Karagatan Restaurant in Siargao Bleu

For the past year, I have been hearing about Siargao and how lovely it is. I was finally able to go and I totally fell in love with the island! I didn’t get to do all the usual touristy stuff (because the urge to just chill won over most of the time) but I was able to tick some items on my todo/to-eat list.

First up is Karagatan Restaurant inside Siargao Bleu Resort & Spa. I’ve seen a couple of travel vlogs that feature this restaurant and they all raved about how good the food is. Siyempre si ate niyo had to eat there, inggitera ako eh! Haha

Siargao Bleu is one of the more upscale hotels in the main town area of General Luna. In fact, in all the reviews that I’ve read and watched about the restaurant, they always mention that prices are on the steep side. But they never really mention the actual prices and for the life of me, I couldn’t find their actual menu online. They accept credit/debit cards, so kahit di kayo sure na kasya cash niyo ilaban niyo pa din friends!

Because I didn’t really plan on blogging I did not get to take a photo of their menu, so forgive me because I no longer remember the actual names and prices of our orders. We started with this Seafood Soup with Coconut Milk, much like the Thai dish “Tom Khaa”. It was creamy, spicy, and a little bit sour. I loved it! It had a variety of seafood in it, which to be honest could be a bit more generous. I still enjoyed this dish even if medyo bitin sa sahog.

Because liempo is life, I ordered this Twice-cooked Pork Belly on a bed of sauteed vegetables. It looked better than it tasted. I’m not sure what was off with it, but it didn’t taste as good as I thought it would. Could be because I was hoping it would taste like the usual liempo, pero it tasted like patis kasi. Dipping it in the sauce made it so much better though.

Now this is the reason why I wanted to eat here! This is their famous Mud Crab in Black Pepper Sauce. The sauce was sooooooooo goooood! It was spicy so perfect siyang iulam, I loved the sauce so much I dipped some of the pork belly in it. Unfortunately, the crab was a bit overcooked. I know because some of the meat were already sticking to the shell. I debated whether to call the chef’s attention pero nanalo ang gutom ko friends! I didn’t want to wait for another one to be cooked, so kebs na! I stilll enjoyed it down to the last morsel of crab meat, simot sarap talaga!

Those were the dishes that we ordered. Our final bill came close to P2,500 so medyo mahal nga talaga for just three dishes. Having said that, I’m still glad I ate here. If you have the money to spare, it is worth the splurge!

We roamed around the area a bit after eating so we were able to see the rest of the hotel. This is the pathway from the restaurant leading to some of the rooms and to the beach.

They have a lot of open area near the pool and beach where you can laze around all day. It looked super relaxing, kaso may bayad pag dito gustong kumain so sa resto na lang kami haha!

They also have a beach bar where you can order refreshments and alcoholic drinks. This would be such a perfect area to chill while watching the sun set.

The beach is a bit on the rocky side so dapat pabebeng tampi-tampisaw lang siguro pag gustong maligo.

There are benches where you can sunbathe and next to them are the beach-facing cabanas you can rent. This is where I originally wanted to eat but you have to pay P1,500 pala so huwag na lang LOL.

And this is a view of the pool from the restaurant. This place is really gorgeous! Maybe next time if I am in the mood to splurge on a more expensive hotel, I will book this place for a night or two. But God knows when I’ll be able to go back to Siargao haha!

Tita Sunday (AKA my attempt to revive this blog… AGAIN)

Due to insistent demand of the two people that read my blog lol, I am trying to bring back to life my small space in the internet. I could give you a thousand reasons why I stopped updating but they can be summarized in two words: LIFE HAPPPENED. So let’s just pretend I was never really gone and get on with this post.

Today, Jo and I went out for a Sundate (lol annoying). We had no specific plans in place, we just wanted to catch up and spend some time together. Well honestly, we just wanted to go somewhere cold and not too crowded. We ended up in Festival Mall and Landmark where the AC is not too cold and there were tons of people around, haha! FAIL.

We got to the mall during lunch time and every.single.restaurant we were interested in was PACKED! We ended up eating in Landmark foodcourt which was not so bad after all. We had sisig, Chinese kikiam, tuna sinigang, and Banh Mi (for appetizer haha). No photos of the food because we were more focused on eating instead of taking pictures.

We also decided that we will catch a movie and Jo demanded we get Munchkins for movie snacks. This was such a nostalgic day for us because it felt very simple and it brought us back to the days when these were all the stuff that we ate because it’s all we could afford (foodcourt and Dunkin – no KK yet!). Haha OA lang yung “it’s all we could afford”, classic lang talaga ng food choices namin today.

We don’t frequent Festival Mall so half of the time we were wandering around, looking up at signs to guide us where to head next. We got lost at one point and ended up in a very empty area. We took advantage and took photos with our very tita Dunkin Donuts snacks.

We decided to catch “Sid & Aya” after having lunch. There was a massage place near the cinema which was perfect because we had time to spare before the movie. We availed of the 30-minute back massage which would have been good except for the fact that it felt like we were getting naked in the middle of the mall. I honestly thought it was a dry massage until the masseuse started to hitch up my shirt and rub oil all over my back! The place was actually closed off to the public but we were fully exposed to natural light. Basta, it was awkward! Haha the things we get ourselves into!

After the slightly terrifying massage experience, we lugged our munchkins to the cinema to see “Sid & Aya”. It was an OK movie – Anne is gorgeous, I love her LV bag when she was in Japan, it’s cool to see your work place in a movie, I love how we’re starting to have cursing lines in mainstream movies again. But it was just an OK movie for me. If there’s one thing to rave about “Sid & Aya”, it’s the sountrack! Guys seryoso ang ganda ng soundtrack – I will surely listen to it repeatedly in the next few weeks.

After the movie, we just went around the mall to buy some stuff. I got a dress on super sale, a pair of slippers, and super random stuff from the Japan store. I was home before 9pm – what a tita! Hahaha!

Anyway, today was very enjoyable. I have resolved to do more things outside of work. I will try more new restaurants again, travel again, and blog about them again. Or so I hope… Tingnan natin kung ma-maintain!

First Bite: All4U Unlimited Grill & Shabu Shabu

I first learned of All4U when I saw one of their sponsored posts on Facebook. I swear, FB ads will be the death of me! I often catch myself getting suckered into the seemingly endless video ads of restaurants, cosmetics, and almost anything under the sun. Such a waste of time, haha! Anyway, I digress. After stalking their FB page for reviews, I trecked all the way to Century Mall to try out All4U’s buffet grill and shabu shabu. 

During our visit, they had a soft opening promo of Php599 instead of Php699 per head. With this you can order unlimited amounts of shrimp, beef, pork (for samgyupsal), vegetables, soup base, rice, sauce and side dish. It also comes with a serving of Korean ramen (the instant kind), Melona ice cream, and a drink of your choice.

They serve you four sauces – All4U spicy special sauce, soy-based ponzu sauce, sate sauce, and sesame oil with salt and pepper. Honestly, I touched only the sesame oil and maybe a little bit of their spicy sauce.

They also have four side dishes – dilis with peanuts, papaya achara with vinegar, kimchi and fresh vegetable salad with All4U sauce which tasted like Kewpie’s roasted sesame salad dressing. I liked everything except for the achara which was very forgettable.

Here comes the good part! You can order plate after plate of shrimp (so good when freshly grilled!), chicken (waste of stomach space), beef (perfect for the shabu shabu), and pork belly (the ultimate love of my life haha). The veggies provided the illusion that we were eating a well balanced meal haha! No but seriously, the veggies were also good. I love soaking them long in the bubbling broth until they almost disintegrate – am I the only one who does this?

The deal also comes with a choice of either steam rice or kimchi rice but we barely touched our rice, to be honest. For our soup base, we ditched the kimchi soup and opted for the All4U Organic Soup. Apparently, it is a stock made out of kelp, graviola, shitake, malunggay, garlic, and ginger. It comes out pretty bland so you can ask for salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste. I didn’t use any salt but put in minced garlic and chili peppers, instead – it turned out good!

As if all that awesome food wasn’t good enough, they gave us a privilege card which entitles us to avail of their soft opening price of Php599 instead of Php699 FOREVER. Now that’s a sure-fire way of securing returning customers. I am already planning out my next visit!

First Bite: Sunnies Cafe

Last week, a good friend who works in Singapore was home for a short while. We decided to meet up for lunch before she heads back to SG. She requested for a restaurant that serves greens and I immediately thought of Sunnies Cafe. I have been seeing posts about this place on Instagram, and they appear to offer healthy and upscale dishes.
 

 

What we ordered:

Salmon Poke Quinoa | Php280 – spicy raw salmon, avocado, mixed greens, quinoa, pickled red onions, seaweed, citrus ponzu dressing. I loved the bits of spicy salmon mixed with the creamy avocado. I loved almost everything on the plate except for the purplish leaves which were a little too bitter for my taste.

Southern Style Fried Chicken Wings | Php290 – served with honey and homemade gravy. I love me some chicken but these ones I didn’t like. The meat had a funky taste to it – it was a bit malansa. In restrospect, I should have asked for lemon to balance out the funkiness but I guess we just couldn’t be bothered that time.

Spicy Pomodoro | Php270 – linguini, mixed seafood, white anchovies, lemon, parsley. This I loved! The spicy sauce contrasted so well with the salty anchovies and the lemon added that much needed kick to it. Serving was a bit stingy, though. In general, serving size could be something they can improve on so the customers feel that they are getting more value for their money.

For drinks we had Iced Mocha (Php170) and Mango Shake (Php165). I had the coffee and I liked how strong it was til the very last drop – it didn’t get watered down by the melted ice. I didn’t get to ask Lorraine how her mango shake was but she didn’t really have any complaints so I think it is safe to assume that it was OK.

 

Sunnies Cafe is a good place for catching up with friends with its high ceiling and Instagram-worthy interiors. Too bad I didn’t get to take photos to show the ambiance of the place because it was just so crowded during our visit. The speed of their service could be improved though, good thing Lorraine and I were too busy chitchatting that we didn’t mind the long-ish wait. That being said, I would still definitely go back to taste more of their food.

 

First Bite: Fely J’s Kitchen

Fely J’s Kitchen is a Filipino restaurant that specializes in Kapampangan food. It is part of the very popular LJC group of restaurants along with ABE, Lorenzo’s Way, Café Adriatico and Café Havana. After watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in the very cold Uptown Mall Cinema last weekend, I was craving for hot soup to warm me up. After a lot o wandering around, we ended up at Fely J’s mainly because the restaurant wasn’t as crowded as others and also because they have liempo, LOL.

Upon taking our order, they served us complimentary kropek which we munched on while waiting for our food to arrive. It came in this very pretty native bowl which I wanted to take home haha!

In an attempt to be ~healthy~, I ordered Ensalada ni Nanay (Php165). It came with slices of green mango, tomatoes, onions, salted egg, okra and eggplant. The sautéed bagoong was good – a little bit sweet and not too salty.

For our rice, we got the Fely J’s Dilis-cious Rice (Php225). It’s your regular steamed rice topped with deep-fried dilis and taosi and what I think might be fried shallots or onions. Honestly, the toppings were almost like ulam already but I loved how delicately flavored the crispy toppings were that they did not overpower the steamed rice.

Of course we got sinigang. This is the Fely J’s Pork Rib Sinigang (Php395). You have a choice between guava and tamarind broth. I’ve tried guava sinigang before and I didn’t like it so I opted for the classic tamarind. I like how they used pork rib so the meat wasn’t too fatty. Given that the pork was a bit on the leaner side, I was surprised to learn that they still managed to make it soft and tender. I loved dipping the meat into my patis-sili dipping sauce.

Last but not the least is the love of my life, Pork Liempo (Php225). If you know me well enough, you would know that I love LOVE liempo. Fely J’s version could be more tastier but it’s nothing a good toyo-mansi dipping sauce can’t remedy. 

Fely J’s Kitchen was surprisingly good. Not being much of a rice lover, it is a surprise that my favorite that night was the Dilis Rice. I could have the rice and the soup of the sinigang alone and I would honestly be a happy camper.