Barbara's Restaurant

After hours of walking inside the National Museum and Luneta, we finally decided to sit down and have a snack.

Surprisingly, there's a small and cozy Spanish restaurant in the middle of a beautiful garden. Barbara's restaurant is situated inside the Orchidarium. Its homey spanish interior blends well with the relaxing view of the flowers, trees, waterfall and pond.

For snacks Ed ordered Sotanghon with mango shake and I ordered the combo of grilled ensaymada and spanish chocolate. The chocolate was nutty and tasted like choc nut. It's good but I didn't get to finish it since its nutty flavor was too rich for me. Try dipping your ensaymada in the spanish chocolate to eat the Filipino way. Pretty good! :-)

All in all our bill was about P355. Not bad for a snack for two in a nice place like that. Their entrees though are a bit pricey ranging from P250 to P450 per dish.

This place is often a venue for wedding receptions because of its romantic setting. Their branch in Intramuros is equally as beautiful with its brick walls and intimate interior. They have wedding packages as I saw in their brochures.
A different place to visit and to try out while in Manila. :-)

Location: Orosa St. cor. Finance Drive inside Luneta Park
Tel. no.: +632 5229647

Khas Restaurant, Quezon City

Inside the campus of UP Diliman are several restaurants and eateries that the students and faculty enjoy. When I was working with some of the people in UP, they brought me to this small meditteranean restaurant. The flooring of the place is cement, the tables and chairs are made of plastic and there is no airconditiong in sight but I remembered how good the food was.

So, in our journey to Quezon City (It's not often that we drive to this area), we went around UP to look for this place. We were literally asking every student on the road for directions to get to the restaurant. The reactions that we get from each person we ask was hilarious. Two of them were just snickering at each other... knowing the place but not knowing how to give directions at all.

Anyhow, after about 20 minutes of going around the campus, we finally saw it. The flooring has been tiled and the chairs and tables are now wood with steel but the food is still as I remembered it.

What really struck me with this place is the variety of food that they offer at very reasonable prices. They offer vegetarian meals (either pure vegetables or with veggie meat), poultry and beef. I'm not sure if they offer pork. I didn't notice it from their menu or I might have just missed it.

Every day, they also have a dish called "Its not what you think". This is a surprise dish that changes daily or whenever the cook feels like it. You can order it with meat or vegetarian style. Interesting! :-)

Also, since its in front of the International Center, there are a number of foreign students or teachers who frequent the place. The owners, as we were told by Remy, our server, is a couple... Filipina married to a Pakistani. They started the place in the 80's and has continued serving the students, teachers and food afficionados like us.

Ed, since he's really hugry from the going around the campus, ordered a vegetable rice (P75) and Spanish omelette with chapati (P85). The lasi that he ordered is much better tasting than the lasi we ordered in Queens Restaurant. Even I liked it and I'm not a fan of lasis. I ordered a chicken biryani with basmati rice (P135). The sauce was really tasty and goes well with my wheat bread. Too bad I could not eat a lot of the basmati rice. The basmati rice was really good. I could not resist a spoon of rice so I gave in. Hay! :-)

One thing to note though, their soup is not very tasty. You might want to put a little bit of soy sauce or salt to make it tastier. It's like a bland broth with vegetables.

All in all, the experience of driving there asking for directions and finally having a good meal was a lot of fun. The price is very reasonable. The servers are courteous, friendly and very attentive. The food is yummy and worth going back to. Surprisingly, even if there's no air conditioning at a warm October morning, their ventilaion is really good since I didn't hear Ed complain that it was hot. hehehe!

If you want an adventure, try this place out. It might be worth the trip inside the campus, if you've never been there or a trip back if you haven't visited your alma mater in a long time.

Average cost per person: Around P100 to P150
Location: Inside the swimming pool compound, in front of the International center - Magsaysay St. (Not sure about the street though)

Directions: From Katipunan, make a left towards M. Guerero and then right on Magsaysay. It will be on your right side inside the Swimming pool complex. (I'm not very certain about this though. It might be better to ask the students in the area and get a kick out of their reactions. hehehe!).

A Day in the National Museum

Holiday Friday with nothing much to do, Ed and I headed to Manila for the National Museum. In all of my travels, I have always been fascinated by the different cities that I have visited. My home city, Manila, has been a place I always pass through as I go to one particular destination.

Today though is a different story. I wanted to see the Spolarium of Juan Luna but ended up realizing that the whole city of Manila was strategically built (or at least they planned to) to house the important structures essential to the administration of the city and the country. It also has it's different areas of interest to boost the Philippine culture. It's sad though that this has not come to full fruition and parts of what have been completed is not well-maintained.

So, we headed to the National Museum. They have two buildings, the old Congress building which re-opened last July holds the Spolarium of Juan Luna and numerous paintings of Felix Resurrecion Hidalgo. The newer building plays host to various collection of artifacts from sunken San Diego ship to the different porcelains and vases of the Chinese era. There are also a number of collections from the numerous tribes in our country.

In my very limited exposure to the arts, I feel that they could add more collections in this building. There are 5 stories in this building and very well ventilated with cold air conditioning for each room. Since each room is named after big Philippine companies, I assume that they have been funding the maintenance of this building. Big thanks to Meralco, Ayala and the other companies that I have forgotten the names.

Just a quick observation though... since it was just Ed and myself going around the building (this is in the new building) it felt eerie. It started on the second floor hall. Ed really liked that hall area with its marble structures and its stained glasses so we were reading the history of the city and all that when I started getting nervous which is weird since I was the one who wanted to go to the museum. But the pounding of my heart went on as we moved to the each gallery. It began beating faster when we entered the San Diego hall. Ed felt it too but he chose to ignore it. I couldn't for the life of me. When it came to the Archeology hall (I've forgotten the name -the area where they show the burial rites and ways in the olden days), I couldn't make myself go in. I let Ed go inside and I waited for him outside. When he went out he said that it was eerie inside.

The tour of the Congress building though was amazing. I loved the different paintings of Luna and Hidalgo.

Take a stroll to the Teodoro Valencia Circle with the big monument of a Rajah. I think its Rajah Sulayman but I'm not sure. After all these, go inside the Orchidarium and have a grilled ensaymada and spanish chocolate in Barbara's. This is ony P110.

Ed and I know that we have so much more to explore in Manila. We haven't even began to touch the surface but it excites me that now, I can actually tell my foreign friends that there are interesting places to visit in Manila and not just the beaches outside nor the malls in the city.

Entrance fee: P100/ adult (New building)

P75/ adult (Congress building)

If you go to both buildings on the same day you get in for P150/ person

Location: Finance Rd. Manila.

Directions: From Makati, take Roxas Blvd. Make a rt on P. Burgos then another slight turn to Finance Rd. You'll see Barbara's Restaurant on your right. The two buildings are right beside each other.

For more photos, click here.

Washington Sycip Park, Makati

In the middle of the bustling CBD of Makati is a little oasis on Legaspi Village. Not far from Greenbelt 1, a small garden has been built to act as a little haven and area for relaxation.

This morning, being a holiday, I decided to take my camera and shoot some photos of this park. The sun was out, there were not a lot of cars on the road and there were a few people enjoying a relaxing morning at the park.


Each entrance of the park was well planned with it's jars, rocks, and plants planted all around the doors. There are three entrances to this park. You can enter through Rada St, Gamboa St or Legaspi St. Each will lead you to a small pond with fishes and DUCKS! Yes, people! There are ducks in the middle of Makati. I was lucky to chance upon them walking from the garden to the pond.

It was great to see kids with their parents enjoying the park and feeding the fishes.



There are also benches underneath the trees and gazebos which some people use for studying, reading a book or just passing time.



There are security guards who man the place to make sure that everything is in order. The grounds are surprisingly clean. Thanks to the administrators of this park. I really hope that they maintain this little oasis for us who needs to get away from the madness of the city life. It's no Central Park but an area to sit down and read a book with green surroundings is always welcome.

For more photos on this park, click here.

Brian and Audrey's Wedding

Weddings are fun celebrations especially if you know that the couple getting married are happy to be together and sincerely in love.

Ed and I attended a very beautiful wedding last Saturday. It was the wedding of our friends Brian and Audrey. The ceremony was done at the Paco church while the reception was in Le Souffle at the Fort.

The wedding was one of those fun weddings and everyone enjoyed the great food and drinks that night.

I know that preparing for a wedding, even though you are just a guest, is difficult. You need to look for a gown, shoes, accessories, make-up artist and hair stylist. I think this is the first time that I actually enjoyed prepping up for a wedding.

My gown that night was beautiful. Designer Jan Garcia created this beautiful gown for me. The cloth is a saree that I bought from India but the assymetrical mermaid style with a greecian flare is all Jan's idea. The german guests loved it and everyone in the room complimented me on my dress. Good work Jan!

Patty also introduced me to Rudy and Angel who did my hair and make up. My make up was subtle which suit my dress. Rudy's expertise is eyebrows so my eyes really looked elegant that night. Also, my hair was in a nice french twist that highligted my face.

Ed said I looked beautiful that night so that just made all my gown fitting efforts, going around for shoes and accessories all worth it.

My very good looking boyfriend wore a suit and looked very regal. He enjoyed being a photographer that night. Snapping shots at everything that was happening in the room.

I enjoyed hosting the event as well. With a fun-loving couple like Audrey and Brian, making the reception a PARTY is not difficult at all.

Best wishes to the newlyweds: Mr. and Mrs. Brian Jacob Quinn! :-)

If you want to get in touch with Mr. Jan Garcia, you can go to his shop at 2925 Alger St. Poblacion, Makati City. Near Rockwell and Soms. His mobile number is 09193373131. For hair and make up, contact Rudy L. Adriatico at 09196915841 (Please reserve in advance since they have a lot of bookings for TVCs and TV shows). They do home service.