Resto Review: Marina (Trinoma)

Love seafoods? Love authentic Filipino food? Try Marina. Marina serves homegrown Ilonggo food, and I'd say they will give you a run for your money.

It was my brother's birthday yesterday, and as part of the celebration, the family (along with my other brother's family and in-laws - talk about Filipino concept of family :-) ) met at Trinoma Mall for lunch.

We tried Marina, located at the ground floor of Trinoma mall, and we just loved the food.

For appetizer, we tried their Crispy Crablet. They served us very fresh, and fleshy crablets. A little bit spicy, but very yummy.

I highly recommend their Seafood Kare-kare. It is a different version of the regular kare-kare, but personally, this is much better. It has crabs, shrimp, fish, and squid in it. An order would cost Php280.

Pork Sisig is another favorite. Very crispy, a bit spicy, and very tasty. For only Php199.00.

For noodles, we have tried Bam-I, cooked with shrimp, squid and vegetables. Yum.The family also loved their grilled squid, which was cooked just right.

Marina offers various set meals for group diners. We placed 2 orders of Set C, a set meal for groups of 6. For a little over a thousand pesos per order, you get Set C, composed of the following: crispy crablets, sinigang na isda (fish with sour soup), lechon kawali, inihaw na pusit (grilled squid), bam-I (noodles), 6 glasses of iced tea and rice. We just added pork sisig and seafood kare-kare.

Marina prices their goodies very reasonably. There were 10 of us, and we paid only Php2,900. For that generous serving and great taste, I'd say, you really get value for your money.

Oh, by the way, they also offer buffet merienda con lunch. It's an eat-all-you-can treat for only P99.00 from 2pm to 5 pm. Will surely try it one of these days :-)

Cebu and a Piece of History

One of the biggest metropolis in the Philippines, Cebu is very accessible to local and foreign tourists. It has an international airport, and Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific fly to and from Cebu several times in a day.



Despite being a metropolis, it has maintained “balance”. It is a mixture of the laid back country lifestyle, and a buzzing city life. It has all the amenities of a city – big malls, big hotels, night life, and a whole array of eating places, yet the pace remains "country"-like, which is part of its charm.



I was there on a business trip, and managed to find sometime to explore the place. We stayed at the Marco Polo Plaza Cebu hotel and I would say that the level of service that they provide, remains consistently high. The place is very cozy, although a bit far from the center of the city. They have a nice pool, jacuzzi, a cozy lounge and a spacious guest rooms. We likewise hosted a cocktail in the same hotel- and their service was perfect, as always!



On different nights, we tried the different dining places and our favorite, and I would recommend you to try, are Alavars and Golden Cowrie both located along Salinas Road. If you love grills, try AA Barbeque, where the price is very reasonable and the food is really good.

I also recommend you to try the spas in Cebu, not only are they good, but price is a lot less than what it costs in Manila. We tried Royal Spa along Salinas Road, and for PhP350, we got 1 1/2 hours of full body massage and 1 hour of foot spa. What a treat!

We found a bit of time to explore the city after all our meetings and workshops. We visited the Taoist Temple .It is located inside Beverly Hills. Here is where the Taosists (mostly Chinese) go to worship their God. It is a beautiful and serene place to visit. And I'd say, it felt like China in there. :-)



Next place we visited is an old church originally built in the 1500s (but the present structure was built in the 1700s), the Basilica de Sto. Nino. It has this very beautiful , antique, “golden” altar, which houses the different images of saints. It was difficult to take pictures though because it was a Sunday and the church was very crowded. After praying, we went to light some candles outside.



We then went to the kiosk outside the Basilica, which houses the cross that Magellan planted in the 1500s (the place is simply called "Magellan's Cross"). Magellan, who was the first European to come to the Philippines in 1521, made friends with Rajah Humabon, who was then the ruler of Cebu. They became friends and Rajah Humabon and his tribe converted to Catholicism. The cross was planted to symbolize the significance of this event. The original cross is now encased in a tindalo wood to protect it from people who chip it away for souvenirs.While in the kiosk, you would observe a number of old ladies performing rituals, which ranges from lighting joss sticks or candles, to dancing with an image of the Sto. Nino. Vendors tend to crowd the place as they sell all sorts of things to tourist.



Sad to say, the weather did not allow us (as this was the time of typhoon Frank) to explore the different beaches and islands. But I will definitely be back to explore Moalboal, Camotes and the other islands and beaches of Cebu.

Day 4-5: San Pedro, Romblon Island

October 23, 2008. With all my interviews done, I had the privilege to sleep in today. We worked a bit in the office in the morning and then went out to lunch at the famous "The Port". (By its name, one would think it as grand as "The Fort" in Metro Manila :-) ). The Port is a small restaurant across the port, that's why the name. They serve Filipino cuisine and their specialty is Bulalo. Big servings, low price, good food. Value for money, totally :-).

After lunch, we went to buy some pasalubong. We bought some marble dolphin shaped paper weight from the market, which are really very affordable.

We went back to the office, did some more work. At 4 pm, we packed up and headed to a beach resort in San Pedro. San Pedro is a bit far and inaccessible so we hired a tricycle to take us there.

We stayed in a private resort owned by Tita Violy, who works in the DSWD of the Romblon Municipality. It is a very nice place. It is a big house where Tita Violy and her husband lives. They rent out two rooms on the 2nd floor of the house for those who want to go swimming. Their house is located in a cove and they have their own little beach. Must be good to own a small beach cove one day! The rooms were big enough, each has its own bathroom and the owners were very accomodating. They even provided us with hot water and coffee in the room.

We went snorkelling again, although I did not enjoy as much this time because the corals appear to be dead in this place. But they have a good view, nice reefs, where I took some pictures of the sunset.

We had grilled fish for dinner and it was yummy.

After pigging out, we went to sleep. This is life! :-)

The next day, I was up early and when I went out of the room, Mike , one of the SIKAT staff was also on his way out. I took a picture of sunrise, and then we walked around and on our way to what they call the guard house (where volunteers camp in at night as they watch out for illegal fishers), we passed by several houses. What caught our attention was this very white, very big house, in the middle of what seemed to be a forest, and overlooking the sea.

When we went back, and as we were served breakfast by Tita Violy, we asked about the house. Apparently, they own the entire property and they lease some parts to some foreigners who build houses on them, with the agreement that after a certain number of years, Tita Violy and family would now own the house. And the white house is one of those houses, and is now their property. The foreigner who leased it used it only for 3 years and has now decided not to come back to the Philippines. Some kind of luck, they now own that house!

They were very accommodating and they toured us around the different houses. If I had the money, I would certainly buy that white house :-). My brother, being able to read my mind sometimes, was teasing me "Ate, let me guess. If you win the lotto, you would buy that house!" It's really beautiful, and grand, and would love to own that if I had 2 million pesos. :-)

We had to leave before lunch. My brother, Mike and Karen went swimming again while I went to pack my things. Then its time to leave. But I would like to say thanks to Tita Violy, for accomodating us. And lucky did we get too, they did not let us pay for the stay.

I would say, hospitability still runs in the blood of the people of Romblon.