I don’t really know how to write this post but I just have to say last week was one of the most memorable weeks of my life as I spent my last day at the firm “partying” with my officemates and spending the rest of the week in Baguio (our favorite place) to rest, mostly eat, in celebration of my unemployment haha.
Here’s my Weekly Monotony!
✱ Last daaaayyy
August 23, 2022! Booked the lifestyle room and enjoyed the whole night just eating, singing, and occassionally attending to issues hahaha last day na nga eh may humahabol pa. I have the sweetest teammates, they really took note of my favorite foods and endeavored to have them available for our small salu-salo! I had planned to order Frankie’s for everyone but the weather was so bad that day and most of the stores closed early. Even BPI closed early and I was supposed to run an errand with them argh. In the end I got wings from Buffalo Wild Wings haha sarap naman!
Anyway. Sobrang natouch ako. My friends got me cheesecake, Mama Lou’s pizza, Amber’s spaghetti and palabok, and mooore! Huhu sobrang daming food. Red and Henry gifted me a new phone case too huhu! And Camille got me SAMOSAS kami lang mahilig sa Indian food HAHAHA it was so good I hope more people would appreciate Indian food it’s THE BEST!!!
White & Case will always have a special place in my heart. It’s the first time I felt this comfortable in a company. Like I said, I could retire here. I really appreciate this day a lot, the effort it took for my friends to come in despite the stormy weather! The fooooood and the overall thoughfulness. I will never forget you guuuysss huhu. We’re not complete in this pic but you’re all in my heaaart hihi ♥
It was a delight having to experience our lifestyle room din! The Grand Videoke HD is the bomb! The sound system is perfect, we have mic stands, a big ass TV, there’s even a PS5 but we just really want to sing hahahaha I love it! ♥
But all things must come to an end. After surrendering my stuff napaisip ako kung tama ba tong desisyon ko hahaha oh well, too late! HAHAHA
✱ Baguiooooooo
We love Baguio so much we keep coming back. The last time we went there we stayed a week at an AirBnb and tried to live “locally” as in not like a tourist. We bought groceries, I cooked every day, and worked like usual. In the afternoon before my shift starts we go out and explore, one spot a day, then come home right before it rains. Okay we did touristy stuff din pala haha. But everything worked within our schedule so it was perfect.
✱ Giraffe Boutique Hotel
This time is different. We booked at a hotel and just planned to eat all day everyday lol. At least I did. Jeckie went to an MMA gym haha. We’ve been eyeing The Manor at CJH but it just never went within our budget haha maybe next time. We stayed at Giraffe Boutique Hotel through a friend’s reco and we loved it! I’ll give it an 8/10.
We got a Superior Room that’s 3.5k per night so not bad! It’s beautiful, spacious, I love the colors. Just look at this ♥
I specifically requested for a room with a lot of windows but I didn’t realize it meant getting the corner room that’s right beside the road and the outdoor garden. You know what that means. Noise! Our first night was terrible because it was very noisy outside, if it’s not the dogs barking, it’s cats literally fucking around. And very early in the morning as the restaurant kitchen bustles I could’ve cried at the painful sound of cutleries clanking and of people talking and going about. We also had a cockroach incident. Could’ve soundproofed the room better but I don’t really know what that entails.
Besides the noise, privacy was also an issue. I requested for windows because I wanted better lighting and ventilation but I didn’t realize we were facing a very busy part of the hotel and people kept walking past haha. In the end we had to keep the curtains down the entire time. So much for the view right.
But that’s just on the first night. The succeeding nights were better, it’s not always noisy and even when the curtains are drawn it’s always cold hehe. So yeah, despite the noise and privacy issues, overall we stll had a great stay. Will write in detail on a separate blog post. 🙂
✱ Mangiamo Ristorante Baguio
I think the best part of the hotel is their restaurant, Mangiamo. It means “let’s eat” in Italian ♥
If you are to stay in Baguio, you must try dining at Mangiamo. They serve delicious authentic Italian food that is so much worth every penny. Probably the best Italian we’ve tried. The chef is Italian too. I think we ate here two or three times. I recommend the following:
• Mangiamo pizza – so freaking good, has truffle and ham, best pizza ever!!!
• Tagliatelle w/ truffle cream sauce – if you love truffle, this is a must!!! It’s not on the menu but is usually on the board
• Mushroom soup – okay we love mushrooms. This is so legit, filled with wild mushrooms, not salty, not too creamy just pure mushroom soup goodness.
• Caesar salad – if you love a garlicky caesar dressing this is lovely
• Tiramisu – argh just typing it down makes me crave for it
• Apple pie ala mode – just the right serving! Perfect to cap off your meal
• Prosciutto crudo e melone (parma ham and melon) – my goodness this is delicious! We loved prosciutto wraped mango when we we first tried one in Bora, but wow I love this melon one more! ♥
Now that I’ve started with the restaurant roll call, next up!
✱ Visco’s
Everybody loves Visco’s strawberry shortcake but have you tried their restaurant offerings? It’s delicious!!! Especially their fried chicken. Reasonably priced too.
I got the original fried chicken and Jeckie got the honey mustard one. We both enjoyed it. The chicken actually reminds me of Ellen’s fried chicken in UPLB. And the gravy is buttery. Love it! ALSO, the ceasar salad on the side is delicious. Must try!
✱ Overtones Ito Sushi Bar & Japanese Restaurant
Aaahh Jeckie’s friend recommended this to us. Like Vizco’s, you can find this along Session Rd., between Sizzling Plate and Pizza Volante. There’s a small entrance there that’s easy to miss because it’s just a narrow entrance that leads to a flight of stairs. So don’t miss it!
I ordered Chirashidon,a favorite, and it’s delicious! There’s salmon, mackerel, octopus, UNI, tamago, crabsticks, etc., and lots of rice I couldn’t finish. Besides the uni I also loved the squid wrapped nori. Super delicious! Jeckie got the wagyu sirloin. The cut was pretty thin so for medium rare it quickly turned to well done. So maybe next time get it rare? Teriyaki sauce is delicious! My iced mocha too!
There weren’t a lot of people dining in so I’d say this one’s a bit underrated. It’s also a bit pricey for something along Session Rd. hehe
✱ Grumpy Joe
We though we’re being careful with our restaurant choices so we went with one that’s highly recommended by the internet. There was a line when we got there. We were 9th. We looked at the menu and everything looked promising…
… until my first order came. The corn chowder soup. It doesn’t look too bad but the mound of grated cheese on top made me wonder, they use this type of cheese? I mean for a restaurant of this level I was hoping they’d opt for something more refined. Did we just fall into the hype?
Uhh yeah. Cos everything that was served after was underwhelming. The ony thing overwhelming is the serving size.
• Corn chowder soup – it was okay for 85 pesos but the mound of quickmelt was a bad precedent of what’s to come
• Spicy buffalo wings – not spicy, not buffalo. Had we ordered barbecue glazed chicken wings we would’ve enjoyed this, but we didn’t so it turned out disappointing.
• Grumpy Joe special burger – oh this one will make you grumpy. So here’s a burger, with a thin and dry patty, a pineapple slice that’s thicker than said patty, ultra thin pickles, some cucumber slices, and caramelized onions siting right in the middle of the pineapple slice. There’s also lettuce and a slice of fake cheese. Sauce? Maybe, I couldn’t sense any. Did Joe make this when he’s mad? Cos it shows. It’s an abhorrent attempt at an aloha burger. Jollibee is laughing its ass out. The fries on the side however, tastes great!
• Greek salad was so so, I don’t get why this is marked a best seller
• Five cheese pizza – this was supposed to be a bestseller but the moment I tasted quickmelt cheesefood (apparently they use Eden) in there, I was defeated. I mean it tastes okay. But it’s not 5 cheese delicious. Eden cheese isn’t even real cheese. Yellowcab’s 4 Cheese is much better.
So much for the hype. I think this is okay for big families with kids in tow. Jeckie says it’s elevated school canteen food. Harsh but totally apt. I think kids would love the food here. But foodies? Beware.
✱ Oh My Gulay
Hmm. Located along Session Road at La Azotea Building, you have to climb 6 flights of stairs in order to get into the restaurant. It’s on the 5th floor but there’s another flight when you get to the restaurant entrance so yeah, siguradong gutom na gutom ka na pagdating mo sa taas haha. Obviously this is not for the physically challenged. The place is a visual feast. A museum slash nature sanctuary. It’s like a mini Tam-awan Village! They serve vegetarian food so I know not to expect too much.
We both got sisig. Which I regret. Jeckie seemed to love it. But to me it’s just tastes like scrambled eggs. The sliders were disappointing too. Patty too dry. Remind us to stick to originally vegetarian dishes next time like eggplant lasagna, vegetables samosas, salads, humus, etc, and not converted meat dishes because I swear, they never come out as good.
I ordered pumpkin soup but it took too long to come out so I just cancelled it. I also ordered mango crepe but they gave out peach crepe so I had it remade. They must’ve rushed my order because the crepe was still hot when they served it. Consequently the mangoes got warm so it’s not a good experience. They probably thought to compensate by drizzling extra chocolate syrup but heck they went overboard haha.
I’m not happy with this experience but I’m willing to try again, definitely with a different dish.
✱ Lemon & Olives Greek Taverna
Finally got to try this! I’ll tell you right now, this one’s worth the hype unlike Grumpy Joe haha.
We ordered special lamb chops for two which came with L&O Salad, Poikilia, and lemon pilaf rice. Ordered hummus, plain yogurt drinks, and I got me some Turkish coffee (which I realized isn’t my cup of tea lol).
Just looking at the photos already makes me wanna come back!
• L&O Salad – absolutely delicious. Everything was balanced. I loved the peaches. It reminded me of Go Salad’s Sweet Caroline except they use honey lemon vinagraitte instead of honey balsamic. It’s sweet and tangy and my goodness I could eat this all day.
• Lamb chops – lamb is an acquired taste. I had to eat a lot of lamb dishes to realize how delicious it it. And this one is great.
• Hummus – simple, savory, creamy, garlicky, tangy. It’s so balanced I love it.
• Poikilia – an appetizer plate. There’s pita bites, sausages, and cheese sticks. I love this spread. Everything tastes good, specially the cheeese!!!
Aaaand that’s it for my Baguio food diaries! I already wanna go back cos there’s still so much we wanna try! Despite Grumpy Joe haha, I think this is still one of my favorite vacations!
I’ll be starting with my new job on Thursday so wish me luck! ♥