Apr 03 2007
My Manila Food Diary
I remember when I was in college and taking up a course on Rizal, I would remember his travels by memorizing all the girls he dated. It amused me no end that our national hero and the pride of the malay race is quite a ladies’ man. Well, the comparison here may be farfetched, but I will try to recall my Manila trip by, what else, but by the food I gobbled up in two weeks. For whenever we go home, we try to enjoy the simple things in Manila which we used to do, especially when we were still dating. And these simple things can be summarized in four words: food trip, mall tour! Today, I will bare all… all my gluttony with MY MANILA FOOD DIARY:
SUNDAY. It is now getting to be a tradition for me.. everytime I go home to the Philippines, from the airport we go straight to KFC!!! Pathetic, but now that we’re earning money and have the chance to treat my parents who picked us up.. and we buy them fried chicken at KFC. But what can we do? We’re hungry for the crispy skin on the outside and juicy meat in the inside with how many different herbs and spices again? In fact, whenever we go outside of Cambodia (like Thailand), KFC is a must-go-to for us. We close our ears to all the rat rumors. Heck, the original recipe is too good… and if it’s a rat, so be it. It is a tragedy though that in Thailand, the gravy is not free. There are even some branches where they don’t know what gravy is and we have to order the mashed potatoes to get some gravy. But here in Manila, it’s gravy galore!
MONDAY. We were billeted at the Heritage Hotel for our seminar. Luckily, they probably have one of the best breakfast buffets in town. So every single day, we had for breakfast… sinangag, chicken longganiza, omelette, adobo, and if we woke up early enough, we also got to enjoy corned beef. For dessert (yes, we have dessert for breakfast), we have had this ultra-sinful to-die-for soft ensaymada with the melting butter and cheese.
So Honey‘s seminar was related to the elections, and guess what… the COMELEC building burned down, so we held our own seminar at the nearby Mall of Asia. My parents picked us up again and we had lunch at well… okay… I can’t lie… at the Food Court! OMG! All that food and glorious smells in one place! We ordered so much! So much! Real Filipino pork barbeque with the messy red sauce that goes all over your fingers, salmon head sa miso, sisig, Bicol express, hito, laing… I don’t remember what else. But you know what’s the amazing thing? We ordered food for five people (Honey, me, Mom, Dad, and Cesar, the family driver), and everything was only under $10! On top of that, my parents both had senior citizens’ cards which entitled us to an additional discount. Honey and I were amazed. We spend more for our regular lunches out in Phnom Penh just for the two of us.
If you think we had enough of all that greasy, transfat-laden food, you’re wrong. For dinner, we went to the king of all chows, Chow King at the Blue Wave. We ordered so much again! Yang chow fried rice, spring rolls, wanton soup, pork spare ribs, lemon chicken… we ordered so much, I felt bad that we didn’t have any room for the famous halo-halo. But we did take out frappucino and hot mocha coffee from the nearby Starbucks which we enjoyed in the hotel.
TUESDAY. This time, Honey attended his seminar. Mom picked me up and we had lunch in our house in Kamuning. My yayas cooked for me my favorite sinigang na bangus. Oh joy! We have all kinds of fish and seafood in Cambodia but not bangus. And for dessert? What everyone goes to the Philippines for… big sweet carabao mangoes!
For dinner, Honey and I went to Makati Greenbelt 2 and met the girls at the Japanese restaurant, Sugi (this event merits another post). Whenever we’re with a lot of people, I tend to forget about the food because I always enjoy the company so much. Oh, and this is another thing I miss… after the meal, the chitchat continued to a coffee place. And we all walked next door to Bizu where I pretended to go on a diet and ordered a sugar-free cake with my coffee… hrhrhr! (Notice how whenever Honey and I are not buying, we go to the expensive places). When we went back to the hotel, we became hungry again. So we walked to the nearby Roaster’s and ordered half-pound burgers for our midnight snack. Don’t worry… I paired it off with a Diet Coke.
WEDNESDAY. Mom picked me up again while Honey endured another day of training seminar. We met up with Sixter in Glorietta in Makati where Sixter and I were supposed to treat Mom but Mom ended up paying for it with her card. Hehe! We ate at another former favorite… California Pizza Kitchen. I forgot what we ordered again but it’s definitely one pizza and one pasta and one sinful dessert.
For dinner, Honey and I got together with our batchmates (one from Paris, the other from Ottawa) and we had a sumptuous meal at this Spanish place in Greenbelt 2. Whenever we eat in a Spanish restaurant, Honey and I can’t help it but we always have to order the paella. Too bad I forgot the name of the restaurant for I strongly recommend the food.
THURSDAY TO SUNDAY. Lucena… more stories about this in the following days.
SUNDAY. From Lucena, we went straight to Sixter’s house in Posadas for dinner where the Mendoza family had a reunion and where Honey and I requested for all our favorites again: tochong bangus, kohol sa gata (I don’t eat gata but Honey loved it, kohol is the Filipino version of escargot), stuffed roasted chicken, ham, and of course, different cakes and my favorite favorite mangoes for dessert.
MONDAY. Back in Heritage Hotel. This time, I’m the one with the seminar and our breakfasts and lunches are boringly provided for by our hosts (hehe… what an ingrate!) For dinner though, we met again with the girls (I so love the girls!) at Bizu where I ordered this gigantic vegetable sandwich in foccacia bread. It was the height of ka-plastikan for me. After eating all that bad food, I try to fit in a humongous pile of vegetables in my mouth. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful. It made me sick. I think healthy food is bad for my health.
TUESDAY. Spent all day at the seminar again. But for dinner, Honey and I went to our favorite tambayan… Greenbelt where we happily searched for a place to eat. When we got off the escalator, these people gave us coupons to Big Buddha… P150 off the total amount of our check. We’ve eaten there in the past and we went back and ordered lemon chicken, yang chow fried rice, dimsum, pork ribs… all the bad bad Chinese transfats at one go.
WEDNESDAY. By this time, all the dust and pollution and heat were getting to me and I thought that my body was going to give. But I had more eating and socializing events to go to so I couldn’t rest yet. We checked out of the hotel, drove all the way from Pasay to Quezon City, dropped off our bags in Kamuning, and headed to The Block in SM North where Honey ate a burger steak in Roaster’s while I had wonton soup at the Banana Leaf. Yup! This is the EB day. The other bloggers may have thought that I was a light eater… nope! I was just really sick at that time. But don’t worry. My body was sick, but my mouth was healthy and I still had energy for chitchat.
For dinner, I met up with my Sacred Heart Parish choirmates at the CPK in Tomas Morato. OMG! Tomas Morato really shocked me. So many restaurants that I’ve never even heard of. In the past, the only places there were Alfredo’s, Luigi’s, Racks, and Dulcinea. For coffee, we went to Wheatberry right beside the original Max’s Restaurant.
THURSDAY. Aaaaaah! Finally, what I’ve been waiting for… the homecooked breakfast of my youth in our house in Kamuning. My yayas made me scrambled eggs and daing na bangus for breakfast with carabao mangoes again. I try to eat as much mangoes as I could while in the Philippines. The nice thing about living in Kamuning is that when I’m hungry, the food comes to me as if by magic. After eating, the dirty plates disappear, as if by magic again. In Phnom Penh, when I’m hungry, I have to set the table, help prepare the food (Honey cooks of course). After eating, I have to clear the table and wash the dishes. Haaaay… I get tired just thinking of it. I wish I could bring my Yaya Flory and Yaya Linda to Phnom Penh with me.
My parents accompanied us to our errands in Pasay that day so we had lunch at the foodcourt in the Mall of Asia again (we’re so kuripot talaga!). But what can we do? The food there makes us happy. We also had a sausage sandwich for merienda at the French Baker. We went back home to Kamuning for dinner and enjoyed more hearty homecooked food of linagang baka and fried bangus and more mangoes.
FRIDAY. What’s a trip to Manila without watching a movie? (There are no movie houses in Phnom Penh which show Hollywood films). But what good is a movie if there is no food that could go along with it? I remember when we were dating and we’d watch movies, other people would bring popcorn and chips, while Honey and I we’d bring Mongolian Grill. Oooh… we’d open up our piping hot plastic boxes and the smell of oyster sauce would permeate throughout the theater. My bad! 
This time, we weren’t so evil. But we did go back to the Glorietta Food court where we shared many a meal when we were still dating and went back to one of our favorites… Cucina! We ordered spanish rice with grilled chicken. You must notice now that I love different kinds of rice.
For dinner that night, we went to Serendra (love the place) with Honey’s cousins and they treated us to Brazilian. Barbeque galore! You turn your yoyo green and different kinds of barbeque keep coming to your table… spare ribs, pork belly, sausages, cuttlefish, tenderloin… mixed with a buffet of rice, corn, coleslaw… food was literally dripping from my ears.
Well, that’s about it. We went back to Phnom Penh on Saturday where I vowed never ever to eat again in my whole life. Mwahahahahaha!
THE END.
Burp!
- KFC in Phnom Penh
- Sharing My Life Through My Blog and Ca Kho Me
- Filipino Food in Cambodia
- Of Being Home Alone Again and the Farewell French Birthday Dinner
- Sugar Palm
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ay first honor! di ko pa nabasa actually hehe
goodness…Holy Week is coming and gluttony is one of the deadly sins hahahaha
Anyway wow! I swear you gained…alright just a teeny weeny itsy bitsy additonal pound (hehehe) Toe from the time we chatted with your webcam to the time I saw you in The Block. But surely you’re gonna lose it all now that you’re back in Cambodia.
BTW so Honey was present that day? hmmmmp
All THAT, and you never had ChowKing’s famous Halo-halo??? Sacrilegeous! Que Barabaridad! LOL
Know what? You must have one fast metabolism because even with all that eating binge, you didn’t gain weight. At least I think you didn’t…
Haha, kami rin, we couldn’t help gorging ourselves on food whenever we go home. Much to my chagrin, I always – and I mean ALWAYS – gain weight after just one or two weeks of vacation in the Philippines.
And don’t you just love it that there’s always someone to serve you food and clean up after your mess? Hayy, the perks of living in Pinas…
I can’t blame you, I’m just as bad…
sabi nga… eat, eat all you can, for tomorrow we fast…
life is too short to enjoy all those scrummy foods
I mean life is too short NOT to enjoy all those scrummy foods…
Oh you had an eating binge here — just as you planned di ba. Actually just read about the kfc, starbucks and bananaleaf portions.
I knew by that time of our lunchdate, you’d be nearing satiation.
Teke balikan ko yung foodtrip mo in a few … bloggers need to eat pa din di ba. di pa ako dinner eh. hehehe
Jose Rizal a ladies’ man? Hmmm….I wonder what kind of pickup lines he used. hehe. And I’m guessing he only dated spanish mestizas.
Anyway, that’s a lot of restaurants you went to. they all sound interesting, especially the not-so-famous ones. my last trip, i ate out mainly at ermita. Some of the highlights were zamboanga restaurant, jerusalem restaurant and kamayan. they were all fantastic.
It’s a testament to how much I love food that I read every word and salivated with every description. Gutom na ako!
Sounds like my kind of vacation! So did you gain any weight?
Gosh I got hungry just reading about all the food!
kakainggit naman…i miss the mangoes. now, now, dont forget to do your sit-ups.
Verns, maybe more than a teensy-weensy. I’m paying for my sins now… am on a diet. Ayan ang penitensya ko for Holy Week. Boohoohoo!
Yup! Honey he was there. In fact, he stayed even after I left for the doctor. 
Snglguy, que horor talaga!!!
I will make up for the sin of the halo-halo… promise! 
Hey… I like the last thing you said… that deserves a prize. 
Kathy, I guess another Filipino trait… our family and friends back home always make sure we’re well fed. And the food is soooo masarap!
Yes, I love those perks… my yayas are like angels. 
Pining, definitely, life is too short. And we Filipinos, we sure know how to enjoy food.
Annamanila, you are quite right… by that time, I’ve been eating for more than a week straight!
But yes… bloggers have to eat! 
Wil, Rizal’s pick-up lines? Don’t know… mi patria adorada?
Yup… he had a girl in every port. 
Oh golly… I missed the Ermita and Malate area… we used to go there all the time… near our office.
Pinayhekmi, I think that we will really get along.
You know Honey and I love food so much that when people watch us eating and as we swoon, they say that we could star in commercials of that particular food or restaurant. 
JMom… of course I gained weight.
I am now paying for my sins. 
But it was definitely all worth it. 
Leah, oh dear, I have to borrow that exercise ball of yours.
All that eating did wreak havoc on my bilbil. 
so madami pala akong ulam na di pa natitikman hmmmm. teka pahidan ko muna yun keyboard ko at nabasa yata ng laway
clip ko tong storya na ito, para meron akong point of reference next time kong nasa Manila.
feeling aping api ako kasi KFC lang ang alam ko dun sa mga nabanggit mong pagkain
Hi Toe! Exactly opposite ang post natin ngayon…hehehe.
Kahit dito hindi kilala ang gravy, bakit kaya?
kakagutom naman tong post na to. at Holy Week pala ngayon! hehehe.
hmm, was that Masas in Greenbelt 2?
i’ll wait for the Lucena post, i am from Quezon btw. (and have you tried Kamayan sa Palaisdaan in Tayabas?
Loved the monday and tuesday meals..srrrppp I am so jealous, you have eaten sinangag, chicken longganiza, omelette, adobo, miso, sisig, Bicol express, hito, laing,sinigang na bangus,halo-halo, and my favorite big sweet carabao mangoes wwaahhhhh ! I’ve been longing and craving for that mangga! But wait didn’t your feet and your craving for food headed you to JOLIBBEE ??? Everytime, ako solid Jollibee with lots & lots of gravy heheheehe !
manila trip was a real food trip! gosh! how many pounds did you bring back to phnom penh? but looking back, i guess, the trip and eating binge was all worth it. anyway, just a few weeks and you will be back to your old figure again. there were still a lot more that you missed, though…next trip perhaps.
by the way, did you bring mangoes to phnom penh? every time i come, i would always wrap green mangoes in newspapers, and keep them with my clothes in my luggage…and how my friends there would really really like having them!
Hmm..I think I just gained 10 lbs just reading this post. Bad. Anyway, you should’ve tried the KFC Orange Chicken, that’s my fave sa KFC. Okey, sige, tama na…dapat fasting na, diba Lent na? Hehe.
Nagutom ako! Ang sarap tuloy kumain..hay holy week pa naman sa Easter na lang ako mag bibinge!
Mon, you’re from Texas right? I’m sure you have a lot of terrific beef steak and potato wedges there.
But really, I so do love going out to eat in Manila. Going there is bad for my waistline. 
Hehehe… cge, punasan mo na yung computer.. baka mag-short. 
Ann, gravy is half the fun in KFC? Bat kaya sa Pilipinas lang ‘yon? Yeah… I really ought to be excommunicated… talking about all that sinful food during Holy Week. Buddhist naman dito e… hehe… excuse.
Masas! You are absolutely right Zherwin!
Oh, I’m going to blog about the Palaisdaan… just love that. You’re Honey’s kababayan pala. 
Haze, I know… I feel so bad I didn’t go to Jollibee for the Chicken joy. So much food, so little time.
Sexy Mom, funnily enough, I didn’t gain that much weight. Same thing when I went to the States, although I was eating as if there were no tomorrow. It must have been the all the walking we do all the time. Not that I’m skinny… I’m actually, naturally chubby.
I do have a next trip… but it’s going to be only for a few days. 
Rush nanaman, kainis! Hahaha… nagbabaon ng green mangoes. But their mangoes are good naman here diba? Parang mango-apple… but still doesn’t beat our carabao mangoes. 
Sounds like fun
When we went home for vacation in 2005, we spent a week at a condo near Greenbelt and 3 days at a hotel near Glorietta and just like what you did, we ate and ate and ate.. When I came back to Canada I thought of fasting for the entire week to detoxify myself 
One thing I noticed though – the servings are smaller back home… which was one hand quite good, esp the rice LOL
The rice that went with the Chicken Bacolod serving was small to the point of looking cute, which meant I could handle 2 orders without feeling guilty hehe..
naku mam Toe pwede tayong magsama pati na rin yung bos ko magkakasundo pala tayo pag dating sa kainan lol!!
at talagang walang kamatayang KFC pala yan ha
naalala ko nung last anniv nyo ni hubby mo KFC din diba? 
Toe,
You just gave me an idea! Oo nga, that would work. When I go to Quito this May, that is how I will remember the days, kung ano ang kinain ko!
LIW
Gypsy, yeah… Honey tried that and he loved it. I didn’t want to order it because I needed all the space in my tummy for the original fried chicken… hehe!
You will lose all the 10 lbs. you gained reading the post by reading other people’s blogs about fasting… hehe! 
But seriously, oo nga… tama na muna pagkain… it’s Holy Thursday.
Hazel, yeah… fasting muna tayo… kahit man lang sa pag-iisip ng pagkain.
Advanced Happy Easter. 
BW, that’s true. The servings in Asia aren’t as big as in North America. When I was in the States, just looking at the size of the servings made me sick and I couldn’t really eat much. In Manila, parang you could eat more stuff. But grabe yung choices of food in Glorietta and Greenbelt no? There’s restaurants for all budgets and tastes!
Cool… did you check-in at the Shangri-la Makati?
Melai, at ang sarap kumain sa Singapore diba? Kahit sa hawker’s market tayo magpakabusog… type ko ‘yon sobra.
Bait talaga ng boss mo. Iiiwan mo ba siya pag punta mong Canada or isasama ka nya sa Canada? 
KFC forever! 
LIW, I’m sure you’re culinary experiences in Quito would be amazing… all we know about South American food is tacos and burritos.
Hey, take care during your trip and have loads and lods of fun!
There are times I go on KFC binge … hehehe!
over indulgence is a sin he he
KFC rocks Eric!
Panahon na po ako ng penitensya Bingskee.
yung boss ko mam Toe e sa Australia balak pumunta, actually naiingit sya sa kin kasi naunahan ko pa daw syang magka visa outside Asia e lol!, sayang mam Toe, di na tayo magkakaroon ng time na iexplore ang pagkaing Singapore.
Melai, malay mo sa 2010, sa Canada naman kami.
Anyway, I’m really happy for you and I wish you all the best when you go to Canada!
Nakakagutom naman tong food trip mo Toe. Enjoy basahin.
Aside from KFC, I don’t recognize the other places you’ve mentioned. I haven’t been back home for a long time. Either that or I think I didn’t use to eat out a lot. 
Naglalaway ako at your every mention of manggang kalabaw.
Niceheart, sobrang daming makakainan in the Pinas… for all budgets. Naku, if you go home, you probably won’t stop eating. Don’t you just miss the manggang kalabaw?
hi Toe, I am bloghopping on my day off. Kauuwi ko rin lang but didn’t stay very long in Manila. We were pampered, too, by my relatives. Though, I tried to control my food intake, I still gained some weight and it takes forever to lose it. Oh well!
Hi Belle! I think that’s how relatives show their love for us… by giving us lots and lots of good food!