BELMONT STAYCATION (2020)

One upon a time before the pandemic....

It's the month of February and that meant Team Navarro will treat the Bawal Panget Group with a staycation in BELMONT HOTEL!! And yep, even if we've been doing so for a number of years now, WE'RE STILL EXCITED!

Because why wouldn't we?

We'll be having a getaway with our family...
We'll be meeting up with long time friends...
We'll be eating at our favorite restaurants...
Our staycation is courtesy of Team Navarro...

And best of all...

We'll be celebrating the birthday of a special and generous lady!!!

So yeah, even if we've been doing this every year, we're still VERY excited because we have new experiences, make more special memories, and we'll have a bonding weekend with the family!

Let the fun begin!!!

ALBA (CAPITOL COMMONS)

Once upon a time, before the pandemic....

It's the super pamatay belated birthday of my dear Mareng Gail and as tradition permits, I will be treating her to her restaurant of choice.

DRATS... este... MAGALING! MAGALING! He he he he he!

Her choice for the night was ALBA in CAPITOL COMMONS because she was craving for some good ol' Spanish food. I have eaten with the family in ALBA many times before but I haven't tried out their dinner buffet (P933.00 per pax).

I guess there's always a "tindig-balahibo" first time for everyone and I'm glad that I'm going to do it with a friend.

Wait. No pun intended and suggested AT ALL there. Ewwy. Kadire.

:P

We're in ALBA!!!!!!!!!

KAYA POWERPLANT MALL (2019)

(This was documented before the ECQ....)

One Saturday, the Yub and I invited the boys to go out for Saturday gimik night. Andrei was game na game to go. As for Mati? He was like, "Meh. Never mind."

With that, the Yub, Andrei, and I went to have dinner at Kuya's favorite -- KOREAN!!!

Belat. Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!

We're at KAYA!!!!!

MAD MARK'S (ROBINSON'S GALLERIA)

(LATE POST - Our lunch was last December, 2019)

Saturdays used to be reserved for date nights or gimiks with friends but lately my weekends are now reserved for family. I'm working on weekdays and the boys are usually asleep by 8:30pm (my usual time in getting home). That's why I usually make my plans for friends during that time.

One Saturday, THE YAPPY BUNCH were out and about again and we decided to go to Galleria for some shopping and ikot ikots.

When deciding where to eat, I remembered the tip of a cute reader and suggested MAD MARK'S! Alam nyo naman me, basta food, I'm open to ALL suggestions.

Glad that I listened because my guys LOVED it!

Check out our gimik below!

MAD MARK'S in Robinson's Galleria!

TSUKIJI MARKET FOOD TRIP (JAPAN 2020)

It was the day of our flight and normally we would just stay in the hotel to relax and make last minute preparations before going to the airport.

BUT NOOOOOH. This is JAPAN. We don't want to waste hours or even minutes of this beautiful country by just "waiting."

While my sister was planning for our "last hurrah" she thought of having tea-making classes, or costume "Kimono" wearing. I for one, suggested the team lab museum thing because it's in everyone's feed.

All were fine activities for us but then, our time was limited and we have to consider the distance. As for the team lab museum, after looking at the details, the thought of just going somewhere that doesn't really promote the true and old culture of Japan just didn't appeal to us. Good thing too that we were able to confirm with the Yub's brother (who was able to go before) that it was indeed MEH. So we all went back to the "drawing board" to decide where to go.

In the end, we all realized that we were in Japan not just for the sights but also to savor their food.

And where should we go that would give us a one-of-a-kind experience in tasting the "essence" of Japan?

TSUKIJI FISH MARKET!!!!!!!!!

Let's see what we could eat today!!!!!!!

TSUKIJI SUSHI-SEN AGAIN (JAPAN TRIP 2020)

When we decided to go to TSUKIJI MARKET during our Japan trip last year, our main goal was to eat sushi. LOTS OF IT.

Because really, why would you go to TSUKIJI MARKET if not to enjoy their ultra fresh seafood right???

The thought of eating sushi at the prime place in Japan all made us SO excited. And when we saw this hole in a wall restaurant, it just made us MORE excited-ER. Ha ha ha ha!

Heck, we didn't eat breakfast just for this!!!!

After our meal, we were all deliriously happy. There is truly something about having this Japanese delicacy at one of the best places in Tokyo!

After all, it is not called TSUKIJI FISH MARKET for nothing.

And we're so glad to make an acquaintance (again) with SUSHI SEN!!!

YIHIII!!! We're in SUSHI-SEN!!!!

LOCAL UDON RESTAURANT MT FUJI

When we were in JAPAN last 2019, the weather was soooo cold that we're always game to get a big bowl of hot noodles.

Luckily that during our trip to Mount Fuji, we saw this udon restaurant (don't care if it's a tourist trap) that satisfied us to the maximum!!!!

ENTER!!!

(Sorry but I really can't figure out the name. Ha ha ha ha!)

MORIICHI REVOLVING SUSHI, TOKYO (JAPAN TRIP 2019)

Ever since we set food on JAPAN, we were all super excited for  this one thing:

TO HAVE SUSHI.

Of course, we're also very excited to have Ramen, to go to DISNEYLAND, and to do some cultural sight-seeing, but we cannot be in JAPAN and NOT have sushi right?

I mean it's just going to be appetizingly sacrilegious!!!!

So that we did and to be honest, we have the little Androse to be thankful for.

He has been bugging the whole family to have sushi and although we're really planning to schedule a mealtime for that, we faked indifference to having any sort of raw fish.

Yep. Because that's just how we are in the family. Ha ha ha ha! If you're pikon, super talo ka.

For one outing though, my Mommers was especially impressed at how Andrei helped her out (SEE HERE) that amidst our jokes how we didn't want to have to do ANYTHING with the popular Japanese delicacy, she declared that we will have sushi for our next meal.

Auughhh.... Mommy is such a party pooper!!!

So Andrei rejoiced and got very excited. When we asked my Kuya where we should go for some good old quality sushi, he only had one thing on his mind....

MORIICHI SUSHI!!!!