Straight from our Tagaytay trip, our van from Taal Vista Hotel took us straight to Quezon City’s Maginhawa Street to check out The Wander Space, a travel-related café right in the middle of Quezon City’s premiere food hub. Together with my traveler friends, tired as we were, we cannot be more excited, our destination was right within our alley.

THE WANDER SPACE CAFE AT THE THIRD FLOOR OF MAGINHAWA’S BUILDING #80

Located on the third floor of the eponymous Building #80, right beside the famous bookworm hangout Bookay Ukay, The Wander Space blends café culture with travel. Put up by Kim and Bam, two young entrepreneurs who are themselves true blue travelers, one can immediately feel that this is a passion project upon entering its wood-framed glass door.

Besides beer, coffee is the next best beverage for me. I’m not the grind-your-own brew, nor the sip-your-hundred-peso-fancy-coffee type—I like my 3-in-1’s. Sacrilege it may seem, but yes, I like my instant coffee. Well, okay, sometimes, I do indulge with a Venti of Frappucino at Starbucks, granted that it’s free. I collect Starbucks Icon Mugs and I usually buy them using Starbucks cards, which gets you a free cup of coffee. Cheapskate, I know.

STARBUCKS DOWNHILL TAGAYTAY

During our recent staycation at Crosswinds Tagaytay, it just so happens that I have a couple of cards with free drinks with me. So, on our way home, instead of dropping by the Bulalo Stalls at Mahogany Market like we usually do, we instead went to one of the newer Starbucks Coffee in Tagaytay.

For desserts, we headed to another sidestreet along Lacson Avenue. Next on our Bacolod gastronomic tour was Calea’s sweet cakes.

We attempted to eat at Calea the previous year we visited Bacolod but was dissuaded because the place was packed full. This time, the place was still jampacked but we were really determined to taste the cakes they offer. So, we braved the crowds and found us a seat at the back part of the restaurant.

Calea was not that large and it was pretty cramped inside. The crowd was on the younger side; students and yuppies mostly. The café buzzed with lively conversations.

We were still a bit full from our lunch at Sweet Greens Deli Cafe so we decided to just share a piece of cake.

Baguio City has the perfect weather for al fresco dining, but it’s even more perfect for outdoor drinking. Before discovering 108 Session Road Café, Bohemian Café was our go to place when we wanted a bucket of beer in the City of Pines.

BOHEMIAN CAFE’S AL FRESCO AREA

Located at the corner of Lower Assumption and Session Road, its setting is perfect for people watching. We’d usually sit ourselves on its outermost wooden table, almost kissing the sidewalk, before ordering our favorite drink, Red Horse Beer. The street intersecting Session Road is busy enough for an entertaining afternoon session. And yes, we usually frequent this place during the daytime, 108 Session Road Café being still closed during those hours.

I don’t like sweet things but sometimes I just have to give in, especially if everyone in your group wants to have desserts right after meals. And so it went that after our fantastic Asian lunch at the Mian Restaurant in Marriott Manila, we—or should I say—my companions hurriedly trotted to the nearby Crema café right at the lobby of the same building. I slowly followed, nursing my still full tummy.

THE PERFECT PLACE TO LOUNGE ABOUT, PREFERABLY WITH A GOOD BOOK

CREMA’S SWANKY INTERIORS

Crema opened last 2014 and is located on the ground floor left wing of Marriott’s Grand Ballroom. The place opens right up to the lobby and is tastefully furnished with comfortable loungers, chairs, and low tables. We decided to seat ourselves on the less formal built-in couch lining the windows overlooking the streets of Resorts World Manila.

► CHECK OUT: MARRIOTT MANILA STAYCATION

What the heck is NYOrk?! In hushed tones, I asked my seatmate as our van rocketed across the highway from Gapan back to Cabanatuan City. We were on the last leg of our Microtel Cabanatuan Nueva Ecija tour and we’re gonna eat again, this time at NYOrK. NYOrK?

INSIDE NYORK CAFE IN CABANATUAN

This was becoming more of a food trip by the minute than a provincial tour, but my friends don’t mind. Cabanatuan City has been surprising us with one excellent restaurant after another, so, I really don’t mind too.

And before dinner, we finally parked at The Podium, a two-storey modern building set in the quiet neighborhood of Kapitan Pepe. Hello NYOrK, we finally meet (and where’s Bjork, by the way?).

► CHECK FOR CHEAP HOTEL RATES IN CABANATUAN

Is there a legit coffee shop here in Dagupan? C asked M who’s been the resident blogger of the city. Hmmm… There’s a newly opened Starbucks here, but you probably don’t really want that. I know just the place.

Still not knowing where to go next, we decided to regroup and have some chill moments first at a café somewhere within the city.

From Hotel Le Duc, we rode a tricycle and alighted at a stately building just a few minutes from our hotel. It didn’t look like a coffee shop at all. From a winding and carpeted spiral staircase, we emerged on the second floor where our query awaited, the Yellow Tree Café.

Ranier. Bryan. Erwin. Rick. Mugs scribbled with names line shelves after shelves of an obscure coffee shop inside Iloilo’s La Paz Public Market. From mugs painted in plain whites to colorfully printed ones, each ceramic cup is personalized with names of patrons regularly hanging out at Iloilo City’s Madge Café.

Our group has just finished bowls of  steaming batchoy at La Paz’s legendary Netong’s Batchoy. Everyone’s full, but wanted to relax a bit more before heading back to Days Hotel Iloilo, our lodging of choice for our stay in Iloilo City.
 
”Let’s have coffee”, someone suggested. And I immediately remembered a legit café tucked inside that same market.

Please do not consider us gluttons if we were again at a restaurant somewhere in the vicinity of the Baguio City. It just so happens that D of Tracking Treasure was celebrating his birthday and we, of course, have to indulge him as he treated us for a little pre-dinner snack at Choco-Late de Batirol.

I first took notice of this little café when it was still located near the Historical Core of Camp John Hay. We always made it a point to visit the place when in Baguio City even though their dishes are a bit expensive (it ranges from Php160.00 to Php300.00). It was after all their tsokolate batirol, a rich, slightly bitter drink made by manually mixing a concoction of chocolate on a metal jar using a wooden stick, that we were really after.

My drink of choice whenever I visit Baguio City has always been a steaming cup of coffee. Not the expensive café types, but the cheap ones being hawked by vendors along its street corners and parks. There are a lot of these around but there’s nothing like having it served by one of Baguio City’s most curious and original characters, Mr. Hot.

I chanced upon this old school butler-wearing coffee vendor in Burnham Park years before. Daftly dressed in black and white attire, he juggles a concoction of instant coffee like it was an exquisite brew.

We’ve been hearing about a smoochingly good café somewhere around UP campus for quite some time. We’ve always wanted to check it out but due to some reasons, it always doesn’t push thru. And as with such circumstances, the best thing to do is to not plan at all. And sure enough, we found ourselves taking an ikot jeep along UP campus’ shaded avenues one Thursday afternoon looking for the Chocolate Kiss Café.

I am not that familiar with UP and finding it was not easy. We knew that it was located somewhere along the university’s Bahay ng Alumni so we simply asked our manong driver to drop us near that area. After a few questions for directions, we finally found the famed café at the building’s ground floor.

Three days certainly wasn’t enough to fully appreciate the ecological metropolis that is Singapore. But the choice was not mine to make and on the morning of our third day, we reluctantly boarded our tour bus for the last time and headed to Changi International Airport for our flight back to Clark.

Singapore’s Changi Airport is certainly one of the prettier air hubs I’ve seen. Considered as the main entry point of the country, it is massive compared to any of our airports in the Philippines. The facilities are very modern; well I guess it wouldn’t have won almost four hundred awards since it opened in 1981 if it were not.

One of the more expensive hauls I got from my recently concluded Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao runabout were these ceramic mugs from Starbucks Coffee, one of the most famous café in the world; and Boracay, one of the most celebrated and commercial beach in the world.

I knew that I wouldn’t be hurrying back to Boracay so soon after this jaunt, considering how underwhelmed I was about the place; so I also brought the mini demitasse mugs along with the standard Boracay Global Icon City Mug in one go.

The night was young and the stars were barely visible across the darkening sky. Two tricycles ripped across the dark streets, careening through deserted lamp-lit roads towards some good times; Dipolog City’s Goodtimes Café that is.

An aging ancestral house surrounded by a thousand-square of overgrown garden was our destination. Galeria Indelecio its archway scrawled. An empty wrought iron chair stood guard across the portal, but I suspect an invisible sentinel protecting it, for the world beyond seemed so much different from ours.

Restreto Inn and Café is my introduction to Dipolog City. After several days on the road, transferring between land and sea crafts innumerable times, we finally arrived at our destination.

Our tricycle roared into the night after our final ferry from Dumaguete City. And after a bit of hunting, we finally located Restreto Inn. I was expecting we’d see the hotel as we pass the road but it was snugly nestled in a corner of a gas station off the edge of town. After a bit of asking around, we finally found the elusive inn.

“You’re going off to Dumaguete? Don’t forget to try their sans rival and bring home some silvanas too!” That seems to be the tag line for someone off to see the Land of the Gentle People and we’re not exempted. I’m really not a lover of sweets but the fervor for this certain Sans Rival in Dumaguete was such that I was wont to try it, well, at least just once.

Opened in 1977 by Trinidad Teves Sagarbarria, Sans Rival has always been one of the most popular places to eat out in Dumaguete City. I cannot get past a forum discussing the city without its name getting mentioned.

The small pastry shop is located on a quiet niche in the city, away from where most of the restaurants are located. Its façade is pretty unassuming; azure colored walls, dark windows, an awning with their name and that’s it.

Christmas season is almost upon us and I've been meaning to attend Pampanga's Giant Lantern Festival for the longest time. Unfortunately work always seems hell bent on destroying my plans and this year's no exception.

So... to compensate for another year of lost opportunity, I guess it would be better that I post the closest thing I'd have to the Giant Lantern Festival which is my Pampanga Starbucks City Mug. Sheesh baduy, right? Well, it's definitely better than nothing haha.

I bought this mug months back during my misadventure at the Candaba Swamp and didn't feel like posting an article about it yet since Christmas was still a long way off. I was also thinking I'd time it with my Giant Lantern Festival post which is actually now non-existent.

I distinctly recall having attended a Giant Lantern Festival during my grade school days years back at the Paskuhan Village in Pampanga. I'm not sure if the current festival is still being hosted there or if it even still exists, but the experience was forever etched on my mind.

After being cheapskates and eating frugally at a carinderia, we decided to splurge out for our desserts at the newly opened Bag of Beans “Pinoy Toppings” branch near Tagaytay’s rotunda.

We’ve been a big fan of Bag of Beans since way before but we really haven’t tried out their desserts since we’re always too full after our meal. This time, we’re going there for their famous blueberry cheesecake that everyone seems to be raving about.

The interior for this branch is a bit different from the garden settings of the original one, being more Filipino-inspired than eclectic. The hallway leading to the main hall is lined with bamboo finishing and accented by capiz sliding windows.

Inside the main hall, the walls area painted clean white with only a few bronze decors located on a niche. The blank wall is offset by beautifully stained wood trims and furnishing which gives a very cozy and almost Mediterranean feel.

One more notable difference between this new Bag of Beans branches is that it has a grand view of the Taal Lake, something that’s really missing from the old branch. A spacious veranda allows diners to eat while savoring the majestic view of the Taal Volcano.

We initially tried out the veranda seats but it gets pretty hot during the mornings and decided to go back inside. The balcony I think would be perfect for cold cloudy days and during the afternoons.
Now the food, aside from the Blueberry Cheesecake (Php145.00) which we decided to share since we’re still a bit full from Ahy’s tapsilog, we also ordered their Mocha Milkshake (Php145.00).

We were shocked when the milkshake arrived; it was huge and looks very very sinful. It was super sweet and was almost like melted ice cream in texture. Topped with whipped cream and chocolate, it was a sweet tooth’s wet dream. The serving size can be shared for two if you ask me, as it’s really too much sugar for just one person.

The Blueberry Cheesecake looks heavenly on its plate, though serving size was average as cakes go. The flavor is not that sweet which is just perfect for me. The crusty body perfectly compliments the soft blueberry toppings on top. Now, I’m not sure what a real blueberry taste like, but I guess it taste like the toppings on this cake. There’s no doubt why this is a crowd favorite.

After that sinful episode, we checked out their store which were selling chicharons (crispy pork rinds), cookies, tableas, handmade-looking mugs, and of course, coffee beans.

Although the price for dessert was a bit expensive, at least for a cheapskate like me, it was very much worth it. The combination of milkshake and blueberry cake is a diabetic’s nightmare, so I suggest sharing if you must and eating your desserts moderately.

Bag of Beans
Silang Crossing, Nasugbu-Tagaytay Highway
Tagaytay City (Near Olivarez, Tagaytay Rotunda)
(046) 413-2724 | (0920) 954-6370
http://bagofbeanstagaytay.net

One reason I was so excited in revisiting Naga City was because of the (gasp) Starbucks City Icon mugs that I collect. It was gonna be my 8th mug in the series, and there were only 11 of them. Just three more mugs to completion and I can almost hear Tyler Durden say never be complete, haha.

So before going back to Manila, I, along with my cousins dropped by the local Starbucks Coffee in the city after filling our stomachs full of Kinalas (Bicol’s version of Mami) a hole in the wall near the Naga Cathedral.

The mug rack was the first thing my eye hunted for as I entered Naga’s Starbucks. And there it was, a rackfull of orange-colored coffee mugs printed with Naga’s delicacy, the pili nut. I grabbed three mugs like there was no tomorrow before heading to the counter to order some fraps.

Pili (Canarium Ovatum Engl.) is a tree indigenous to the Philippines and it is in Bicol where it is abundantly grown. Most of its produce, the pili nut, are made into snack delicacies and can usually be found in pasalubong (keepsake) shops in the city centers.

I was actually surprised at the icon showcased on the mug, as I thought it would showcase the Penafrancia Festival which is really what Naga is more known for (well, at least for me hehe). Nevertheless, the pili nut, is still a pretty good icon for the city, I guess.

Starbucks Coffee Naga City
Address: Magsaysay Avenue cor. Dayangdang Street
Naga City, Camarines Sur
Bicol Region

I was surprised at the printed icon of Batangas’ Starbucks City Mug. I thought they would probably use coffee beans (kapeng barako) which Batangas is known for, or maybe balisong (fan knife) which is another uniquely Batangueño product, and then there’s also tawilis, a freshwater fish endemic to Taal Lake; but none of my guesses were correct, instead, they have jusi printed on the mug.

I actually had a hard time guessing what the print was; was it a carpet, a tea bag, a trellis in an orchard, perhaps? After much research, it turned out to be jusi, the fabric used in making barong tagalog.

It found later that Batangas, ignorant me, produces one of the finest barong tagalog in the country. With the abundance of pineapples in the area, it should have been a no-brainer.