OUR JAPAN TRIP 2015 (PART TWO)

It's the morning of our day 3 in Japan and we will be checking out of HOTEL RELIEF OSAKA to go to Kyoto!

You could say that we were SO sad to leave our hotel!

For some reason, I always feel sentimental leaving a hotel even after just two nights of stay. After all, it DID became a temporary home for us! The little lords share this attitude with me.

OUR JAPAN TRIP 2015 (PART ONE)

Early last year, Andrei came up to me and gave a letter that I thought would melt my heart!

It was a letter asking permission to go to Japan with his Tita Jojit!!! GRRRRR!!!!!

I discovered later on that my Ate Jit and Kuya Jon have been playfully discussing with Andrei that they will be taking a trip to the land of the rising sun. I lovingly learned too that my little lord did not even think of his Mommy and Daddy -- he just wanted to go to Japan with his Tita Jojit and Tito Jon to see JAWS in UNIVERSAL STUDIOS there. Yes. No separation anxiety there. He he he he he he!

The group did not push through that year because THE YAPPY BUNCH went to the US for summer vacation. They finalized that they will be taking the trip the summer of 2015 because my Mom wanted to treat her grandchildren as part of her 70th birthday wish. With that, they were going to invite Mati and my other niece Rocio along. 

HUWEYT A MINIT KAPENG MAINIT!!! Now that doesn't seem right. If my little lords are all going we're going as well!!! I guess my eldest brother Kuya Jay and his wife Karen thought of the same thing because they wanted to come along too!

Wow! A GATDULA siblings trip! This should be fun!

As this was an impromptu trip, I wasn't able to save up for Japan as I normally would for our other travels. Be that as it may, I do have regular savings from my salary and I'm sure "borrowing" a small amount would never hurt. Besides, I told myself, it IS supposed to be my 30th (ahem) birthday. And instead of just spending on myself to commemorate the glorious event, it would be more fun to invest on family memories with THE YAPPY BUNCH. 

Now as this is the first YAPPY BUNCH trip with my brothers and sister, you could just imagine how much I wanted to remember every single second of this travel. Once again I will be blogging an overview of our whole Japan tour (it'll be 4 parts baby YEAHHH!) and also write posts on tourist spots, our restaurant stops, and other interesting stuff you may want to know about this cool country.

Yes, there will be A LOT of posts on Japan. It will definitely be a series. I hope you guys won't block me for it. That is, if you haven't done it already. Tee hee...

Please don't.

So yes! I'm so happy for my bunsoy! Andrei's dream finally pushed through and we are going all going with him!!!!

OMG, watashitachi wa totemo kōfun shite imasu! ! ! ! !

That's Japanese for "OMG! We're so excited!!!"

See? Japan and ERICJAZ FOODIES are meant to be!

 

WE'RE GOING TO JAPAN!

 

This is the first time that the YAPPY BUNCH will be traveling with my brothers and sisters. You could say that the GATDULA SQUAD is complete here.

Minus our parents of course!

 

And we have boarded!

OF BRICK-FIRE STEAKS AND UNO!

One Friday, the little lords fetched me from the office because we will be going to my friend Ann's house for dessert and play. My boys love going to the Virrey's place because they have such a fun time playing with their friends Johans and Jelo.

Of course before going there, we decided to just eat dinner somewhere because we didn't want to bother the Virreys with our big and hungry group. So where to eat? I suggested that we try out BRICK-FIRE (OVEN ROASTED STEAKS AND CHOPS) because it is so near my office and my co-workers strongly recommended the food there. In fact, one of my office mates one time even moaned "Ang sarap ng steak dooon!". Yep! It's true!!! When I mentioned this to my guys, they strongly agreed because they were craving for some meat. Plus, words "steak and chops" instantly made them drool.

So I guess there really is no question about it. When you've got MEN in the family, there should always be STEAK. So, BRICK-FIRE will be our destination for that Friday night!

BRICK-FIRE!!!!

BRICK-FIRE is located at the second floor of the Xavier Residence Building that also has a 7/11 branch in the first floor.

Sorry we were not able to take a picture of the exterior as it was raining heavily that night.

CIRCLES BUFFET (MAKATI SHANGRI-LA HOTEL)

For Father's Day, we decided to have a pre-celebration with the special guys in our lives in CIRCLES, SHANGRI-LA Makati. We figured, it would be nice to honor and treat our "bossings" to acknowledge how great they are in taking care of the kids, washing our clothes, and cleaning the house.

Tee heee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though, since these men have been doing such a great job in taking care of their families, we planned to take them out somewhere special where they will be having an enjoyable gastronomic dinner. If next week their children will be honoring their awesomeness for Father's Day, tonight will be OUR night to tell them how special they are.

And in typical ERICJAZ FOODIES way, it is with FOOD!

NOT something else.

By the way, we still made them pay for it. It's still "Happy Wife, Happy Life" forever you know. No day-off for that.

:P  

CIRCLES EVENT CAFE!

We went to MAKATI SHANGRI-LA HOTEL on a Saturday for our date night. Good thing that traffic was manageable and we were able to get there earlier than the reserved time of  7:00pm.

We decided to have dinner in CIRCLES since their long line of dishes would definitely satisfy our very hungry men. 

OF CRABS, COCHINILLO, AND CHIKA!!!

On my birthday week last February, I received a touching greeting from the husband of Ms. Eileen that it really made my day! When I texted to thank her for it, she said to ask the TAPE Inc., ladies if they are available for lunch on a weekday because she plans to treat us all for crabs and cochinillo.

Of course we're available! Why wouldn't we be? These are crabs and cochinillo we are talking about! Actually, even if we're not available, we'll scrap whatever those earlier plans are to go there!!!!

Oops. I remembered that this is public. JUST kidding! If we have something important to do at work, we'll DEFINITELY do it.

Whew.

Anyway, my TAPE Inc., office mates are always so busy that when there was finally a lunch day where everyone is free, we wasted no time in letting Ms. Eileen know about it. And I'm glad that we were all able to get together again because not only were we served with a VERY delicious spread but the company and chika were all something to remember.

Of course, there's nothing like sharing these great moments with exceptional ladies!

And that is why we are The Ladies Who Lunch!

It's the LADIES WHO LUNCH!

Before, we used to do it regularly, eating out when it's somebody's birthday. But now, most of us are on a diet and busy with work that lunch-outs like this is something to really treasure!

MAMA LOU'S ITALIAN KITCHEN

When planning our family staycations with the BP Group, one of the questions often asked was where to eat for Saturday night. Of course, I'm the one usually depended on to make recommendations but I'm usually worried that the group might not like the food in my chosen restaurant afterwards.

So on a particular staycation weekend with the BP Group in SEDA NUVALI, I did not wait to be asked for anything. I IMMEDIATELY announced that for dinner we will be having it in MAMA LOU'S. This Filipino-owned restaurant serving delicious Italian food seems to be as authentic as Emilia Clarke's wig in GAME OF THRONES -- you know that it's not really hers but IT WORKS beautifully!

I became familiar with MAMA LOU'S from the numerous blogs that would repeatedly recommend their delicious food. Yup! REPEATEDLY. It's like one visit would never be enough. MAMA LOU'S had dishes so delicious, you would always find yourself craving for more.

And THAT is what we happily discovered in that particular Saturday night in MAMA LOU'S Nuvali. My friends can't stop raving and eating their colorful plates of Italian food! I was so happy too that they loved my recommendation!

Whew! That's great. When I burped that night, it was also a sigh of relief. He he he he he!

 

MAMA LOU'S ITALIAN KITCHEN!

It was a Saturday and as expected, MAMA LOU'S was jampacked.

Good thing that we have already made reservations so it was only a short wait for us.

I love it when restaurants are considerate enough to accept reservations during weekends. I'm especially thankful that MAMA LOU'S reserved tables for us considering they had a very limited space.

YUSHOKEN

Ever since I can remember whenever I hear the words "delicious ramen", it is always synonymous to the two noodle big wigs: UKOKKEI RAMEN RON and YUSHOKEN. It never fails! If I try to rave about my favorite UKOKKEI, somebody would always try to interrupt and say "You should try the one in Molito called YUSHOKEN. It's much better than that!"

REALLY now?

Besides the awesomeness of the noodles in YUSHOKEN, I also heard about the strict rules when dining in the restaurant that sounded like commandments:

-- You should never take home the Ramen.
-- You should never share your Ramen.

-- You should only use chopsticks and never use fork when eating your Ramen.

Now THAT just got me more intrigued. However, I still have one more gripe: YUSHOKEN is so far! Would a sip of their rich broth enough for the long drive to Muntinlupa?

Be that as it may, even if it could become another "Ramen Nazi" haven and that the distance was VERY undesirable, I was still curious of YUSHOKEN. My all time favorite has always been the Tan Tan Mien of UKOKKEI RAMEN RON and they said that YUSHOKEN could cook up another mean bowl of this spicy noodles.

So it was finally settled. We will be going to YUSHOKEN. Finally I will be crossing that name out in my Ramen bucket list (yes I have such thing). How did it fare up to us? Did it live up to the hype?

Read down and see if you'll agree!

YUSHOKEN!!

It was a full house that Saturday night in YUSHOKEN! I was not able to check if they accepted reservations but usually restaurants don't have it during weekends.

YUSHOKEN has a looooong space that was more like a model's runway for the booth and counter. 

TBS BLUE CORNER (SIZZLING EXPRESS ATB)

While we were planning our weekend staycation trip to SEDA NUVALI, the Chinese Adonis said that if we don't have anything planned with the BP Group, maybe we could go to his favorite "Bulaluhan" place for lunch. Since my husband rarely makes requests unless it's something he really, really, really, wanted, I told him that even if there WERE plans, we will still be going to his little bulaluhan house.

So off we drove over to TBS BLUE CORNER (SIZZLING EXPRESS ATB)! Now I don't know what's the meaning of "ATB" but I guess it's too tiresome for them  to add the letter "P" for "At Iba Pa!"

The Adonis warned however that TBS BLUE CORNER was not air-conditioned and was more like an eatery, aka "turo-turo" (point your desired food). Of course, I didn't mind. As long as the place was safe, (somehow) clean, and served delicious food, I'm there!

Of course, the same could not be said for the little lords.

When we got TBS BLUE CORNER, they immediately started complaining about everything! They fretted over the dust, the heat, the flies, the crowd, and even the utensils used. It was even so embarrassing that they chose to vocally express themselves, therefore attracting more unneeded attention!  To give them the benefit of the doubt though, it WAS hot and I could just imagine how uncomfortable they were so they just blamed their discomfort over everything they see. But later on, they got a whiff of what's coming for lunch that they quieted down.

Of course, no matter how much dust, heat, and crowds there are, when your hungry stomach calls out, you listen! Thank gulay that TBS BLUE CORNER was able to silence deliciously our tummies!

Even if there were some dust on the side. He he he he he he!

 

TBS BLUE CORNER (SIZZLING EXPRESS ATB)!!

 

 

This open air "carinderia" style restaurant is actually very famous with foodies who are in search of cheap but delicious food in the Sta. Rosa Market Area.