Parachute Café in Canggu, Bali

 

If there's one place in Bali where I'd stay to chill and wait for the sunset it'll be here at Parachute. The whole vibe of the café screams picturesque and cozy at the same time. The utilization of wood, its variation of grains, tint, and texture create the mood for beautiful mornings, easy afternoons, and sensual evenings. Add to that the sprawling seating choices, from al fresco to indoor nooks, it is absolutely pleasing to the eyes. 

It's one of those cafes that's located right beside a rice field, and the changing of the season transforms the background from a lush green to warm golden hues. If anything, its aesthetics in on point with being a rustic-chic restaurant. The focal center of the café is an actual parachute that drifts along with the breeze. Here you'll find people in intimate groups or alone with a laptop, relaxing in the ambience that the space has created. 

Mandayao Panorama Park at La Castellana

Marked as K73 L11, Mandayao Panorama Park is a fast-developing destination for bike riders and those on short weekend getaways. Located at Barangay Mansalanao in the municipality of La Castellana, it sits out at the highest point of Mandayao Legacy Park. With an elevation that is sandwiched between two spectacular views: the south-west face of Mt. Kanlaon at one side, then parts of the sloping plains of La Castellana, hill ranges of Central Negros, parts of Moises Padilla, the coast of Hinigaran and Binalbagan right down to the Strait of Guimaras on the other. On clear days you should spot the islands of Guimaras and Iloilo where you can witness spectacular sunsets. 

There you will find an array of affordable restaurants that serves a variety of dishes, from the classic Pinoy favorites like batchoy, silog, pancit, inihaw, crispy pata, kare-kare, and even boodle fight meals. If you want to try foreign-inspired dishes some restaurants also serve localized versions of Japanese maki, Taiwanese hot pots, American burgers, Italian pizzas, and gyros. Each restaurant has its own edge, be it from the food that they serve or the ambiance that they set. Almost all of the restaurants are managed and manned by their respective owners, thus making your experience a little better. The laid-back setting tends to match with their service as waiting time can get apparent once their places reach a certain capacity. There will be days when a couple of their menu items won't be available, especially on weekdays...but for the most part, people do tend to go there to unwind more than go on a gastronomical journey. Get a cup of native coffee or open a bottle of beer, then take your time to sip them while gazing at the unobstructed landscape. 

Foodtrip: Bali

Going to Bali was an on-and-off trip for me. For four consecutive years, Bali has been in my radar but always took the backseat when pit up against another country. To me, Bali is one of those places so easily accessible that I often end up choosing to fly to a different destination year after year. So was the case that when I finally booked a flight, it didn't occur to me that I was actually going until about a week before the trip. I barely did my research, not really sure where I wanted to go...but for one, I knew what I wanted to do, eat.

We had an evening flight, and so we arrived in Denpasar International Airport roughly almost midnight. The first conversation I had with my host was:

Host: Sisstah! So what you wanna do in Bali?
Me: I'm not sure, but I want to try local dishes—
Brother: She has a list of food on our itinerary!
Host: Really!? (Proceeds to laugh) Okay okay, tell me what you wanna eat
Me: (Got the itinerary that I made and skipped to the bottom part of the page where I wrote just a list of local dishes that I wanted to taste.) 
Ayam Bakar Taliwang (grilled chicken)     Gulai Otak (brain curry)

Pepes (herbal packet)                             Beef Rendang (rendang)

Soto Betawi (Jakarta soup)                     Babi Guling (lechon)

Nasi Ayam Campur                                 Mie Goreng (fried noodles)

Martabak Manis (sweet martabak)
Brother: (Asks our host) Can we have dinner before going to your house?
Host: Let's start with Nasi Ayam!

In the end, I wasn't able to cover all grounds, but it was a good start.

The cover page on top is what I ate in Parachute Cafe in Canggu. The place was beautiful with a real parachute as canopy to those who wish to dine al fresco.

Walking Around Yongkang Street, Taipei

Yongkang Street has a special place in my adventure's list as this is the first place I explored on my solo trip around Taipei. I stayed in the area for three days, getting a chance to go walk around at a leisurely pace for hours. The easiest way to get to Yongkang Street is by train. The train station closest to it is Dongmen Station. It helps that it's an interchange station, meaning two rail lines pass by here, the MRT Red Line and Xinzhuang Line. It won't take many steps from the station to reach Yongkang. There are also bus stops in the area, but I was too afraid to ride and miss my stop on buses here, considering I know zero Mandarin.

The street at first glace is this busy mix of tourists and locals, thanks to the popularity of some restaurants in the area, including the michelin star restaurant Din Tai Fung down at Xinyi Road. They're known for their dimsums and xiao long bao. The vibe of the area is more of this artsy back alley that has a mix of popularly staple restaurants with small independent cafes and shops. It's a hip residential area with price ranging at roughly mid-to-high price points with a meal that can cost for around 100TWD for up to over 700TWD per person. The best time to be in the area is either before lunch or late afternoon to avoid the crowds. As early as 9pm though, you'll find yourself almost alone as tourists tend to disperse right after dinner, leaving a couple of young locals just chilling within the area.

I'll walk you through briefly with some of the photos I took along the way. And fyi, I travel to eat...so the ratio of images of restos to other shops is 3:1 in this post. 

Chicken Studio Pacita, San Pedro

Classic New Yorker: A staple favorite of a classic buffalo sauce.

The last few weeks had been a whirlwind, and it all started out with a message, "We found a place in Pacita. It's perfect for our second branch." Of course there were a couple of banters here and there, considering that it has only been 9 months since we opened our first. We sort-of knew we were ready for the second one, but financially speaking, the budget left our savings needing some serious resuscitation. My partners had been scouting for a location where we can open our second branch since October, and repeatedly I had been praying that they didn't; casually delaying their intents by passively taking their enthusiasm with restraint and disinterest. Instinctively and logically, I knew scrambling to open a second branch within the same year would be suicide, and a downright ludicrous move that could have possibly caused a lot of self-inflicted liabilities. 2019 felt more reasonable and safe, also, astrology approved. 

When the news finally arrived that they may have found "the one", my initial reaction was shit. I had stirrings at the start, but then again the overall disposition of the place was light, a kind of unsured-reassurance that it could be a start of something great. The risk though was high, like I can feel Evard Munch's painting screaming in me internally as I realized the task that laid before us. The schedule was tight, the budget was tight, the options were tight. It was a scurry to the soft opening date. We aimed to open our doors in time for Valentine's last Feb 14...but as sure as we were with our lovelives, it didn't happen. So we opted for a better date than hearts day, we opened on a Payday Friday. 

Foodtrip: Taiwan

I have been wanting to write a blog entry on my recent trip to Taiwan last April, but I haven't really come into terms as to how I can incorporate the places I've been to and the food I ate without being distracted with talking too much about the food part. This was my solution, creating a post fully dedicated to the food I ate the entire trip...most of it at least. These are the kaleidoscopic flavors of Taiwan through my phone lens. This is just a documentation of my meals during that trip really. I just want to share my experience, of indulging in the tastes and variety of choices you can have when you go there.

Caffeined By Artesania at Makati

Amazingly, this gem in the heart of Makati was introduced to us by a couchsurfer. Unknown to a lot of locals, this showroom/restaurant/cafe quietly sits on the second floor of an artsy building made with concrete and rust-treated steel. It didn't take long before my brother decided to celebrate his 35th birthday here. Without much planned for the day, we ended up staying here from lunch down to their closing just so we can accommodate guests who couldn't make it for lunch, as a result we ended up tasting almost the entire menu. The place was so cozy that while I decided to leave after our lunch, some of our friends chose to stay in for the entire eight-hour duration of the party. The place is so low-key that we had the place to ourselves practically the whole day, save for dinner when a couple came in to dine. 

The place if full of artsy vibes done about by their custom furniture and specially crafted tableware. Their restaurant is apparently also their showroom as they have industrial designers who can custom-make seats and tables for you. All are locally made and is predominantly made out of wood. Their colors are neutrals and kinda reminds me of Scandinavian designs with a pinoy twist.  

Chicken Studio at Lilac, Marikina

Chicken Studio is the result of frantic cramming between friends. What seemed like a nice idea at first suddenly became a rushed-up reality when a very fortunate and timely offer fell on our laps. The heart of Chicken Studio is the chicken (obviously), and the spirit is the studio as it is currently invisible...but maybe in time, there will be one. We honestly don't know when though. In the words of my friend as a retort to one of the complainants about us not serving dessert, "Wag na sila mag tanong kung ba't walang dessert yung Chicken Studio; wala ngang studio yung Chicken Studio, dessert pa!" Initially we had plans of turning the second floor into a photography studio and creative space, but judging by the influx of people plus the work that needs to be done, the project has been delayed.

Slowly though, we are making changes to make things better for the restaurant, our staff, and of course the customer. And for the record, my partners and I have zero experience in the food industry nor had any previous food-related jobs...and this makes everything so much harder. We are doing our best to address the successive problems that arise since we opened our doors...but we're just clueless at times. To better explain our inexperience, we are a combination of an architect, a photographer, a videographer, a graphic artist and an accountant. For the love of food and sharing it, we ventured into the restaurant business. This is the reason why we appreciate insightful inputs to help us grow, not plain hatred from hangry people...which I suppose is unavoidable at times. 

Snippets: Chicken Studio

Taken last week, March 19, 2018 in our condo for the product shoot of the food that we'll be selling at our restaurant next month.

The very reason why this blog went on hiatus is because of this new business venture I am pursuing with my brother and three other friends. Years back, when I started this blog I mentioned about pursuing a dream of opening a coffee shop, and it was only late last year when I started preconditioning the universe and my mindset that 2018 is the year I jump from being an artist to being a cook. I'm 29, and Peter Dinklage was 29 when he made that leap of faith of risking a stable job to fulfill an ambition. This is mine. This is step one. It's not a coffee shop by the looks and the name...we won't even sell coffee just yet...but I will be learning how to do things and go about with the food business industry, and this is making everything seem so much closer and real now. 

We will be serving fried chicken wings with a variety of flavors that a friend and I developed for the past months. We will also be serving hamburgers and nachos...which I will also post about after I get hold of the images because we are yet to do another shoot by the end of the week.

For now, this is what's been keeping me busy for the first quarter of my 2018. A good start to everything I had hoped, planned, and worked for. 

Please like our Facebook page for updates: CHICKEN STUDIO

56-D, Lilac Street
Marikina City 1800

Van Gogh is Bipolar at Maginhawa

Van Gogh is bipolar, and he's a Dutch artist who lived a tragic life, one of the most prominent artists who we briefly discussed in my Art History class back in college. Van Gogh is Bipolar, is a restaurant, one we've been discussing about trying out since after college...and one I finally got to try last week. Ever since my brother experienced eating there a few years back he'd been repeatedly telling me about his desire to go back for a second. After agreeing that we eat dinner with a few friends at a new Korean restaurant at BGC, he tells me that he just made a reservation at Van Gogh is Bipolar because he forgot what we agreed on a few hours prior. But come to think of it, I think I was meant to go there because just two days before we went to the restaurant a friend posted a link on Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal as Van Gogh in a docudrama called Painted With Words. The beauty of the script lies in the fact that they used a lot of the words coming from the written letters of Vincent sent to his brother Theo. A word of caution though, the movie is a downer...because it deals with frustration, depression, loneliness, and art at the same time.

Here's the link to the 1hr.20mins. movie by the way: Painted With Words

Morganfield's at Uptown BGC

After several failed attempts, we finally made it for dinner at Morganfield's. One dilemma why it took a while was because I always forget to check the map where Uptown is...now I know where it is and how it looks like. I like it. We got there after dining at Le Petit Souffle and having a huge cup of coffee at Costa...so we were kinda (still) hungry but our taste buds weren't up for too much flavor overload. 

To start with, Uptown mall is undone, to the degree wherein whole sections were closed so there's nothing to see except dine at the few restos that are already open and buy groceries at the crowd-free Rustan's Supermarket (seriously, we were only five customers inside.) The mall is really promising though, with its wood-inspired interiors and huge fountain upfront...not to mention the shops and restaurants queuing to open.

Le Jardin and le Mousse Au Chocolat

I've seen the blog posts and the photos, but never occurred to me that I should go and dine in Le Jardin because: one, it's expensive, and two, I never chanced upon it. Now I know why...it's located at the penthouse of W Fifth Building, the building that seems to be inspired by Minecraft with all the boxy-pixilated blues. Anyway, we came looking for Black Sheep, but the guard said it closed down and recommended Le Jardin instead. Why not? We were bored, had time, and didn't want to go home just yet. 

I had to edit this a lot because of so much blue in the original shot.

Skip everything else...the place was empty, so I loved it. The interiors were clean resembling that of a French villa with lots of white, plus it has a birds-eye-view of the city. And even you can spot shanties in between the concrete slabs of different hues, it's a charm that reminds you of being in Metro Manila despite all the fancy knickknacks. And even if lacks a certain degree of jardin in the Jardin, it's a nice place to sit back for an afternoon coffee or tea. 

The coffee was okay...not as tasty as the ones you get from other cafes, but you'll get by. 

It's their chocolate mousse that I want to commend more than anything. The pièce de résistance of my visit. We also tried their berry cheesecake, but this huge morsel right here fulfilled my craving of a really good mousse cake. The consistency and the taste was spot on...and it's also only Php140 a slice, it was even bigger than the average slice that most cafes offer these days. The taste reminded me of the mousse being served in Chateau 1771 which is my favorite, only here it's cheaper and bigger! 

The best part is that after 9pm, if they're about to get new batches of cakes, they sell their cakes at 50% off!!! What more can you ask for? It's just a matter of knowing when though. 

Triple Chocolate Mousse (Php140.00)

Cafe by the Ruins

Strawberry Shortcake. A layer of fresh strawberries, shortbread, whipped cream and syrup. Yummehh!

The moment the bus arrived in Baguio city, after almost seven hours of butt-aching travel, we immediately thought "Luuuunch time!" Since we did our research, we knew the place to be was at Cafe by the Ruins. Doing research is one thing, but navigating the actual site posted as a challenge. We called a taxi to take us there and he said, "Lakarin niyo na lang!" and left us. :( It was nowhere in sight! We went to another taxi and asked him to take us there, and he said, "Mag jeep na lang kayo!" :(( At least he was kind enough to assist us and instruct the jeepney driver to take us there. It was the right decision not to walk all the way to the Chuntug branch from where we were at. We arrived at Cafe by the Ruins and was 16th on the waiting list. :((( On our way back to Manila we realized that there was actually another Cafe by the Ruins two blocks away from the Victory Liner bus terminal. :(((( I managed to buy a bottle of their fresh milk for Php120.00 before getting on the bus. It was so fresh that it got sour on the third day and I only managed to drink half of its content. D: Although interior-wise, I prefer the one at Chuntug St. than the one in Upper Session Road.

Despite the setbacks, their Tita Susie's Crispy Tapa alone was worth the trouble.

Todd English Food Hall at SM Aura

The Classic Todd's Signature Flatbread Pizza (Php380.00)

The Todd English Food Hall opened not so long ago, and supposedly being the first celebrity chef owned restaurant in the country, it got the top spot on my list of must-try-asap places. Being an ignoramus, I never heard of the name Todd English until blogs went abuzz over the opening of his restaurant in Aura. I went to research his name a bit before posting this and this is what I found out: 1. He's American who is an author, chef, television personality, and owns lots of restaurants, 2. He worked under Jean-Jacques Rachou, a name well recognized in the culinary world that I even heard his name being mentioned by other chefs a couple of times, and 3. He's cool for opening a restaurant here in the Philippines because that makes me less jealous of Singapore now.

Being new, well-anticipated and promoted, the place is packed! Queues pile up during meal times that we ended up sitting at the salad bar where we ironically chose not to order any salads. The seats were full, but the service was not bad despite having to wait a while before being fed. Actually, our orders didn't take that long that we even managed to see the trailers of Captain America at 2pm. So pardon the photos, I was shaking in hunger.

Grams Diner at BGC

Some restaurants are better when you look at them from the outside in. Such is the case with Grams Diner at Fort as I've always been attracted with the lights that looked like fireflies behind the glass window, but when I came in not so long ago I was underwhelmed by the interior of the place. It was rather...just okay. I mean, sure it had this black and red color-combo that gave it the diner look, but it just didn't work for me. 

Fred’s Revolucion in Cubao Expo

Given a chance, I drop by Cubao Expo (because I don’t like calling it Cubao-X) whenever I’m in the Araneta Center area for nostalgic purposes. It was one of my favourite places when I was still living in Cubao and a CFAD student in UST. The place had always been quaint and feels like home for artists. People who hang around are usually art students from UST or UP, so it’s a very welcoming feeling to sit in one of the bars or browse around for unique finds. Fred’s Revolucion is one of the fairly new joints but feels like it’s been there for ages…but then again I’m not so sure since I visit the place only once or twice a year. I miss Mogwai.

Balkan: Yugoslavian Home Cooking

When you enter a restaurant for the first time to try a dish for the first time you really cannot set standards, just expectations. In this case the only basis I have is service, price, ambiance, and personal taste. I am absolutely clueless with anything-Yugoslavian. I wanted to order something I couldn’t pronounce, and I was also in the mood for crepes. So I ordered crepe which name they fancied up as Palacinke claiming that it’s a traditional Serbian crepe filled with chocolate. The server guy said they used Goya chocolate…not a fan. Then they call their creampuff Princes Krofne, which we also ordered. Apparently it’s simply the Serbian translations for crepe and creampuff. The price was as average as their fillings, but I did like their crepe though because they were chewy and porously good.

I like the big light bulbs and the simple white-washed setup with splashes of colors from knickknacks.

The Goose Station's Memory

It’s the grand finale of my seven-part birthday celebration, and a fitting end to my passing. What? I dunno, I’m so elated that I make even wronger grammar. When food this good is taken in perfect proportion, it does tend to uplift the mood unlike an eat-all-you-can buffet which often leaves you with a heavy feeling in the end. The meal I had in The Goose Station was different in a way that it fills not only your stomach but also your senses. They say eating involves all five senses, The Goose Station makes sure you will experience just that. It took a long time and a whole lot of longing before the universe found a way to make it happen. This is where I say, thank you Lord for the giving me generous friends!!!  Despite being in business for a few years now it’s still being raved about. Finally, I know why.

To describe the experience, a friend summed it up for me: It’s like sitting on the judge’s panel of Master Chef, getting served with a carefully thought-out dish creatively plated, explained to you what it is the moment it is served, and having the servers stare at you, timing you when you will be done so that they can serve the next dish for you to critique. Of course we’re unqualified judges, but dreams need to start somewhere.

Being a genius, I didn't take a photo of the menu because I thought I would have the knowledge to recall what the servers would be saying. Unfortunately, after our server’s explanation I would go, “what did she just say?” and then she would be gone by then, and my friends would be clueless as well. A friend would just say, “It’s asparagus something” or “It has truffle oil!” So I ended up having to research for this article. Oh well, bear with me as this is all I can come up with.

Sun Wah Panciteria Restaurant

I discovered Sun Wah Panciteria back when I was in college and it was only a few months ago that I got to know the name of the place. Before that I only knew three things: they have a black pig outside their resto, they serve an awesome kick-ass pancit canton, and that a single serving is impossible to consume alone. When I chanced by the area last July, I made sure I read the name this time. It turns our to be:

Lusso by Margarita Forés

When my friend asked me where we could dine at Greenbelt I made a couple of recommendations, but then she dared me to make the call and choose a restaurant I haven't eaten in, and Lusso caught my attention after some quick research. Then I remembered that I've passed by Lusso a couple of times but I never seem to find the perfect dining buddy for the place until she agreed to treat me here. Turns out Lusso is also under the culinary team of Margarita Forés (CIBO!!!!) Perfect!