Take Me To KL -- Empire Hotel

The hotel where you stay can actually define what kind of trip you had in the country you've been to... In my case, pretty much obvious that's it's for business … This exclusive boutique hotel offers experience of modern lifestyle, prestige and luxury in a way.

Located at the business district of Subang Jaya, Empire Hotel offers convenience as situated on the side is a mall that has quite number of stores where you can shop and have a truly Asia shopping experience. Apart from luxurious room, the hotel takes pride in giving every guest a good hospitality and modernized facilities.

Each guest is also entitled for a breakfast buffet, which I will share in my succeeding post. Warmth and whimsical lights surrounds the lobby and the guest room is relaxing just like other hotels.Despite the availability of shopping mall across the hotel, I still find it inconvenient as there are no public transportation available in that place except for taxi.

Let me take you to a virtual tour in Empire Hotel…

We had the Premier Essential which is a standard living quarter with 2 single King size beds good enough for me and my work colleague. Its floor to ceiling size of window gives a perfect view of Subang. Wifi is also available and a 32” LCD TV. There are free TV network available but you may opt to pay if you want to want exclusive movies. I also noticed that their housekeeping do the initiative of cleaning the room each and every day, and rest assured that your valuables are safe.

My Empire Hotel experience.

Budget - P4,000+ / Room / Night

Convenience: LLLJJ

Ambience: JJJJL 

Service: JLLLL

Value for Money: JJJLL

Take Me To KL

I've never been so excited when I heard that I need to go to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia for some business trip and personal tour on the side. It gets  even more exciting when I learned that some parts of my itinerary includes foodie adventure...

Malaysia Truly Asia. Yes! we can say that they truly embody the diverse culture of the continent. They have a mixture of races from different region making their culture very beautiful.

Here's a summary of my recent trip to Malaysia... which I'm planning to share the details on my following posts.
Stay/ Work-action.  Empire Hotel. The hotel where we stayed.

Side Trip. A tour at the night market and Chinatown.

Taste. The food we have tried and how in ways it's the same or different from ours.

Shops. A little spending on the side.

Culture. Mix of what makes them "Truly Asia"

Must-visits. Of course, I don't want to miss this for the world...

This trip is a bit tiring but it's worth doing specially so that it's another check on my bucket-list as I take my road to 25 years old. Thank God for giving me such a beautiful experience.

Mark My Name.

Silantro Fil Mex Cantina

This is the most loved Filipino-Mexican canteen at the heart of Kapitolyo, Pasig.
Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina has been making so much noise at the streets of this food hub and on social media. I've been visiting this place for quite some times and I just had  the guts to actually share my experience and what I have tried. (been so lazy:))

Their menu offers very basic dishes from appetizers, to main course, to DIY nachos/ tacos and drinks. Drinks that made us come back for several times hahaha.

Here are the food we usually order when we go here.

Beef Quesadilla. Pita with over flowing with beef and cheese filling topped with fries and some chopped cilantro leaves. The beef really is tender and blends well with the not so salty cheese.

Luca Tacos. Option of hard and soft tacos. You can also choose from one to three types of meat. Oxtail is my favorite. Ligero (1 meat) is P65.00. Medio (2 meat) is P80.00 and Completo (3 meat) is at P100. Still a lot of savings if you only choose 1 meat but of course we want to try the best seller:)

I find the soft taco easier to eat as you can use fork and knife. But since if really generous in lettuce garnish, still it's kinda' messy to eat.

Same thing goes with the hard tacos.

I also noticed that most of their dishes,  though its single order, the serving actually is good for 2.

Papi's Frita is potato fried with again generous toppings of cheese, tomato, mayo and cilantro. I think it also has a lime drizzled on it cause it's has a bit of citrus taste.

This is my favorite. Mojito. hahaha it's normally is the reason we always go back here... (before!) They offer unlimited Mojito for only P199.00 hahaha be careful though cause the blend is deadly.

Not sure if they still offer that unli-mojito promo.

This hole in the wall restaurant is really a must-visit when you want to explore Kapitolyo food hub. Be ready though, as mostly they have a long waiting list for customers so you might want to go there earlier. They have a very few seats to accommodate the demand. But don't worry, I think they are expanding soon at UP Towncenter which is a good news to all the foodies out there or even to those you just want to hang out with friends and have a good chit chats. Oh btw, they also have branch in Dagupan. :)

Budget - P100 to P250.

Here's my ratings for the Silantro Fil-Mex Cantina.

Taste: JJJJJ

Ambience: JJLLL 

Service: JLLLL

Value for Money: JJJJL

Silantro
Tel No. 02 6549657
Address: 75 East Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig City.

Mark My Name.

Tama Yaki : Takoyaki Choices

It all started when Tokyo Bubble Tea's takoyaki was introduced to me. I immediately fell in love with their version of this Japanese food, so I search out for some restaurants that offers it. First on the list is this cute, bubbly, animated milk tea shop in SM North EDSA name Tama Yaki..

The ambiance is so cute but the music being played in the store (during my visit) doesn't compliment the over all feel.

Their offerings is very basic Tea, Milk Tea, Juices and lots of takoyaki variants.

BTW, they also offer Ramen, but I don't like try theirs cause I don't see any kitchen for preparations so I doubt If its fresh..

Moving forward to the main offering "Takoyaki"

Background. Takoyaki, is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made with wheat-flour batter and diced octopus, shredded greens and topped with bonito flakes and a special sauce.*In this restaurant's case they have several diced filling to choose from apart from octopus.

They have by far the most number of Takoyaki variants I have ever seen in the Philippines.

I have tried Seasoned Octopus, Squid Satay, Grilled Steak and Ham and Mozerella, which are also being recommended by their food attendants. I was able to try all those variants because their on promo during my visit. I just hope they'll do it again :)

Apologies If all photo looks the same, because technically their all the same in terms of look but the filling and some of the toppings are different per variant. The Grilled Steak is my favorite.. marinated beef 

My verdict about Tama Yaki's takoyaki.

• Size is a bit big, so you might want to take at least 2-3 bite per ball. Be careful though, the filling might pop out. Normally you want to eat the filling with the batter.
• Generous on dressing and garnish. I just wish they come up with totally different garnish per variant. So it look better in photo :) (just kidding!)
• Softness is just okay, a bit soft so you wouldn't feel like eating a piece of cake or doughnut.
• There are plenty of variants to choose from. At least you have reasons to go back.
• You can tell that the price is reasonable compared to those being sold at kiosk (not all kiosk, of course).

Budget - P100 to P250.

Here's my ratings for the Tama Yaki as a restaurant.

Taste: JJJJL

Ambience: JJJJL 

Service: JLLLL

Value for Money: JJJLL

Tama Yaki branches located at SM North EDSA, Fishermall Quezon Avenue, Landmark, Makati and SM Fairview. 

For information, visit the 

Tamayaki Facebook page at facebook.com/tamayaki PH 

Instagram @TamayakiPH.

Mark My Name.

Christian at the Midst of INC Crisis

I can't help it but to share my thoughts in this on going crisis with our brothers from Iglesia Ni Cristo. Honestly I have no idea what are they fighting for during their recently held assembly at the streets of Manila and EDSA. I didn't bother myself doing research about it because I wasn't really affected by the heavy traffic that many commuters experienced last weekend. But it bothers me a lot seeing all this fights over social media and it hurts to read all this bashing and bad mouthing aginst the INC as a religious sector.

Background.

I grew up in a family where my mama and papa came from different religion. My mother is a Roman Catholic and on my father side are devoted Iglesia Ni Cristo members.
But they got married in Catholic church, making me part of this magnificent Holy church.

Growing up, I heard so many things about INC and how their doctine creates the idea of exclusivity, be it on church, tights, block voting, creating assembly, and even in the topic salvation. Despite all of this, I have family and friends who are member of INC and I'm making sure not to mix up our beliefs with our relationship as RESPECT.

I have no intention of fighting with their preaching on this post but I have things to raise to my fellow Christians.

Respect, not only during this time that INC in crisis with all the issues their into (which I don't have any idea), but bashing them too much on the internet is a sign of NO respect. Its not a right Christian act and it doesn't gives us a guarantee of spot in heaven.
Same thing goes to the INC members who put on activities that causes too many troubles on regular flow of day to day. I was always affected by such when I still use to work at Ortigas. All those Pasasalamat, Anniversary, Medical missions , etc. that happened in the past years with no alternative routes and commute options.

Comparing one thing from another is healthy as long as you weigh both sides. But when your doing it with favoritsm, without the right judgement and without thinking of the benefit of the majority, thats the beginning of evil.
To those who posted comparison of Pope Francis‬' visit against INC rally, those are two different things. Pope the highest priest came here to show compassion and love to the Filipino people who were affected by the typhoon Yolanda. As we show LOVE to Him we wholeheartedly welcome him in our country. Note that he didn't even want to have grand entrance when he came and most religious sectors were excited about his visit. Again, learn to balance your comparison.

Lay down your sword and lift up praises.
Crisis is always a test of faith. Shouting on streets can open up the eyes of people but prayers would always bring you His blessed judgement. We all have the rights to exercise our rights and freedom but if it will cause trouble to many, we might want to re-think of how we use those rights.

So many other points to raise, but I think that's it for now. I just wish we all learn from this crisis and let's pray that our brothers from INC would actually achieve what they are fighting for if it would benefit the majority and would make this country and world a better place.

Mark My Name.



Photo from Inquirer.net

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