Danne: Midnight Mercato

Last Saturday, I had a chance to revisit Midnight Mercato and check out the food stalls they had that night.

The website says it opens at 10PM, but we arrived at the place at around 9:40PM and the tables and chairs were already almost fully-occupied then. The trick is actually to arrive there before 9:30PM so that you'd end up eating sitting down rather than standing up.

They had unique food finds and prices were reasonable. You could get a full meal at around PhP 200-PhP 250. Most were cooked upon order, so there was an appetizing aroma all around.

I haven’t had the chance to eat from all stalls but here were some of the interesting finds:

Johnny Steams (Steamed burger)

Taclings (Bite-sized tacos in egg cartons)

PhP 60/carton or PhP 100 for 2 cartons

I got the chance to try these and they were delicious. The rule is to eat one whole piece in one bite. It's not date food since you'd have a difficult time stuffing this all in, but the better part comes once you chew on them.

There was also a stall that had Krispy Kreme-burger patty-Krispy Kreme. Isn't that sinful?

And then there were spuds. Remember me telling you how much I love potatoes in any size, shape or color?

One order of Cheesy Potatoes costs PhP 50. They were soaked in cheese and really tasted good.

Manang's Chicken (Double deep-fried crispy chicken goodness)

This stall that sold this chicken had one of the longest lines that night.

I wish they had more chairs, or even just standing tables to accommodate people. The crowd began to thicken at around 10:30, so it’s a lot better to arrive earlier or a lot later.

You can always check out the layouts of the food stalls (just in case you want to rush in once you arrive) at their official website.

Mercato has recently moved to its new location (but still inside The Fort) at 34th Street and 8th Avenue (across MC Home Depot), Bonifacio Global City. Food bazaar starts at 10PM and ends at 3AM.

The next time your tummy begins to grumble on a Friday or Saturday night, you know where to head to!

Danne

Tiffy in Japan: Tokyo DisneySea

Tokyo DisneySea
October 27, 2011
Tiffy in Japan

Now I've always wanted to go to Disneyland since I was a little girl watching the Disney channel. I don't know why: is it fun?

Last year, I was supposed to go to Disneyland but ended up in Sanrio Puroland instead. This year, I still didn't end up in Tokyo Disneyland but I ended up in Tokyo DisneySea. When we were trying to decide where to go, my boyfriend asked his friends which one's a better place to go to and they said that DisneySea is more romantic while Disneyland is more family-oriented.

That, and one of my friends playfully warned me about the Disneyland curse. She said that couples who go to Disneyland break up because of the long lines--they run out of things to talk about. She wasn't sure if that was only during summer or if it happens all throughout the year. The existence of this curse was echoed by my boyfriend's friend when I asked him if it were true.

So off we went to Tokyo DisneySea.

Thank you, boyfriend's dad, for the tickets! 

We were there a few minutes before it opened and already, there was a long line. I was told that the line would be much much much longer had it been a weekend and had it been Disneyland. 

Trying to figure out where to go to first.

In DisneySea, as with Disneyland, there are two lines: the normal one and the fast pass one. So usually what is done is, you go to a ride you want to go to (that probably has a long line), go to the fast pass ticket booth beside it, put your ticket beneath the scanner and let it read the bar code and then get a fast pass ticket for the ride a couple of hours after you get the fast pass ticket. 

For example, we got a fast pass for Journey to the Center of the Earth at 10 AM and we can go through the fast pass lane at 11:15 AM--going ahead of everyone else lined up in the normal lane. I didn't know all this until I was already there to which my boyfriend asked, "Why didn't you check it out online before we got here?!"

We did have breakfast before we got here but already I wanted something to eat. There are various stalls all around and it's easy to find in the map. 

We got the Black Pepper Pork Rib (¥420, Php 231) and Mickey Churro (Maple) (¥300, Php 165) and coffee (¥270, Php 149). They have different-flavored churros at different areas. We also had the pumpkin-flavored one. There are also different-flavored popcorn (we had chocolate and strawberry, although he wanted to have the milktea one--I tried milktea ice cream in Korea and I wasn't impressed).

Black Pepper Pork Rib

Mickey Churro

Pocahontas--her face was pretty scary since it seemed frozen that way.

Therese in Taiwan: Riding the bus in Taipei 在台北搭公車

Therese in Taiwan: Riding the bus in Taipei

I first came to Taipei, Taiwan in October 2010. Since I had never been here, when Cebu Pacific had a seat sale, I decided to treat myself. At that time, I traveled alone. My sister Tiffy went to Japan and my parents couldn't skip work.

Most foreigners would prefer to ride the MRT to go around, mainly because it's convenient (easy to understand) and a lot of tourist spots around Taipei are found near MRT stations. However, riding the bus is cheaper and there are also some places which would be easier to reach by bus.

Therefore, in case anyone was wondering how to ride the bus in Taipei, here's a mini walk-through:

下車收費 (xia4 che1 shou1 fei4) - if the sign says 上 (shang4), then it means that you pay/swipe your card when you get on the bus. 下 (xia4) means that you pay/swipe your card when you are about to alight from the bus.

下車鈴 (xia4 che1 ling3) - you press the button when you want to get off the bus.

The screen in front is where the signs will flash. It will tell you where the next stop is (in both Chinese and English), and if you plan on going down at that stop, you press the button and get ready to alight.

Tips:

You can ask the driver to tell you when to get off.

Newer looking buses would most probably have working signage. If you don't feel comfortable asking/talking to the driver, just looking at the signage would help.

Choose kind-looking drivers. There are some drivers who would snap at you when you ask them questions.

Prepare your card/loose change when you're about to get off. Some drivers get impatient!

You can check bus schedules and routes at http://5284.taipei.gov.tw/

Tiffy in Korea: Korean Food & Milk Tea Ice Cream

Korean Food & Milk Tea Ice Cream
August 16, 2011
Tiffy in Korea


When I travel, I try to check out the selection of foodstuff at convenience stores and grocery stores because it's there that I get an idea of what kind of stuff people usually eat in that particular country. Well, that, and go to small canteen-type restaurants where they're bound to serve local food.

Back in August, I booked this particular trip because one of my good friends, Brandon (you might remember him from back when I was an exchange student in Nagoya), is now an English teacher in Korea. So it was the perfect time to book that ticket! Traveling in a country that your friends are in is the best.

My first morning in Korea, we hit a local canteen that delivers food to the offices around the area (including the school that my friend works at). It's his to-go-to place for meals and I wanted to eat authentic Korean food so...

Banchan 반찬

Dolsot Bibimbap 돌솥 비빔밥

Bibim Mandu 비빔만두 | Kimbap 김밥 

As I wasn't being as adventurous with my food as I ought to have been, I ordered a bibimbap which I always order at Korean restaurants here in the Philippines. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I also found out that bibimbap in the Philippines tastes different than that of the real thing. The one I had in Korea didn't have that strong of a flavor, as opposed to the sweet taste that the one I had before had.

The bibim mandu was amazingly good. Brandon was a guy who was a-ok with sharing (I MAKE THE MOST AWESOME FRIENDS EVER EVER) and I had some of it. Plus the kimbap (I don't really have an opinion on this one).

Korean food is pretty freaking healthy it's awesome.

But Milk Tea Ice Cream... what a disappointment!

I have always liked milk tea and I was pretty stoked at seeing it at a convenience store (I think it was a 7Eleven). But meh. It melted so fast (probably because it was summer) and it just tasted like frozen milk tea (probably because it was a popsicle? I can't read Korean) and I decided then and there never to eat milk tea ice cream ever again. Ever.