Thursday, March 27, 2014

India Day One: Transit Time

India, the home of Taj Mahal, a country so rich in history and culture, is sadly not a popular holiday destination for us Filipinos. I'm sure one hindrance is the lack of direct flights from Manila to New Delhi, making travel to India a time consuming and expensive undertaking.

To reach India, my friends and I had to fly via Cathay Pacific and had a 9 hour stopover in Hong Kong.

We spent our short stint in Hong Kong window shopping,
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walking, 
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and taking scenic boat rides.
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Before long, it was time to fly again and finally get to India! Travel time from Hong Kong to Delhi is 5 hours.
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I chose a meal of Tandoori spiced fish with cumin basmati rice and tomato green bean masala, up in the air, as I wanted my taste buds to already get familiar with the spicy Indian food that I will surely consume in the days to come.
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The flight attendants conducted aircraft disinsection before we landed at New Delhi. 
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We arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi just before midnight, India time.  Do note that India is 2 hours and 30 minutes behind the Philippines.
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We were too lazy to process our visas back home so we opted for visa on arrival. 
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There was only one officer manning the visa on arrival counter and he took his sweet time checking our documents. He probably spent 10 minutes to process each passport.
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An advantage of getting visa on arrival is that one can skip the long immigration line for foreigners. I just showed my passport with the visa on arrival stamp to an immigration officer that was not serving any passengers and I was good to go. 
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We met our driver Ranjeet of Leisure India Travels at the arrival area of the airport.
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Our driver brought us to our hotel, Piccadily New Delhi.
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Piccadily, which used to be a Hilton hotel, had a gigantic and impressive lobby.
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Though we arrived in the dead of  the night, we were still served tea  as a welcome drink.
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Our room was modern, spacious, comfortable, and clean. 
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Wished we could have slept late in our cozy room but we had an early call time the next day. 

Tomorrow,our much-awaited Indian adventure will truly begin!

Monday, March 24, 2014

India Preview

Excited to share my travel memories of a country that I've been wanting to scratch off my bucket list for the longest time... INDIA!

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Stay tuned!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

In Memoriam: Thai Bistro

During my last visit to Robinson's Magnolia, I learned that Thai Bistro has closed.
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As a lover of Thai food, I'm sad that another Thai restaurant has bit the dust. Posting the food we had there in its memory lol:

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Herbed Roti with Spicy Tomato Dip 


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Thai Ravioli


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Prawn Cakes 


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Black Pepper Soft Shell Crabs



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Crispy Catfish Salad


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Green Chicken Curry


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Tom Yum Soup

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Pad Thai 

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Bagoong Rice

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Mango Sticky Rice 
Now for some good news: The owner of Thai Bistro, Chef Cecile, has opened a new Thai restaurant at the Fort called Silk Road

Thai Bistro was located at Unit 187 G/F Robinson's Magnolia Town Center cor. Dona Hemady Aurora Blvd. Quezon City. 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Farm to Table at Green Pastures

It's rare that I enjoy eating vegetables more than my share of protein and carbs but that's what happened when I had dinner at Green Pastures.

Green Pastures has a farm to table concept, curating the best local ingredients that our farmers grow and raise here in the Philippines.

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Pinoy Egg (125php)
Five minute free range duck eggs wrapped in housemade longanisa over fiddlehead fern salad

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Duck You (185php)
Duck fat fries, duck skin chicharon, duck confit

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Farmhouse Salad (550php)
Shredded kale, chopped romaine, konbu roast chicken, malagos goat cheese, hard-boiled eggs, dinelli bacon, corn, avocado, grape tomatoes, honey mustard dill vinaigrette

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Crab Meat & Sea Urchin Pasta (525php)
Lemon, chives, spaghetti

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Roast Organic Chicken (595php)
Konbu brine, lemon, grilled asparagus

What's good and exciting about Green Pastures is that the menu changes depending on the season, making every dining experience different.

Green Pastures is located at the 4/F, Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Mandaluyong. For more information, call 654-3219 / 0922 633-4687 or click here
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