Discover places you'll love in the Philippines

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.

Another pigout dinner at Spiral for us (as mentioned by my sister, Bernisse C) for another sister's birthday celebration! I've mentioned their various stations in my previous review so I won't go through all of them again. My love for kimchi jjigae (stew) is always quenched whenever I dine here because they have this in their Korean station. They labeled it as soybean stew since there's no kimchi in the stew, but it's pretty spicy 🌶 (That's what I'm after!!) Their Korean dishes change pretty often but they have the basic side dishes available too, like kimchi! ️ Tonight they had the cold kimchi, and a cooked kimchi dish as well. They also have a variety of dimsum available, but at around 9:30PM their siomai ran out. So when one of my sisters wanted more, she didn't get to have any anymore. I loved their sushi section for that night! Other than the regular salmon and tuna sashimi the maki rolls, they had chicken katsu temaki and a blowtorched salmon sushi drizzled with Japanese mayo. I hope they serve this always!! They had something different today in the Japanese section: oden!! I'm a fan of Japanese food so I got a bowl hehe! The cheese and cold cuts station is one of my faves. I always get the brie! Plus some meat and eat it with the bread they place on the table at the very beginning. 🏼 In the teppan station, it seems to expand every time I visit... before I remember they only had beef and shrimp. Now they have beef, porkloin, dory, shrimp and even cuttlefish! But I only got the beef and dory. In the pasta section, I wanted to get the truffle ravioli like during our last visit but they didn't have it anymore today. Instead they had a seafood ravioli which had salmon. The ravioli itself was okay, but their cream sauce was so salty! For the night, this was probably the biggest disappointment. For dessert, they have mini cakes, chocolate truffles, gummies, 3 chocolate fountains, fruits and Filipino faves like bibingka, halo-halo. 🏼 You can also request for tea and coffee included in the buffet. 🏼 Overall, the visit was great except for the salty pasta sauce. Still one of my favorite buffets!!

The funny thing about Sensei Sushi was that the first time i ate here many, many years ago (has it been a decade na ba?)... i just found it 'meh'. Never really had the interest to eat there again since. And even though most of my friends raved about it, it didnt seem to go up on my priority list of places to try again. Fast forward years later i realized that, hey, they've been around Aguirre and are still open after all these years... so they must be doing something right. They must be that damn good. And the offshoot Mecha Uma and Ooma are drawing similar raves as well. My first re-visit since has led to a visit almost every week until i tried everything that everyone has recommended and raved about online and in person!!! OA i know But seriously, i found the food that good that i didnt mind going back again and again and again to try something that someone else ate and loved. And not once have i left feeling 'nalugi' or not interested to try the next item on my list. If you like Mecha Uma and Ooma, you'll love Sensei Sushi. This is Chef Bruce Ricketts' first culinary baby. Where it all started and i think was the inspirational base behind his newer restaurants. The cuisine is a modern take on Japanese fare with surprising twists. Specials written on the blackboard change from time to time depending on the availability of ingredients and seafood, so you know everything's fresh. Why the hell did i find it just 'meh' when i first ate here?!?!? With the sheer number of dishes i tried that took me months of almost weekly visits, i'm just going to mention those i liked the most hahaha. Seared Scallops in XO Sauce - this one is my absolute favorite and is found only on the blackboard specials. The scallops are of the Japanese variety so availability can an be issue. They'll let you know if they have some in stock, but let me tell ya, its worth the wait! These Japanese scallops are HUGE and meaty. Very flavorful! They sear the scallops using a blowtorch aburi style, then pan fry them with XO sauce and... truffle oil was it? I love XO sauce and i love scallops. Sensei put them together and made magic. Scallop Aburi - again with the Japanese scallops haha. This time they're seared in the same way but on top of sushi rice, and topped with their house sauce. Oh man, with even just a relatively simple prep method, these scallops blew me away. Grilled Steak - yep, thats what the menu says. Something stated this simple and straightforward on the menu turned out to be really good! Several thin beef slices (not strips) twirled around and under a potato crisp in what tasted like truffle or mushroom oil sauce. The beef was really tender and each bite was heavenly. Uni Chahan - any good Japanese restaurant would be hard pressed to mess up Japanese fried rice even by accident. So what Sensei Sushi did was take it to another level by topping the fried rice with fresh sea urchin. Who knew that'd it make such a good combination?!? Chicken Kaarage - whether you order the regular or spicy special, you'll be met with something pretty surprising. The chicken is fried in balls and covered in crazy potato strips! In Pokemon parlance its like eating a fried tangela. For non-pokemon hunters... hhhmmm... think of a rambutan or lychee, where those crispy potato strips cover the chicken pieces and stick out in all directions. Scallop Popcorn - this is also something found on their blackboard. Think chicken popcorn in shape and size, but with scallops instead. They use local scallops for this (the small ones) so size-wise it makes for a perfect fit and substitute for the chicken in the chicken popcorn. A quirky and fun plate, perfect for sharing and even as bar chow. Chicken and Mushroom Soba - i was actually reminded of a good chicken alfredo when eating this! Creamy mushroom sauce, grilled chicken, mushrooms, and instead of Italian pasta they used Japanese soba noodles. It honestly didnt matter what noodles they used since this was really good nevertheless. Grilled Salmon Skin Maki / Crispy Philly / Tuna and Crispy Scallop Dynamite / Cali Roll with Prawn Popcorn - you cannot, i repeat CANNOT , leave Sensei without having an order of sushi or maki. I mean thats why they're called Sensei Sushi after all, right? You can't go wrong with any of the one's here.

I've been curious about The Frazzled Cook since one of my friends in IG posted a picture of their food. So I asked my family to have dinner here last Saturday. The restaurant was packed when we arrived. I had my name listed, and I was 4th in the wait list. After around 10 minutes, finally a table good for four. My sister really wanted to try their ribs so she ordered their Slowly Cooked Pork Ribs (450php). This is cooked for 4 hours and simmered in their signature style sauce. The pork was so tender and really flavorful. I loved that the bones were soft as well. I think not bad for its price. I ordered Paella Negra (375php good for 3 / 635php for 5). This is squid-ink rice topped with shrimps, sausages, and bell peppers. I found this too salty, however, squeezing some lemon in this balanced the taste. I'll have this again, next time! I also ordered their Frazzled Sisig (225php). This is the usual pork sisig but with their special sauce. Not sure on what's in that, but the sisig tasted good. I loved that it's crunchy! Finally, we also had Peppered Salmon Steak (335php). I liked how this tasted but I think it was a bit overcooked. It's still juicy, though. The fries on the side were good too! The service was slow that night, which is quite understandable as the restaurant was really full. I just hope they improve on that. P.S. The place is really beautiful. There are a lot of IG-worthy spots. I'm not really sure, but for me it's like a big house transformed to be a restaurant. Well, if that's the case then they succeeded in making me feel homey. Happy tummy!

I lovelovelove Japanese food so I've been wanting to try Ooma out for a long time now. Finally got to try it one night, when a friend and I had a fun, catch-up dinner here. So glad this restaurant lived up to its hype 🏼 Waiting time was surprisingly not that long; we were seated even before we got to look at the menu. We ordered the Salmon Skin Aburi Maki, Chicken Teriyaki, and one other maki variant whose name I unfortunately can't remember (yes, the food was THAT good ). Our orders were served in a very artistic, instagram-worthy way so I super enjoyed taking pictures like a true foodie. Once that's over, I took my first gratifying mouthful of salmon skin maki... and I wanted to stuff the whole roll in my mouth and order five more variants But seriously, it was quite flavorful--I could taste the torched salmon and crispy salmon skin in each bite. And although each roll contained a lot of other items (ie., asparagus, cream cheese, wasabi aiolo, teriyaki sauce as per menu), each bite gave one harmonious flavor--it was like biting into a symphony Our bill was less than a thousand which was a small price to pay for the overall experience. Ambiance was a typical Japanese restaurant, made slightly more high-end with its low lighting and prime setup. The seats are a bit tight and quite near each other, though, but manageable. Service was commendable enough, considering it was a busy Friday night, and the restaurant was full. Needless to say, will definitely be back!

Naga Metropolitan Cathedral is one of the major churches in Naga City which houses the image of the Peñafrancia before the fluvial parade that happens before the end of the festival. The cathedral was built since 1595 and has withstood the test of times surviving from different calamities and disasters through the years. The church is fronted by the Porta Mariae, a majestic arch that commemorates the 300 years of devotion to the patroness of Bicol. Every year the Peñafrancia Festival is held in Naga City every 1st week to 2nd week of September in honor of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia in Naga City. During this time, this church is packed with throngs of pilgrims from different parts of the country.