Places in the City I Want to Visit

Travelling abroad seems to be a very far fetched idea for me right now and for the near future. After all, COVID-19 pandemic is still here. It's okay though. There's already so many awesome places in the city I want to visit! 

1. Belfry Cafe

This cafe can be found in Intramuros, Manila. It is a newly opened cafe with a name that comes from where it is located: the ground belfry of Manila Cathedral. Dining under a huge church bell! Awesome! 

 

 

2. Flower Ranch Cafe

This cafe has been all over my Instagram feed lately and for a good reason! It's such an Instagrammable place in the city to visit! As the name implies, it's not only a cafe but also a flower shop so if you love flowers and coffee, then this place is a must visit! I love coffee and I have recently come to appreciate having flowers (dried flowers) in the house. 

According to their website, they started out as a small flower shop hidden in the middle of a gray and busy highway of Mandaluyong. After a trip to Seoul, the owner got the idea to marry her dream of having a coffee shop with their flower shop and that's how Flower Ranch Cafe was born.

  

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3. Papakape

This glass house cafe is located in Palanan, Makati. I first learned about it through Spot.ph. Papakape is founded on the Filipino phrase, "Papakape ako" or "I'll make you coffee". This small cafe serves unique kind of  signature coffee or tea that's combined with ginger. I wonder how that would taste like?  

 

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4. Hidden Garden

Another place in the city I want to visit is this Hidden Garden located in Lawton, Manila. It's one of the city of Manila's projects that involve open air green space. It used to be a dumping ground and a parking lot. Now it's been rehabilitated and turned into something beautiful! 

The place has a series of pocket gardens, lots of open air place to walk around and there's also a cafe! 

  Photo credit: Tripzilla

5. Presidential Car Museum

I love taking trips to the museum. In fact, pre-pandemic, one of my dearest friends and I were even planning on going museum hopping! The Presidential Car Museum is where you can see the largest collection of historic state cars in the Philippines. This is located in Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City.  

 

 

6. Coffee Shop @ Bonifacio Shrine 

Finally, on my list of places in the city I want to visit is this coffee shop that's also located in Manila. Like the Hidden Garden, I first learned of this place in the news. This coffee place is described as modern meets old. 

 

Tomorrow, it's officially a year since we were put on lockdown. One year has passed and cases have ballooned up again, almost surpassing the peak of our cases last year so I'm staying home as much as I can. For now, these places are just going on my city adventures bucket list. Hopefully when it's safer to go roaming around again, they're still around.  

The Luminary advocacy: Zero waste living

Climate change has been a pressing problem of the world. One of the biggest contributors to this problem has been plastic usage. For so long, we've been encouraged to recycle to reduce our waste. However, recycling is just one way to advocate for Mother Earth. We should also look into reusing. 

That's why I'm more than happy to support the Luminary, a zero waste store that opened a few months ago in our neighborhood.

The store carries a lot of products that can be bought and refilled! You'd also pay less when you bring your own container. They highly recommend that you do! My mom recently one vouchers from our barangay for this store. I was more than happy to come with her for a visit so she could see for herself Luminary's offerings. 

You can also check it out for yourself since I took photos! 

Kitchen and Baking Needs

For your cooking and food condiment needs, Luminary sells soy sauce, vinegar, palm oil and coconut oil. They also have turmeric powder, garlic and onion powder as well as herbs such as dried rosemary leaves just to mention a few. 

Love to bake? Check out their selection of refined white sugar, brown sugar and all purpose flour. If you need toppings for your baked goods, they even carry chocolate droplets.   

The Luminary also sells different types of hulled rice grains. Again, just shop with your own container to help reduce waste!

 

In the mood to cook pasta? Perhaps sopas? Luminary's got you covered with this need too! 

If you don't have enough empty container with you, you can also buy from the store. They also carry various empty containers that can house your liquid or solid purchases. 

Snacks Galore

Is healthy eating one of your resolutions for the year? The Luminary store has a wide array of healthy snacks for you to choose from like garlic peanuts, roasted almonds and trail mix. They also have champoy and sweet dilis. 

 

Got a sweet tooth? Or maybe looking for treats for the kids? Check out these sweet selections! 

Is it only kitchen and snacks that can be found at the Luminary? Absolutely not!

Liquid Refills for Handwashing, Laundry and Dishes 

As we all know hand washing is super important these days. Stock up on your hand soaps at the Luminary! You can choose from lavender, strawberry or green apple scents. Need dishwashing liquid for your dishes or fabric conditioner for your laundry? 1 liter purchase will only cost you Php80 provided you bring your own bottle! 

Don't live near the area? Not to worry! You can also get your Luminary orders by ordering online and you can have it delivered. 

When you support Luminary store, you're not only supporting a local small business. You are also helping to save the only planet we live on. Isn't that amazing? 

The Luminary is located at 2742 Cailles Street, Bangkal, Makati City. 

Your Neighborhood's Deliciously Big Burgers: 100g Burgers

One of my go-to comfort foods are burgers. Who doesn't love a good burger? And when we talk of burgers, there are brands that come to mind instantly like Jollibee and Burger King for the fast food joint burgers; 8 cuts and Shake Shack for the more expensive burgers, and of course there are your neighborhood burgers.

I love a good neighborhood burger! It's a bit more affordable than the fast food joint types and sometimes bigger in size too. At Bangkal, Makati, that's what you'll get when you order from 100g Burgers. I've only recently discovered this neighborhood burger joint located at Estrella street. 

100g Burgers has a space for dine in customers should you wish to take your food there. It's an open air burger place. You can also choose to have your food delivered via Grab. 

100g burgers has a lot offerings! For our order, we ordered Hawaiian burger, 100g burger, double bacon mushroom melt and clubhouse sandwich.

Closer look at our orders

100g Hawaiian burger

100g double bacon mushroom melt burger

100g burger, one of their best sellers 

I have no photo of the clubhouse sandwich since my mother just couldn't wait to eat!😅 But they are all big and delicious! They're also affordable. Their burger prices start at Php75! 

A bonus treat for cat lovers out there when you visit the store, you'd find their adorable cats just lying around. You can pet them while you wait for your order.

This neighborhood burger place is definitely worth checking out so if you live nearby, be sure to try their burgers. You'll not only get to fulfill your burger cravings but you'll also be helping out a small business too! 

 

Review Nail Salon Home Service: VIP Nails Manila

 

There are certain things we used to do that has been badly affected by the pandemic such as pamper me activities like going to a spa for a massage or getting your nails done. Those two things are actually a favorite way of mine to unwind and even though the government has allowed spas and nail salons to re-open, going out for these activities is something I'm not going comfortable with doing just yet with the number of COVID-19 cases continuously rising in the Philippines. 

It's a good thing I found a nail salon that offers home service! I stumbled upon a sponsored ad online about VIP Nails Manila offering nails at home service and was intrigued to check it out. 

On their Facebook page, under About it said: Book with us for a safe, luxurious home service nail spa experience at reasonable prices. And you know what? Their price is competitive with some nail salons I used to go to at the malls! Currently, they service Manila, Makati, Pasay, Mandaluyong, BGC and Taguig. 

Booking a Service

Booking a service from VIP Nails Manila was very easy. I simply reached out through the Send Message button on their pinned post. They are very responsive. 

I set my appointment date and time; told them the service I wanted to avail (a signature foot spa with pedicure) and filled out their booking form so my order could be processed. My invoice/confirmation was issued after awhile. 

Payment

They offer various payment methods such as bank transfer, GCash or COD. 

Safety First

VIP Nails Manila nail artisans are transported by a company service vehicle to their respective appointments so the employees have less risk of exposure to other people when they venture outside for work. 

They also wear PPE gear with mask and face shield when they arrive at your place. As for their tools, they sanitize them before use and after use as well.  

The Experience

On the day of my appointment, VIP Nails Manila community manager reached out to me an hour before my set appointment time to let me know the arrival status of the nail artisan assigned to me. They are usually right on time for the appointment and if in any case they are running late, you would be informed as is the case of what happened to me during my second appointment with them. 

When the nail artisan arrives, she'd come with a huge trolley travel bag which had all the tools we would need for my nail spa session which includes her foldable chair and thermos bottle. All I needed to provide was water and the electrical outlet where she could plug the thermos to boil water. 

Even with VIP Nails Manila's safety precautions, I also added a couple more to it by having my nails done outdoors, specifically our garage area and I wore a mask as well during my appointment. 

 

I like that VIP Nails Manila had a standby hydrogen peroxide that the nail artisan uses when she's already on the part of cutting out dry skin from my big toes which usually falls victim to wounds. The hydrogen peroxide is antiseptic so it helps to prevent growth of disease causing micro organisms in case a cut does unfortunately wound you. As someone who's had a really bad experience with getting nails done (I had a big toe that got wounded and infected a few months before trying out their service), seeing that they use hydrogen peroxide helps put me at ease.

So far though I've been lucky that the nail artisans I've had assigned to me had light hands so my big toes are safe! They also seem very well trained and knowledgeable enough about the service they provide. I've been a regular customer  since the first time I've tried them and all  my experience with them was nothing but good! 

Samples of their Finished Work

If you are looking to get your nails done at home, I recommend you try them out! You're gping to really feel like a VIP with their service.

VIP Nails Manila

https://www.facebook.com/vipnailsMNL   

http://instagram.com/vipnailsmnl 

    

 

Photo Credits: Cover photo and logo are from VIP Nails Manila Facebook page