Bringing Back Cocktail Hour – Manila, Philippines
DINKS Travel 
At Manila's Sky Deck restaurant we witnessed dusk approaching as city lights awakened to illuminate our surroundings. We proposed a toast to the generosity of our good friends, John and Brea who used the Bring Back Cocktail Hour feature to sponsor a perfect evening of dinner and drinks. The rooftop venue offered a panoramic skyline view, efficient service, and a live band.
The highlight of the evening was the meal which contained a delicious selection of Philippine heritage dishes such as Lengua Sevillana (Slow braised ox tongue, mushrooms, and olives) and Callos Manileno (Spanish style slow cooked ox tripe, ox tail, pork knuckles, roasted bell peppers, olives, and chorizo). For desert we enjoyed Ensaymada Pudding, a decadent, custard-like bread pudding with crème a l’angiaise and fresh mango.
The meal was accompanied by local drinks of Tanduay dark rum and San Miguel Pilsen beer. We extend our appreciation to our generous dining benefactors for sponsoring an incredible, memorable evening.
Reader Comments (6)
I love this blog and especially enjoy your writings about the various meals. Keep writing! Love it!
Thanks for the supportive comment Curt. We'll surely find some more great dining options in Malaysia and Singapore during our upcoming trips and we'll keep you informed.
I knew you would find that organ meat sometime on the trip.
Keep the pictures and the blog entries coming. We are jealous.
Have a great time.
Love the picture of you two! Kim and I are taking you back to the Alamo when you return :-)
Steve – We’re glad that our local food choices are not disappointing…We’d hate to travel half way across the world only to limit our dining experiences. That being said, sometimes we (well mainly Matt) yearn for a familiar taste and order a pizza, sandwich, or wings.
We’re writing this from the rooftop “Beer Garden” at our hotel in Singapore. Tiger beer is on special and offers a nice value. We’ll enjoy a selection of satay (think chicken or lamb kabobs with a side of veggies and a sweet dipping sauce) with our drinks tonight.
In this part of the world, food courts are your friend. They are often filled with mom-and-pop food stalls offering a wide selection. Our current hotel is only a block or two from the Tion Bahru Market in Singapore’s Chinatown. During our first night here we ventured up to a stall marked “Jian Bo Shui Kueh” and ordered four chwee kueh (water cakes). We had no idea what they were at the time, but they turned out to be delicious and at about $1.10 US for four of them, they were a steal. Check out the pictures about 1/3rd of the way down the page on this link we stumbled across (http://fatboo.com/2011/01/tiong-bahru-market.html).
As always, great to hear from you!
Sterling - Sounds like a blast! Interestingly, we recently booked our first trip home to occur in mid-May. After catching a Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, we're flying back to Denver on United's Dreamliner. We have a week or two at home before heading to Ohio to see family and friends, after which we'll continue our travel adventures. We hope all is great for you and yours.