Our Paradise Philippines

Just came back from a long drive to Manaoag, Pangasinan taking the new Subic-Clark-Tarlac-Express Way.  It took  us 30 minutes to reach Tarlac City from Clark exit. Then another one hour drive from Tarlac City to Manaoag Pangasinan passing by the towns of Paniqui and Moncada Tarlac, Carmen Rosales in Pangasinan, before reaching Urdaneta where a left turn will lead you to Manaoag. Continue reading ‘Road Trip 2010: Manaoag, Pangasinan, Matutina’s for Lunch’

Aside from being a great place where you can find the best dining experiences, Antipolo is also the home of many great spas. We’ve featured Callospa Resort Spa before, and now here’s another great find – MyParadiseSpa. Continue reading ‘MyParadise Spa in Antipolo’

Here’s another great find in Antipolo. A nice and homey restaurant located in the heart of  Antipolo. A nice restaurant simply called LAYA. It’s in the area where you can find Vieux Chalet and Callospa. Both of which were already featured here in OPP.

Anyway, to start 2010 with a bang, here goes our first food trip – a nice personal dining experience in LAYA, Antipolo. When we went there LAYA was still offering their Lucky 2010 5-course menu. This menu includes:

Spiced Tuna Tartare on Crispy Wontons for appetizers – for raw tuna lovers!

Soup was Thai Tomato Basil Soup with Shrimp Dumplings & Cilantro Foam – This one is very good!

For salad, Deconstructed Asian Caesar Salad with Ginger Garlic Aioli – love the different approach to presenting and eating Ceasar Salad. Wifey loved the dressing!

Four the Main Course, My wife had Hoisin Baked Norwegian Salmon with Soba Noodles, Shiitake Mushrooms and Sesame Scallion Salad and she enjoyed it very much.

Mine was Red Curry Glazed Pork Loin Roast with Roasted Onions & Pumpkin Basmati Rice. I’m not really into curry dishes so this was ok for me.

And now for the best part – Dessert! Bananas in Thai Coconut Pancake with Mantecado Ice Cream & Latik Sauce. I would have to admit, this made my day. I wonder what brand of Latik Sauce they are using but it is certainly one of the best Latik I’ve ever tasted. Love the combination of the Mantecado Ice Cream and Latik also.

All that for P650.00/per person. The menu comes with Laya’s signature Pandan Ice Tea (refillable) and fresh organic tea or organic barako coffee. Continue reading ‘LAYA in Antipolo Offers Personal Dining Experience’

If you’re starting to plan your long weekend trips and vacation this 2010, check out the official Philippine Holidays of 2010 at the end of this post. Info was provided by the Department of Tourism.  And if you don’t have any idea where to go, check out our past coverages of some great places we’ve visited. Continue reading ‘Plan Your Long Weekend Trip for 2010, Philippine Holidays 2010′

For the longest time, we’ve wanted to go to this place and finally last Sunday we made it to Antonio’s in Tagaytay City. Antonio’s is like a big mansion converted into a very nice restaurant with the homey ambiance.

I’m not really sure but it seems like this restaurant has been featured in so many Filipino movies before.

Anyway, the ambiance is not the primary reason why we visited this, of course we went there to eat! We were looking forward to a nice brunch actually as it was only around 11 in the morning.

So we ordered Spicy Sausage with garlic rice and double eggs (380+)  for me,

Wifey had seafood pasta (Php 530),

and kid’s breakfast special (280+) for our daughter.

As you can see from the photos, servings were very small. For their prices, they could have at least made the garlic rice serving bigger.

I would rather not bash Antonio’s because I know it is a very famous place. But if you came from a two hour drive from Manila and hoping to fill up your hungry stomach in Antonio’s unfortunately you won’t get it from there.

It’s a good thing we ordered this, simply heavenly!