El Poco Cantina - A very good Mexican restaurant in Manila

Manila - A distance from our hotel via Grab but it was worth the trip to this Mexican restaurant.   Cash only restaurant but the good food is reasonably price.

Lesley and I in this restaurant

We had to queue to order our food, paid in cash and waitress will deliver the food quite fast.  Water is complimentary and reviews mentioned that there are many students come to this cheap Mexican place.   

We ordered minced beef Quesadillas and it was one of the best I have tasted - very delicious.

This was cut into 4 slices - tender and the cheese just melted in my mouth at Php 190 for 4 pieces that is about SGD4.75 for 4.

Soft Tacos - Chicken Chopotle

2 pieces for Php 200 - the vegetables tasted very fresh and the side sauces added some spicy to this Tacos.

Quesabirria Tacos beef

Fried tacos and it was a bit oily due to the frying of the Tacos but the fillings were very delicious.  Really worth coming again to this Mexican restaurant and they have Boritos and much more.

The total meal came up to Php 860 about SGD 21.50.

Dampa seafood market @ Hong Kong Master Cook Seafood Restaurant

Manila -  This will be my 3rd time eating at this seafood restaurant and the style of cooking is still very good.  The only drawback is that they do not accept credit cards.

After choosing our seafood - we went to this restaurant for them to cook up a delicious meal for us.

Vegetables with 3 types of eggs

Sze chuan chicken

This is the only dish that was not up to standard - further more this was chosen from off the menu.   Donny wanted to try their Szechuan style chicken.

steam prawns

Steam Red Snapper

The prawns and Red snapper was very fresh and delicious.  The prawns was cooked with lots of garlic and spring onions.

BBQ Cuttlefish

Squid are longer and more cylindrical; cuttlefish are smaller and sort of spoon-shaped; octopus have very round heads and larger tentacles.

BBQ tiger prawns

Super fresh and deliciously BBQ done. 

Emilia's restaurant

 Manila - A highly rated restaurant on google and many magazines too.  The food was on par with the reviews of many critics and it was good.  The restaurant is located in a bungalow nestled around many government offices and the Malacanang Palace.

Squid Ink Paella

 It was a nice dish with the squid ink soaked nicely into the rice and topped with calamaries. 

Crispy Pata

This is a crispy pork knuckle

Pinakbet

Manam restaurant @ Gloriata

Manila - We took a grab to Gloriata Mall for this famous and popular restaurant Manam.   This year is their 10th year in business and their food can be considered Filippino comfort food and almost always crowded.   We had to wait for 30 mins before we were served.

Donny and I @ Manam

Their signature sisig

small dish of Sigsig

A very crispy pig face full of pig's skin and lard, extremely unhealthy dish but ordered a dish for Donny to have a taste of Filippino favourite dish.  

one bowl of garlic rice

Kare-kare Oxtail

Kare-kare is a Philippine stew that features a thick savory peanut sauce.   

BBQ pork

A tender pork loin BBQ and tasted good.   There was no smoky taste and was a bit sweet to the taste.

Pork Sinigang

Sinigang is a Filipino soup or stew characterised by its sour and savory taste. It is most often associated with tamarind and this dish was no different - nice to the taste with a good mixture of vegetables and pork. This meal came up to P1812 about S$45 for the both of us.

Blue Wonder Coffee Bean @ Roastry

 Manila - One of the few coffee roastry in Manila.   Blue Wonder Coffee opened on 2017, and started to present their premium blended bean and outstanding single origin beans from different countries, which gives very complex aroma and flavour to the cup.   

Blue Wonder roast their beans always to make it fresh and pack it in one-way valve, which is the best way to preserve the beans. It differentiate the bean from usual smoky and bitter coffee, you can experience and feel the smooth fragrance of coffee in Blue Wonder Coffee. Blue Wonder Coffee has 2 branches for the present. One along C5, Pasig, and 1 in Cartimar.   We went to the Pasig branch for our caffeine  experience.

Coffees from all over the world

Nice cozy environment for coffee

Elar's Lechon

Manila - Another iconic dish - Lechon (roast suckling pig).   Elar's Lechon has a very high ratings on google and so we went to this restaurant - quite a distance of 45 mins through traffic to reach this place.   

Elar's entrance

There were at least 4 stores under this Elar's restaurant and only one in Manila.  They closed early and by 5-6pm - their roasted pork is sold out.   

Lechon and vegetables

When we entered the restaurant we did not know where to order as the waiters were busy tendering to orders and customers.   I asked one of the patron and told that we had to queue and order to this Chinese cashier man sitting at this pigeon hole.  Cash only transaction.   We order 1/4 Lechon, Chinese stir fried vegetable and Lumpia (fresh spring rolls).  Similar to Singapore Popiah - I liked Singapore Popiah better.

The Lechon did not taste like the ones we had in Cebu and also many Filippinos have mentioned Cebu is still the best in whole of Philippines.   The Lechon arrived to our table was warm and the meat is a bit tough, probably sitting out for a while before cutting for us.   When we were in Cebu, we waiting when the pig is roasting so it came to us piping hot and was so tender.

SM Malls of Asia

Manila - SM Malls of Asia is the largest mall in Phiippines and the 6th largest mall in the world.  It is insanely huge and you can spend hours in this mall.  They even have a rifle and gun shop in the mall.

Rifle shop 

As Chinese New Year is approaching, this SM Mall is celebrating too as the owners are the Sy family - one of the richest Chinese Filippinos.

Okada Casino

Manila - Philippines has a crazy number of casinos in Manila - a total of 20 casinos.   Local Filipinos are allowed into the casino to gamble without restrictions.   

inside Okada casino

I never gamble nor like casino because of the smoke and smell but it was a good experience to visit one here in Manila. 

Okada is a casino resort and hotel complex located on the Entertainment City gaming strip in Parañaque, Metro Manila, Philippines. In 2007, with a total construction cost about ¥250 billion and spending seven years, Japanese billionaire Kazuo Okada established and managed Okada Manila.

Dark chocolate sundae

Dampa Seafood @ Huey Ying Restaurant

Manila - I brought Donny to experience Philippines seafood - first to pick out the fresh seafood and then choose the restaurant to cook our dishes.    We pick out one medium size mud crab, 2 large mantis prawns and 4 tiger prawns - worth P450.  

Dampa seafood area

There were rows of fishmongers selling their fresh seafood.  So, we choose which seafood we want and just pay for them.  Bring this seafood to the restaurant and they will cook it to the style we like and pay for the cooking only.

We have to bargain with the fishmongers.  The Mantis prawns were kept in separate plastic water bottles as they tend to very aggressive and fight with each other.

There were many restaurants at this place and we choose Huey Ying restaurant - a Filippino Chinese restaurant.   

Huey Ying restaurant

Stir-fried kangkong with Garlic

BBQ prawns

The prawns was so succulent and delicious and 2 each was a perfect portion for us.

Sweet sour crabs

Mantis prawns fried with salt and pepper

This Mantis prawns was so fresh and and the meat was very sweet. 

Intramuros city - UNESCO

Manila - We took a grab from our hotel to St Augustin Church.  A beautiful church but there was a wedding and was not allowed to enter the church surrounded by numerous friends and relatives of the wedding couple dressed in fancy dresses.  

St Augustin Church

fancy Starbucks

Beautiful cobblestones road

Time flies, the last time I was walking around Intramuros was 2013 (10 years ago).   The last time, we took a Calesa - a horse driven cart but now it was an electric scooter and a young boy (16 years old) at the driver seat.  This young boy was an enthusiastic tour guide too, explaining the places along the way.   From Php 350 it came down to Php 200 for both of us - we kept saying not interested and price kept dropping.

Pintong Real 

Pintong Real (Royal Gate) this is one of the historical markers around the Intramuros city.   This was a prison used by the Spanish to incarcerate people.

Pintong Real entrance

Baluarte San Andres

This was part of the Spanish colonial fortification in the historic Walled City. It was built in 1603 to protect the Puerto Real and the southeastern part of Intramuros.  

Intramuros wall 

Looking across from the wall

Baluarte de San Diego

This circular tower was meant to defend Manila’s southern bayside boundary. In 1593, the upper portion of the tower was demolished after suffering from cracks. The rest of the structure was integrated into a new bulwark called Baluarte de San Diego.  Completed sometime between 1653 and 1663, Baluarte de San Diego is shaped like an ace of spades.  It was breached by the British forces with cannon fire in 1762, and was restored when the Spaniards returned.  The earthquake of 1863 destroyed the structure, leading to its abandonment. During the American occupation, the circular fort was buried under layers of soil which eventually saved it from destruction during the Battle of Manila in 1945 despite the damage sustained by the baluarte containing it. 

Baluarte de San Diego

This used to be an old watchtower.   

Donny on the other side 

Canon pit overlooking the Golf course

Casa Manila 

The Casa Manila or “Manila House” is a living museum that features the lifestyle of an affluent Filipino family during the late Spanish colonial period. The façade of Casa Manila was patterned after a house that once stood at Jaboneros Street in the Chinese district of Binondo in the 1850's.