CERTIFIED YUMMY!

091511. thursday. 

one of the yummiest days of my college life. HAHA! 

this is one of the few treats in having school projects. most of the time, we hate them. PROJECTS. aside from being time-consuming and energy-draining, they also leave nothing of our parents' money and allowances. but this time though all the cash was dropped, i find it sort of good to be required to do this magazine show 'coz i got the chance to eat at the BESTEST restos in laguna. it always happens. my friends or classmates and i will plan of going and eating somewhere, then we end up not eating anywhere at all. we're good in planning but we suck like hell in doing it. haha! i guess that's just how we really are. haha! that is why i'm pretty grateful we had this day and trip. haha! you know me. i spell food with L-O-V-E. haha!

we have this magazine show with an episode title of CERTIFIED YUMMY. from the title itself, you can already tell what we're talking about. FOOD. what else will it be? haha. it's something everybody in our group (me, mame, liez, jamie, tapang, camille, hanawoods, and ate girl) enjoys. we were all ready to spend for this project because we knew that the money we'd spend would still all go to our stomachs in the end.  

for this day, we had three stops. LILIW, BAY, SAN PABLO. ARABELA, KAMAYAN SA PALAISDAAN, SULYAP. thinking of these places already hungers me so much. you can't blame me 'coz all these restos were highly recommended not only because of their sumptuous menu but also because of the uniqueness that each restaurant possesses. 

first stop. ARABELA in liliw. it was actually my second time to dine there. first time was during another project, a travel magazine, for another subject. haha! they specialize in pizzas and pastas.  this fact makes me go insane. haha! what's unique about Arabela is its position. the very place where the resto stands is actually the "silong" of the owner's home which means that the resto has a very low ceiling. if you have a height taller for a normal filipino, you might just have to bow your head a bit as you get there or else you'll get your head bumping to the ceiling (of course, you don't want that to happen). haha.

we ordered one deluxe pizza, carbonara, fetuccine, alfredo, lasagna, and another which i don't know the name (i forgot the name of jamie's pasta). it was only the first in the list but we were already feeling full. pizza and pasta are really pretty heavy for the tummy. they also offer cakes and desserts. just looking at them while they were on display made me drool all the more. we also had the interview with the owner who is very kind, accommodating and approachable. learned a lot about Arabela from that man.

the restaurant is just small compared to others we know. the inside of the resto is quite colorful. the paintings hanging on their walls add up to the colorfulness of it.the atmosphere there is very laid back. it's a place where you'll really feel like staying for a good chat with friends while having a great share of pizza. 

the original plan was to go next in Kamayan. but due to our tiredness and a bit of ignorance, we went to the wrong resto. its name is ISDAAN. we thought it was Kamayan because it is also a floating restaurant according to the description in its signage. we were all wrong.

Isdaan is still under construction and will soon open on the tenth of october. but since we were already there, we took the courage to ask if we could check out the place. luckily, we were allowed to get in! damn! Isdaan is so so big! when i say big here, i don't just mean the restaurant and the land it covers, but also the displays, figures, and statues constructed there! they are all literally big! haha! we were all overwhelmed with what we saw. one of us (not sure if it's tapang or liez) even said that god has a purpose why we were brought there. we were all somehow thankful that we went to the wrong place 'coz if not, we wouldn't be able to discover this new haven in laguna. haha!


Isdaan is not just a floating restaurant, it is also a park of some sort. for me, it was some kind of thai inspired 'coz of the huge buddhas (if they really are buddhas) and other figures there. aside from buddhas, they also have funny figures like erap and cory, huge crocodilesssss, huge eggs that remind us of iglot (hahaha!), and spider-man ready to jump from the top of a structure there. the workers are still finishing the angry birds figures (that's how updated they are. haha). there is also this biggest figure in the restaurant, KING KONG! he rests there in the middle of Isdaan. he's so huge, hell HUGE that you can't help but notice it! haha! very cool. the resto also has different sections. there's this pad lock my love booth (not sure of the exact name), there's this tacsiapo booth, there's this binwitan bridge and a lot more! haha! it's like you won't get bored when you get there 'coz there are lots of things to do and things to see. even without seeing it fully done, you can already say how big they have spent for the restaurant. and if ever the food would cost more, there's no question about it. they have worked hard to offer the people another great place in laguna.

since we were already there, we made the most out of it. we used the place for the shoot of jamie's hosting. haha! hell yeah. the employees were kind enough to let us shoot. haha! why not maximize the use of things that are already in front of you. haha!

KAMAYAN SA PALAISDAAN in bay. when we got there, we directly said that we'd  have an interview, then we ordered after. we had SINUGNO! haha. at first some of us thought it was sinuglo, sinungho and other wrong pronunciations until the waiter told us it is Sinugno. haha! Sinugno is grilled tilapia with real coconut milk. it is the bestseller according to their waiters. while waiting for the food, we started shooting again. Kamayan is known for being a floating restaurant. also, you get to catch eels or fishes from the palaisdaan. haha! when Sinugno arrived, we were all happy 'coz we thought that that P250 Sinugno consists of only one tilapia. we were wrong. they are actually three! hooray! haha! sinugno and rice eaten with only the bare hands, it's perfect! haha! the feeling was very homely. haha! it's like you're eating with your family in that native floating kubo. haha!

our stomachs were unbelievable! haha! pizza, pasta, tilapia, then rice?! what the fuck was that? haha! are we still humans? haha! while eating, we were all laughing because of mame's funny words, actions and jokes. haha! right after eating, they had the interview. we were in a hurry then because we still have to travel back to san pablo for another food trip. haha!


the last stop for the day was SULYAP in san pablo. it was actually the first restaurant we visited. but as suggested by the owner, we went to the other restos first 'coz he said that the view of sulyap is way better in the evening with all the lights on where you can really experience a different feel of the place. when we were there, we were all so happy.  "A Taste of the Past," its tagline says it all. the restaurant itself was an ancient house built during the 40s (i am not sure. haha). all the sets of antique furniture displayed were part of the owner's collection. i find it cool 'coz most of the antique items i saw there were all new to me. ironic, right? haha! there were these old school telephone, coffeemaker, pictures, and saint figures. it's as if you were brought by a time machine to the 40s to 80s era. amazing! haha!

talking about the food, we had fiddlehead fern salad and KULAWONG TALONG. damn! most of the ingredients of both were veggies. i am not into veggies ever since. but this time. yes, this time! i enjoyed them too much. KULAWONG TALONG was the best! can't get over the taste. you won't know you're eating veggies unless somebody tells you so 'coz it really tastes like meat. o god. haha! i wanna go back there and eat kulawo again! o man. haha!


aside from the resto, Sulyap also has a bed and breakfast which we were not able to visit 'coz they have guests there in the moment. hehe. they also have this museum of everything "old." we were privileged to get inside for free and be accommodated by the owner himself. as we enter, we were welcomed by all the antique items, from the old school iron which is used with charcoal, old school makinilya or typewriter, lamps, weighing scales, big old sungka, cabinets or aparadors, vintage lamps, up to the  old school inidoro and more. he has a lot in his collection which only tells how much and how long he has been investing for these things. hehe.

i can say that this day is one delicious day indeed. it was the first time i did this travel-eat-laugh cycle. i wish this will happen again. i wish we'll have more. i wish! haha! it's a way of pampering yourself just when everything around you seems so chaotic. and it's a way of finding a chance to lighten a load put in your shoulder. we had the chance to have fun by traveling and indulging ourselves with tasty food in a project given to us.


but wait, we are not yet done with this. sunday is gonna be another yummy day. exotik restaurant, be ready for us! hahaha!