Eat All You Can at Grand Majestic Restaurant Cebu

In advance celebration of our friend’s birthday, we got a FREE LUNCH treat at Grand Majestic Restaurant which is located in Grand Convention Center, a walking distance from Ayala Center Cebu. Eating at an Eat All You Can Restaurant is one of these girls’ favorite activity so please don’t be deceived by the fact that their gender is FEMALE.  They will probably bankrupt their date with their huge appetite for food.

After a few minutes of eating, I was already full but these girls just kept going to the buffet table for more.

In spite of the warning sign being placed on all the tables about being charged double for left overs or food sharing, the women weren’t afraid of filling up their plate at all. And yes, these girls did have some left overs but we weren’t charged at all contrary to the restaurant’s promise .

Grand Majestic usually boast serving Peking Duck but we had a Lechon Kawali feast at that time and the rest are mostly Chinese foods. All the foods served were very delicious that friends made plans to come back again.

Eat all You Can LUNCH buffet cost 375 pesos per head excluding drinks. Dinner cost 475 pesos per head if I’m not mistaken.

Laguna Cafe in SM NorthWing Cebu

After our bentusa massage at Langkawi Discovery Spa, we took a jeepney from ParkMall to SM City Cebu for our lunch at Laguna Café. It’s part of our post valentine itinerary in celebration of womanhood, singlehood and lifehood. Oh yeah!

I’ve always thought that Laguna Café is ridiculously expensive but I was wrong. For 8 people, our total bill was only 3540 and since this is a KKB event (kanya-kanyang bayad or Dutch style), my wallet only bled 442.50 pesos. One foreigner guy informed me that he would love to join us 8 women but I frankly told him that unless he is ready to pay the entire bill, this is NEVER a good idea because unfortunately, a lot of Filipinos will always expect to have a white guy pay for EVERYTHING.

So about our lunch, my favorite food was paella and the seafood platter. Paella is one of my sister’s favorite dishes and she kept telling me about this that I became curious. I wanted to be able to relate to her so I suggested that we order paella. I don’t know if paella in Laguna Café is different from what my sister had in Belgium or Spain but the paella that I’ve tried sure was lovely.

Below is our order and the bill receipt…

Lumpia Shanghai 196.43 pesos

Laguna Fried Chicken 191.96 pesos

Crispy Pata 294.64 pesos

Nilagang Baka 218.75 pesos

Pandan Chicken 191.96

Seafood Platter 531.25 pesos

Paella Large 513.40 pesos

Chika-An Restaurant for Filipino Cuisines

In Philippines, it’s the birthday celebrants who usually treat people to a free lunch/ dinner and so last Monday, Racs invited us to a lunch at Chika-an in SM City Cebu. But since Filipinos tend to get offended if they aren’t included in any free food event, Racs requested that nobody should mention that it’s her birthday treat in Facebook. Instead, we are supposedly together to celebrate Chinese New Year KKB (Kanya-kanyang Bayad) / Dutch Style, where people pay their own meal.

Chika-An is one of the many restaurants in Cebu that specializes in Filipino cuisines and it’s one of our favorites too because prices are very reasonable, foods are all delicious and the service is over the top.

Aside from unlimited rice that cost 35 pesos each (0.6 Euro) and drinks, here’s the rest of our order:

Calamares at 155 pesos (2.8 Euro)

Pochero with meat at 320 pesos (5.8 Euro)

Sizzling Squid Ala Pobre at 179 pesos (3.3 Euro)

Mongo Soup at 145 pesos (2.6 Euro)

Baka Caldereta at 198 pesos (3.6 Euro)

Camaron Rebosado at 165 pesos (3 Euro)

Crispy Pata Large at 345 pesos (6.3 Euro)

For 8 people, the total bill was only 2219 pesos or 40 Euro which is a lot cheaper than Gerry’s Grill.

Here are pictures of our “serbisyong publiko” food attendant and the happy eaters…

Birthday Party at Gerry’s Grill Cebu

Our team decided to have a birthday party slash Christmas gathering at Gerry’s Grill and I believe that it was a good choice for venue. Although Gerry’s Grill in SM Cebu Northwing does not accept reservation but I was able to have them arrange the tables and chairs good for 16 people because I got there a few minutes after they’ve just opened.

Our lunch was supposed to start at 10:30 in the morning but most of the people arrived 1-hour late that I find it a torture to be sitting there with lots of foods on the table going cold. I love all the foods in Gerry’s Grill except their Nilagang Bulalo (285 pesos / 5 Euro) so I didn’t bother taking a picture of this soup. I don’t think they can beat Golden Cowrie’s Bulalo in terms of the size of the meat they offer. And because of the typhoon Sendang that kills more than 1000 people in Mindanao, not much seafoods were available that day.

These are our mouth-watering orders with the latest prices from Gerry’s Grill menu:

 Bagoong Rice @ 135 pesos / 2.4 Euro

 Veggie Rice @ 155 pesos / 2.7 Euro

 Beef Kaldereta @ 225 pesos / 3.9 Euro

 Chopsuey @ 175 pesos / 3 Euro

 Crispy Pata Family @ 565 pesos / 9.9 Euro

 Pinakbet @ 165 pesos / 2.9 Euro

 Sizzling Binagoongang Baboy @ 175 pesos / 3 Euro

 Sizzling Blue Marlin 300 grams @ 335 pesos / 5.9 Euro

 Sizzling Gambas @ 225 pesos / 3.9 Euro

 Chicken Lollipop @ 175 pesos / 3 Euro

Except for the crispy pata family size, most of their food servings is good for only 2-3 people. Total bill for 16 people was 5079 pesos or 89.1 Euro.

The best part about Gerry’s Grill which I really love is their lively birthday song offering for the birthday celebrants with a free scoop of ice cream.

Ngohiong – A Student’s Feast

While walking on a casket business with mom, we got around P. del Rosario street but I didn’t get excited at all to see my old school again, University of San Carlos. It’s like, my school is around this area, ok. So what?  What got me excited though is this cheap food place!

Chinese Ngohiong, the home of our favorite meal, ngohiong.

Most of the students doesn’t have lots of money and in fact, my daily allowance then was around 70 pesos only which is used to cover jeepney fare, lunch and snacks. Ngohiong then cost 6 pesos (0.1 Euro) and with 2 puso (rice wrapped in coconut leaves) at 2 pesos each, my lunch was solved already for as low as 10 pesos (0.2 Euro). Truly, a student’s pocket-friendly feast.

Ngohiong now cost 7 pesos and still tastes the same which contains mostly ubod (coconut’s heart??) and some spices rolled together in a lumpia wrapper and of course best eaten with their hot sauce for dippings.