Owndays in Estancia Mall

One of my favorite haunts currently is Estancia Mall in Capitol Commons. Kim and I absolutely love it there because there isn't that much people milling around. Most of the stores are SSI - they have Pottery Barn, Marks and Spencer, they have Old Navy, and Debenhams.

Kim and I also love eating in Jipan in Estancia. Parking is easier compared to Megamall or Glorietta, easily accessible to Jipan from the parking area, which makes walking to the restaurant easier for me.

One of the most recent shops to open is Owndays. I wasn't quite familiar with the shop - it sells sunglasses and prescription eyeglasses. Since I was due to purchase a new pair of eyeglasses already (I replace my eyeglasses annually) I checked out the place. Prices ranged from PhP 2,990.00 to upwards of PhP 10,000.00. The price, however, is inclusive of the prescription lens already. They also guarantee that the eyeglasses will be done 20 minutes after payment.

Now, usually, I don't get my prescription, it just isn't readily available, even in the most established optical shops that I've purchased from, so I wanted to see if Owndays could guarantee that I would receive my lens within the day.

Kim and went there last Saturday, I brought an old pair of eyeglasses I had so that it would be the basis for my grade - lo and behold, they do have my grade available. It took me longer to choose what frame I wanted to purchase, and I ended up grabbing a pair of Wellingtons for only PhP 3,990.00.

I was so happy with my purchase. Who would've thought that my unique grade would be readily available!

Owndays is a Japanese eyewear brand that was recently established. Their first shop was opened in 2009, and their expansion to other Asian countries in the past couple of years can only be described as aggressive. They don't sell branded eyewear, the glasses that they have are all original designs, manufactured by them, including the lenses. They also collaborate with eyewear designers for some of their pieces.

It's been a couple of days that I've been using my glasses, and I love its weight. It isn't as heavy as my older prescriptions, which may be seen as a con for others, but not having additional weight on my face is definitely a plus for me. Even if it is light, though, the build is just solid. They really have a good manufacturing arm, and the Japanese quality is prevalent in the end-product.

Don't take my word for it though, feel free to visit them in Estancia Mall, and try some eyewear for yourselves.

Owndays Optical Shop

Level 1, Shop 132 Estancia Mall, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City

tel. no. 02.9973061　

Casio Edifice

Kim had been itching to purchase his first watch. We've been going around, window shopping for the right brand for him - nothing too ostentatious, a good solid reputation, Japan movement considering.

When we finally agreed that the best option for him right now was a Casio Edifice, we started looking online and in Time Depot for his options.

The Time Depot in Eastwood was the deciding factor for Casio Edifice. They had a good number of Edifice watches on display, and it was there that we discovered that they were on sale. The prices of the models were as low as PhP 3,995.00. It was in Time Depot in Market! Market!, however, where Kim fell in love with an Edifice watch design, so much so that he quickly purchased it.

Casio Edifice EFR-539D-1A

I was supposed to purchase the exact same model, because I was really gunning for it to be a couples' watch. To our dismay, Time Depot only carries one piece of each model.

It was just yesterday that we were able to visit another Time Depot, in Shangri-la Mall. Now, although they do not have the exact same model, I totally fell in love with this:

Pretty right? I bought it. It isn't quite couples' watch-ish, but its the same layout, only in a different colour. Which really shows that couples can still have their own identities from each other right? They are still individuals after all.

Well, when I got home, I started taking #watchfies of the Edifice, and to my delight, because of the #casio and #edifice hashtags I used, Casio's US Instagram account liked my photo.

Here are more pictures of the watch.

The resolution of my pictures are rather good, because of the 16 megapixel snapper of my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.

It was a pleasant experience shopping in Time Depot, save for when Kim visited the branch in SM Masinag, where the staff were quite rude to him. Would you believe they laughed at him? Very different reception we got from the Time Depots in Eastwood, Market! Market! and Shangri-la Mall. Such a shame actually.

Va Bene in BGC's Central Square Mall

Lunch last Friday with my favourite Serendra resident was in Va Bene. I had already eaten in the Va Bene branch located in Petron Dasmariñas Village before, and this branch opened just last year. I was also able to try their catering service for an event in Serendra last 2014 - Valentine's Day dinner. I was able to meet Chef Massimo and his wife Carolyn, and they were able to help me with the heart's day event in Serendra.

For starters, we ordered Arugula Salad with Chicken Milanese. The salad had a light balsamico dressing. I took a picture of it, but after reviewing it on the laptop, it was quite fuzzy.

We ordered two types of pasta. The first one, which was such a hit with me, was the Veal Cheeks Ravioli with portobello mushrooms, veal juice, and fresh parmesan cheese.

Our 2nd pasta was the Black Ink Tagliolini, which had mixed seafood, marinara, and light tomato cream sauce. We had it topped with fresh ground pepper and minced chilis to give it an extra bite.

Va Bene uses fresh pasta, which made all the difference. Their pasta was just superb. I remember they used to sell fresh made pasta in the branch in Petron Dasmariñas Village before.

We had such an appetite for lunch, because that morning we went to Shaw Boulevard, to Jelly Bellies, for a meeting regarding the party we're organising for April. The theme of the party is Strawberry Shortcake, which is so retro, but apparently has been revamped for 2014-2015.

Please feel free to visit Va Bene in Central Square Mall, and do try their delicious fresh pasta.

Va Bene Pasta Deli
Cinema Level, 3rd Floor
Bonifacio High Street Central Square Mall
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
tel. no. 0917.722.5780

Di Ingon 'Nato Experience aka Cinema One Film Festival SUCKS!

Had a horrible experience last night. From St. Paul University Manila, in  Malate, I went to Makati, then to Shangri-la Mall because I wanted to watch Di Ingon 'Nato.

After braving the almost 1 and a half hour drive, and the horrid winding parking ramp of Shangri-la Mall (seriously, it's like a maze), Danny and I get to the cinema, and guess what, Cinema One changed the schedule of the movie showing from Di Ingon 'Nato to Six Degrees. Seriously, who is the organizer of this Film Festival? When Danny checked on the schedule prior to leaving Makati, it still said in Shangri-la's Cineplex website that Di Ingon 'Nato was still showing.

Seriously, it totally sucked! I mean, who does that? Why can't they adhere to a schedule that has been up for so many days. People actually fixed their schedule and went to great extent just to catch the screening, so why change it hours before the actual showing? The organizers of this film festival suck, big time!

Silver lining, had a good cheap dinner at Mongkok in Shangri-la. Cheap, tasty dimsum will really pick your mood up. And we were able to watch In Time, which was a good movie and we wouldn't have bothered to watch it if not for the circumstances. However, we ended up sitting next to a weird couple in the cinema. I mean, seriously, the guy had to tell the girl everything that was going on in the movie. Can't she understand English? Why bother watching, just read the synopsis in Wikipedia. And that girl had the nerve to step on my aching toe! And she didn't even say sorry!

borrowed from IMDB.com

ARGH! What a horrible experience!

I did realize something, though. I have a new crush. I'm over Brittany Murphy, I'm in love with Amanda Seyfried. She was running around the entire movie... in 5-inch heels! And her character was supposed to be not used to running because she had all the time in the world, and yet that girl could run! And I just loved how she put her gun down when she went to her father's building! Haha! I really love her.

She was running around the movie in these heels!

So the horrid experience brought about good realizations, so okay na rin. Will be calling Shangri-la Cineplex to check if the sucky organizers of Cinema One's Film Festival changed the schedule for Di Ingon 'Nato again. Clean up your act Cinema One.

Dinner at Ma Maison

My friends from A-List Manila (hehe) and I were looking for a place for dinner tonight. Since we were already (or always) in Greenbelt, and I luckily had my Bistro Card with me, I dragged them over to Ma Maison for dinner. Ma Maison used to be Flapjacks, which I adored so much back then, and coincidentally is a Bistro restaurant as well.

Of course, who couldn't resist taking a picture of the food we ordered. Sorry for the quality of the pictures. No, I don't think it should be grainy or whatever because I was using a Nokia N8 when I took these, and the camera is a 12MP snapper from Carl Zeiss. I apologize more if the shots are not professionally taken. Anyway, here's what we ordered.

This is one of the appetizers, Salmon Carpaccio with Alfalfa:

The other appetizer, according to one of the A-Listers was simply dee-vine! It's Camembert Cheese Fritters:

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a picture of the Paella, because as soon as it was placed on the table, everybody just dug in.

Here's a shot of the Seafood Gratin, which was also superb:

And our main course was the Jumbo Burger, which when the waiter was trying to sell to us was accidentally called (by the waiter) a jumbo hotdog. The Jumbo Burger was good for 4 already, and we chose the brown sauce, which according to the waiter was cooked for 28 days (to which I asked, is that 28 days continous? - he never did answer me back).

Dinner was great. A-List Manila will definitely be having dinner there again. Decor was a bit odd for me, although my companions didn't mind the vintage stuff plastered on the wall, or the tablecloth which looked like it came from the 1930s. According to how the waiters introduced the cuisine, Ma Maison is a fusion of Western and Japanese Cuisine (so why is the name of the restaurant predominantly French?).

We ended up getting an almost PhP 400.00 discount because of my Bistro Card, and the bill came to about PhP 475.00 per head (there were about 4 of us), which is the normal Friday night fare I have with friends. 

I ended up seeing Len Bayas, Head Concierge of New World Makati City Hotel, at Bizu that evening too, so all in all, it was a pretty great Friday night dinner. Miss you so much Len!

For everyone's reference:

Ma Maison
Greenbelt 2, Ayala Center, Makati
tel. no. 729.9122

Mall-Hopping in Hong Kong

I am so bad with the names of the malls that I went to in Hong Kong. I will have to get back to everyone with the names of the places. Here are the pictures I randomly took from the malls.

These were like artworks suspended from the ceiling of the hotel which I found so cool because the only time I see suspended stuff in the malls in Manila is during the holidays.

Then, just look how organized the streets are. There's not much traffic getting into the malls, because the basements are like connected to the train system. Damn, I sound like an excited kid.

And here's are random pictures of a cute bridge inside the mall.