Leopard/Cheetah prints, we’ve seen them everywhere, particularly on women of a certain age bracket. These women, commonly in their 40’s to 60’s adore the pattern and wear them as much as possible. I won’t say much because I don’t want to make enemies however I will suggest that if this is your favorite fashion trend, please don’t overdo it. Resist the urge to wear all your leopard print clothing at the same time.
Exhibit A. (Kindly note the umbrella also has the same print. While not pictured, this lady’s eyeglass frames were also cheetah printed)
I’m not a morning person but I love breakfast food, particularly pancakes and waffles. I’ve been hearing about this place that serves all-day breakfast so when my friend Dave suggested we go there for dinner, I readily agreed. Waffles for dinner? Yes please. After a bit of research it turns out that Maple is owned by the same restauranteurs behind Pancake House. As one of my friends described it, it’s a Sosy Pancake House.
This is the interior, it’s not very big. So call ahead to make reservations – 621-6211, especially if you’re going in a large group. The interior’s kinda cozy though and I like how it’s decorated. It just needs more space.
The menu’s quite extensive, they have a great variety of items which aren’t just breakfast food — burgers, steaks, pasta, sandwiches. I’d peg their menu at American with a hint of Filipino. I didn’t get to take a photo of each page because we were busy catching up.
Starters: Mussels – Fresh, tasty and generously portioned. The broth was too salty for my taste so I dipped my garlic bread in it to neutralize the saltiness.
Maple Salad – There was nothing special about this. They say it’s their best seller however, it is simply a tall stack of greens, drizzled with grated parmesan and garnished with a few slices of egg, olives and a pinch of walnuts. I had hoped the maple dressing would give it much needed flavor but.. it didn’t.
Fish Tacos – Dave loved this. They gave you a heaping portion and he seemed to really enjoy it. Best fish tacos he’s had in Manila, he said.
Chicken Burgerย with Fries – My friend Jason had this. He said it was okay. The fries are okay too.
My Waffle, was in fact, excellent. It wasn’t crunchy (some waffles are made this way, ew) and it wasn’t too soft either. It was the perfect consistency. I really felt I was eating a waffle and not a pancake in the shape of a waffle. Sorry, I’m really OCD about waffles and pancakes. I’m weird like that. The bacon I ordered however, was of course, maple bacon. Unfortunately, it was overly sweet. I would call it candied bacon. I wanted a saltiness to contrast my waffle however I didn’t get that from the bacon. I wish it was just traditional bacon or that the maple was more subtle. What a shame since it was cooked perfectly and was crunchy in the right way.
We considered having dessert but we passed. My friend Dave pointed out to them that unlike the rest of the menu, nothing in the dessert section had maple in it. Or at least it didn’t indicate it on the menu. Ironic.
Please note however that it is not cheap, we paid around Php1,500++ for our meal.
So the verdict on Maple is that it is worth a second visit. it’s a nice, quaint place to catch up with friends and dine on comfort food. The portions are generous and the atmosphere is warm and welcoming. The service is great and they make you feel at home. For people like me who love American Breakfasts, this is a place to try.
MAPLE
2nd Floor San Antonio Plaza,
Mckinley Road
6216211
When I was still at Fordham, I lived in a dorm with 5 other girls. To amuse ourselves, we had an in-house fortune teller. It was a knick knack we picked up at a novelty store. It was a tube with numbered sticks with each number (or combination of numbers) corresponding to a specific fortune. We would refer to it every so often to get answers to academic dilemmas (will I pass my midterm?) to the ever popular love questions (should I go out with ____). When I went to Tokyo, I found myself faced with a large version of our old college fortune game.
In the Asakusa Temple, they had a fortune box. According to Miwako, if you received a good fortune, you could take it with you. If you were dealt a bad fortune, you tie it to one of the trees/branches/bad-fortune-stands and leave it behind. So brother and I sought out the fortune stand and totally got into the game.
Here are the instructions.
Here is my brother contemplating his question before shaking the big metal canister.
I couldn’t shake my canister properly because it was full of sticks and they barely “shook.” The opening was small and it was difficult for me to pick a stick. Luckily, one stick fell out. #12. (2012.. fortune #12? Coincidence? I think not!)
Matched up to the proper drawer.
Fortune drawer.
I GOT BEST FORTUNE!!!! I’m not kidding when I say I did a little dance after I read it out loud to my mom. I was jumping up and down, extremely happy. I don’t know why, just reading it filled me with joy.
My brother got Good Fortune(a toned-down version of Best Fortune) also. Good day for us. ๐
When I was in Tokyo, I picked up a small stuffed Penguin at a souvenir shop. While it had nothing to do with Japan, it had everything to do with cuteness so I bought it. This was on our last day so I carried it around with me and took photos with it. I know I’m a bit too old to be doing this but who cares. It’s a cute little penguin and this is my blog so I get to write whatever I want haha.
Penguin versus Orangina.
Penguin looking out the bus window.
Penguin cuddling with brother.
Penguin at the Sports Authority.
Penguin standing in line to check in at the airport.
Penguin waiting while I empty my bag.
Penguin in my bag.
Penguin with kitkats.
Penguin getting ready to fly.
Penguin with in-flight meal.
Penguin waiting for luggage.
Penguin waiting for car.
Penguin in bed ready to sleep.
On the last day, we woke up raring to go home. Our trip was tiring yet I didn’t feel like I did anything too amazing. I felt my trip lacked culture. All we did were go to a couple of malls and eat non-Japanese food. What’s so Japanese about that? Still, I was optimistic for this last day as Miko said we were gonna go sightseeing.
First was Tokyo Tower. Meh. Kind of like an Eiffel tower. It was a gloomy, rainy day and you couldn’t see much from the top.
They had a look-down window which scared the crap out of me. It made me nervous just to stand on it. I’m deathly afraid of heights.
The most interesting thing I discovered was this ornament tree where you hang wishes of love. I found two kilig messages.
Souvenir Shopping. Can you believe they have Hello Kitty Dried Squid? Weird.
It was really cold but I couldn’t resist buying ice cream. They don’t have Baskin N Robbins in the Philippines anymore.
We rushed to the Asakusa temple afterwards. It was a gorgeous temple, very impressive. We had to partake in the customs prior to entering.
1) Wash hands and mouth with water from this specific fountain.
2) Fan holy smoke into our faces to heal us.
In short, I was washed and barbecued. After which, I smelled nice and roasty. At least, I was temple-ready.
Creepy Terra Cotta Guards.
Inside the temple.
The best part of this experience was the fortune telling which I will blog about separately. All I can say is I got Best Fortune!!! ๐ Happiness! I danced around like an idiot.
There’s a shopping street in front of the temple which seemed lovely and had many nice things.
I would like a Samurai Sword please.
And a large stuffed Yoshi.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have time!! We only had about 20 minutes to go through this shopping street. This also ticked me off because we wasted time in so many other random places like malls when we could have come here on the first day. What kind of tour operator plans like this? Goodness.
To make matters worse, it was raining and crowded.
Ginormous lantern that is in all the tour books.
So we rushed onto the bus to go to Narita. Since we arrived kinda early, we hit up a nearby mall called AEON to kill time. Again.. time I coulda spent at Nakamise shopping street. But no. I was in another Mall. Sigh.
Matching cold-weather hoodies.
We had our last round of Japanese food…
….and finished it up with some crepes. Yummy.
Mom took a nap on a bench and here’s dad listening to her snore.
We went around the mall but my mom and brother were too tired.
I used my bag for the first time at the Airport.I was so happy ๐
Flavored Kit Kats.
The flight was delayed due to inclement weather. We took off about 3 hours late and arrived in Manila past midnight. We got home past 1 am. Despite its shortcomings, we had a fun trip ๐ I am 5 pounds heavier and ??? pesos poorer because of it but the memories, priceless.
GOOGLE!
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