Discover places you'll love in the Philippines

Birthdays are always special so last Sept 3-4 we celebrated my Mama Elaine P 59th bday staycation at the newest luxury hotel in Manila, the Conrad Hotel Manila located near the Baywalk Roxas Boulevard. We are entitled for free buffet breakfast at Brasserie on 3 as we were hotel guests and checked in for overnight stay. I've been hearing a lot of this buffet restaurant. It's one of Conrad's main dining restaurant. Before I proceed with my review I'll just have this trivia. For those who have not heard of the term Brasserie which means French term for a restaurant with a relaxed setting. It is actually . They have this al fresco where you can enjoyed the best view of Manila Bay while having your breakfast or lunch or even dinner. The food selection is not as wide as other hotel buffer restaurants but I really appreciated it as the food selections was healthy , and extra ordinary and of course the service was superb What I loved about Brasserie on 3 is that they have this special menu like tapa, French toast, etc on the menu where the chef can cook it for you and it's for free. The plating was really nice and tasted so good also. It's seems it's like you dine in for a dinner already with that presentation. I loved also the fresh selection juices so healthy. Breakfast buffet rate is almost 1t pesos very affordable. You should give this a try. Dress code : Relaxed

Did you know that Pepita's Kitchen is doing a pop-up in Hole in the Wall?!? Offering nothing but their infamous Truffle Lechon, Pepita's Kitchen will have it's last run from today until SUNDAY (Oct. 02)!!!! Reich T and I went today to try it out. So lucky there was no line yet! Two orders of Truffle Rice Stuffed Lechon, 280Php each. Our orders were served fast and the aroma of strong truffle oil lingered! Gah! How can you resist?!? The serving was rather small but for lechon x truffle - I'm not complaining. The rice was a little sticky but in a good way. Infused with a generous amount of truffle oil and all the goodness of lechon, delicious! The lechon meat was tender and tasty as well. They also included two slices of lechon skin because what's a lechon experience without the skin, right?!? One piece was not too crispy anymore but the other piece was the bomb! Each order also comes in with a side serving of chili in oil, more like sambal, which makes each spoonful of the Truffle Rice and Lechon more awesome! Warning: one order will not make you full. If you're really hungry, might as well het 3 orders

Had been to Cibo about 3 weeks ago. #latepost I rarely visit this place, the last time was more than a year ago in Rockwell with girl friends. So its felt so nice to dine again in Shangri-La. The place is almost full when we dine, since its dinner time and its Friday. I love this place for their intensive pasta and pizza. And yeah, there's a challenge in pronouncing their dishes For appetizer we had Spinaci Zola (P27) small crunchy bread with spinach artichoke dip. Some kinda bland for me. But its ok. For drinks, i had their Lemonade, happy with sweet-sour taste! Legit taste of lemon. My companion had their Grape Shake, which I also tasted. Well, never tried grape shake before, and its good! We had pasta: Farfalle Alla Genovese, (P310) mushrooms, basil and pesto cream - its pesto and mixture tastes great. Enjoyed the pasta with chili flakes. Happy with shre Rigatoni All Alfonso (P385) - it has shrimp,chives, stewed tomatoes, cream and chili peppers Verdict: dishes are freshly made. Plus servers are extra attentive. Pricey yet I can say its reasonable. This place never gets old

Todd English Food Hall's menu was extensive. There were so many dishes we wanted to try but sadly, there were only two tummies to fill up. To be honest, we ordered a lot for just two people. But that's nothing new PIG FACE TACO [P260] ️️️️️ Crispy pork mask taco with fresh guacamole, black bean puree & cilantro garlic dressing. In Filipino language, it's better know as "sisig taco". I absolutely loved this! The black bean puree and cilantro garlic dressing complemented the fried sisig. Hands down, this one of the best tacos I've tried to date. Can't recommend it enough! DYNAMITE ROLL [P265] ️️️ The menu did not have a description for this but it's just a fried spicy salmon maki. This was good, on the average side. It wasn't bad but wasn't the best either. RISOTTO PAELLA [P480] ️️️️ Fresh seafood mix with roasted tomato risotto The great thing about this dish is that they were generous with the seafood (calamari, clams, etc). The tomato flavors were good so if you're a tomato-based dish lover, then you will enjoy this. I only gave 4 stars because the salmon risotto from Refinery is still the best for me. But this is a great dish as well 🏻 T.E. TWO WAY DUCK [P650] ️️️️ Homemade duck leg confit, soyus vide duck breast, sweet potato purée, pickled red cabbage, duck demi and french beans. I'm not a big fan of ducks but I found this dish to be really tender. The duck was juicy and the sauce went well with it. (Btw, I really liked how they plated their dishes) BETTY WHITE [P420] ️️️️️ Lava Cake, silky pudding, salted caramel gelato. You can't find this dessert in their menu. I think (I can't remember ) it was a special dessert for the week. The waiter recommended this to us. As explained by him, this was actually the white chocolate version of the OMG. I don't regret trusting him even for a second. This might be the BEST dessert I've eaten. The lava cake was crunchy on the outside but super soft and moist on the inside. Their gelato were made in-house and I LOVE IT! Best Salted Caramel Gelato I've had. We even ordered another scoop because it was that good. A huge scoop costs [P95] for regular flavors but the salted caramel costs [P120]. I don't think this was in their menu either. Too bad. I do hope they put it permanently as part of their menu because I would come back just for it (on days I need comfort because it does cost P420). To be honest,!I'd give this a hundred stars if I could ️ The place had really good interiors. I loved how everything was set up. The servers were really kind and attentive as well. To match everything, the food prices were high as well But worth every penny There are still a lot of dishes worth trying so I will be definitely be back. P.S. Since I'm still new to looloo | (3 weeks old), it's best to inform that this is a #latepost 🤓

While we were on our way home, dad suddenly told us that there was no food at home. My sister and I decided to eat somewhere we both haven't tried and that's how we landed here at Refinery. The place looks like somewhere people come to chill and catch up on a Friday night. It had a candlelight dinner ambiance. The place specializes on sandwiches and light meals and coffee. When we saw the menu, we knew we went to the wrong place to have dinner But we were too embarrassed to walk out of the restaurant because we were already seated. I wanted something light while my sister was a bit hungry. So we ordered one main dish and one dessert, both for sharing. SALMON RISOTTO [P480] - seared Norwegian salmon on creamy wild mushroom risotto, toped with cajun butter. The dish was served with a small slice of cajun butter on top of the salmon. We weren't sure what to do with it so we just mixed it altogether. I looooooved this! We both loved it. The salmon was perfectly cooked - nice and tender on the inside and super crispy skin on top. The risotto itself was super creamy and buttery. It was wonderfully seasoned as well. One thing was for sure - It was wrong for us to share this. We should have ordered one each It was pricey tho Rating: 5/5 FEEL GOOD FUDGE [P285] - Freshly-baked brownies on skillet topped with Madagascar vanilla ice cream and candied walnuts. This skillet brownie takes 30 minutes to bake so make sure to order this ahead of time. The brownie was like a molten lava cake in a skillet. The outside was crispy but the inside was very gooey and soft, just like a molten lava cake. Talk about chocolate heaven! The brownie itself was not too sweet which we liked. The classic combination of hot chocolate brownie and plain vanilla ice cream will never go out of style. It was just perfect. I would recommend to order another scoop of vanilla ice cream because one scoop would not suffice. Also, when you order this, make sure to have at least 3 people because it's so big for just 2 people to consume. We took home half of the brownie because we ran out of ice cream (and were too full) Rating: 4/5 The ambiance of the place was great while service was average. I didn't like how their service water tasted - It tasted like tap water. The overall experience was good so I think I will be back to try their sandwiches and coffee ️ next time.

Breathtaking. This is now my go-to breakfast place whenever I want to just relax and have a decent meal somewhere peaceful and calm. My friends invited me to have brunch with them last Saturday at Marikina, but they also asked me for other places I might know of. Before they picked me up from my house, I suggested Eggs for Breakfast Café. I’ve never read the reviews about it, nor have I thought of visiting the place soon. When we were on our way, since we were really hungry, we decided on choosing the restaurant that we’ll arrive at faster, and this was it, somewhere in Antipolo. I can’t believe how easy it was to go here. It’s not that far from SM Masinag. I’ve been to the village next to Villa Cecilia so many times before yet I never knew that I’d find this in that area. It was completely unexpected. So we arrived the place and parked the car in their parking area. The whole place is huge! Only a small lot was for the actual restaurant, while the other areas are mostly garden. From the looks of it, I think the place is intended as venues for wedding receptions (or perhaps the actual wedding) since there are several different-sized houses around the area that can hold receptions. There are also a lot of arcs that are perfect for your photo ops. We arrived the restaurant around 11:15am and the place was packed, since the restaurant is small and can only cater to around 20 people. There are also 2 small, round tables outside the restaurant, but it was hot so we wished to be seated inside. We had my name listed and just used the time to take pictures and decide on our orders. (We wanted to place our orders while waiting, but the server refused). After the 15-20 minute wait, our table was finally ready, and so were our orders. We ordered their Buttermilk pancakes with caramelized bananas, the Eggs Benedict, the Beef Tapa, the One Pan breakfast, the yellow smoothie and the berries and cherries smoothie. Here are my thoughts: Buttermilk Pancakes with Caramelized Bananas P255 2 large and fluffy pancake pieces with caramelized bananas and ice cream. This was delicious. The pancakes were a bit thick but soft and moist, and the syrup (I’m not sure what it was) just had the right amount of sweetness. This, with the melt-in-your-mouth caramelized bananas and vanilla ice cream made me close my eyes and secretly rejoice deep inside. Eggs Benedict P285 This was my first eggs benedict. I didn’t like this. First, even though I’ve never had this dish before, I’ve seen that the egg should be cooked in a manner where the egg yolk should easily pop and ooze out. This wasn’t the case. Also, the sauce had a hint of wasabi, which I didn’t appreciate. (I hate wasabi. My friend, who usually orders egg benedicts, told us that this is not what hollandaise sauce tastes like). Beef Tapa P240 I liked the beef they used for their tapa: striploin. The tapa was marinated well enough that I was able to taste both sweet and salty. It was served with garlic rice, 2 eggs of your choice (we had it cooked medium well), and a side of their home-made atsara. 🌭One Pan Breakfast P470 This breakfast for champions is composed of 2 sausages, 2 strips of bacon, some beans, roasted potatoes, mushrooms and 2 eggs of your choice. The bacon proved to be the champion among the champions in this dish. I also liked the potatoes. The sausages were just okay. Yellow Smoothie P140 A smoothie of mixed pineapple, mangoes and bananas. This was a good, refreshing drink perfect for the setting. Berries and Cherries Smoothie P195 A combination of cranberry juice, blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and maraschino cherries made one awesome and thick smoothie. I liked this better than the yellow smoothie primarily because it was composed of more ingredients, yet all of those blended well altogether. One down side to this drink was there were small dot-sized remains from the fruit. It was disturbing. I have no complaints about the service, and the pricing is reasonable. As for the ambiance, I will just let you decide on that I loved my visit that I wanted to come back and eat again even if we just left their garage. I’ll pay this restaurant a visit again, SOON. Real soon. Food photo 📸 sharaguilar

Burger night! Oh boy do I love burger nights. For my burger, I ordered PIGGY [P255 for 1/4LB and P315 for 1/3LB] - A beef bomb blend patty of chunk and short rib, yellow cheddar, crisp bacon strips, house-made bacon jam, lollo rossa greens, garlic aioli all on a sesame seed bun. The description of the burger can be really mouth watering even after only hearing the words cheddar and bacon jam. I liked how the burger patties are freshly grounded just before you order because this assures us (customers) that what we eat (and pay for) are real quality meat. I also loved how juicy the burger was nomnomnom However, the burger itself lacked seasoning. But the toppings and other ingredients of the whole burger gave enough flavors to compromise it so that's fine with me. There's salt and pepper provided per table so you can season your own burger to taste anyway. (4/5️) My sister and dad both ordered the HANGOVER [P285 1/4lb] - onion griddled quarter pounder Big Game Blend patty of hanger and brisket with yellow cheddar, crisp prosciutto, fried egg, arugula, sweet spiced BBQ sauce & house aioli al on a sesame seed bun. My sister seemed to like it but my dad said it was bland and he could cook better. Dad's a cook so every time we eat out, he always criticizes the dishes I guess it's a chef's pride not to admit that he's not the best cook❓ My other sister ordered RISING SHROOM [P280 1/4lb] - Mustard fried quarter pounder Steak Cut Blend patty of sirloin and chuck with fried oyster mushroom tempura, white truffle cream cheese and sautéed mushrooms all on Kaiser roll. (Rising Shroom photo by my other sister) My sister didn't like it mainly because the mustard flavor was a bit overwhelming for her. Although she did like the concept and flavor of the tempura mushrooms For sides, we ordered SKINNY FRIES [P55] and ONION RINGS [P65]. The skinny fries was okay. It is very thin, as the name goes - skinny. It was almost too crispy to the point it could be hard like Piknik. (3/5️) BUT! I absolutely loved the onion rings! (5/5️) It has a thick breading but it was not saggy at all. The dish itself was not too oily. The onion cuts were large and has a Barbeque flavoring which was super addicting The next time we go watch a movie, I'm getting onion rings from here instead of my usual popcorn. 🍿 Just to cleanse our taste buds, we ordered something sweet - SALTED CARAMEL MILKSHAKE [P150 per 12oz and P180 per 16oz]. Personally, this was kind of a let down. It tasted like regular vanilla milkshake. There was not even a hint of salted caramel. So disappointing nonetheless, the milkshake itself was very thick and creamy which I look for when I buy milkshakes. (3/5️) I've actually tried their CheeseBurger before and it was good too. The burger itself was super juicy but not too oily and the flavors were good. Nothing beats the classics! If you're a but adventurous, you can customize your own burger as well. But I find that doing this makes your bill a whole lot higher So if you have the extra cash, why not? The service was okay. Staff were friendly and service time was just right 🕚

We visited the restaurant on a Sunday lunch. We arrived Alexei’s at around 1pm and parking spaces were available. We then entered the diner and found it empty. A few groups then started coming in after we sat down, although not enough to make the diner too busy and noisy. The two-floored place is quite cute, with all the simple and retro decorations. I also found a small, separate room outside the restaurant, which I believe is for catering small groups. The diner also shares a space with an auto center (I guess there is only one owner for both the shop and the diner), which kinda explains the numerous car magazines in the diner’s book rack (that my boyfriend enjoyed). Their menu is so adorable! That's what we thought before we really pondered on what to have for lunch. We then decided on ordering their grilled porkchop, beef tapa and chicken longganisa. Grilled Porkchop P195 The porkchop was okay. It wasn’t as tender and easy to cut, but it was good enough for the price. It was served with garlic rice and gravy. I wasn’t too happy with the dish, because the porkchop lacked a little flavor and the gravy wasn’t able to rescue it. Chicken Longganisa P140 This was more of a deconstructed longganisa – it wasn’t placed in a “wrapper”. It was also just okay, although I found it really flavorful. It was served with an egg and garlic rice. Beef Tapa P145 Their tapa was served with garlic rice, an egg and a tomato vinaigrette. I actually found the beef tapa flavorful and sweet on my first few bites. At first I thought I liked it that way, but I then realized that the sweetness of the tapa was very strong. I tried using the tomato vinaigrette to counter the sweetness of the tapa, yet it was of no help. They also have some pastries and coffee, perfect for those who just want a quick and lite snack break. The food here is very very reasonably priced. Actually, we found it cheap since the serving size wasn’t bad as well. Service was okay, and the ambiance was nice, especially outside where the picnic table is. You can check my photos for you to see. The place also has a clean restroom. I will come back to try their burger, as I think this is a must-try. This is based from what I've read from reviews. I also heard the other customers order this to take home. Too bad I wasn't in the mood for a burger during our visit.

Uma Uma Ramen is one of the very few restaurants in S'Maison that opened as soon as the mall started its operations. I'm only writing this review now but I've actually been here a couple of months ago. Thrice. In one week. Here are the items I've tried: 🔹One-Bite Gyoza 🔹Tonkotsu Ramen 🔹Garlic Ramen 🔹Chasiu Don I won't be describing their taste in detail because (1) the other reviews have got that covered and (2) I don't really have the skill and talent to do that. But seriously, they were all good. What I liked the most was the not-so-thick consistency of their ramen soup base. Oh and the Chasiu Don, loved it! Service was great and consistent. I should know because I went there for 3 days straight at different times - before, during, and after peak/lunch hour. Orders get served quickly and their servers are very polite.

Two pieces of huge buttermilk and bourbon infused fried chicken served with four pieces of waffles with butter, maple syrup and gravy on the side. The presentation was beautiful and the dish itself was done very well. The chicken was cooked to perfection; crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and flavorful overall. The waffles were crispy and fluffy. I loved every component, down to the gravy and maple syrup. This is my first time to try the chicken and waffle combo and I am glad I tried it here first. Might be pricy for 320 but I swear, it's worth it. The place also serves coffee and alcoholic drinks. We bought a bottle of red wine for 650, which was more practical than getting it per glass for 210. Cow & Chicken boasts a clean and spacious area, great ambiance, and very accomodating servers. There is outdoor seating decorated with pretty lights. It is located along United St., on the third floor where more popular ones like Uncle Moes and Taco Vengo are situated. I can't wait to go back here to try everything else they have to offer but I'd be sure to get their chicken and waffles again.

I have always loved Kettle's buttermilk fried chicken so when I heard that Fireside (by Kettle) has a chicken fingers version of this, I just had to go and try it. The place was bright and has nice relaxing feeling to it. Servers were polite and welcoming Fireside's famous BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN FINGERS [P489] has become a staple dish for us. The chicken fingers were brined for 24 hours, has Cajun Ritz breading, homestyle gravy, honey, and cornbread doughnuts. I love how they mastered frying chicken. I actually prefer this over the original version of Kettle because it was easier to eat. The breading was crisp and the chicken itself was tender and juicy. As a person who has tried so many chicken fingers, I know that they can be easily overcooked because it's smaller size. (Yay for Fireside!) Even the cornbread doughnuts were better. I liked how it wasn't dry and fried and how it goes so well with the chicken. Two thumbs up! 🏻🏻 50/50 MEAT LOAF [P389] - 50-50 ground bacon and ground angus beef, barbeque sauce, and garlic mashed potatoes. Their meatloaf was so simple yet flavorful because it was seasoned properly. It went so well with the CREAMY mashed potatoes. I'm a sucker for super creamy mashed potatoes Anyway, this deserves another thumbs up! 🏻 The price may appear expensive but I think it's worth the money. The serving size of most dishes are good for at least two people and the flavors are great anyway. During my last visit, there was only two of us so we weren't able to order much so will definitely be back to try their other dishes!

Lilac is my tummy go to place since its near our house. Tried Leons Bistro and its my first time to dine here. And I must say the bacon wrapped potato croquette really is good. Very flavorful sauce that complements the croquette. Really good deal and value for money. I also love their mashed potato perfect for their salisbury steak. Till next time.