Sunday, June 15, 2014

Maple love

You know we're big on trying new restaurants. To be honest though, it's not always a "eureka moment". There are places that don't live up to our expectations and others that we don't like one bit. It can be a tiring (and expensive) process. However, once in a while, we chance upon an amazing place which reminds us why we like going on food escapades in the first place-- and that is how it was with Maple.


I had absolutely no idea what to expect going into Maple. Sophia mentioned though that it was Pancake House' sister, which led me to believe they had awesome pancakes (hence the name?). The place looked really home-y though so it was very easy to feel comfortable at once.

Maple's distinguishing decor-- the cut out maple tree. It's so pretty!
We initially thought we'd be ordering one item each from the menu but apparently the servings are quite big so we ended up getting a few items to share:

I love arugula so eating this was pure bliss to me. I enjoyed how light it was yet so filling!
Pasta Leggero
A light dish of farfalle pasta topped with sundried tomato pesto, cherry tomatoes and asparargus 330.00
 Sorry for the blurred photo. Didn't realize it was blurred the time I took it. Haha! This pasta was a sure hit with all of us! It's really simple, it's just sundried tomatoes but it was so tastefully done that everything just blended well together to make an amazing dish! I personally love sundried tomatoes, I even eat it as filling for sandwiches and just when I thought a sundried tomato dish couldn't get better, it did with this pasta dish! Two thumbs up for this!
Spaetzle Jambalaya
Fresh spaetzle pasta with their own special Jambalaya sauce, topped with shrimps and Chilean mussels 390.00
 This was another favorite! The most amazing thing about it that you'd immediately think it's rice, but it's actually pasta! This was super good. I particularly liked the texture of the spaetzle, which was chewy, which made it different from when the jambalaya is made of rice and it's all mushy. The texture was a nice surprise and really made the dish stand out.
The dark truffle souffle! Another favorite! I don't normally normally order souffles but this one was a winner! This is perfect breakfast food. I could imagine waking up and eating this and be all smiles the whole day. It just reeks of good vibes!

Overall, we couldn't be happier with our meal at Maple. It's a great home-y restaurant for when you just wanna hang out with your loved ones and enjoy great tasting, comfort food.

Maple is located at:

Shangri-la Plaza Mall LG/F
Shangri-la Plaza Mall, East Wing,
Shaw Blvd cor EDSA Wack Wack, Mandaluyong
+63 (2) 477.8027 +63 (0923) 725.6283

San Antonio Plaza
2/F San Antonio Plaza Arcade,
50 Mckinley Rd Forbes Park - North, Makati
+63 (02) 621.6211

Friday, June 13, 2014

Can you breakout

Are you into Mystery games? Fan of Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew or CSI? If you said yes, then this post is for you!

Introducing, Breakout Philippines, the first real escape room game in the Philippines! My friends and I are Nancy Drew enthusiasts, and we played a lot of the interactive Nancy Drew mystery games in College. So it was a no brainer, we HAD to try Breakout!

The concept for Breakout is very simple. You get locked in one of their themed rooms, have to solve puzzles/ tests within 45 minutes and get out of the room! Pretty simple, right?


Going in, my friends and I were determined to get outta there in the fastest time. Our target was to be out in 20 minutes or less. Not that we were confident of our skills, we just like setting targets for ourselves so we can perform better. We got out that first room in less than ten and felt like we were on a roll but the second room was were we got stumped. We were so bumped out because we knew exactly what to do, but we just couldn't find one clue we needed to get out :(




We don't want to spoil the experience for anyone, but believe us when we say it was very enjoyable! The challenges were tough but easy enough to solve. The time limit was our greatest enemy and the pressure can get to you. It requires a lot of teamwork and keenness to detail, which most assume they already possess but you won't really know until it is tested during the game.

We booked online through their website and since we were a group of five, we only had to pay 400php each which we did through bank deposit. We couldn't get through their online booking system so we just emailed them instead and they replied a few hours after, which was very convenient for all of us :)


We really enjoyed the game so much that after our experience, we booked another date so we can try the other room :P

Thank you to the Breakout team for the amazing experience! See you again in a few weeks! ;)

For booking and more information, kindly visit their website at www.breakout.com.ph

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Revisited: Balai Isabel

I am not very fond of swimming pools, I prefer the beach but there are a few exceptions-- and of them is Club Balai Isabel. I have very fond memories of Balai Isabel, it was where we had our first team building in 2011 and apart from the people I was with, I fell in love with the place and the view that it just is one of those most memorable places for me. Well, I revisited Balai Isabel a week ago, and here's my trip in
pictures:

This view! How can you resist this view? 


What I love most about Balai Isabel is how it's such a relaxing place. You just get to the enjoy the wonderful view of Taal Volcano, chill by the pools and have a grand time stargazing and being in tune with nature-- but still have the benefit of having luxurious accommodations. We rented a villa and we had it all to ourselves which doubled the fun for us :)

I love Balai Isabel. I would go back here in a heartbeat. To let you in on a secret, it's actually one of the places I'm considering for my future wedding. Just imagine watching fireworks with Taal in the background <3 p="">


Next time, I'm definitely going on that Taal Volcano trek, I'm not letting the chance pass me by a third time! Lol. Thank you Balai for the wonderful weekend! Until next time! ;)

For more information, visit www.balaiisabel.comwww.balaiisabel.com

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