Isdaan - Gerona, Tarlac

January 2011 - I was born in Tarlac and believe it or not, I only had the chance to visit this wonderful place for the first time last January. Isdaan is located in Gerona, Tarlac. It is literally a restaurant surrounded by fishes! Floating nipa huts will definitely catch your attention too.

This is not your ordinary eating place. Upon entering the vicinity, you will surely love the Filipino culture atmosphere. Bridge made of bamboos, nipa huts, fishing nets, wood carvings, ancient crafts, and many more. You will also notice that employees are wearing Filipina-inspired dress.  I feel proud when I walked in! You'll realize how beautiful and amazing Filipino art is!

Below, you will see one of their well-known tourist attraction as some people call it. Of course, I took some pictures as well. When I saw this picture, I thought I was in Thailand though :)

Filipino humor is also in Isdaan. While wandering around, enjoying all the scenery, this statue caught my atttention. Hahaha!

Most of my friends in Tarlac told me that there is this one interesting activity that you can do upon visiting Isdaan. They call it the Tacsiyapo wall where you can burst all your anger by throwing plates, cups and other fragile utensils against the Tacsiyapo wall. I was not angry during that time so I did not try it lol.

After enjoying the scenery, we looked for a good spot to eat. We chose to eat in a floating nipa hut. We were already told before hand that their menu are quite expensive, so I was not shocked when I saw their pricing. We ordered grilled baby lapu-lapu, sinigang na hipon sa buho and pinukpok na baka (highly recommended!). While waiting for our food, singers came to our hut and asked us if they can sing for us. Well, I am a frustrated singer, so guess what? I said Yes! They were awesome singers, I hope I can sing like them :(

Here are the food we ordered:

After our meal, we were given pellets so we can feed their fishes too! What a nice way to fight stress. Look at the picture below. Aren't they cute? EV032611

My Ratings:

Food

I highly recommend pinukpok na baka! I loved it! Beef is tender, and the sweet and spicy curry is just about right. I would love to buy this again.

Budget

Too pricey :(

Place

I gave 5-stars because of them promoting our Filipino culture. Place is clean and quiet.

Service

Crews are very friendly, everyone would smile and greet you! 

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O My Gulay - Session Road, Baguio

March 2011 - I recently went to Baguio City to celebrate my partner's birthday. One of the reasons why we went there was to search for a really good place to dine in. Several friends of mine suggested O My Gulay (OMG), a vegetarian restaurant and art gallery in the heart of Session Road. We haven't been in that place so we gave it a shot. And so we went there and we were surprised how beautiful their landscape is and the art woks you can see inside their resto are really interesting.

Nice background :)

We took some pictures, of course, and we had trouble getting a good shot because their light was so dim. Even so, dim lights added romantic effects in this picturesque place. We checked the menu, and of course, they do not serve any kinds of meat. They have carbonara with kabute (mushroom), Anak ng Putanesca that has lots of olives and tomatoes, they have crepes filled with fruits such as apple and peach, and they have lemonada too!

Some of the food they serve: Kabute, Anak ng Putanesca and Crepes

Price is just about right. Although their food do not have meat, they are still delicious. For sure you won't regret paying additional peso for such a healthy plate plus beautiful scenery you can see outside the restaurant. O My Gulay is located at the penthouse, and so we chose to seat where we can see a good scenery outside. You can see buildings, lights, vehicles and busy people while enjoying your food.

Birthday celebrant Paul

Much to our surprise, we felt we were really full after that meal. I was not expecting that because all the food we eat did not have meat on them. But anyways, we had pasta as carbo so it made sense. Overall, it was a very nice experience dining in O My Gulay. I would love to go there again, but at noon time maybe, so I will have a brighter sight of the whole scenery inside the restaurant. EV032311


My Ratings:

Food

Anak ng Putanesca is really good. It is sweet and sort of spicy at the same time. I think they put a lot of olives though. Kabute is not my favorite. I tasted milk instead of cream. I think if they put more cheese on it, it could have tasted better. Crepes were amazing and unique!

Budget

Price is reasonable :)

Place

I love the whole artwork going on around. There are paintings, wood carvings, improvised crafts, etc. The only thing that bothered me was the stairs? I thought it would crash anytime. Scary.

Service

They served our food really quick! However, no one greeted us when we came in. And when we were billing out, I thought they forgot we were because we waited several minutes and no one was coming out. We had to go to the cashier to pay instead.

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My Food and Travel - Exposed!

I recently tasted some gorgeous food in the past, and I will try to create several articles about them. Some of the restaurants I visited were: Cafe Juanita, Burger King, Koryo, Cajun, Racks, T.G.I.F., Crustacia, Seafood Island, Dad's, Dulcinea, Pancake House, Bacolod Chicken Inasal, Max's, Gumbo and many more. Luckily, I had the chance to visit several tourist spots in the Philippines too! I will let the whole world know how beautiful Philippines is! These places did not fail to take my breath away: Bohol, Cebu, Baguio, La Union, Pangasinan, Mindoro (Puerto Galera), Tarlac and many more.

I created this blog so I can share my views, comments and tips about the places I've been, food I've tasted and resto/hotels I've visited. I hope this blog helps you in any way.

Rack's Classic Pork Ribs (Half-slab)

Food -  Everyone loves to eat. I've always wanted to have a "hercules" kind of body but whenever I go out, food is always in my mind. I will just spend my time creating blog post for all the gorgeous (and not so gorgeous) food I've tasted rather than sweating it all out in the gym :)

50's Diner - Baguio City

Resto - I will try my very best to rate and comment the restos I have visited to give you more idea about them if you are planning to eat out in one of these places.

Tagbilaran, Bohol

Travel - Recently (luckily), I've visited several breath-taking and beautiful places here in the Philippines. I would love to share my memorable experiences to all travelers out there! Proud Pinoy baby! EV032311