Posts tagged Ayala

Filipino Food Restaurants in Cebu That’s Worth Trying

By on August 11, 2011
This entry is filed under Cebu, Food and tagged , , , , , , , .

Crispy pata from Patio Filipino in San Bruno, ...

Crispy Pata. Image via Wikipedia

Everybody loves to eat. Whenever we visit places, we always look for a restaurant or food shop where they serve delicious food. If you like Filipino taste, there are many restaurants in Cebu that you should not fail to try when you visit.Here’s a short list of them.

AA Barbeque

AA Barbeque has many branches, two of which I am very familiar with so that is where I will point you to. One is located along AS Fortuna St., Mandaue City Cebu, near Oakridge Industrial Park and one is along Salinas drive, in front of USP (University of Southern Philippines). As you can derive from it’s name, AA barbeque specializes in grilled foods, but that is not the only food you can order from there. They have  fresh seafoods that you can ask them to cook in anyway you like.

The style of the restaurant is SUTUKIL which means, SUgba(grilled), TUla(Soup based), KIlaw(raw fish or meat seasoned with vinegar and spices). The food is not too expensive and is definitely worth trying. My suggestion is to try their grilled pork belly, grilled Milk fish (Bangus), Spicy Chorizo, the sweet and spicy shrimp and their Chopsuey (veggie mix).

Alejandro’s

Located near Cebu Doctor’s Hospital, this restaurant is quite small. When I first went there it seemed to me that the place was a small room in a house converted into a restaurant. But just because the place is small, it does not mean that the food is not good. Alejandro’s specialty is Crispy Pata and as you can see in their placemats, their slogan is “The best Crispy Pata in town“. And they are not lying. Their Crispy Pata is really very delicious along with their other dishes. You should try their Pakbet (veggie mix) which is a very good partner for the Crispy Pata.

Alejandro's Crispy Pata

Alejandro's Crispy Pata is the best in Cebu and it taste like they really do!

Casa Verde

Casa Verde has three branches that I know of. The main branch is located at Ramos St., the other one in 3rd floor Ayala Terraces, and another one in The Walk, IT Park. The specialty of Casa Verde is the Baby Back ribs or Bryan’s ribs, as they call it in their menu. The meat is very delicious and tender and the serving is quite big, big enough for at least two people. Aside from the ribs, I suggest you also try their ‘Death by Chocolate‘ dessert and their salads.

Hukad (a.k.a Golden Cowrie)

Let’s go back to another Filipino restaurant. Hukad serves Filipino dishes with their unlimited rice. Filipino love rice so this is a good treat for Filipinos. It is located at the 2nd floor of Ayala Terraces. Must tries include, Crispy Pata, Pakbet, Barbeque, Kare-Kare and their Sisig.

There are also Golden Cowrie branches in SM City Cebu, Salinas Drive in Lahug and one near Mactan International Airport in Lapu-Lapu City.

Chikaan

Another local restaurant that cooks for Filipino taste buds is Chikaan. The food is very similar to Golden Cowrie (Hukad) but they have several food that is unique in taste. One is their version of stewed mung beans (Mongo Guisado). They cook it in such a very nice way and no other restaurant has can do it.

They also have baked scallops as well as lechon kawali. Lechon Kawali is very similar to Crispy Pata except that crispy pata is the foot portion of the pig while Lechon Kawali is the belly potion.

Those are just five restaurants you should try. There is more in the list to come on the next post.

Tip: Citibank Branches and Locations in Cebu City

By on August 6, 2011
This entry is filed under Cebu, Malls, Money, tip and tagged , , , , , , .

Citibank

Image via Wikipedia

For most foreigners such as Americans and Koreans, the main bank they go to when they need to withdraw money is Citibank, probably because it is an international bank. As a help to foreigners who wants to visit Cebu or are already here in Cebu, here are the three locations of Citibank branches in Cebu City.

Ayala Life FGU Bldg., Business Park

The most convenient location of CitiBank is in Ayala Business Park. It is very close to Ayala Center Cebu, just a stone throw away from Ayala Center Cebu Terraces. If you get out of Ayala Center Cebu thru its Activezone Exit beside Breadtalk, all you have to do is cross to the other side and walk 2-3 minutes  and you will find CitiBank. The ATM Machine is open 24 hours a day. It is the most convenient due to the reason that it is very close to Ayala Center Cebu where you can find a higher exchange rate for your dollar if you need to exchange.


View Citibank in a larger map

Jones Avenue, Near Cebu Provincial Capitol

Another convenient location of Citibank Cebu is at Jones Avenue, Cebu City, near Cebu Provincial Capitol and Cebu Doctors Hospital. A 5 to 7 minutes walk from the Capitol, it is found at the right side of Jones, or Osmena Ave. It is a convenient location as it is very accessible to vehicles.


View Citibank Savings in a larger map

Citibank Lahug Brach

There’s another Citibank branch in Lahug area. It is located along Gorordo Avenue corner Rosal Street. Check out the map below.


View Citibank Savings in a larger map

I hope this tip helps for when you need to locate a Citibank.

Note: All maps are courtesy of Google Maps service.

Did you find this article helpful? Please drop by a comment.

TIP: Higher Dollar Exchange Rate in Ayala Center Cebu

By on August 2, 2011
This entry is filed under Cebu, Malls, tip and tagged , , , , , .

If you are in Cebu and you chose to exchange your hard earned dollars to pesos in Ayala Center, you may want to know where can you have the highest exchange rate without leaving the mall. Here’s my experience:

Ayala Center Cebu Terraces

Ayala Center Cebu Terraces

Last week, I received a payment in US Dollars and I wanted to exchange it to Pesos so I can deposit immediately to the bank inside the mall. So I went to the nearest money changer which is located in the Terraces. I saw that their rate was 41.90 pesos per dollar. Since this is lower than what I expected, I tried to look for other money changer. But I don’t want to leave the mall for security reasons.

That’s the time I remember what my friend told me that there was one money changer in Ayala Mall that has higher exchange rate compared to the others money changers in the mall. He told me that it was in fact the one located at the Basement level near Rustan Supermarket.

When I came there, I learned that the exchange rate was indeed much higher than others. On that day, the rate in Ayala Terraces and Ground Floor changers is at 41.90 pesos per US Dollar. The rate at the changer in Rustan area was 42.25 Pesos per US Dollar. That was a 0.35 pesos per one US Dollar difference! You may initially think that it was just a small amount but if you are exchanging a sizable amount of money, then you may want to double check.

To give you an idea of how much that difference was, here a few simple comparison:

0.35(1000 dollars)= 350 pesos

0.35(2000 dollars)=700 pesos

0.35(3000 dollars)=1050 pesos

Note: I’m not sure regarding other currencies but I think it would be the same but I still need to verify though.

So the next time you exchange you dollars in Ayala, you know where to go.

Location of Ayala Center (Powered by Google Maps)

View Ayala Center Cebu PUJ Terminal in a larger map

Indoor Activities in Cebu City

By on July 18, 2011
This entry is filed under Cebu, movies, opinion and tagged , , , , , , , .

SM City Cebu

SM City Cebu. Image via Wikipedia

Last time, I wrote about outdoor activities here in Cebu City.  If you are a type of person who wants to enjoy and relax indoors, Cebu City has a lot to offer for you as well.

If you enjoy shopping, looking around for things to buy, playing games, watching movies, and eating, Cebu has two major malls that you can go to, Ayala Center and SM City Cebu, and a lot of smaller malls to choose from, like Robinsons, Gaisano, Parkmall, etc. These malls usually offer a variety of shops you can go to from clothes shops to shoe and bags, to jewelry shops.

Major shopping malls like SM and Ayala also has Game zones and movie houses where you can watch the latest movies in either 2D, 3d, or IMAX (SM only).

For food lovers, these malls also offer a wide range of food choices in different cuisines, from Filipino, to Korean, to Japanese, to Thai, to Malaysian and etc. So for those who have an exquisite palette, no need to worry, there is a food choice for you.

For those people who love to sing, Cebu City also has a lot to offer for you. You can find lots of singing rooms, or noraebangs as Koreans call it. I believe us Filipinos like to call it videoke bars. These videoke bars offers a wide range of songs to choose from, from old classics, to pop, rock, love songs, etc. They even have Korean, Japanese and also Visayan songs.

But what about the nature lovers? We will discuss that on the next post. until then…

 

Enhanced by Zemanta