When In Manila, while everyone is busy going to parties and events… I decided to go retro and visit classic Manila. Just so you know like most of you, I have been to fieldtrips on places in Manila even went to some with my parents (when I was very young) but I haven’t really visited them by myself. So now I thought of challenging myself to tour Manila with the help of a Nokia Lumia 800 and do a somewhat crazy date with my girlfriend Cheryl.
We arrived at the gate of Intramuros at around 10am
Buildings maintained their traditional old Manila look.
The Silahis souvenir shop is a definite must check, if you plan to buy some unique Philippine memorabilia.
Here is another souvenir shop, their products are mostly made with paper.
A corner street, many shops are closed during weekends so I suppose you should visit during weekdays if you want to explore these stores.
Checked out Nokia Maps for directions and current location, the place is a memorial for innocent people who died in the 1945 war.
There are two popular churches in Intramuros, one of them is San Agustin Church…
and of course the more popular one is the Manila Cathedral.
There even was an artist trying to create his small portrait of the cathedral.
All that walking could be tiring so before we leave for Luneta, we decided to eat at Ilustrado.
There are a lot of restaurants in the vicinity of Intramuros but this would definitely be one of the first places you will see, plus it has this catchy name. Although you might miss since the place doesn’t really look much like a restaurant except for the signage up front.
After walking through this dark passage, you get the feeling of going through a portal ala Narnia style where everything goes back to retro Manila.
This is the sort of ambiance that this place brings you, plus it feels home-y and that alone is a big plus if you want to get the most of the experience.
Everything inside feels so authentically old, I mean if you could imagine going to back to the province during the 80’s to visit your grandparents then that pretty much sums it up.
I am not sure if I ever tasted pandan before but I emphasize that it tastes ridiculously good for water, but that doesn’t mean that their drink selection isn’t good. I mean the sago’t gulaman was one of the best I have ever tasted and I have tasted a lot.
We ordered “Eggplant Feta Goat Cheese and Black Olives” for our appetizer and it was quite different from what we expected, plus the fact that I don’t eat eggplant and yet I found the taste delectable, so no one could argue with me when I say this very good.
As for our main course, I ordered “Lengua Con Setas” while Cheryl got “Kalderetang Kambing”. For the lengua, I would say that the taste were uniquely Filipino and definitely gave justice to the great texture of the ox tongue. The kaldereta was also good, especially because the meat was so tender and the sauce was absorbed well by the goat’s meat.
You probably wouldn’t be able to guess what we had for dessert, yes it does look like a normal ice cream there is actually more to it because it is “Sampaguita” flavored… Yes, “Philippine National Flower” flavored ice cream, which is Ilustrado’s specialty and although it tastes like normal ice cream the scent of sampaguita explodes in your mouth on every spoonful.
Ok, now that we are well rested and full, it is time to leave the walled city of Intramuros and head on over to Luneta to continue our Manila tour. So until next time When In Manila do wait for my next post on Travelling Manila with the Nokia Lumia 800.
Thanks to Nokia Connects for loaning me the Nokia Lumia 800. All photos are taken with the Nokia Lumia 800 (except for the one where we took a photo while using the Nokia Maps). No post process were done with the photos except for adding the watermarks and sizing it down. If ever you wanted to see how good the actual photos are, I could post them here just leave a comment below.
