ABCT Japanese Restaurant, Sakura Circle, Antipolo City

I've written about the limited options for authentic Japanese food in upper Antipolo. It's really a good thing that Ramen Nagi is now open and soon Marugame Udon, too, at Robinsons Antipolo. There's supposed to be another Japanese-themed ramen place to open at that mall but I haven't heard of it (and can't even remember its name as I write this). As we've been purchasing items at the nearby ABCT Japanese Store, we spotted their izakaya at the same compound/food court. We've heard about this but don't have close friends who've eaten there who could give a nice review. And so one lunch time, we decided to go out with our daughter (whose was schooling from home then) to try the restaurant. It did not disappoint.

Set lunches on the menu

Sashimi selection among others

Makimono

The restaurant interior reminded me of izakayas in Japan. The only thing missing are tatami tables and rooms.

The karaage set feature chahan (Chinese style fried rice), ramen (with your choice - tantanmen, tonkotsu, miso or spicy) and sweet squash for dessert.

The ebi fry set is the same except for the central item.

Price-wise, we thought that it was reasonable for very good quality, authentic Japanese food. There's just so many items on the menu to choose from that you cannot possibly try so many unless you're in a big group. We'll be back for more and to try other items.  Tops on my list would be the sashimi and teppanyaki but some time I will probably try their unagi. Until the next time!

-

Lunch at Souv by Cyma, The Podium

The wife and I had some errands one weekday a few weeks ago and decided to have lunch at The Podium in Ortigas Center. It was a rainy day and the lunch break afforded some respite from driving in heavy rain. We also wanted to wait it out until the weather improved before driving home. Instead of our usual go-to place (Wild Flour), we decided to walk a little and see what other restaurants we can eat at. We ended up at Souv by Cyma, located at the 3rd Floor of the building. We shared an order of salad, their lunch plate special that week and a single pork chop.

Our Cyma Roka Salata was perfect!

Here's the salad from another angle.

We shared this lunch special that already included chicken, beef kebab, tomatoes and rice

Their lunch plate did not disappoint

The one piece of pork chop fit well with our lunch plate.

We love Mediterranean food and this for us is an example of a perfect lunch.  We hope to eat there again soon.

-

Chocolate review: Van Houten 52% Cocoa Almonds

The I am familiar with Van Houten because it is produced one of my favorite drinks. I regularly bought their chocolate drink in cans whether it was hot or cold (depending on the season) when I lived in Japan. They also had a powdered chocolate that I had at my home there for my morning beverage. While I have seen their brand on products related to baking, it was my first time to see their chocolate bars in the supermarket.

This bar from Van Houten has the classic mix of chocolate and almonds.

Details about the chocolate at the back of the package

Nutrition information

The ingredients list includes their statement that the chocolate contains at least 52% cacao. The info also states that this chocolate is produced in Indonesia.

This was a good, enjoyable chocolate bar and one I wouldn't mind buying again. It is not labeled as a dark chocolate but the information on the package indicates it as a dark chocolate. While it also doesn't say that this is the 'bitter' variety, it states the chocolate as 'semi sweet' and has a slogan of "be bold, more cocoa" that basically classifies itself as a dark chocolate. It is not pricey for a 140g bar and will satisfy one's craving for a good dark chocolate.

-

Raging Bull Burgers, BGC

A highlight of sorts of our recent 'staycation' is being able to try something new for our meals. I've heard about Raging Bull Burgers from friends

The sign inside the resto sets the tone

 

Our burgers and fries

Customers can watch as the burgers are grilled and eventually assembled into their orders

There was a steady stream of customers, both dine in and take-out, the evening we decided to go for burgers for dinner.

 

The burgers were great! They actually reminded me of a couple of burger joints in San Francisco, CA where we also got great burgers. Great in terms of quality (taste, texture, etc.) and quantity (we shared the one burger for dinner (we also had fries) and took home the other. While frequent burger meals are not healthy (and I don't recommend it), this is a burger one may look forward to eating again soon.

-

Gezuki Japanese Restaurant, Marcos Highway, Antipolo City

There's a hidden gem of a Japanese-themed restaurant in Antipolo, Rizal. I thought it was inconspicuous in its location but spotting it many times along my commute, I couldn't help but be curious if its worth a visit and a meal. One evening, we did end up eating there as we traveled home from commitments in Quezon City. Gezuki Japanese Restaurant is located at the Max Fill gas station along Marcos Highway. It occupies the ground floor of the commercial building at the service station together with Big Al's, Pomodoro (another under the radar resto) and Kurimi.

Tuna sashimi

Sushi roll

Gyudon

Chicken teriyaki

I think the restaurant being located at a somewhat obscure service station along Marcos Highway in Antipolo makes it somewhat a "worst kept secret" in the city. The location is near SM Masinag so people will more likely go to the mall rather than make a stop at the station. I'm not sure if they get a lot of customers or if they're on Grab or Panda. But I hope they get more customers and maintain their business.

-

Commemorative watch - Laika, the first dog in space

The story of Laika, the first dog in space, is a tragic one. I will not write about it here as you can easily Google the story for the official version and the various other ones including those with insights and assessments of the situation. Instead, I feature a commemorative watch that I first thought was Made in the USSR but from some research revealed to be French or Swiss Made given some of the features of the watch including the movement.

Wrist shot the first time I got the watch back in 2018. The watch came with a leather nato strap.

The watch features numeric hour indices, syringe hands and a sub dial.

Another wrist shot

Close-up of the textured dial showing the sub-dial and the logo of a dog (Laika). There is no indication on the dial if this was Swiss Made or Made in the USSR.

Inside the watch is a AS Cal. 1130 movement that runs at 18,000 beats per hour and has a potential 41-hour power reserve. The caliber dates the watch to the 1960s. I was actually surprised about this because I expected a Soviet caliber movement inside as this was a commemorative watch for their space program. I assume that the movement has been changed while retaining the case and dial.

The back also bears the likeness of the dog and even has a serial number.

This is basically a novelty in as far as watches go. The caliber is one you will find in many inexpensive watches from the time and even now. It has a nice dial and runs well so it is a keeper for now.

-

Background music and a vintage gadget

Whenever I decide to listen to music while working, I usually opt to get my CD player and choose one of the favorite CDs from my collection.  While I can go for Apple Music or Spotify, I still go "old school" with my CDs. There's the radio, of course, but I usually listen to it while driving. And I like surfing the stations I've saved so I can select the songs. Radio stations have breaks and commercials/advertising and a couple of stations that usually have my type of music are government-owned and run by a religious group, respectively.

I play J-Pop from time to time on my Discman (rebranded as CD Walkman). The J-Pop albums I bought when I was in Japan seem to take me back in time - to a less complicated time. These are sentimental favorites for me.

I like to play my CDs so I know they are still in good shape. Fortunately, most of my collected CDs are of high quality and have survived 20+ years. 

-

Chocolate review: Cachet Dark Chocolate Almonds & Sea Salt

Our daughter asked me if she could taste the Zebra chocolate in the ref. I replied that I didn't know there was a Zebra chocolate there. It turned out that they bought this Belgian chocolate at a nearby convenience store located at a service station where we get fuel for our cars. She was referring to the Zebra prominently featured on the packaging of a bar of Cachet chocolate.

The Zebra exclaims "Go Nuts!"

Details about the chocolate found in the back of the packaging

Ingredients - this chocolate claims to have 57% minimum cacao. That places it on the sweeter side of dark chocolates.

Nutrition information

We appreciate it very much that the chocolate helps fund a "cocoa for schools" project. The details are in the inside of the packaging.

The 185-peso price tag for this 180g bar is well worth it. This was a delightful chocolate and shows how almonds and sea salt can mix or blend well with dark chocolate. It is a good thing this chocolate is available at a nearby store so it's easy to get a bar or two to replenish our supplies. We were going to purchase a number of chocolates during our trip but that was not to be and now have to source our chocolates from local stores.

-

Travel interrupted - canceled trip due to Typhoon Paeng

I was supposed to be traveling with my family to Singapore over the Undas long weekend. That did not push through due to the circumstances brought about by Typhoon Paeng. What could have been our daughter's first travel abroad did not materialize and we were left with sunk costs from the tickets we had already bought online for Universal Studios and the Singapore Zoo. We also had to cancel meet-ups with friends in Singapore.

That trip was supposed to be the first time I would be traveling with this world timer - a collab of Seiko and ANA.

The weather was really terrible but somehow some airlines were able to arrive and depart from the airport including this Cathay Pacific flight to/from Hong Kong. We were wondering why ours wasn't able to do so considering we were supposed to be on a big plane that can handle the turbulence.

After being delayed for a couple of hours, this ANA flight arrived from Narita. Our Singapore Airline plane was nowhere in sight. So was the next SIA flight. Flight tracker apps showed these to have been diverted to Clark and we thought there was still a chance to travel that night even though severely delayed, but that was not to be.

The airport announced all flights were canceled just before 6:30 PM. This was a late announcement that some airlines were waiting for. Cebu Pacific apparently had advance information as they canceled all their international flights one after the other around 6:00PM (probably to manage the crowds that would file out of the departure area to reclaim their luggage). We were disappointed that Singapore Airlines did not act immediately and decisively on the matter. We were expecting at least an announcement of when we could expect to be on the next flight. For an airline of their stature, I was also expecting that they could have made arrangements for accommodations due to the great inconvenience brought upon passengers. That was the least they could do if they intended to put us in the next available flight (planes were cleared to operate at 10:00PM that night). Apparently, the typhoon (and its implied acts of nature/acts of God aspect) was also a convenient excuse for the airline (and others, too) to practically abandon their passengers. 

Of course, we later received a series of emails from the airline informing us that we were rebooked to flights the following day. I say 'flights' here because these the first email informed us of a flight at 10:00AM. A subsequent email then said we were to be in a 12:00 flight. A third then said that we were to be on a 2:00 PM flight. We got to read these emails around 7:00 AM the following day as they were sent overnight when we were already occupied in finding accommodations during inclement weather. Flabbergasted, we decided to request a refund instead of re-booking and rescheduling our trip. It was already difficult to reschedule as there weren't any weekends long enough remaining this 2022 and this Undas was the ideal time for a getaway. We'll try again another time.

-

Antipolo to any point... bus service to Bicol, Samar, Leyte and Bohol

Today is November 1 and the peak of the Undas holiday when people typically travel to their hometowns to visit and commemorate those who passed away. In the past, this has been an exodus for the big cities like Metro Manila where most people likely originated from other provinces and maintain close links with their hometowns. It is a common sight for the bus terminals, airports and seaports to be crowded this time of year and prior to November 1 as people travel home. This year is probably the most crowded in many years considering the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted travel the last 2+ years.

And so it seemed appropriate that Robinsons Antipolo announced the daily trip schedule for provincial destinations for the transport terminal at the mall. These are for destinations in the Bicol region and the Visayan Islands of Samar, Leyte and Bohol. These will likely travel via Rizal's "backdoor" through Teresa, Morong, Tanay and Pililla and proceed through the Laguna towns of Pangil, Pakil, Paete, Lumban and Pagsanjan, before going through Quezon province via Luisiana, Lucban towards Lucena. From Lucena, the trip will then take the usual routes through Bicol. Here is the posting from the Robinsons Antipolo Facebook page:

 

There are three bus companies serving the routes mentioned above and as shown at the bottom of the poster. While I am familiar with the routes in Bicol (I have experienced traveling by bus all the way to Gubat, Sorsogon, which is my mother's hometown and where we have many close relatives.), I have not experienced crossing to Samar via Matnog. I have been to both Samar and Leyte and have crossed the San Juanico Bridge many times so I know how long those trips can be. The highways now are better and I assume the buses offer more comfortable rides so its the ferry (RORO) crossing between Matnog and Allen that will be the slowest and perhaps most uncertain part of the trip. I say uncertain because if the weather is not good, the coast guard will halt the ferry services. I was surprised there was a connection to Bohol. That is not a short trip from Leyte to Bohol. And I was expecting a service to Cebu instead, which was closer and had regular ferry services between Leyte and Cebu islands. I don't know about the demand for these services or routes. I hope these are sustainable and sustained as it offers an alternative for people residing in Rizal and nearby areas who want to go to Bicol, Samar, Leyte or Bohol via these routes.

-