Erlin at school asked about a seafood place, Alma said :
ok that's good bc there are a couple around. i am thinking the one she went to was on macapagal boulevard? the general name for it is Dampa seafood market. one of the restaurants that does it at Macapagal boulevard is Claire dela Fuente.
I really loved the Pampango Food tour by Bryan Ocampo
Carlos Cendran in Intramuros was funny and fun!
Restaurant recommendation from John Lackey
Try these links, this should be it.
http://manilareviews.com/2009/11/romulo-cafe-filipino-comfort-food-in.html
http://www.ourawesomeplanet.com/awesome/2009/10/romulo-cafe.html
I've had the chicken relleno which is fantastic.
Pinoy nachos make a great starter.
Info from my sister Alma:
A couple ideas of what to do:
A lot of free time:
Intramuros (old manila). Heard tours by this guy were amazing:
http://celdrantours.blogspot.com/.
Eating tour through old Manila -
http://www.oldmanilawalks.com/bndo.htm,
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=177936595575196
Not a lot of free time:
Greenbelt, Makati
Bonifacio High Street, Global City
Both of these are pedestrian streets of shops/restaurants, a lot of Greek/Thai/Japanese modern restaurants. If you want to eat at a gourmet Filipino restaurant, try Abe on Bonifacio High Street. Mateo loved this place, especially the lamb adobo. Another popular Filipino restaurant chain is Gerry's Grill, they are at every major shopping center
Other things to eat:
Desserts at a Goldilocks or Red Ribbon bakery, both local Filipino places that are everywhere.
If you're here Saturday, this is an awesome and delicious market:
http://salcedocommunitymarket.com/
Info from Tom and Alma about domestic travel
Yes the rice terraces are really neat, but not the most convenient to get to. Actually "convenient to get to" doesn't really describe many places here unfortunately. I don't know about direct flights from Singapore, but probably Coron would require the least amount of travel after landing. My list goes something like: Bohol, Siquijor, Banaue, Tagaytay, Anilao, Pagudpud, Hundred Islands/Bolinao, Anvaya cove/Bataan. Most I haven't been to, but want to. They vary from far to really far ;)
Bohol sounds like a great choice :)
Our friends just went there (young couple with a kid, and they traveled with his parents) and I'm pasting her travel notes below. Happy planning!
Alma
Bohol. Flew Zest Airlines for little less than $100/person. Stayed at the
Peacock Garden 4 days/3 nights and were super pleased. Found a 40%-discount on
Deal Grocer. The hotel worked very well with the voucher. And I'd highly recommend it. It's owned by a German guy that has definitely put his German flare on the place--including european architecture and plenty of sausages at the restaurant. Very nice, clean rooms (no bugs, down comforters) and good food at the restaurant. It's not a beach-front resort, but has an infinity pool with an incredible view of the ocean. One thing to take into consideration staying here, is that it is off the beaten path and hard to get to other places without hiring your own driver or taking one from the hotel. All of those trips add up if you're wanting to eat at different places every night. But, as I said above, their food is good and we ended up eating there every night after coming home from our day's activities.
First day. Booked a tour of the sites on the island via a local guy with a van (Tata) recommended to us by Jeremy's co-worker. Saw the Chocolate Hills, tarsier monkeys, a historical church and butterfly sanctuary (there were a couple other sites included in the tour but didn't do--see large cobras and Bee Farm). Here's the number for Tata: 0910 270 7197
Second day. Rented a boat and went dolphin watching (actually saw dolphins!) and snorkeling (beautiful) at Balicasag island off the coast of Panglou Island (small island connected to Bohol), spent the afternoon on Alona Beach (beautiful white sand--no big waves--warm water) and had an excellent late lunch at
Isis Thai Restaurant. TaTa, the local guy, drove us around both days. He did a great job--went at our pace and took us wherever we wanted to go. I think we could've found cheaper, but he was reliable and honest and much cheaper than booking our activities through the resort. Happy to pass on his contact information if you'd like it.
A couple extra thoughts. I've heard there are nice places to stay on Alona Beach. The plus to this is you're beach-front and have other options for dinner and activities at night if you want to go out because you can walk to them. Next, the day we went out on the ocean, we overheard a guy trying to get us to rent a boat from him. The price he was saying was lower than we paid--just FYI. Pretty sure you can find some cheap rates from people on/around the beach, but not sure about quality or additional/hidden costs. I think we paid Tata 3500p for 4 people--which included transport to and from our hotel, the all-day boat rental and snorkeling gear (without fins). As I mentioned above, we went to Balicasag island after dolphin watching, and didn't have time for the Virgin island, but have heard it is lovely and wish we could've gone there too. Altogether, I think we hit most of the highlights of Bohol. The only things I wished we done is the Bee Farm and to have spent more time on the beach (Alona Beach)--where the water was calm and the sand is so soft :) Bohol rules though. We could have easily spent another day or two there just milling around/exploring the island.
Sarah's 2 trips to Bohol:
http://www.novakistan.com/a-weekend-at-the-bohol-bee-farm/
Manila for kids from Alma
Manila is not the best place for kiddie activities.
But some ideas:
In Manila area (where US embassy is):
-Museo Pambata- children's museum, very local :)
-Rizal park. At the end farthest from the US embassy there is a very local playground
-INtramuros- old manila- they say it's fun for kids to explore fort Santiago.
-Closer to Makati, is mall of Asia. There is an indoor playground there, and rides outside along the baywalk.
In the fort Bonifacio area:
-Fountains at the end of High Street where jamba juice is, where we met last time :)
-Active Fun (indoor playground)
-There's a big playground outside Market Market the mall, too.
-American CEmetary for some green grass and running around
Makati area:
-Ayala triangle, just for some grass to run around in
-Ayala museum- dioramas that depict filipino history
-On Saturday mornings, there's a fun market at Salcedo Village, near Ayala triangle. My kids like going there too :)
If you can get out of Manila:
-Fun Farm in Santa Rosa, 30 min outside manila. Great place for little kids to feed rabbits, guinea pigs, fish, ride horses and a carabao (water buffalo)
-Tagaytay. Views of the volcano. Recently discovered a spa where you can go for lunch and have the kids run around, there's a playground there, called nurture village.
If you want a manila tour guide recommendation- this guy did our corregidor tour and was amazing. He does customized tours of anywhere in or near manila. Carlos Celdran highly recommends him too :)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Armando Hildawa <aghildawa@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 7:27 PM
Subject: Fw: Manila city tour
To: "
almahiatt@gmail.com" <
almahiatt@gmail.com>
Private Manila City tour (3-4 hours)
>
>
> -Start from
> Hotel (commentary on board van/coaster)
> -visit American Memorial and Cemetery
> -visit Intramuros: Fort Santiago (p75
> each)
>
>
> San Agustin (p100 each)
>
>
>
> Handicrafts Store
>
>
> Baluarte San Diego (p75 each)
> -Rizal
> Park
> -back to Hotel
>
> my Guide's fee for
> the entire group is p4,000
> you will
> provide the van/coaster and pay minimal entrance fees.
>
> *optional: tips for
> guide and driver
>
> my
> mobile +639164940623
Whole Day Package:
P 5500
+ includes Chinatown & Chinese Cemetery & Lechon Avenue
