Bubble Bee Teahouse

If you want a good place to enjoy good food, cold drinks and just chillax, then head on over to Bubble Bee Teahouse.  It's at the TSI Bldg. in North Reclamation Area (if you're coming from Mandaue, it's past ParkMall, right beside the nearest Shell station.)

Their cold drinks are around P95 to P120 each, and they have lots of flavors to choose from.  If you want hot tea, it's much cheaper at P60.  You can ask to have more pears, lychee jelly, mango or taro pudding added to your drinks too.  Nothing fancy in that it actually reminds me of pearl shakes like Zagu, but, you have to admit, they have some really cool flavors like Blueberry Slush, Milky Watermelon Slush, and Kiwi Green Tea.  Or you can always try their own version of Taiwanese Halo-halo, which is good.

If their drinks are okay and reasonably priced, then you will be wowed by their food.  Appetizers like French fries go for less than P100, but that is about one of the very few things on the menu that go below P100.  Pasta bowls go for around P180, while main courses go above P200.   We ordered their calamari for P180 and a bowl of beef stroganoff for P200.

If that sounds expensive, I'd tell you that it's well worth the price.  This is their calamari:

And this is their beef stroganoff:

Not only are these dishes delicious, two hungry people can share each and still feel full afterward.

The food and the drinks are good at Bubble Bee Teahouse, but if that is not enough, then go there with friends and enjoy the ambiance.

They have two flatscreen TVs that show concerts (they really should change their repertoire, though, because both times we've been there, they showed Beyonce on stage, and it can get really noisy and loud).  They have comfy sofas, an Indian area where you could take off your shoes and lounge on the carpet and cushions.  You and your friends could also borrow board games that you could play.  If you just want peace and quiet, you can stay downstairs.

We went there recently when there wasn't too many people around, so the food we ordered arrived quickly.  The first time we were there, however, it took a good 45 minutes to one hour for the food to be served.

This post was written by A.

Yummy Mesa

The wife and I first tried out Mesa when it was still on soft opening, and to be honest, I didn't really find the food good.  But faced with three friends who had a craving for food somewhere they haven't tried yet and somewhere conveniently located (convenient usually means somewhere in the mall), we decided to have our kid's (overdue) birthday celebration and one of her "godmother's" (much more overdue) birthday treat at Mesa.

"Godmother" Omar was the other birthday celebrator.

Mesa is at the Ayala Terraces, and is owned and operated by the same people who own and operate La Mesa Grill at SM.  Their facade promises Filipino Modern, and they did deliver on that promise.

Mesa is a quaint place that had big tables obviously targeted at family or barkada dining.  And this is what you'd first notice when you enter the place; each table has groups of 6-8 people.  There is an area for twosomes and couples right outside the main door, and it's al fresco, but seeing that it was a hot and humid summer night, we opted for the air conditioned comfort inside.

Mesa is not really a cheap place, but it's not outrageously expensive either.  Not bad for the price of the food, the ambiance and the taste. 

Our first order, the Tofu Sisig, is not really that appetizing to look at.

In fact, forced to described it, it looks like somebody's regurgitated dinner.  But one taste and I fell in love with it.  It is yummily cheesy!

Omar ordered Crispy Fried Tilapia with Four Sauces, and we were awed by the presentation.  We obviously didn't expect it would be served in easy-to-eat bite-size pieces.

Take heart, the feast is not just for the eyes, but for the palate too.  This was really one of the best fish dishes I've tasted thus far.

The pregnant friend was actually late for this dinner and texted ahead to get her something spicy. Or any chicken dish, because she's such a chicken person (that if we didn't know any better, we'd be compelled to think she'd be growing feathers very soon). It was an either/or, so the wife ordered this:

Garlic chicken. And for the third time, we were simply awed.  This was mouthwatering as well!

A little disappointment was the Crispy Boneless Pata, which was the most expensive dish we ordered that night at PhP400.  It wasn't crispy.  It was CHEWY. It was even difficult to slice through it using a knife.  Needless to say, there are better crispy patas in town.

Food was running low and the pregnant friend still wasn't sated.  Besides, we ordered 8 servings of rice for all 5 1/2 of us (the half being the three-year-old imp who can only consume one-fourth a cup of rice). And because we never really anticipated that their cup of rice was bigger than most restos.  So we added this:

This two-in-one beef dish (forgot what it was called) was half gone by the time I remembered about taking a picture.  One bowl was a dried and fried beef dish, while the other was a curried one, which reminded me of Indian curry, but it was really, really good.

All-in-all, the food is great, the price is okay, the waiters were attentive.  A group of five grownups coming into Mesa famished and hungry spent PHP2,000 for great food with drinks included, came out complaining how difficult it was to walk with their very full tummies.

Here's our rating ( = perfect)

Food:

Service:
Ambiance:
Washroom: (clean, one for female and one for male, spacious)

This post was written by A.