Seattle's Best

I haven't been much of a coffee shop fan as I only take coffee when I have to keep awake--like driving on long trips or staying up late to work.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my coffee black and I do love the aroma of freshly brewed coffee.  Unfortunately, I palpitate with the caffeine and my sleeping hours get wrecked, so I keep to hot chocolate and light teas.  I happened to have a meeting at Seattle's Best yesterday, and I found out that they have come up with their own concoction of milk tea, complete with sago (cassava pearls).  I'm getting to like this stuff and i can see why Monique and Vicky are already hooked!  Price? A little over P100 for this one.

Marco Polo Plaza

We capped our night at the Blu Bar at the top Marco Polo Plaza hotel in the Nivel hills area of Cebu.  This used to be the Cebu Plaza Hotel run initially by Anos Fonacier.  Sometime in the mid-nineties, the hotel was bought by the Pathfinder group.  After some financial difficulty, Metrobank foreclosed on the property and as such, the hotel is now owned by Federal Land, an affiliate of the bank.  I understand that the Marco Polo chain manages the hotel and from the looks of it, the hotel is even better now that it was when it first opened.

At night, the city view is quite beautiful, you can see the lights all over town.  I enjoyed our ride up the scenic elevator, something that was in vogue during the eighties, but nowadays not much used by architects and building owners.  The cool breeze was a welcome treat, and most of the guys had some beer while the girls held onto their cocktail drinks.  As usual, I had a shot of whiskey (this time single malt Glenfiddich).

I like the new look of this hotel.  We stayed around till almost midnight and even reminisced on older Cebu hotels like the Magellan and the revolving Chinese dimsum restaurant.  Being one of only two 5-star hotels in the city (the other being the Radisson), I'd recommend this hotel to any traveller who would like to stay in a hotel Cebu with a spectacular view.

STK

Upon the suggestion of one of our colleagues, we went to a place called "STK ta Bay sa Paulito's Seafood House" near the provincial Capitol.  It's a mouthful to pronounce, but it's basically an invitation to friends to eat Sinugba (grill items), Tinola (clear soup) and Kinilaw (raw fish in vinegar) at Paulito's Seafood House.  Whew!

You can see by the number of pictures hanging on the wall that a lot of celebrities, politicians and athletes have eaten at the restaurant.  The restaurant owner, Karen Alcover-Cabahug greeted us as we entered, and we were instantly mesmerized at the wealth of family heirlooms that dotted the interiors.  I gathered that Paulito is her brother, who is the head chef.

We started off with grilled scallops, and proceeded to taste the hot beef soup, which was quite tasty and a welcome treat for our tummies.  We continued with 2 kinds of grilled fish (tuna and a smaller but tastier local fish that I did not recognize), more grilled squid, fried pork cutlets and some veggies.  Overall, we spent something like P350 per head, and we went home with bulging tummies!

Sto. Nino Cathedral

Our next stop in Cebu was the Sto. Nino Church in downtown city center.  The church was first built by the Augustinian friar Rev. Urdaneta in the 1500s, and has been razed and rebuilt several times over the past centuries.  I think the church standing now was built in the 1700s and houses the Sto. Nino de Cebu.  This is pretty much the focus of the Sinulog fiesta activities in January--you can hear the devotees chanting "Pit Senyor!" to hail the Child Jesus.

The church is right next to Magellan's cross--if I'm not mistaken, the actual cross is inside the wooden casing!

Mactan Shangrila

This recent overnight trip to Cebu was a tiring trip for me as I had to show some colleagues around the sights and sounds of the city.  Tiring but fun, as I became a tourist myself!  We landed in Mactan at around 9am, and we immediately took a tour around Mactan Shangrila.  I was amazed at the way the Shang people have taken good care of the place, and even though it's around 15 years old, the property still looks beautiful.

The hotel has expanded its facilities from the last time I saw the place.  I understand aside from putting greens, there is a mini golf facility for the kids.  They also have a boat center, and tours to surrounding islands can be arranged.  One of the best local resorts, I would say!

Trinidad Moruga Scorpion

I found an interesting article on the Yahoo site about the world's spiciest chili pepper: the Trinidad Moruga Scorprion!  The exotic-sounding name itself already evokes fear and awe; take note that this frightening baby packs a mean wallop of 1,200,000 units in the Scoville heat scale (used to measure spiciness or the amount of capsaicin present in the pepper).

Photo from the New Mexico State University's Chili Pepper Institute

I checked out the equivalent pepper power of this 1.2 million rating and I found out that this is the same amount of capsaicin contained in a can of pepper-spray used by law enforcement agencies!  Can you imagine that inside your mouth?

If the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion would be compared on the Scoville heat scale shown above, then it would be way past the heat generated by the Habanero and Thai varieties, which go for only 500,000 units on the scale!  So would you like to try some?

My Kitchen

I almost forgot to write about our encounter with Chef Chris Locher at My Kitchen, located at the ground floor of the Oasis Hotel right beside Paco Park in Manila (the space was formerly occupied by the Barramundi restaurant of the hotel).  Monique and I dropped by for dinner last weekend and to our delight, we learned that Chef Chris has decided to open his own bistro as he brings his famous rolling panizza to Manila.  Some of you might recognize him as the head chef of C's restaurant in Angeles, Pampanga (where he introduced the panizza, the tradition of which has been continued in other local restaurants and pizza chains like Uncle Cheffy's and Yellow Cab).  The Oasis Paco Park Hotel used to house the Swiss Inn some decades ago, and it's good to find a good restaurant operating in the area again.  The ambience is pretty neat and cozy, and I like the Vigan tiles for the flooring, as it gave a very homey atmosphere to the place.  Service was pretty efficient, and courteous and well-trained staff made it a point to make our visit a delightful one.

We had their Paco Panizza, which was newly created specially for this bistro--quite flavorful!  Monique enjoyed rolling the panizza, and I was quite surprised that she would eat veggies--alfalfa and arugula--which she usually avoids.  Spaghetti with mushrooms came next, and for our meat dish we had 3 kinds of sausages, one slightly sweet, one in garlic and another flavored with rosemary and fennel.  Being in the Ermita area, right next to the tourist belt, prices are a bit on the high end--expect to pay something like P800 to P1,200 per head if you will eat in this restaurant.