Thursday, June 26, 2014

Langka Turon by the Carmelite Sisters

Langka Turon 
by the Carmelite Sisters

 Just as I thought  that I have already tasted 
the  best tasting Turon in the world made by
the Carmelite Sisters of Naga City, using 
orange peel marmalade as a secret flavoring-


…which I raved and blogged in the past.

Holy & Heavenly Miracle Turon; 
The Most Delicious Turon in the Philippines




 But my taste buds were boggled into an ambiguous
indecision, if- that orange flavored turon was really the 
most delicious version we have ever tasted when the
good nuns brought us a panner full of Langka Turon.


 Just like the Orange Turon, the Carmelite
version uses only a portion of the ripe banana. 
making the turon is smaller and easy to bite.


It is interspersed with bits and pieces of 
ripe Langka, so it is easier to chew as the
fruit fiber does not get stuck in your teeth.



 There is only one way to describe
the Carmelite Sisters’ Langka Turon-



 …heavenly.




 Tasting this rare treat is a miracle since
the turon is not available commercially,


…as they are prepared by the good nuns of 
the Carmelite Convent in Naga City while
being guided by the Divine Providence 
so it comes like a manna from heaven.


Indeed, God is Good and
has been very, very  gracious..


Read the link below for related post

Holy & Heavenly Miracle Turon; 
The Most Delicious Turon in the Philippines

Monday, June 23, 2014

Fish & Co: Seafood in a Pan

Fish & Co. 
Seafood in a Pan 
SM Mall of Asia

We seldom dine out whenever  we are in Manila.
We prefer dining in hotels where we are staying  since we 
never really wanted to venture out, as the city had one of
the most chaotic and and most convoluted traffic in the world.


But my wife was looking for a Soap Shop
called Lush, and they had a branch in 
SM Mall of Asia, so after the kids’ US visa
renewal appointment, we took a taxi to
one of the biggest malls in the Philippines.


It was past one o’clock in the afternoon
and we needed to have a late lunch and 
Fish & Co was the  very first restaurant  
that we saw after alighting from the taxi.



My young son who is a fish lover
was ecstatic when he learned that
we would be dining in Fish & Co.


 It was our first time in this
marine themed restaurant,



…and their fresh fruits juices and
ice cold diet sodas were welcome
treats for this very hot summer day.


We started our lunch with a delicious
the New England Clam Chowder. 
It was so creamy and delicious and
we have been craving for this kind of
chowder served in a sour bread bowl.


For our main meal we ordered their 
Ultimate Fish Mates, where the 
Best Fish and Chips in Town was
bundled with Grilled Chicken Thighs, 
lying in a bed of Sea food Rice,


 served with a side dish of 
Tacos and French Fries.


 It was a delicious and hearty
meal for four for only 995 pesos,


- and nothing could beat that.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Century Park Hotel: Affordable Well-appointed Comfort

Century Park Hotel Manila 
Affordable Well-appointed Comfort

 The kids were scheduled for interview 
for their US for visa renewal, and we 
a needed hotel in close proximity 
to the US Embassy in Manila.


 So we booked at the Century Park Hotel 
for three days and two nights stay.


 Century Park Hotel Manila used to be known as
 the Century Park Sheraton Hotel Manila and one 
of the Grand Old Dame Hotels in the city.


 It had a stunning and one of the most opulent 
lobbies among the hotels in Metro Manila,







 ...had a friendly front desk staff and we 
were able to check- in fast and easy,


 ...and we were in our room in a jiffy. 



 Stay 
One Bedroom Corner Suite

  Our room is right at the rear end corner of 
the building where the two corridors meet.





 The Century Park Suite is one of  the
 most spacious suite rooms  I have seen.



 It had a large living room area with a complete sala set and 
a huge comfortable sofa that  could double as an extra bed.



 It had huge flat screen LCD TV.


 It also had a dining room,
with buffet table on the side,




 …a small kitchen with minibar,



 …with a huge refrigerator.


 It also had its own toilet and washroom.


 The living room had panoramic windows that 
offer a stunning view of Roxas Boulevard,

 


 …and of the Manila Bay,


 The bedroom was very spacious,


 …and had a huge king size bed 
where the whole family could fit in. 
It had luxurious pillow top mattress 
lots of soft, fluffy pillows and duvet. 


 It also had a snugly, comfortable 
lounge chair by the bedside.


 …just like the living room, it also 
has  a 40” wide flat screen LCD TV,


 …a spacious walk- in closet,


 …and a very huge and 
luxurious bathroom,








 ...with rather limited supplies of toiletries.


 The bathroom had transparent glass 
wall, making the bedroom visible 
from the bathroom and vice versa.


 For privacy it could manually 
be closed by  blinds. 


 It also had a well equipped working desk, provided 
with all kinds  and all types of electrical outlets.


 And just like the living room, there 
was a panoramic window that offers 
a sweeping view of Roxas Boulevard, 
and the scenic Manila Bay.



 Connectivity is not a problem as it has 
 a free fast Wi Fi internet service,


 …and there were five land- line  phones, 
one in the living room working table,


 …two in the bedroom; one by the bedside,


 …and another on the working table,


…and one each
  on the two toilets.


 Stray

The hotel is located right 
in front of Harrison Plaza Mall,


 …so there is really a lot of places to visit and 
very close to so many dining destinations.


 We also chose this hotel as it 
is very close to the US Embassy,
 where the kids are scheduled for 
interview for their visa renewal.



 Play 

Century Park Hotel has a lovely resort
like leisure area called Palm Grove,



…with  two beautiful temperature controlled
swimming pools- an Olympic sized lap pool,



… and a gorgeous main leisure pool where me and the
kids had a great time swimming and bonding together..





There is also a beautiful heated Jacuzzi
that guests could relax and enjoy



It also had a well equipped gym which
I was not able to use due to our very
limited time that we stayed in the hotel.

Feast 
In Room Dining

Since the suite room had a nice
dining room, we decided to take
most of our meals inside our room.





Century Park’s in room dining had a wide
variety of local and international dishes.


The food is delicious
as it is affordable.




Café at the Park 

Café at the Park serves
all day buffet dinner.



But we only got to dine there
for the free breakfast buffet.
It had a decent spread of local
and international dishes.



It buffet is not a massive as compared to
other five star hotel buffets in the city, but
the food is good and the service is superb.




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Century Park Hotel Manila offers
one of the most spacious suites
that we have ever stayed in the past.



It is also very reasonably priced, had a complete living,
dining and kitchen areas, separate from the huge bedroom.



But the room was poorly designed, as there
were just plenty of unused spaces in the room.



The main entrance could have been turned
to a foyer but it was left as huge bare space
between the door and the living room.




The kitchen was so tiny and the over sized refrigerator  
was  squeezed into the small space when there is a lot 
 of  room where they could expand  the diminutive kitchen. 
They can even put the  dining area in the same room. 


The huge panoramic windows offer the best and the worst  of 
Manila Bay and Roxas Boulevard.The view could be depressing 
at daytime as the guests would wake of at thedismal sight 
of the thick early morning smog that envelopes the horizon.





The view gets better at noon time
when the smog clears up a little bit,





…and the priceless  view of the famous
and spectacular Manila Bay sunset takes
your breath away in the late afternoon .





At night, the Ferris Wheel lights coming
from  the nearby Star City theme park, 






…and even the play of lights from the
distant Mall of Asia are a sight to behold.




The Suite room costs a little over 6,000 pesos
per day so it’s still a great bargain for this
huge, spacious and comfortable suite room.