Certified Foodies - A food blog by siblings Mhel and Ken

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Why You Should Stay at Hotel Elizabeth Baguio

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio

In the first week of March, we were invited to go to Baguio by Mario’s restaurant in celebration of their 40th year. We were quite excited about it because it was the best way to escape the early summer heat here in Manila, especially after we found out that we were staying for 2 nights at the very luxurious Hotel Elizabeth.

Hotel Elizabeth in Baguio

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio, awarded as Baguio’s Hotel of the Year for 3 years, is managed by Fersal Hotel Group, the umbrella company that established Fersal Hotels here in Manila. Just by these facts alone, you’d expect a very memorable stay at the hotel. And that’s exactly what we got.

We arrived just in time for dinner at Hotel Elizabeth on a Friday night, March 9th. This was the day that they were also celebrating their 7th year as one of the top hotels in Baguio. We joined in the celebration and it was a truly fun night.

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio celebrates their 7th year

By the way, as soon as we made it to the hotel, we were all in awe at how beautiful it was. I had to take a photo of the hotel at night and just scroll down for the photo I took in the morning.

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio at night

I absolutely adore these gazebos (photo was taken on the 5th floor). And the breeze wasn’t just cool, but it smelled of pine trees. Ahhhhh…. Baguio! How I love thee… let me count the ways! ;)

The gazebos at night



Lugaw with Tokwa’t Baboy : A Breakfast Favorite

Since last year, Ken and I usually go out three to six times a month to check out a new restaurant or food place. We haven’t blogged about most of them yet. We do have fun dining in different restaurants every time. I also enjoy researching for the next resto we’ll visit before we head out. However, every once in a while, we miss the usual food we eat at home. So, one early morning, Ken craved for lugaw, and he headed out to buy the whole family breakfast.

Lugaw with tokwa't baboy is an ideal breakfastPardon the photos on this post. Everyone’s hungry so I had to take photos quickly. :D

Lugaw is porridge or congee, soft-boiled rice usually cooked with broth (chicken, fish or pork). But, there are some who sell lugaw cooked in plain water and they just add seasoning to it. You can top it with pepper, scallions, and crispy fried garlic (yum!). I sometimes put several drops of patis or fish sauce when it’s slightly bland to my taste.

Here in the Philippines, lugaw is usually served with side dishes like tokwa’t baboy (tofu and pork). The pork part is normally the pig’s tongue, which I love. They come with a sauce made with calamansi, soy sauce and slices of onion. I sometimes add some chili pepper with it to give it a little kick.

Tokwa or tofu side dish for lugaw

Some of you might be familiar with Arroz Caldo, also a congee / lugaw, but it’s much thicker and ginger is used to flavor it. There are large chicken parts in Arroz Caldo, which is usually the distinguishing addition between them and Goto, congee that is flavored with beef.

Anyway, Ken loves lugaw with sumpia, which is what we call a beansprout spring roll here. I prefer hard-boiled eggs in my congee, along with the tokwa’t baboy side dish. But, sumpia and the egg weren’t available when he went out to buy lugaw for the whole family. The photo below was taken a long time ago on my old digital camera.

Sumpia with baboy side dish for lugaw



Celebrating 10 Years of Heartwarming Goodness from Bizu Patisserie

Bizu Patisserie and Bistro in Greenbelt

Last week, Ken and I, along with fellow foodies, were invited to Bizu Patisserie and Bisro’s Bloggers Party over at their Greenbelt branch. Having been there during the Cadbury Chocoholic night, we were both looking forward to having a taste of more dishes from this pastry shop / restaurant.

Bizu Patisserie Bloggers Party - CertifiedFoodies.comI took this photo using my new Nikon D3100. Woot! Stay tuned for better photos soon :)

The dinner was graced with the presence of Aaron and Annie Tanco who started it all. They shared with us how their pastry shop was conceptualized, including how they came up with the name of their restaurant. It was all very interesting, especially the part where Aaron told us that Bizu came about after her mom Annie dreamt of people kissing each other on the cheeks (beso-beso) at a restaurant. They decided to use the French word for “kiss”, which is "bisous”, but added a twist by spelling it the way it’s pronounced.

Aaron Tanco, Chrissy of Marketing and Annie Tanco from Bizu Patisserie

I just want to mention this – I enjoyed how Aaron and Annie spoke to us about their restaurant. You can really feel they’re truly passionate about their food and the service they offer to their diners. They were all very accommodating, even laughing and sharing stories with us throughout the night. Even Chrissy, the lovely lady in the middle of the photo above, was very cheery. :)



Yakimix Eat All You Can Smokeless Grill Restaurant, Trinoma

4.5stars

We love eat-all-you-can or buffet style restaurants. I mean, who doesn’t?! You get to pick the food you want on your plate and you get to try different dishes all on a fixed price. This is why we are scouring the Metro for all these restaurants so we can try them and post a feature or review here. First up is Yakimix in Trinoma.

YakiMix Sushi Smokeless Grill Restaurant in Trinoma - CertifiedFoodies.com

We’ve heard of Yakimix from friends and they were 99% raves. I wasn’t really convinced before ‘cause of the price tag. But, I’ll try anything once.

We’ve actually been to Yakimix twice for the past 3 months. For our first visit, we had to wait for over an hour to get a table. That’s why we strongly suggest you call them for reservations or be there really early.

They only have 2 buffet schedules you can choose from. Lunch is served at 11am to 2:30pm everyday, while dinner starts at 5:30pm to 10:30pm Mondays to Fridays and starts 15 minutes earlier on the weekends. Lunch and dinner schedules at the Trioma branch of YakiMix - CertifiedFoodies.com

The lunch buffet on weekdays costs Php 499 per head; Php 580 on weekends, which is also the same price for dinner every night of the week. A little expensive, but considering the amount of food choices you get compared with other eat-all-you-can restaurants we’ve tried so far, I say it’s worth it. :)

For children below feet, they offer a special rate of Php 380. Their bottomless drinks cost Php 65. And in case you have leftovers (a no-no when you’re at eat-all-you-can restaurants), they charge Php 699 per head.

Though we had to wait for a long time on our first time there, I observed that their crew are organized and quick in taking care of customers, cleaning up tables, and are generally accommodating.

By the way, the second time we went there with our parents, we actually had a table reserved a few days before. But, my mom said they can’t find my name so they just had their names listed at the reservations desk. Since they were early, they got a table right away and were already stuffing their mouths full when we arrived 30 minutes after. :D

The pretty lady at the reservations desk of YakiMix in Trinoma with Ken and Jhay - CertifiedFoodies.comThis pretty lady, Dimple, was the one at the reservations desk.
She’s very organized and friendly, too, obviously, as she willingly posed for us. :D

Note: Make sure you get your name listed at the reservations table / booth located right outside the restaurant’s door. We saw a couple of customers lining up thinking there was really a queue without having their names listed first and were disappointed to know they were waiting in vain.

Oh, by the way, you can also come by and reserve a table for a future date. Or you can just call them. Their branches and contact numbers can be found at the bottom of this post.

I love the color scheme inside Yakimix Trinoma. They used brown and black on their furniture and walls. The tables are also very spacious so you can place multiple plates on it. Just look at ours. :D

Our second time at YakiMix in Trinoma - CertifiedFoodies.com

On each table at YakiMix is a smokeless grill. As soon as you settle in, a crew member will fire up the grill for you. And, yes, the grill is smokeless, so no worries about smelling like everything you had for lunch or dinner when you leave the restaurant.




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