We decided to check out a new upscale mall in the area called Century City Mall. It's a bit small compared to the sprawling SM and Ayala malls around the metro, but it's mainly supposed to serve as a mall to the nearby condominiums by Century Properties, such as the Gramercy Residences. So it's like Century Properties' version of the very successful Rockwell Center, where high end condominium buildings are near their own mall, the PowerPlant Mall.
The mall itself is about 4 storeys high, with a lower ground floor occupied by a Rustan's supermarket. The upper levels are filled with upscale stores. It's about the size of Podium Mall in Ortigas, although it has outside establishments in the upper areas.
We did the rounds, starting at the top first, after a brief chat with the lady manning the elevator. We were given some tidbits of information on some of the shops, including one about chito miranda putting up a bar there.
I was looking for a rashguard for a team outing, so we stopped by a few sporting goods shops. It's a bit of a surprise that I couldn't find any options except for an Arena brand at Planet Sports, and an Oakley rashguard at an Oakley shop. Of the two, I was thinking of getting the Oakley one for about 1,600 pesos. But I decided to give it a try again another time. I might luck into a sale.
Chea and I then decided to look for a place to eat. I wanted to try the IHOP but then Chea saw XO 46 Heritage Bistro. She's heard about it, especially the part about how everything is supposed to be vintage Filipino, including the menu and the language used by the staff.
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| The 'talaan' as they called it. |
We looked at the menu, and it's not that terribly expensive when compared to the other restaurants of the same kind. Most of the menu are good for 3 to 4 persons, so if you try to split up the meals, it would be considered affordable. The prices usually range from 300 to 600 pesos, without rice. A cup of rice is only 45 pesos. As for the drinks, they don't have bottomless drinks, so you'll have to settle for their single servings. Mineral water is at 45 pesos, Pepsi products are 55. Everything else is upwards of that.
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| The table. |
I couldn't decide on what to eat. I didn't want to eat anything expensive, and there were only two of us. We decided on the lechon sisig at 375 pesos (I think), which was good for 3-4 persons, and the Okoy, 195 pesos, I think. Again, good for 3 - 4 persons. Those are pretty good orders. It gave us two dishes, one is pork while the other is seafood. They're also among the cheapest. And if we don't get to finish them, we'll be able to have them to go, and eat it at home.
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| Some decors. |
We also ordered two cups of rice, and two glasses of calamansi spritzer. I was thinking of getting a Pepsi drink, but since I think the spritzer means it's soda water, I decided to try it out. Unfortunately, they were out, so I settled for the salabat sa tanglad, while chea opted for just water.
The place was a bit small. At that moment, there were three other tables with people in them. Still it was a long wait for the food. They had complimentary putos to tide you over, but they're small and I think they're limited to only two per person. They came with a very small serving of mantikilya (butter) and aligue (crab fat). So after taking a few pictures, they were gone in an instant. The puto also came with a roll of paper containing a bugtong (riddle), so that was a nice touch there.
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| 4 pcs of puto with the butter (yellow) and crab fat (orange). |
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| Suso as in 'snail'. What were you thinking? |
After 20 or so minutes, the food arrived. I was a bit disappointed with what I saw initially with the lechon sisig. The serving looked small in what looked like a 6inch diameter claypot. I don't think that would actually feed 3 to 4 people. The okoy on the other hand had big 4 pieces. So at 195 pesos, it's arguably cheap.
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| A cup of rice. Size is decent actually |
The cup of rice was just about right for a light lunch. Chea only managed to finish half of hers, so I took the other half. And with one and a half serving of rice, I actually felt full.
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| Lechon sisig. Creamy. |
The lechon sisig with what seems to be mayonnaise on top, was pretty good. It's a bit oily and salty, but the mayonnaise managed to sweeten it up. The bits of pork didn't have ligaments, and it's mainly meat with a little skin. They're chunky and not chopped up to small pieces so it had meat to chew into. They're not crispy though, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Despite my earlier reservations, the serving was enough for Chea and me with enough left over, so I guess it could actually feed at least 3 people.
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| Inexpensive and pretty good |
The okoy, to me, was pretty great. There were lots of ingredients in them, i'm not sure what they were though. Probably had the usual carrots and potatoes. However, what I liked about it, was it didn't have the usual sharp and pointy parts of baby shrimps. Often, with okoy, you'd have those parts in them, and you'd feel it pricking the insides of your mouth. XO 46's on the other hand, was soft all through out. Not to mention it tasted great. Each piece was big enough too, and it's enough to make you full with a serving of rice.
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| Salabat with a stem of tanglad as a stirrer |
The salabat was pretty ok. Of course, the ginger's pretty strong. But it's a bit sweet as well. This is pretty good to wash down anything that you eat especially the ones with very strong flavors.
As for the staff, they're friendly and smile a lot. I was taken aback at first with how they kept on using formal tagalog, with bits of spanish like 'seniorita' and 'seniorito'. I actually had goosebumps whenever they spoke. I felt embarrassed to actually reply with the more modern and informal tagalog, and I didn't want to break the effect by using english. Aside from that, they're nice and attentive.
We ended up with something like 800 pesos for the entire meal. Except for the long wait, it was a pretty good experience.
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