12 for 12: Seda Hotel Bonifacio Global City with Buffet Breakfast at Misto

Jan 30, 2016. Chea got hold of a gift certificate for Seda Hotel BGC, courtesy of an office mate. It was expiring and her officemate is not able to use it, so she sold it to Chea at a very inexpensive price. Today, we're using it so it's another weekend staycation for Chea, Thirdy and me. The third for the month of January.

We left home around 9am as I had to meet about 3 customers for my toy selling side business. We met two of them around the Trinoma area, while the third one we'll be meeting at Mandaluyong. We agreed to meet at our new favourite mall, Estancia mall. Basically because it's barely full, and there's an Old Navy store that's almost always on sale. That's another reason why we're dropping by, because of the sale. Lol.

Always a treat taking a look here

So we arrived at Estancia at around 10am and directly headed to Old Navy. We ended up buying Thirdy a pair of shoes, and Chea came away with a blouse. I met my 3rd customer during this time.

We also went to Uniqlo where I got the chance to increase my wardrobe by two items. Lol.

We then had lunch at The Wholesome Table. I'll blog about it another time. But the gist of it is it's very tasty, but a little expensive as well.

After that, we headed off to Seda.

Front entrance

Just 15 floors

Once you arrived, you'll notice that it's just 15 floors. The area is almost bare, and once you get to the front door, you'll just be greeted by a doorman slash security personnel. Unlike most hotels where there'd be a lot of bellboys, and the more luxurious ones, a pretty woman or women, whose job is to just greet people. I wonder what their job title is.

Wife checking in

Stairs

You can use some Macs

To Misto Restaurant

The lobby is pretty small, with just three people manning the reception desk. There were a few lounge chairs but were occupied. To the right of that were stairs, while to the left was a bar. We got checked in after a few minutes, but our room was still not ready, so we decided to go to the lounge at the 15th floor.

Lobby of the 15th floor

Entrance to the lounge

The certificate we got included club access, which meant we could stay at the lounge. The lounge is a pretty exclusive area, where you can hang out, read books, and get free unlimited food and drinks. Yes, you read that right. Free and unlimited.

View of one end

View of the other. You can see the heating dish by the right

When we arrived, they had canapés, but we were still full, so we didn't bother looking at the offerings. We did have drinks. I settled for soda which you could get anytime from a dispenser, while Chea and Thirdy had juice.

Thirdy watched youtube videos while we waited. We don't have a mouse at home (my desktop keyboard has a trackpad), but Thirdy instinctively knew how to use. Kids nowadays

The unlimited drinks. We kept taking sodas back to our room. Lol

A bit later, Chea was told that our room was still occupied. The current guests decided to extend another day (what can we say, it's fun staying at hotels here in the Philippines). So instead of the 15th floor room, we were offered one on the 14th floor, along with a late check out at 2pm. However, Chea insisted on the same view we would have with the 15th floor room, which was a nice view of Serendra. The one we're being given had a view of a building being constructed. Chea asked if we could have a room with a better view.

Thirdy chilling with his juice.

Thirdy and I while away the time watching movie trailers via youtube on Mac desktops. The lounge had two. Fancy.

After a few more minutes, we were upgraded to a suite room. It was the only one available with a view of Serendra too. So yey for the wifey.

Our room for the night

So we went down to the 14th floor, and in to our room for the night, room 1414.

The receiving room

It's a single room suite, with a kitchen and a sala. Nothing fancy. Almost the same size as the other single room suites we've stayed. I actually kinda felt disappointed. It felt like a standard 1bedroom condo unit with a very drab design. Chea commented that the single room units actually looked better.

The kitchen with almost nothing in it. What are all the cabinets for? 

The tv and desk. I don't think I could work there on a laptop and watch at the same time, that close to the TV

There's a tv on top of the desk you could work on. The kitchen only had a microwave, so you could only heat food. Since the lounge closes at 10pm, you could probably take a few morsels with you to your room and heat it up if you ever get hungry at night.

TV in the room

Thirdy trying out his bed for the night

Yes he likes it

The room had a queen sized bed, with another tv at the foot of it. There's a bed side desk at the left.

Door of the bathroom to the left, and the cabinets on the right

The cabinets are at the right side of the bed. Aside from the clothes hangars and shelves, there's a iron, an ironing board and safe deposit box. You couldn't fully open the cabinet doors as they get caught up on the carpeting around the bed. The room isn't fully carpeted.

The bathroom is also inside the bedroom. So if you have guests, they'd have to go into your room to get there.

The bathroom's average in size. The shower head is at the food of the tub, so there's no separate shower area. The toilet bowl's right beside the tub, and the sink is fronting the toilet bowl. The usual shower items are there.

Average sized bathroom

The sink

I took a nap so I could catch up on all those zzzs. Chea's relatives arrived so they could hang out. They went to the Old Navy store around the area where Chea picked up a shirt she wanted, which was all out at the Estancia Mall branch.

I woke up a few minutes before 5pm when they arrived. While the rest of them had an afternoon snack, Thirdy, his cousin Justine, and their aunt Jigly, went down to the 2nd floor to take a dip at the pool. Chea, Chie (her sister), Tita Fe and I went along with them to check out the pool.

One end of the pool

The poolside

The other end of the pool

It's a pretty nice pool shaped like an L, with the longer part allowing you to take a lap or two. Two bad the entire thing's 4feet deep. There's no shallow area where Thirdy can waddle, so Justine and Jigly had to take turns carrying Thirdy around.

Chea and I decided to go up to the lounge to have a late snack. The servings were few but they were ok, and quite filling.

canapes

iced beer hehe

While there, I decided to take the time to blog about our current stay at Seda using one of their Macs. I'm a bit behind on my blogging. There's a lot of activities taking up my time the past few months, mostly the toy selling and my other hobbies have been all put on hold, including watching movies and tv shows, comic book reading, and blogging.

eclairs

finger sandwiches

brownies

ham and cheese

fish fillet

chicken satay and caramelized banana wrapped in bacon

I pretty much enjoyed the caramelized banana wrapped in bacon. It was sweet and then with a little of saltiness due to the bacon. And then it had a spicy aftertaste.

Blogging on a Mac. sweet.

After half an hour or so, Chea picked up Thirdy from the pool and brought him to the lounge so he could have a snack too, while her relatives were preparing to go out for dinner. We'll be going to the Mercato in a few minutes.

Key card

Around 6pm, we went out and walked towards Mercato. It's a bit of a walk from Seda. We should've brought the stroller for Thirdy. He got tired walking midway and had to be carried the rest of the way.

Outside Ferrari. If anyone owns one, can Thirdy and I take a ride in yours? Lol.

When we got to Mercato, it was packed. We had to wait around 10 minutes before we snagged a table.

Street Food!

Moaaarrr

I did a walk around the place and took pictures. Even if you're not a foodie, you'd definitely enjoy the place with all the different food being offered, and the smells that permeate the air. I had to stop by several times whenever I get a whiff of something that smelled intoxicating.

I already ate but I'm sorely tempted to try out a deep dish pan pizza for 150 pesos, or those frankfurters. There were also huge servings of roast beef. In the end, I went with deep friend crispy crablets and chicken wings. Since I'm full I just want to nibble on something while waiting for the rest of the family to finish eating their dinner. I kinda felt ripped off since a small cup of each serving cost 50 pesos. And they weren't crispy anymore. I also ordered a fresh dalandan juice for 35 pesos.

I'll post more pics on a separate post.

After a while, we finished up and walked back to the Hotel. On our way back, we passed throught Bonifacio High Street were there was an event hosted by a pet store chain.

Birds

Fish

There was a planted aquarium competition that I didn't get a picture of, but it was pretty nice. I've planning to getting one of our own, but you know, life.


After resting a few minutes, everybody left for home leaving Chea, Thirdy and me to stay overnight.

Chea and I then had a quick look at the roofdeck where there was a bar. Crowd was light that day, and I didn't want to hang around, so we went back to our room.

We woke up late at around 8pm. I kept woking up during the night so I was still drowsy.

Thirdy ready for brunch

Bacon

Cereals

Pastries

Jams

Bread

We then went down to the ground floor, to the Misto restaurant, where a lot of the guests were already having their breakfast. Good thing there were a few tables available so we didn't have to wait. The place is fairly small, and could only probably hold about 50 guests at a time.

Cheese

Salad

Fruits

The offerings were also few. But I guess it's enough since most people couldn't taste all the offerings at some hotel restaurants anyway.

All your basic food was represented, with breads and pastries, fruits, juices, rice, pansit, cereals, congee, salads, bacon and eggs. So it's a real straight forward breakfast that doesn't over complicate your choices for you.

I love the pansit. Not too heavy on the soy sauce

Since there were only a few variants, I ended up having seconds with the pansit (one of my favorites), danish pastries, and bacon.

Still, the food was good and tasty. But if you're factoring in the breakfast buffet in your staycation at a local hotel, you should probably look elsewhere.

After about an hour or so, we went back to our room so Chea could catch a few more winks, as Thirdy kept her up all night.

At the balcony

View from the balcony

Pretty nice view

It was during that time, that we found out that we had a balcony. Chea brought Thirdy out, and I really felt uncomfortable with both of them out there. Even if it was spacious and could hold a few people, Thirdy is too unpredictable to be put in that situation even if  you're holding him tightly. So I asked them to come back in after taking a few pictures.

By 12noon, we decided to pack up as Thirdy and Chea already took a shower. I took mine, and by 1pm, we decided to leave already despite us having a late checkout option at 2pm. I still had to meet up with another buyer at trinoma.

Travel was a breeze, so we managed to arrive at Trinoma at around 1:30pm. I got to meet up with my buyer, and then we decided to drop by Divine Word Columbary.

And since we haven't had lunch yet, we decided to go to UP Teacher's Village and have a late 3pm lunch there. We ended up eating at Fat Cousins. I'll blog about it another time.

So what can I say about Seda? It's a small hotel, with just 15 floors. Still it feels like a hotel with you barely meeting anyone in the corridors, as most of them stay in their rooms (I think the hotel was fairly full that weekend) or outside enjoying BGC. You won't know how many people are actually staying in the hotel with you until you head down for breakfast to Misto where it's full.

Still, i like the relaxed atmosphere. Unlike big hotels where there are gazillions of people walking around especially in the lobby areas, with people coming and going, and people attending events in the function rooms, and couples and their entourages having their pre wedding pictures taken.

Here, it's really relaxing.

I like the club access , although I don't know much it costs to have that option added to your stay. It's nice to hang around there, but it's only for people who are actually staying in the hotel (with club access) and you can't invite a friend or two. Otherwise, you could just stay in your room. Still, I found people stayed there to have snacks and drinks, while others waited there for friends, and some worked on their laptops while in the lounge.

Club access also gives you, ahem, access to other facilities such as the gym. Too bad they didn't have a playroom which would be very nice for those who have kids around. If they had a pool table and some video consoles, that would be perfect. I'd probably stay in the game area more than in our room.

As for the breakfast, well, you might reconsider if it's something you take into account when staying at a hotel. As Chea and I like to make staycations a lot, we try to factor into account the food since it's where part of the value for the money spent goes to. I mean, the room is basically where you just sleep, with little other conveniences inside the room that makes the difference between staying at different hotels.

But what makes Seda Hotel better than the other hotels in BGC is it's beside Serendra and other establishments. So everything's accessible and you could go around without worrying about traffic or spending on commutes. The walk to Mercato was a bit far, but everything else is just a steps away.

So there. Seda Hotel is a great place to stay in even without the Club Access. I hope they put in a game room someday. Just imagine playing pool with other guests, or a match of Call of Duty.