Who would ever think that the then small rural town of Talavera Nueva Ecija where I spent part of my childhood would become progressive through the years that it now boasts a massive and competitive lineup of Restaurants, cafes, bars, supermarkets, shopping areas and even banks, private schools, offices, and other commercial establishments?
This is not how Talavera looked like when I was a kid, and definitely Talavera improved and continues to progress as the years go by.
And there’s this nice and cozy place in Talavera called Jabs Park, Cafe, Restaurant, and bar all in one. It features a huge park with a musical fountain, an event’s place, a dining restaurant and a bar at the same time complete with a live band.
The entrance fee is Php350 each including children if I’m not mistaken and the Php200 is consumable for your food and drinks which to be deducted from your total bill. Not bad.
The place looks very cozy and you can enjoy the time just by walking around the instagrammable pathways, where the trees are adorned with beautiful round lantern lights that get more picture perfect, particularly at night.
The bar and restaurant is surrounded by a Gazebo (dining area) if you want to sit and relax or even lie down while eating and watching the band but they require a minimum of Php5000 total bill to enable you to sit there. Although we spent the same amount, by chance, we actually didn’t know we would exceed that budget, we preferred to sit on the long table in the middle of the area to get the exact spot of the band.
We had dinner of sinigang soup as always and had my favorite chicharong bulaklak as appetizer while drinking beer and listening to the 80’s playlist live band.
And some other photos taken!
For anyone who wants to relax and enjoy a night of music and drink in Nueva Ecija, JABS is a good place for you.
I got tired from walking inside the mall, got hungry and decided to find a place to eat in the Food Court. I rounded for about three times trying to find what I wanna eat.
There were so many choices. So many unfamiliar restaurants and unfamiliar food.
I checked one more time. Counter to counter, Chinese, Japanese, Asian, Italian, Indian, and some other I’m not familiar with, etc etc but couldn’t seem to find what I’m craving for.
*Sigh* then I settled for something familiar and something I used to eat. NEW YORK FRIES! I ordered a meal set of NYF, beef hotdog with cheese, fries with cheese & vegetable toppings and Pepsi.
See, this is what happens when you’ve got a lot of choices. You find it hard to decide with the fear you might pick the wrong one. You might end up selecting the wrong one and go home disappointed rather than pleased.
So, go for something that you are familiar with, something recognizable, something that you’ve tried before, something you will surely like.
Better go for something you have tried and tested, something that you are very much aware of. Don’t easily fall for something (or someone) that is only good in the beginning, good on the outside but sneaky dark on the inside. Yeah, you may have a lot of choices, but the question, are they worthy to choose?
Some may look good, may look attractive, may look tasty, some are even made intentionally to look enticing on the outside, but tastes awful inside!
So I don’t wanna make the same mistake again….even just by selecting what to eat this day!
For the record, Steak, medium or well done is my comfort food ever, this is my simple pleasure. Whenever I’m out to reward myself, Steak is always my first option.
And since this is my best food, here are the types of steak cut;
Tenderloin- I believe that this is the most expensive cut of steak. This is usually taken under the ribs. The meat is lean and usually cut in thick slices.
Sirloin- Boneless. Behind the ribs and comes with a little fat throughout the meat.
T-Bone- Bone-in. Just as its name, it comes in t-shape bone with meat on both sides with fat on the sides of the meat.
Rib Eye- Boneless or bone-in. Lots of fat throughout the meat.
Since I’m a certified steak lover, I happened to track down almost all the Steaks-houses within the area, and some were not even in the picture as I wasn’t able to take photo of the hundred steaks I’ve eaten, haha! If you are looking for the best steak in BH, here are some places where you can find the best steak ever.
The best I’ve been- Bennigans, Juffair, Bahrain. I’ve tried almost all of their steaks.
Bennigans
Location: Avenue 22, Bahrain
Phone: 1781 3750
The steaks in Fridays is not bad either, I would always love to match it with a grilled corn & mixed veggies.
Over a year ago, in 2017, during our vacation to the Philippines, We happened to check some of the nice Restaurants within Metro Manila area and near Nueva Ecija. Then, my Grandmother suggested that we should go and try the new branch of Isdaan Floating Restaurant in Talavera Nueva Ecija which is fortunately very near to Cabanatuan City. I had no idea as to when it was first opened in Talavera, but I guess it was sometime in early 2017. I remember when we planned to go to the same branch somewhere in Tarlac a few years ago during my vacation as well but couldn’t able to.
To refresh with, Isdaan Floating Restaurant is a Theme restaurant that offers homey Filipino food along with a good ambiance that is perfect for family gathering.
There is also “tacsiyapo” wall where you are able to throw mugs, plates, or bowls on a specific part of the wall while shouting “tacsyapo”, which is a great way to vent your emotions and a stress reliever for everyone but unfortunately, it isn’t available that time.
I forgot what we ordered but it is a meal set good for a family of 10 and we had a variety of chicken, fish, pork, vegetable, and dessert for something like PHP5,500++.
We chose the floating dining hut and after the meal, we had the chance to roam around the park and took photos from the sculptures everywhere and the small pond with a lot of fish that you could also feed. But since we went on dinner time, I couldn’t able to snap nice photos from my phone camera and how I wish again that I had a better cam, haha!
When visiting any country, the very first interesting to know is their Traditional Food. Living in a different Country requires you a lot of adjustments according to their culture and traditions, rules and regulations, and other things particularly food. Living here for more than a decade, I have learned to embrace and mix with the Country’s entire Standard of living according to their norms.
Tbh, you wouldn’t have a hard time blending in the Country and with the people due to the fact that this Island is inhabited by a lot of ex-pats from around the world and since this place is not that very conservative, mingling with the locals is a common practice. In addition to that, you would learn to love their food which is mostly made of spices but quite tasty.
Bahrain Staple Food
Machboos- One of the most famous Bahraini dishes is machboos, which is made up of meat or fish served with rice.
2. Ghoozi- This is grilled lamb stuffed with rice, boiled eggs, onions, and spices.
3. Sambooza- This is very addictive. This is either cheese or meat or vegetable wrapped to a triangle shape in spring roll wrapper and deep-fried. This is good for a starter.
4. Shawarma- Well, shawarma is a very famous Middle Eastern food. Middle Eastern meat preparation based on the döner kebab of Ottoman Turkey. Originally made of lamb or mutton, today’s shawarma may also be chicken, turkey, beef, or veal, cut in thin slices and stacked in a cone-like shape on a vertical rotisserie.
5. Hummus- Hummus is a Levantine dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas or other beans, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic. It is popular in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, as well as in Middle Eastern cuisine around the globe.
These are only a few of the Bahrain food you must try. There is still a lot to name with that you would only find here; such as grills, tikka, kebab, lamb chops, broasted, a different selection of sweets and desserts like baklava, halwa, kunafa, umm alli and others.
Whenever you are in the country, don’t ever leave without trying any of these. Definitely, you will love all this food.
Le Meridien Hotel is a 5 Star Hotel directly attached to City Center, BH Largest Mall. With that, they have one of the Best Restaurant named Baharat that offers a variety of cuisine, International, Mediterranean, Sushi, European, and Asian among others and have the chance to experience the Live cooking stations.
Ik, the price is a little bit costly, BHD28++ inclusive,(something like PHP4k per person) free flow of alcoholic beverage and BHD19++ inclusive, free flow of non-alcoholic beverage, but then, the quality of food, the ambiance, and the service is excellent, plus of course, what do you expect for a five-star hotel?
It’s like we were planning to set dinner with my old friends (used to be Monday Group), for a very long time but as always, we couldn’t find the best time when everyone is free as one would always be out of the Country. Until finally, we all decided to get together this Wkend (though some are still out of the Country) and pick Le Meridian Hotel in Seef area.
TBh, I’m not fond of Sashimi and sushi, haha, strange but true, I think I’m one of the few who doesn’t eat much of this food, but since there are a lot of choices and it was a Seafood Buffet that night, with a variety of starters and appetizers, so I agreed.
The food was exceptional, the seafood options were all so delicious and in good sized portions and different cooking. The choice of salads, cheeses, bread, sides, and desserts are exquisite. It is seafood night, but there are also choices for vegan, Asian, Indian and others. Free flow of unlimited drinks, I think I had a glass of pina colada, and a few glasses more of Mojito.
Not to mention that the staff was also so friendly, helpful and courteous and The band is great musicians, the whole experience with friends are a truly remarkable one.
So I had Oysters and Lobsters and Prawns to name a few.
To end with, I had fun with old friends. That (almost) once a year get together was a night full of catching up from the long lost time since everyone is now busy with own family life. I remember how we used to drink and rock the different bars and hotels until the wee hours of the morning, about 8 years ago and how life would eventually change when you started to focus on the real life.
Good food, good friends, a night of catching up, perfect restaurant!
Okay, breathe. How do I start? At last, I had the chance to sit and concentrate on my blog page without interference.
I just got out from our 2 hrs Technical meeting, answered a few emails, forwarded the previous Progress Meeting, logged new submittals to be reviewed, released done inspections, receive and emailed new ID Inspections, haha, and now finally, taking advantage while the others are still in the meeting and my quick lunch break! This is what we usually get the first few days after enjoying a long weekend, then all the work will come up one after the other.
What I did on EID Holiday?
Oh well, of course, the first night, as usual, was spent with RJ, it’s like we were drinking (moderately) and binge-watching plus a lot of sleeping (and home-food) since Thursday night, 13.12.2018. We were planning to go in the mall on 16.12.2018, the actual first day of the two day National Day but I got a message from my friend Nicole and suggested that we should meet up, have dinner and go for bar-hopping.
Since I don’t get to see much of Nicole these days, haha, (we used to live together in one flat like until mid-2017 until she moved out and I also moved out from my flat of three years to our new flat with RJ) so RJ and I agreed to go out the next day to be able to meet my friend.
She took me to a Chinese Restaurant (Beijing Restaurant) for dinner. Been there a few times years ago (as in really years ago, maybe around 6 years ago). They gave us free Chinese prawn crackers as soon as we arrived and then we ordered dumplings for a starter, iced tea for refreshment, vegetable fried rice, and beef with pepper sauce something (I don’t know the name of the dish). It is beef with oyster sauce topped with a lot of onions and pepper and red chilis.
The beef was recommended by Nicole which is tbh, exquisite and appetizing. The servings are actually good for two to three person so we didn’t order anything more and in fact, we still have to take away the remaining portion divided to two, (one for Nicole and one for my husband to try).
They served us chocolate ice cream (it’s like a hot fudge with banana) afterward as a complimentary dessert.
Too bad I didn’t have much of photos taken but it’s okay.
Beijing Restaurant Location: Villa 576, Road 3819, Block 338. Adliya.
We had to walk back to the paid car parking after dinner. Check out these nice photos I’ve taken while walking on the streets of Adliya, (I wish I have a better cam). It is a holiday mood so the area is dimmed with beaming lights. There are a lot of people walking along the streets and sitting on the tables outside every restaurant but I wasn’t able to take a lot of snaps.
We went bar hopping to three bars on an entire night. Our first stop was in Apollo where we had a glass of vodka with pineapple. The place was still empty when we arrive since it’s still early. We stayed for another 30 minutes listening to the music then we moved to Dublin Bar and I had a martini, and another one, margarita. The martini made me feel a little bit tipsy as it is strong for me so I changed to Margarita which is way better. Then our last stop is Dublin (where there is more crowd) and I had three glasses of vodka, two vodkas with pineapple and one vodka with cranberry).
Apollo Lounge: Building.670 Road.2411 Block.324, Alsafir Hotel & Tower, Juffair
Dublin Bar: Building No. 256 Road No-40 Juffair.
The One Bar: Alfateh
It was getting a little bit late after bar hopping, so we decided to go to Starbucks Diplomat for a quick coffee then go home. But then Nicole’s friend called her and invited us to drop by for a while to Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel where they are staying.
It is something like a few minutes away from Starbucks so we decided to go. We spent about an hour there, laughing and talking with a few cans of beers (I had one full can of Coors light I guess, but I tried a few sips of this unfamiliar Hawaiian beer in a very strange bottle, haha) while playing throw the dice and drink a beer, oh well, I just named it like that where you have to throw the dice and the other person opposite the table should catch it, otherwise he drink the beer and vice versa.
It was a fun night with Nicole, we never had for a little while since we are both busy at work and we now live in a totally different location unlike before.
It was past 2AM when she dropped me home coz I can’t stay longer than that as my husband won’t sleep until I come home.
This doesn’t seem very extraordinary or very unusual place, but I find it quite satisfying to try some Japanese Resto for some time.
To have shabu-shabu!
Shabu shabu is a Japanese hotpot dish of thin-sliced meat and vegetables in boiled broth.
Boiled in the metal pot at the center of the dining table, while the pot is simmering, the ingredients are placed in the pot and is cooked at the table.
And since I haven’t tried this for a very long time, having this once again after so long is kinda exquisite and distinctive to my taste bud.
Spinach, water spinach, cabbage, egg, meat & squid balls, thin slices of fish and some other variety of your choice.
Plus, finally, I found the best ever siomai ever steamed in BH. =)
… who can ever say no to this tempting, delightful mouthwatering mint ice cream for dessert?
I don’t usually choose Japanese food (especially this very light one) to any get together with friends and I don’t prefer to eat buffet as well since I eat very little, but this is the kind of food that you will enjoy until the last drop of soup, so I would highly recommend trying at least once every while, plus very affordable for BD10.5.
Location: NANO Japanese Restaurant- Manama Bahrain
You will definitely love it!
Disclaimer: I wasn’t paid to review this restaurant. This is my personal review only.
I LOVE HOME FOOD BUT I PREFER TO EAT OUT– one of my quotations.
Since I hardly cook at all, I always have the time to track down all the nice Restaurants around the area.
As I do not eat much during weekdays but on Weekends, I always treat myself to something extraordinary, this is what we call, the cheat night.
This weekend, I craved for something traditional.
We went to this Filipino Restaurant that is owned by a good friend of mine. This is something just like a home-food in a restaurant.
The taste of Filipino food.
BAHAY KUBO.
Their specialty is Crispy Pata ( pork leg) but I ordered something different.
This mouth-watering “ Kare- Kare” ( this is a traditional Filipino recipe made of Oxtail, beef tripe and vegetables cooked in thickened peanut butter), is also one of my favorite in this restaurant. They served it hot in a pot.
And of course the all time-Filipino favorite, “Sinigang na baboy”, ( Pork stew in Tamarind Broth). This tamarind sour soup is better off to eat with rice.
For starter/appetizer, “Calamari”. This is a batter coated squid- deep fried squid rings.
…and a lemonade and sago and gulaman for refreshment.
..and it’s kinda affordable to have spent around BHD11 ( around One thousand three hundred in peso conversion) for two people.
Me and my friend Nicole.
If you want to feel at home away from our home and craving for something homely, I’m highly recommending BAHAY KUBO FILIPINO RESTAURANT, one of the best, tidiest not to mention that top of the line quality service.
After almost three months, I and my Monday club group decide to meet out for dinner.
It has been a while since the last time we had a get together in a Korean Restaurant, Da Rae Jung, whose food is quite expensive I would say but not that exquisite, well from my taste of food.–> Actually, it’s not that bad haha! But the fact that I do not like much of Korean food says it all.
Again, it’s a Monday Club on a Tuesday night dinner!
After suggesting a lot of options from different fine-dine restaurants, we finally decided to try BAMBU!
It ’s a variety of Chinese, Thai, Vietnam cuisine. If you are craving for a Chinese food, definitely I would suggest the superb food of BAMBU.
From Salt and Pepper prawns to mussels, to prawn toast and chicken rolls, and a variety of others, Beef, and chicken.
The price is about BD12.500 per head but alcohol is not included if you want to go for with unlimited alcohol, the price would be BD16.
Mussels and Tempura.
The ambiance is cozy, and they served a plate of a free starter of chicken rolls. A variety of appetizers in big servings would actually make you full.
Chescadventures 