Wee Nam Kee is finally in Trinoma

With Linda, Arlene and Rose

I love Hainanese chicken and will order it whenever it is available. There are very few places in QC where you can get good hainanese chicken. It was such an anticipated event when  finally Wee Nam Kee opened in trinoma (4th level near Yakimix). I have always wanted to go to their Makati branch but could not find the time. So when my cousin Linda came for her summer visit, I decided to bring her and her friends to Wee Nam Kee trinoma.

Combi Chicken Medium Php 488 --The star of the meal!

Of course the chicken was the first thing I ordered but decided to  make it a combination platter with roasted chicken. I just had to try the roasted chicken as my VMMC resident Dennis raved about it (he claims he can eat one whole of it in one sitting!) . The roast chicken is OK. Both are delicious and juicy but still, my favorite is the white chicken.There is ample grated ginger, hot sauce and (surprise!) hoisin soy sauce as condiments. They have a set chicken platter with rice and soup (Php 168).

Cereal Prawns php 395

The cereal prawns were good but Lugang Cafe's version is so much better. The prawns came out kinda dry and the oats were almost powdery.

Hongkong Fried Noodles Php275

The Hong Kong fried noodles were OK. Nothing to rave about.

We just had to order a veggie dish and chose spinach with garlic.       

Spinach with Garlic Php 190

Arlene with the cucumber lime fizz php120

We had fun ordering the drinks. They were kind enough to give us a taste of the barley and the Lime drink. Rose and I decided on the barley. It was light and refreshing. Arlene chose the cucumber drink. Kudos to this drink for being really having a fully cucumber taste. I had tasted several cucumber drinks but so far this is the best!

Rose with the Barley drink php 55

Total bill for the combi chicken, noodles, spinach, prawns, 2 chicken rice, and 4 drinks + service charge came up to Php 1846.61 . Not bad for four people. We were full and happy with our meal! What more can we ask for? (Hahaha...shopping!)

Tagaytay weekend Part 3 (food trip)

How can a weekend trip go without glorious food? When we found out that the tiger at Residence inn Zoo was not available for photo-ops on Friday afternoon, we decided to reschedule entry to the zoo Saturday am. With the scorching warm weather, we decided to eat halo-halo. We passed by a small newly opened place along Aguinaldo H-way and decided to try it.

Carmela's (Along Aguinaldo Highway)

Halo-halo Php90

banana cake Php 160

 The halo-halo was ordinary. The leche flan on top, however, was super creamy. I like my halo-halo milky and would have liked a bit more milk. The banana bread was good (according to my companions) but I am no connoisseur of banana bread which for me was just ok.
I would not pass judgement yet on this cafe as it is so new (there were no permanent seats inside, just portable fold-able furniture) . We were the only customers at that time and the owners were kinda surprised to find walk in customers.

A trip to Tagaytay will not be complete without eating beef - as bulalo soup or steak. After our sky ranch adventure, we decided to head to the nearby bulalohan with a view - Near the Sky Bulalohan. I could not take lots of pictures as my 2 month old suddenly decided to start her crying sessions.

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Bulalo

I chose Near the Sky based on some of the reviews. There is little that can go wrong with good ol' bulalo. It was meaty, the marrow intact and yummy, the broth tasty.  I did not quite get what the reviews were raving about.

Crispy Tawilis

I did not find the crispy tawilis crispy enough. But the price was friendly. The total bill was just under 500php for three people (Rice, Bulalo and Crispy tawilis).







My first choice for Saturday lunch was Bawai, a Vietnamese restaurant that is strictly by reservations only. Much to my disappointment when I was turned down as they were already full for Saturday lunch and dinner. Second choice was Bag of Beans along Aguinaldo highway.


We settled in one of the areas with a daybed. We were promptly informed by one of the servers that it will cost us 1000Php which was consumable. It was ok as we decided to try their lunch buffet and just order ala carte for the yaya.  

Buffet area

The place was full and I felt a little awkward taking pictures of the food. Its a brunch buffet and there were breakfast viands (tocino, tapa, longganisa) and lunch entrees (kare kare, roast beef, chicken ala king etc.) The roast beef was a bit tough but as a whole most of the foods were good tasting.

My pasta connoisseur approves of the bolognese spaghetti

Chicken pork adobo (for yaya) php220

garden dining areas

dessert buffet

 There was a pasta area where you can choose between spaghetti and fettucini. There were 5 pasta sauces available. With my daughter in mind , I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. It tasted good and my little one liked it.   

salad and halo-halo area

kitschy lighting decors

kitschy lighting decors

 Paul and I stuffed ourselves to the max. Our unhurried lunch took us almost two hours!  Probably the garden ambiance plus the calming piped in music contributed to this. We were almost tempted to take a nap at the daybed (hahaha).

Two adults on the brunch buffet, 1 ala carte chicken pork adobo (which the yaya said tasted really good), two take home solo pies- shepherd's and beef and veggie  plus the service charge totaled to Php 1576. Not bad at all!
 
 

my take out shepherd's pie

Tagaytay weekend Part 2 (Sky Ranch)

As my kids were first timers to Tagaytay, we had to take them to the usual areas where kids are most likely to enjoy.

the family posing near the sky eye

Sky ranch is the newest place that opened last month in Tagaytay. Its besides Taal Vista Hotel where there were horses to ride. Apparently, the SM group bought the area and made it into a theme park. The horse corral is still there, less smelly and better organized. We decided to skip that part of the park.

ticket prices

 
The entrance is 50 php  per person higher than 3 ft. We paid for three and the two kids went in for free. Payment for the rides are located at a booth inside the park.  Best time to go is late afternoon and stay until evening. Ride the sky eye first as this will have the longest line and you will still be able to enjoy the view. 








There were several rides that are opened and we could see new ones being built as well. The most prominent of these is the sky eye, a huge slow moving ferris wheel ride similar to the one in MOA. This one claims to be the biggest one in the country.

The sky eye provided  a good view of Tagaytay and the Taal volcano. The whole ride lasted 10 mins . I noticed each carriage has its own separate aircon unit. We took the ride late in the afternoon as we felt it was too hot to start at the park's opening time (12nn). At night, the sky eye lights up and has its own "light show".

inside the sky eye

she enjoyed the inflatable playground.

 
My eldest loved looking at the rides specially the carousel;  but once it started to moved she starts to kick and scream. Hmmm....definitely she did not get that trait from me! Buti na lang the staff was kind enough to let us exchange the ticket to the inflatable playground that she enjoyed so much that we had to carry her out and away from!


 

Tagaytay weekend Part 1 (Tagaytay Haven Hotel )

she loves the road trips...

Ok....so for one weekend, I bundled the kids (with a yaya of course) to the car and took a weekend road trip to Tagaytay where their dad is attending a seminar. I thought the weather there would be much cooler....NOT! It was still warm and humid and we were pretty much sweating the whole time.

...while this one did not!

We decided to make this sort of a semi-budget trip, which means scrimping on some items and splurging on other stuff. One of the things we decided to scrimp was our hotel. We decided on Tagaytay haven Hotel as it was midway to where we were planning to go (Sky ranch and Residence Inn Zoo).



 

Tagaytay haven Hotel is right smack in the middle of the town proper (Tagaytay Bayan). You can't miss it because of its landmark (the Jolibee located at the front). If you have a huge brood that will require the famous bee for food or if you are commuting then this is the place for you. As it is in the town proper, drugstores, convenience shops as well as the market are within walking distances.    

Hotel Lobby

Hotel lobby

1 Queen + 1 single bed (2480php overnight)

cabinets and TV

clean bathroom with water heater and bidet

For php 2480 this is what we got: overnight stay for 3 adults with breakfast for two.  Our studio room has 1 Queen and 1 Single bed. Towel and toiletries were provided for three. The place is clean but has basic amenities. It was much later when I realized that the room we got had no windows! Geez, I should have inspected the room much better before deciding. Apparently the rooms with windows were bigger and were priced higher.  For the same price we could have gotten a room with a window at other small inns or appartels.

swimming pool

 
 The pleasant surprise was the swimming pool! Its small but has a kiddie pool. The best part is it's located at a shaded area so its almost like an indoor pool. No sunscreen need. The weather was so warm that we almost took a dip. But we had other agendas on the trip so maybe next time... There is also a small area with  two treadmills and an indoor cycling bike at the 2nd floor) 

Breakfast

 

 Breakfast was served at the third floor function room. Its sort of a buffet but with only scrambled egg and tapa as viands. For dessert  they had papaya. There is unlimited brewed coffee available. For the yaya, we got her breakfast from Jolibee at the front. Somehow, I felt she enjoyed the breakfast better than we did. 





The place catered to what we needed: an affordable clean overnight accommodation. The location is conveniently located near bulalo areas as well as Bag of Beans where we had our lunch. There is ample parking in front and basement areas. Overall, I would not mind staying there again but next time will get a room with windows!