17th year anniversary at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dinner at Pizza Hut Bistro and a little bit of shopping at Greenhills

For our 17th anniversary of being together, Chea opted to celebrate it with an overnight stay at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center.

It's almost a daily fixture in my life as I pass by it every working day for the last 12 years. I've been inside it once for a fashion show, and I haven't been there since. So this will be the first time I get to stay there.

As usual, Chea got all the work done with the help of her favorite travel agency. So around 1pm of May 24, 2014, Chea, Tita Fe, Thirdy and myself headed off to Ortigas, but after a brief stop at the Garden of the Divine Word Columbarium.

We arrived at Crowne Plaza at around 2pm, got the car parked by a valet, and proceeded to the reception desk to get checked in. The reception area of the Crowne Plaza isn't as imposing as other hotels, but the ceiling is higher than the newer, more modern hotels.

Try to find the wifey if you can

Area to the right of the reception. Escalator takes you up to the 2nd floor where the Seven Corners restaurant is located.

A bellhop helped us with our luggage, put them on a trolley and gave us a stub. After that, we just forgot about the luggage as they will deliver it to our room later.

Main entrance view from the reception area.

Thirdy by the elevators.

After Chea checked in, we walked to the elevator and went up to the 11th floor. We were billeted in room 1111.

That's our room

The beds

We were able to get a single room unit, but it was quite spacious. It had two double sized beds (or were they queen sized beds?) with about five feet of space from the foot of the beds to the wall with a long desk.

Not much clutter. I like it.

That long desk has a vanity mirror and legspace to accommodate a chair so you can do some desk work. It has drawers with glasses and some food in it as well. There was a drawer that hides a personal ref full of drinks and on the far end of the table, sits an LCD TV. It has cable and that's it. Nothing fancy except for a power up screen displaying the name of the hotel.

There's a rather roomy closet for all your clothes, which also contains a personal safe deposit box.

The comfort room is also rather big. The sink has enough space around it to put whatever you need to bring into the bathroom. I actually bring our ipad whenever I need to do a number two. The vanity mirror lines the entire length of the sink, so you'll always be conscious of what you look like naked. Lol.

There's a bathtub if you prefer to relax while taking a long, soapy bath. And there's a shower as well, surrounded by see through glass if you prefer taking your bath that way.

Bath tub. Pretty clean and does its job.

Enclosed shower

Shower's pretty good. Warm water never changed temperature even with me taking a long shower. Drainage is a concern though as there's about an inch of water pooling around the shower area.

Thirdy by the window. He spent a lot of time there watching people swimming in the pool.

Wide open view

Back in the room, there's a nice view provided by floor to ceiling windows, covered by thick curtains. The view is the Holiday Inn Hotel and other buildings around the area. You can also see the pool below. The nice part about it (or bad, depending on your situation), is that the people can see you (11th floor at least) from the pool area.

Thirdy keeps staying by the window looking below and keeps on pointing and shouting "pool".

When Chea and Tita Fe took Thirdy for a swim at the pool, they could see me by the window watching them from our room.

Thirdy trying out the chair by the window

A little bit later, I told Chea that I was hungry so I was gonna hit the mall. Chea on her part, was getting Thirdy ready for the pool.

So after a minute, I went out of the room, took the elevator to the 3rd floor, and walked along the hall way past Bar One, to the connecting area to Robinson's Galleria. This exits out to the area where the MotherCare and OshKosh stores are.

I was thinking that I need some drinks and junk food during the night, so I decided to head down to the supermarket. After buying a few items, I went to Jollibee to buy a burger meal, and to a Mister Donut to buy a box of smidgets. After that, I went up back to our room.

By the time I arrived, Chea, Thirdy and Tita Fe were already at the pool area. As I mentioned, I was able to watch them from our room. Chea also saw me and waved at me, and told Thirdy. I'm not sure if Thirdy saw me, but he was waving from the pool as well.

Before long, they went back to our room to rest for a while. Around 6pm, we decided to go out for dinner. We did a quick search for restos on Robinson's upper ground floor. We wanted to try out Papa John's but we were greeted by their staff that one of their AC units was out of order, and I could feel that it was indeed a bit warm, so we decided to look elsewhere.

At the top floor, we ended up at Pizza Hut bistro. It seems to me that Robinson's Galleria lacks upscale restaurant selections.

Chea ordered a menu that was around 400 pesos (or was it 300?). It included a small pan pizza (six slices), two plates of chicken with rice, a salad, and two drinks.

The place is small, with very small spaces between tables. It was also a bit warm being on the top floor and probably with the heat coming from the kitchen. They don't have kiddie chairs, but they do have booster seats.

Extremely dry chicken

A bit later the food came and it was very disappointing. The chicken was very dry. It was like they had been cooked earlier (if not yesterday), and was reheated in a microwave oven.

Their typical pizza

The pizza is their typical pizza dish. Their thick slice is soft and chewy, and also a bit oily. I wasn't able to try out the salad.

After eating, I went to buy tickets for X-Men Days of Future Past as it was the first week of showing and I've been itching to watch it as I'm a hardcore X-men fan since i started collecting the comic books back in 1992 I think. I picked the second to the last showing, at 10:00pm. We wanted to make sure that Thirdy was already asleep before we leave, so he wouldn't be running after us.

After buying the tickets and paying the bill, we went back to our room. We stayed there whiling the night away watching cable and dozing off a few times. At around 9:30pm, Chea and I got ready and went out back to the mall.

Since it was almost 10pm, the main connecting doors at the 3rd floor was already closed. However, there was another way back in to the mall. So from the connecting area, we walked around a few corners, and into the elevator area of Holiday Inn (I think). We took the elevator a floor up, got off, and then walked to the connecting area.

We asked the security if it would still be open at past 12mn, since that was the end of the movie, and we're told that the main glass doors would be closed, but there was an access door that was always open that we could use.

So we went to the cinema, waited for a few minutes while the place was being tidied up. Soon after, it was a pure 2 hour bliss of x-men action. We waited until the end of the credits that showed a scene that would lead up to the next X-film, X-Men Apocalypse.

After the movie we went the way back, and we found the door that the security personnel mentioned, and retraced our steps to our room.

The next day, I woke up around 7am, with Thirdy, Chea and Tita Fe already awake. We decided to take breakfast already to avoid the crowd, so we went down to Seven Corners. I'll blog about it on another entry.

After breakfast, we went back to our room. I took a nap while Chea gave Thirdy a bath in the bath tub. I woke up at around 11am with everything packed and ready to go.

We called up a bellhop a little before 12nn. He took our luggage ahead of us, while we checked the rest of our belongings. We then went down, checked out, and then got into our car and headed out.

But before going home, we went to Greenhills Shopping Center first as I was still in the lookout for a rashguard and a new pair of sunglasses.

We were able to buy a rash guard for 280 pesos, and I managed to see three knock off sunglasses that looked good on me. Unfortunately, each of them was around 1,500 pesos, which I found a bit surprising. Fakes at that price? I know the originals are around 11,000 pesos, but come on, really? 1,500 pesos?

So after three hours (I didn't notice the time. I must've been having fun shopping for sunglasses), we decided to leave for home.

And since we haven't had eaten since breakfast, we decided to have a very late lunch. Along the way home, we dropped by UP Town Center to see if they have newly opened restaurants. I'll blog about it another time.

Anyway, the stay at Crowne Plaza Hotel was excellent. Our travel agency gave us a very good deal, and Crowne Plaza turned out to be pretty ok as well. There's wifi but we didn't bother since we have data connection on our phones. The room is spacious, the staff are very courteous and helpful. And the best part about it, is that it's connected directly to a mall. So there are a lot of things you can do if you ever get bored in your room during the day.

However, if you want to do something from midnight until the early morning, the closest area is Metrowalk, which is a bit of a walk (pun intended). But that should be fine. Even at night, there's still activity in Ortigas area given the glut of call center companies so it's a bit safe to walk around.

Torch, UP Town Center

May 25, 2014, after celebrating our 17th anniversary of being together at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, and braving the Greenhills bazaar, we decided to have a late lunch over in UP Town Center.

There were several new restaurants in the area and Chea wanted to try one out in particular, Shrimp Bucket.

We arrived sometime around 3pm, and proceeded directly to the place. However, it was a bit full. Also, they didn't have a sign that they accepted credit cards, so we decided to look someplace else. I had some cash on me, but didn't want to limit my menu options to what I can afford paying with cash. And I was too lazy to wait for someone to come out (or me to go in to their resto) just to ask if they accept credit cards (which they do based on a review on Zomato).

So we decided to look around to see some of the newly opened establishments.

I like taking pictures of placemats

We ended up with Torch. They have a branch in Greenhills that we've never been to, so this was a chance for us to try them out.

The place was amply lit, with the outdoor light flooding into the place with the floor to ceiling glass wall on one side and the main counter and kitchen directly opposite it.The inside of the establishment could probably fit 50 people or so. The tables and chairs were wooden, with just enough space in between to walk around in.

There were 4 tables outside, which were full of people. We later noticed that most of them were the staff, and it was their off time.

I think the place is good for family gatherings and for large groups, kinda like Shakey's or Pizza Hut. Even the menu is designed for those demographic in mind especially with their pizza and large servings.

Chea wanted to try out the Angus Beef Tapa and the Salpicao Tenders, while I wanted to try out their omelettes, but those were breakfast items and were only available up to 10:30AM. It was too bad since they were the cheapest on the menu.

Bottomless red iced tea. It was hot. And I was thirsty. 

We ended up ordering the Salpicao Medallion. It had two pieces, which was good enough for Chea and myself. We also ordered a Panizza for Tita Fe, a bottomless red iced tea for me, and a Panna Cotta for dessert. Chea asked if we could have half of the Panizza made as seafood, and with the other half made with angus beef, to which the staff agreed.

Seafood and Angus Beef panizza. Really good.

The red iced tea and the panizza arrived first. I couldn't wait for the steak, so we tried out the panizza. Both variants had mozarella cheese, although the beef variant also had white cheese. Anyone who likes thin crust would love their panizza. It's crunchy but not too brittle. The angus beef was flavorful, and so was the shrimp. I picked them off first, before downing the slice of pizza.

Later, the steak arrived and I was a bit surprised. There were indeed two pieces, and were about a little over an inch high, and about 3 inches in diameter. For 480 pesos, it was pretty cheap. I remember ordering a tenderloin over at Chops Chicago SteakHouse at ShangriLa and that thing was expensive.

Thirdy awed by the big chunks of still smoking beef in front of him. He tried blowing out the smoke

The steak was served on top of a marble slab, with a small flame underneath. The steak was still sizzling, and there was smoke coming off the steak. Thirdy spent a few moments blowing at the steak from his high chair.

A bit blurry but you can see Thirdy huffing and puffing at the steak

I took the rightmost piece and split it in half. I gave half to Chea, and then I proceeded to slice up my half with the steak knife since we were only given one. I then handed off the knife to Chea when I was finished.

I didn't notice the bacon on the piece that we got, but after eating I had the chance to look at the other piece, and I saw some charred part of the steak. When i tried to pull it off, it was then that I noticed that it was a strip of bacon wrapped around the sides of the steak.

Anyway, the steak was good, but wasn't that flavorful. It wasn't too charred, and the middle parts were still pinkish, but it was a bit dry. Maybe I should've gone with a medium cook rather than a medium well. It was also slathered with a small amount of gravy, so Chea had to ask for more, as it tasted a bit bland without the gravy.

With each of us having a plate of rice, we managed to eat just one piece of the steak, the other, we were able to take home.

The fruits are sweet.

Later, we had the Panna Cotta with fresh fruits at 180 pesos. It had slices of mangoes, grapes and kiwi, most of which were sweet. The gelatinous milk was creamy and wasn't too sweet so that was a pleasant experience.

Our final bill was around 1,500 pesos I think. A bit expensive for just a party of three. But to be honest, none of the main dishes are exactly cheap. Most of them are upwards of 300 pesos, with a few at around 220 pesos and more. So I do think it's best that you come here as a larger group and share everything.

If there were only about 3 of you or less, you should come in early, and go for the breakfast items instead.

Mother's Day 2014 at Ha Yuan

As every year, we're part of the masses that join the capitalist celebration of Mother's day. This year, my mother was at Samar at the time, so it's me celebrating Mother's day with my wife, and her side of the family.

Placemat

It's usually them who prepares for the date, so this year they decided to have the celebration at Ha Yuan. And since we're from QC, we opted to go to their Mother Ignacia branch, just behind St. Paul Church.

Chea and I came from our house in QC, while her parents, her two male siblings, her sister, and her nephew, along with Tita Fe and Thirdy came down from Antipolo. We called in for a reservation at noon, but we were told that it's already fully booked. They told us to try and come earlier at around 11am as that time had still some available tables.

Chea and I arrived by 11:30 am, while her family arrived a bit earlier. The parking area and the surrounding streets were full of cars, so we had to park a little way off.

When we got in, the place was packed and there were already people standing inside waiting for tables to free up.

Menu. Relatively inexpensive

The place was a bit small and packed with tables and chairs, that you could barely move between tables. Airconditioning is also non-existent, especially with the summer weather. Most of the patrons were sweating even with just seating in their chairs.

If you looked around, you'd probably see the window type air conditioners which looked decades old. So it's no wonder that it gets sweltering hot.

There was a station that had prepared dishes already so you can start eating if you wanted. But we opted to order some of the non-readily available dishes.

We ordered fresh lumpia, sweet and sour pork, and cha mi or one of the noodle dishes good for 3-4 persons. With the place packed to the rafters (there are actually no rafters), the wait was terribly long. And while we waited, people kept arriving. Some diligently waited inside, standing in the spaces between tables, and outside, where it was windy, but hot and very humid.

There was even a customer who was arguing with one of the older waitresses since she made a reservation, only to arrive with no table waiting for her party.

Also, with the number of customers they had that day, they didn't have enough staff to serve everybody. Often, the staff were not able to notice customers calling them out. It was a messy situation.

Half of the fresh lumpia. I think it's worth the 75 peso price tag

Later, the fresh lumpia arrived. It was pretty good. Normally, I never liked fresh lumpia, especially with the texture of vegetables all around your mouth. But this was different. The ingredients inside the lumpia were chopped, almost minced, to small pieces that everything felt good in your mouth. You wouldn't need to worry about biting into the fresh lumpia, pulling it apart with your teeth and having pieces still inside the main lumpia.

The sauce was sweet and pretty good, a bit like siopao sauce, but you could eat the lumpia even without it. And unlike most fresh lumpia that had nuts, I didn't notice if this had any.

Noodles. Didn't catch the name.

Later, the rice, the noodles and the sweet and sour pork arrived. Nothing special with the sweet and sour pork, except that it's not that sour when I compare it to the way my mom cooks it. The noodles? I don't know. It tasted plain, almost bland.

Sweet and barely sour pork

After finishing, I went outside with Thirdy so we could get a whiff of fresh air. While waiting, I overheard some of the male patrons hanging around the entrance, talking about the restaurant. It seems that their wives dragged them to Ha Yuan after seeing it featured on Kris TV. So that's where Chea and her siblings got the idea.

The guys even joked about letting the wives have their day, and they could start ignoring them tomorrow, when it's no longer Mother's day. Lol.

Any other day, I think Ha Yuan's a good option. It probably wouldn't be packed, so therefore the airconditioning might be tolerable. Plus, the staff would be able to handle the right amount of people, and the wait wouldn't be too long. But on days like this? Best to avoid it.

You'd probably be better off just ordering their fresh lumpia to go (which is probably their best dish anyway), and go to the more modern, very spacious, well ventilated chinese restos with a lot more food options.

XO 46 Heritage Bistro

May 12, 2014, Monday, Chea and I were headed to Makati for an errand. But since it was almost noon, we opted to have lunch first.

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.

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.

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.

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.

4 pcs of puto with the butter (yellow) and crab fat (orange).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

UP Child Development Center

Chea has been harping on for several months regarding this program for toddlers by the UP Child Development Center.

They have this program that takes on kids as young as 1 year old for pre-school. It's supposed to be progressive, and they teach kids more on building character than academic subjects. I think that's important for pre-schoolers so you can teach them about being more sociable, and confidence as they're growing up.

The center can only handle a few kids at a time, while there are hundreds of applicants. So they draw lots for new applicants wanting to join the program.

This year, the application started on April 21, 2014, so Chea took a leave off from work. I accompanied her, along with Thirdy and Tita Fe.

Chea was told that we needed to bring a birth certificate along with a 1x1 id picture, so we had to rush to SM Novaliches to have Thirdy's ID picture taken.

Unfortunately, Photoline's turn around time for the pictures were 30 minutes, and it was already 10am, so we're a bit late for the application at UP-CDC since they start early.

There was another photography lab, Picture Picture, which only needed 10 minutes. They're also cheaper at 59 pesos as compared to Photoline's 80 pesos. Both offered to give you soft copies for 20 to 30 pesos. Picture Picture also saved a copy of the pictures, so you can drop by anytime and have it reprinted without needing to take another shot.

Since it was past 11am already, we decided to go back home and eat lunch and wait for Tita Fe to take a bath and get dressed, since we'll be taking Thirdy and Tita Fe to my in-laws so they can stay there during these unbearably hot days. It's cooler in Antipolo compared to Q.C., as the aircon unit in Thirdy's room isn't working properly. We can let Thirdy stay in our room, but there's no space for Tita Fe there, so we decided to have them stay at Antipolo in the meantime.

So after lunch, we headed to UP. And since we're strangers to the place, we had to use Google Maps to locate UP College of Home Economics. Still, we got lost, with all the new roads in UP, so we had to stop a couple of times and ask around.

We just arrived in time as the center opened up after their lunch break. Chea went in got a form, and filled it up. We then had to drive to the UP Cashier to pay 100 pesos for the registration. It was near the UP Shopping Center (says on foursquare). We left Thirdy and Tita Fe at the UP-CDC since there was a waiting shed there and it was cooler there.

While Chea lined up, I went in the shopping center to look for something to drink.

Inside, it's full of shops offering photocopying services. There were a couple of internet shops, and a few food establishments, the most prominent of which was Rodic's.

After buying a drink, I went back out, and found Chea coming towards me. She needed to have the official receipt photocopied.

We went back, and Chea finished the application in about 5 minutes. She later said that Thirdy was 3rd on the non-UP waiting list. The draw lots is on Wednesday, April 23. But since there was only about 1 slot available, I'm not holding my breath.

Honestly, Thirdy is a very sociable kid. He waves to everyone, calls out 'kuya' and 'ate' to everyone near him. He even knows how to salute on his own whenever he sees a security guard. He gets rowdy most of the time, so what's important is that he learns discipline and restraint.

My concern of course, is if he'll be good academically, which based on what I've read, isn't UP-CDC's program's main strength. Anyway, here's hoping he gets to go to a pre-school best suited for him.

Update: Thirdy didn't get picked. Oh well, let's try again next year.

Dayrit's Burger and Roastbeef House

It's easter, April 20, 2014, and Chea, Ethel (my niece), Thirdy and I, just came from Rockwell's easter egg hunt and we were looking around for a place to have lunch.

We found ourselves in Timog area in Q.C. and we looked around for some place to eat. I wanted to have rice for lunch, so we kept an eye out for anything interesting.

Yep, the entire place exhudes early 80s.

Chea saw Dayrit's Burger and RoastBeef house. We've passed by this place several times before, but we never tried it. It's hard to park here most of the time, but on that day, there were only two vehicles parked in front so we decided to give it a try.

Even from the outside, your impression is that it's a bit dated, and everything looks plain. You'd think it was an air conditioned carinderia. Still, I always wanted to try it out since it had "burger" on its name. I wanted rice that moment, so I'm gonna pass up on the burger this time.

We sat near the windows, and were given menus. As soon as I saw it, I was a bit disappointed. Everything looks pricey. The regular burger was 135 pesos. And their rice meals, started at around 130 pesos, and it seemed plain. Corned beef and rice, 130 pesos. Tocino and rice? 130 pesos. Tapa and Rice, 155 pesos.

And when I looked at their specialties, the cheapest (Sizzling pla-pla) was at 220 pesos. Their roastbeef plate was at 310 pesos.

They accept credit cards, but still, I wasn't in the mood for their short orders, and at the same time, I wasn't planning on spending too much for lunch. Chea offered to pay for the meal as I was a bit sulky.

She ordered the roastbeef platter, the creamy beef pasta while I opted for the crispy pork belly, and a can of coke light.

Fried pork belly. Oh my.

The crispy pork belly (liempo) had six pieces of the meat and were indeed crispy. They taste exactly like fried liempo, and came with a dip, which might be Mang Tomas sauce. There was a little serving of vegetable stirred in butter and a cup of rice. For 245 pesos, it is a bit expensive, despite having enough pork to probably feed two people (I managed to eat 2 pieces with the rice that I had). Chea ordered another plate of rice, since she got envious of me, which cost 30 pesos. So for 275 pesos, the order would turn out to be about 138 pesos if two people shared. So it actually seems reasonable.

Does it look dry? Coz it tastes that way.

The roasted beef were thinly sliced. They tasted a bit bland, but it comes with gravy. I didn't count the slices but they could probably feed two as well. It came with a baked potato (with the skin) topped with cheese and bacon bits, vegetables (same on my plate), and rice. The beef was a bit dry, although since it's thin, it wasn't hard to chew on.

Sweet, creamy, with a beefy after taste.

The creamy beef was the stand out. It had chunks of beef in there, and it was indeed creamy. It came with a slice of bread, cut into two diagonally, with one side covered with butter. It's enough for one person, but since we shared on the liempo and the roast beef, we were too full to finish the pasta.

Taste great according to the wifey

Later, Chea ordered their Apple Pie ala Mode, which she thoroughly enjoyed. She finished it by herself, although I did gave it a try.

The spread.

Anyway, I find the prices a bit expensive on the first impression. For about the price of their roastbeef, you could find a buffet that offered beef dishes so you can eat beef to your heart's content. But then again, Dayrit's one of those establishments that inspires loyalty, so their clientele are the ones who are regulars. And if you actually frequent the place, you'd find out that the orders are big enough that you could actually share it. As I mentioned with the pork belly, two people could actually share it for 138 pesos each. For the roastbeef platter, with two plates of rice, that'll come out to 185 pesos each. So it becomes reasonable when you give it a second thought.

There are probably cheaper options in the mall, especially at the food court, but then again, it's not just the food, but the entire dining experience.

Barnyard Bash (2014 Rockwell Easter celebration)

Rockwell had their annual easter egg hunt activity last April 20, 2014 and Thirdy's attended, along with +maria cessna galecio , Ethel (my niece) and yours truly.

It started around 9am, so by the time we had arrived a little before 10am, most of the kids and their parents were already inside Rockwell Tent.

As usual, you had to go through the registration first. The morning egg hunt is free for Rockwell residents and guests, while they had another one in the afternoon for non-residents, with a fee of 600 pesos for 1 adult and 1 kid.

After registering, there're 3 stations the kids stop by at first, before getting into the tent. And since most of the kids were inside the tent already, Thirdy had the stations mostly to himself, and had the sole attention of the attendants.

The first station was the Happy Cow, where kids had to throw balls into the mouth of the Cow cut out. And since Thirdy's likes throwing balls all the time, it was easy for him to shoot the ball into the cow cut-out's mouth. He got candy in return.

Shoot Thirdy Shoot!

The next station was Who Let The Pigs Out, where balloons with pig faces were outside a fenced area, and kids were to throw them back inside. And again, Thirdy loves balloons and throwing them everywhere, so it was easy for him to understand the instructions.

There was a third station, Hop Hop Bunny, which Thirdy didn't get to play as he was the only kid around at the time. Too bad.

Bridgeway to the Rockwell Tent.

After that, it was a walk along the bridgeway, and past the front entrance of Rockwell Tent for the easter egg hunt. We had to wait a bit until there were a few kids along with us before we got started. We were told that the small eggs (they're plastic) had treats inside, while the bigger eggs were to be exchanged for bigger treats by the entrance to the tent.

Nanay Chea and Thirdy with their treats.

When the attendants gave the signal, the parents along with their kids, scampered around the area looking for the eggs.

There were a lot of them everywhere, so every kid managed to fill up their plastic watering cans. Thirdy actually started to run and pick up the eggs that he saw. Just 3 days past his 2nd birthday, and he's able to understand what they're trying to do. I'm really proud of my little guy.

After exchanging the big easter eggs for more treats, we headed inside the tent, where it was full of parents and their kids, relatives and yayas.

Where's the horse?

As usual, there was a stage for the shows, a small open area in front of it, where kids sat down on the floor, and then the chairs for the parents and families. Along the sides, were a couple of food treats: ice cream and popcorn. Along the rest of the wall, were the activity areas such as a Photo Booth, Face painting, Kiddie Salon and a Tutoring Club Booth.

Inside during the magic show

Ice cream!

Popcorn!

We first queued for the Photo Booth, where the prints were like the instant ID booths where you had three shots of you taken. While we were there, there was this guy making balloon animals.

No flip booth this time

A kiddie salon!

Bag doodling. Paint everywhere. The horror.

After that, we brought Thirdy to the Tutoring Club Booth, where he colored a piece of paper with prints on it. While Thirdy was coloring, there was a guy performing some magic tricks.

Chea then took Thirdy to the Face Painting booth where Thirdy had his first Face Painting. Chea chose a rabbit for the painting. Thirdy was still the entire time. That's pretty rare for my very active boy, so I was a bit amused seeing him holding really still.

OMG. Thirdy is sitting really still.

During that time, another guy was performing some circus tricks. Most of them were balancing tricks. To be honest, he was really impressive, and he really wowed the crowds.

There was a trick where he had kids and some dads try to ride this really small bike, it's like 6 inches tall. None of them managed to sit on it without falling off (but they were caught by the performers so they never really hit the floor or anything), but the guy managed to ride it. And then there was trick where he put three boards on top of each other, separated by a glass on each corner of the boards. And the entire thing was on top of a barrel on its sides. So when he stood on it, it would roll of to the right and to the left. It was pretty impressive.

He had several other tricks, but I couldn't remember most of them. But they were really good.

After the performances, there was a raffle for a PS4, which a young boy won. Pretty lucky kid. He probably has one already.

The entire thing finished a little before noon, so we headed back to the car, and decided to have lunch elsewhere. We ended up at Dayrit's Burger and RoastBeef House in Q.C.

It was around 2pm by the time we were finished. Unfortunately, on our way home, it was still hot outside. It was about 33 deg C, but according to my phone app, the real feel was around 38 deg C. So we decided to go to Fairview Terraces to keep cool.

We went around and checked out if there were newly opened up shops. We spent most of our time at Wellworth which is Ayala's department store brand, a joint venture with Rustan's. We also dropped by a Globe store so Chea could pay her bills.

After that, we went to Active Fun, where we managed to get a free hotdog, fries and a drink since it was Thirdy's fourth visit. By 5pm, we decided to head home and call it a day.