software developer and I don't have access to email and skype when I'm mobile. Paying a total amount upwards of 3000 pesos (including my wife and parents' plans) for online access seemed impractical for me. The sense of practicality I got from my dad put up a psychological barrier that I couldn't seem to cross.

So I held back a bit on applying for the 1799 plan. It wasn't really a priority.

And then, about a couple of weeks back I got wind of Bayantel's newer packages designed to entice new subscribers to sign up (it was most likely that they were hemorrhaging clients with PLDT's aggressive push with better packages and PLDT Fibr). The 3mbps plan was now only 1499. Just 100 pesos more than my current plan and 300 pesos cheaper than rival PLDT.

1,499! What are you waiting for?!

A lot of the forum members I've been conversing with who were also Bayantel subscribers jumped on the plans. It was the perfect time. So i plunged in as well.

Bayantel upgraded my plan on October 10, 2013 while I was at work. So I was excited to get home that day.

As soon as I got home, I whipped out the trusty internet browser and checked my speed at speedtest. It hit 2.6mbps on my first try. Pretty good, since that was more than 80% of my subscribed speed.

I then proceeded to start my downloads with my favorite bit torrent client. It was then that my enthusiasm got tempered. My speeds maxed out at 40kB/s (or roughly 0.4mbps). So i tried downloading several files at the same time.

The logic is quite simple: Downloading several files should aggregate to your maximum download speed. So if your files are downloading at, say, 1mbps, and your subscribed burstible speed is 3mbps, then by adding more downloads, it will add to the current 1mbps download rate, until you hit your maximum rate.

Unfortunately, it never did. No matter how much more files I tried downloading, the download rate hovered from 0.4 to 1mbps.

So i did what I usually do: call 411-2000. I got a CSR on the other end, explained my problems and he gave me a problem ticket. He asked me to do some screen captures and send them to their email. Which I did the next day when I arrived at work.

On the same day, a technician arrived. They tried fixing it, but nothing came out of it. Technicians came again a couple more times the next week, but nothing worked.

I had a feeling that Bayantel was throttling my downloads, since when it's past 1am, the download speed shoots up to about 2mbps or so, and then plunges when it's about 10am.

Some people would say that it's likely the files that I was downloading, didn't have enough seeders. So I then decided to use a different ISP connection to download the files.

I tethered my PC to my wife's Iphone 5, and the torrents started downloading at speeds of 5mbps and above. When I connected to Bayantel again, the rate plummeted to anywhere from 0.4 to 1mbps. So that was it, the straw that broke the camel's back.

Almost everyday since I got upgraded, i emailed them with screenshots of my download speeds. But in all honesty, I wasn't expecting it to improve anytime soon. It wasn't from some misguided belief that bombarding them with emails would speed up the resolution. This was for me. This was my way out. Proof that they never gave me the speed I subscribed to.

To be fair to Bayantel, some of the subscribers I've spoken to, don't have the same problems that I have. So I guess it depends on the area. I live in the part of QC that's basically a Bayantel franchise area (back when they subdivided the country into service zones to remove PLDT's monopoly and help the other startup competitors get on their feet). So it's safe to assume that the area's already congested.

So it was over for me.

Two more technicians came yesterday (10/19/13). One in the morning (who changed wire connections from the post to the terminal on our house's exterior) and another in the afternoon (who changed connections on the posts along the road to our house). It didn't improve the speed at all. I actually felt bad for the technicians who had to brave the heat, and had to carry and climb ladders around.

So that night, around 8pm, I arrived at Bayantel's branch at SM North Edsa Annex building. In less than 10 minutes, I took a number, went to a representative, signed a small piece of paper, and had my Bayantel DSL subscription of 10 or so years cut.

 I felt nostalgic about it, truthfully. So i walked out after and lamented on it over a quarter pound burger and fries.

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Be Active! Be Fun!

Oct 6, 2013, Chea and I headed up to Antipolo to spend time with Thirdy. Chea wanted to pick him up, along with her dad, Papa Rico, and mom, Mama Tess.

On our way, we first dropped by my brother at the columbary. We then went to Antipolo. We had to look for a Shakey's restaurant first. My team had to report to work on a Sunday as we had deadlines coming up. So I wanted to treat them for lunch. Unfortunately, my day was packed so I couldn't drop by the office to bring them food.

New logo, same great taste

But you could actually order from any Shakey's branch, and pay for it there, and they'll deliver it for you anywhere there's a Shakey's nearby. I've done this a few years before, although I couldn't remember if it was Shakey's or PizzaHut. I was at Makati with my best bud, and had to have pizza delivered to Antipolo to Chea's family.

Using Foursquare and Google Maps, we found the closest Shakey's. I went in and asked if they could deliver to Ortigas Center. I think it was the first time that someone did this at their branch as they were mostly tentative on their answers and they had to clear a few things over the phone with someone. It took quite a bit (almost an hour) for everything to get cleared up, ordered, called, and paid for. I was there around 11:00 am, and my team got the orders around 12:30pm.

Since the order was taking too long, Chea went ahead and picked up Thirdy and her parents. By the time they got back, I was still waiting for a box of mojos. It was already near 1pm, so Chea asked that we just ate there.

We ordered a Manager's Choice (I think), Chicken N' Mojos party pack, Lasagna, and 3 plates of rice.

Haven't tasted these in years

Soup for my boy

Lasagna for the wifey

Thin crust is best crust. Can't think of anything snappy to say.

Comes with a pitcher of iced tea.

Thirdy's reaction to eating mojos

Everything's great as usual with food at Shakey's. Your only complaint would most likely be the price. All in all, I paid about 1,200 pesos for everything.

After that, we headed off to The Fort. Chea promised to take her parents around SM Aura, as they've never been there yet. Traffic's terrible as usual around the area.

There was a sale, but since most of the brands are of the expensive variety, most of the people were just window shopping. We did however hit a few of the children clothes shops, and ended up buying Thirdy a couple of button up shirts at Peppermint.

Thirdy looking at some clothes. Wait a minute....

Thirdy looking at more clothes. What the....

After an hour of looking around, we then headed off to Active Fun.

It was the only shot you can take without a person in the frame. The place gets real packed fast.

Active Fun is located near Bonifacio High Street. It's an indoor play ground with tubes and chutes and tunnels, and hanging bridges and trampolines and lots of plastic balls and what nots.

So it's a really great place for young active kids who likes to run around. Most of everything are padded so it's a nice playground for someone like Thirdy who's really hyper active and tends to bump into things, head first I might add.

There were a lot of kids and parents in the place despite it being a bit small. The playground is high enough to have enough spaces for a lot of kids along with an adult for the very young ones. The waiting area, unfortunately, won't be enough for two parents that come along, not to mention a bigger entourage. So Mama Tess and Papa Rico decided to head over to Market! Market! while I waited for Thirdy and Chea who were inside the playground.

Time flies when you're having fun, so before you know it, the 30 minute playtime was over. We weren't sure if Thirdy was going to enjoy the place, so we tried out the 30 minute pass. But when Thirdy came out of the play area along with Chea, he wanted to go back in. So it looks like we'll try the 1 hour plan next time.

Chea's parents were still at Market Market so went around a couple of shops nearby. We spent a lot of the time at MotherCare. While Chea looked around, I let Thirdy run around the place. After a few minutes I had to pick him up because I got tired chasing him around. After half an hour or so, we left the place empty handed and went towards High Street looking for a place to sit down.

We settled for Krispy Kreme and sat at the outside tables. While waiting for Chea's parents we ordered a box of Kruffins (Krispy Kreme's donut shaped muffins). We bought each variant that was available: Carot Pecan, Beef and Cheese, Bacon and Cheese Pull apart, Double Chocolate and Banana Wallnut. I forgot which one we doubled on since the box has 6 pieces.

The box

Honestly, I don't think I enjoyed any of them. Although I was a bit surprised with the Bacon and Cheese pull apart because I didn't know it actually had strips of bacon in the middle, although the rest of the bread was a bit dry. The Carot Pecan exactly tasted like a carrot cake/muffin. Same for the Banana walnut which tasted like banana bread. The Double Chocolate was moist in the inside but it's still a muffin more than cake. And the Beef and Cheese Pull apart had little beef in it. I'd prefer a Beef turnover really.

The contents

After finishing most of the muffins, we headed home to Antipolo and dropped off Thirdy, Mama Tess and Papa Rico and then went home to Q.C.

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A friday morning spent with Dad (and a lunch at KKK)

Last October 4, 2013, I spent the morning with my dad.

The plan was to go to a Bayantel center and have our Bayantel telephone account transferred to my name. It had been under my dad's name ever since we first got it, but I had taken to paying for it from the day I had a DSL line added to the account.

But since my dad had spent a lot of his time in Samar since his retirement in 2000, there were instances that he wasn't around when I needed his authorization.

So we went there around 10am. I took a number at a Globe center as well as I wanted to follow up on a change of ownership for my number as well. I'm using a corporate account for the last few year and I wanted to change it to a personal account so I could avail of the new plans.

After I got the number, we went to Bayantel and requested for the changes. I also asked for an upgrade from my current 1,399 pesos, 1mbps plan to the 1,499 pesos, 3mbps plan. (So for an additional 100 pesos, I get thrice the speed).

The inquiries took us less than 15 minutes with Bayantel. Globe, on the other hand, took us more than an hour just to wait to get called. All i wanted was an inquiry regarding the changes. I was told that Globe Gateway (it's where I applied for the changes) was the only place I can get an update. So I should head over there.

During the wait, Dad's brother, Tito Boy, arrived and we had lunch together. My dad's taking some heart medications and he was told to lay off on the meat, so we opted for some seafood.

Since we were at SM Annex, I remember KKK as serving Filipino cuisine, so they most likely had seafood in their menu.

Let's fight for the right to good food!

I let my dad do the ordering, so he settled with grilled Tuna Belly. Most of the menu items are for sharing. I felt that it won't be enough for the three of us, so I ordered the ginataang pansit.

I ordered three plates of rice, and a bottomless pandan iced tea.

There were about 5 other tables with customers. It was a little past lunch at that time. Still, the food took about 15 minutes. But they had fried crackers to tide you over, so the wait wasn't too unbearable.

Always ask for refills!

The first to arrive was the grilled tuna belly along with the rice, so we started digging in.

My first impression was -- it looked burnt. My second impression was -- it tasted burnt.

It's rice. I have no complaints.

The tuna belly was a bit dry. And to be honest, a little too charred. It's what you'd probably get if you took a chunk of tuna out of the freezer, let it thaw and then put it on the grill until it burnt at places. I'm not sure if it was marinated, since I could not taste anything in it except for the tuna itself. It came with a soy sauce dip so at least we got a little bit of soy flavor in there.

The ginataan pansit canton came a couple of minutes after. I didn't give the 'ginataang' part of the name any thought when I ordered it. I though it was just some regular pansit, and I wanted to add variety to our single course meal. When I started eating it, that's when the name sunk in. The pansit was actually slathered with 'gata' (coconut milk) instead of your typical soy-based sauce.

Ladies and gents, we have a winner.

The taste surprised me, but it wasn't unpleasant. It was actually pretty good. I'm not high on coconut milk-based recipes, but this is something I think I would order again when given a chance. It's creamy, and a bit salty at the same time. It also had a lot of ingredients in there, with meat, prawns, and vegetables.

I washed down the food with the Pandan Iced Tea which was great. It wasn't bitter and it wasn't too sweet either. The pandan gave it a nice aftertaste.

You can barely make out the tea flavour which was great

My dad's been lessening his rice intakes, and Tito Boy wasn't that hungry either. So was I. We only managed to finish half of the tuna, half of the pansit, and there was still a plate of rice left. So we had it packed to go, and headed out.

Tito Boy went on his way while my dad and I looked for a screen protector and a case for his android tablet. We managed to buy a screen protector and had it installed, all for 250 pesos. We couldn't find a case for his 8" inch tablet.

I then headed off to work, while my dad went to the main building to waste the day away since there wasn't anything to do back at home.

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Thai Dara at Kapitolyo

Sept 29, 2013, +maria cessna galecio and I were coming down from Antipolo and lunch time caught us in the Kapitolyo Area.

Hungry, we decided to look around and opted to try out Thai Dara.

Collages. When you absolutely need to pack a lot of pictures into one small area.

Like most restos in Kapitolyo, the space is rather small. There's about 5 tables there that could probably sit around 16 people.

The place is clean, well lit, and simple. There's a TV with very bad reception of a Thai channel. You most likely won't notice it.

Since the place is small, conversations easily carry over from one end of the place to the other. So if you're wary of people overhearing your conversations, you should really try to keep a low voice.

There were 2 visible staffs. I'm not sure if there's another one manning the kitchen.

The menu, which had a very small selection. At least you won't have to worry about too much variety.

The ubiquitous soft drink. I should get paid for this.

We put in an order for Pad Thai (noodles) and Pork Satay. The Pork Satay doesn't come with rice, just 4 sticks of pork and a couple of dips. I'm not going to get filled with just a few grams of meat, so I ordered rice.

Chea also ordered their milk tea just to try it out as she usually just goes for water.

It's an average size glass mug. So it should be enough for the average customer.

We waited for a few minutes as the occupants of the other two tables arrived a little bit ahead of us as they were waiting for their orders as well. So Chea and I fiddled with our phones for a while.

As soon as the food arrived, we dug in as we were a bit hungry already.

Pad Thai. 

Pork Satay. A fancier pork barbecue for the average pinoy like me. :D

The Pad Thai was ok. I'm not gonna pretend that I know anything about Thai food, but for an average Pinoy like me, it's certainly not unpleasant. There's a lot of nuts, so if you're allergic, then you might want to skip this.

The Pork Satay was ok too. The cuts off the pork are different than your run-of-the-mill pork barbecues. They're squarish and trimmed. There's no fat included, so yay for the heart lovers everywhere. It tastes sweet, and isn't at all salty. And since i prefer salty food, I kept resisting the urge of asking for some soy sauce.

It came with two dips: peanut sauce and vinegar (I think) with bell peppers and onion. The peanut sauce is the typical dip for pork satay, while the vinegar dip is probably to give it a local flavor, especially for people like me, who aren't big fans of peanuts.

Both dishes cost a little more than 200 pesos each.

It's easy to compare it with SOMS, a Thai eatery in Makati that started a few years earlier. They serve good meals at inexpensive prices. But then again, SOMS is almost always full, and it's a good drive away.

So if you're willing to spend a little bit more for Thai food, I don't think you'd go wrong with this place.

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The Long Search for a Sound Bar - Part II

The next day, (09/29/13), +maria cessna galecio and I, headed out of Antipolo to go home to Novaliches. But we were planning to drop by a few malls to see if we could find a sound bar.

First off was Robinson's Pioneer. I remember seeing an electronic shop there dubbed the Forum. Also, I had my watch's battery replaced there, and it had died on me in about 4 months, so I was going to claim on the warranty.

When we got to the mall, the Forum was no longer there. There was an Automatic Center, which unfortunately, did not carry sound bars.

Chea, however, during her search for shoes and a dress, found a car seat from Baby 1st. They were on sale at 20-25% discount, which put their prices between 2,200 - 2,700 pesos.

Thirdy's car seat!

We've been looking for a car seat for Thirdy as he's getting to be a handful during car rides. Most of the car seats we've seen cost upwards of 3,000 pesos. So this was the cheapest we've found that's brand new. The designs weren't half bad. So we ended up leaving Robinson's Pioneer with something for Thirdy, but nothing for his Tatay. Oh well.

These were the other two we were considering. They had arm rest/bars but were cheaper than the one that didnt have any. And one of them even has a cuppy holder. Aww.

After that, we went to look for lunch, since we were near Kapitolyo, we opted to try the restaurants there. We haven't eaten at Thai Dara yet, so we stopped by for a late lunch. I'll blog about it soon.

We then headed homewards. I don't plan on hitting the bigger malls as it gets tiring especially with the large crowds, so we're looking at the smaller malls that would have appliance stores.

Along the way, we dropped by Wilcon City Center along Visayas Ave, as I remembered them having a Saver's Appliance Depot there.

It was a big store and they had big discounts on some items. They had about 2 sound bars available. One was the same LG make and model that was being sold for less than 4,000 pesos at S&R Baclaran. Unfortunately, their price was about 7,000 pesos. They also sold an LG (or was it Philips?) sound bar with subs and bluetooth. These were selling for 24,000 pesos. Ouch.

There was a CD-R King branch there too. I was thinking of settling for one of those re-badged sound bars of theirs that was selling for less than 3,000 pesos. I saw one being used at Anix's House of Kare Kare, and it sounded pretty decent. Granted, it was piping music that time so I don't know how it would sound with movies.

But as luck would have it, they no longer had stocks there and aren't sure if they were still being sold at other branches.

Disappointed, Chea and I just headed home. It looks like the search will have to continue another day.

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The Long Search for a Sound Bar - Part 1 (and a bite at Chicken Deli)

Last Saturday (09/28/13), the day found +maria cessna galecio and myself, falling in line at S&R Membership Shopping Congressional Avenue for their 2nd-Half-of-the-Year sale. We were already there at 6:30 am, and we managed to be in the 2nd row of a queue that grew to 5 rows by the time they started letting people in a few minutes shy of 8am.

We had actually been to S&R Congressional the previous week (not to mention around 2 weeks ago at S&R Baclaran) so we had already bought some items that were on discount during the pre-sale period.

The reason we went back was because I had seen an LG sound bar selling for less than 4,000 pesos at S&R Baclaran. I didn't buy it back then because I wasn't sure if my HTPC (home theather pc) had an audio optical out (which turns out that it didn't have one).

I was thinking that I could just get a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) to connect to my HTPC's analog outs and provide the optical in for the sound bar. CDR-King actually sells one for a measly 800 pesos.

When we got in, we only found another LG Sound bar priced at 5,499 (a 500 peso discount). Since I'm cheap, the 500 peso difference was unappealing. So we left S&R with about 6,000 pesos worth of grocery items, but no sound bar.

We went home and rested for a while, then headed to the Divine Word columbary. After that, we picked up Thirdy, Tita Fe and Mama Tess (Chea's mom) at Sta Lucia East Grand Mall. We then made a quick stop at Manggahan, Pasig for a warehouse sale of appliances. Again, I was disappointed to find that they did not have sound bars there.

We then headed to Robinsons Metro East to try my luck there. I did a sweep of AV Surfer, Sogo Home and Office Center, and Robinsons Appliances. Only Robinsons Appliances had a sound bar. But only one. The exact same unit with the same exact discount as the one being sold at S&R Congressional. Again, disappointing.

We spent a few minutes as well looking for a new pair of shoes for Chea and an evening dress for a party their office is throwing.

After that, it was around 4pm so we headed out for a late lunch at Marikina. Unfortunately, it looked like it was going to rain, so we ditched the idea, fearful of being stranded in Marikina floods. So we headed up to Antipolo, where we had our very late lunch/almost dinner at Chicken Deli at Mille Luce's Village Center.

Cheap but good food

They have express meals at 59 pesos. Chea, Tita Fe and Mama Tess ordered the express meals.

Chicken Deli had regular meals starting at 99 pesos, which included drinks, and unlimited helpings of rice. Since I planned on eating again when we got home, I just went with the 2 sticks of barbecue express meal and a glass of Pepsi Max.

Pancit. Very saucy. I thought it was just right but Chea found it a bit salty.

Ginataan. Damn. Haven't eaten one in a long while. Just as good as my mom makes it.

I'll never get tired of grilled pork marinated in soy sauce

it's called chicken deli for a reason, son!

I didn't place the order so I'll hazard a guess that this is chicken mami.

The food was ok. And it's cheap. So if you're really hungry and just want to eat, it's a good place to try out especially if you're sick and tired of the typical fast food menu.

After that, we headed  to Maia Alta to spend the night.

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