Lakbay Museo opened at S Maison, Conrad Manila, Pasay a few months before the pandemic hit and we all had to go on lockdown and start quarantining. I've seen it a few times then when I pass by S Maison and have always wanted to visit. Finally, I found a willing companion to come with me, my cousin, Ricca. 

The photo above shows us by the entrance of Lakbay Museo. As explained to us, though not shown in the photo, there are three ways to enter the museum: through the jeepney, the airplane or the boat. Currently, the airplane which is the middle entrance, isn't available. But these three entrances are meant to represent the three ways one can explore the Philippines: by land, by sea and by air. 

We picked the jeepney over the boat. And how fitting of me as a traveler since I prefer land travels over airplane rides and boats. 

Lakbay Museo is an interactive museum where you can learn about the Philippines' culture while letting you touch and play with items in the museum and take your photo with them as well. 

Inside Lakbay Museo

Carinderia is also part of the Filipino culture. Although the photo is really more like a small grocery. Carinderia after all is defined as a small roadside restaurant that serves Filipino dishes that are lutong-bahay.

Another Filipino culture? The sari-sari store. Like the carinderia, it's also usually found in every street where you can buy various items from candies to chips, to soft drinks, noodles and canned goods. Some even sell stuff like plastic balloons and paper dolls. 

We've got a carinderia and a sari-sari store. Though when I was a kid, I remember going to another sari-sari store just a few houses away from where I live. They sold plastic balloons which I loved blowing up. 

A couple of Filipino indigenous people 

Bahay Kubo 

 And because the Philippines is dubbed as the Pearl of the Orient Sea, we also have canned sardines 

                

                 

                       

Various Filipino Foods

Something I love about the Filipino culture is the many delectable foods we have in the different regions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. I think if you're a foodie, the experience of tasting the different Filipino dishes is heavenly idea.  

Camote cue and banana cue. Personally, I enjoy eating banana cue as a snack. It's ripe banana cooked with brown sugar. 

Lechon is also a much loved dish in the Philippines. Traditional Filipino celebrations often have lechon served during their gatherings such as weddings, Christmas, New Year and birthdays. I remember my birthday parties always had this. 

                

Various Filipino kakanin and various pansit. Some of my fave kakanin are sumang malagkit, maja and puto bungbong which usually can be bought around Ber months when Christmas is nearing. As for pancit, well, I've always loved pancit bihon and pancit lucban which we usually order from Buddy's.  

Final Thoughts

Boybands... A singing and dancing group act that makes all the girls swoon and scream in delight as they also willingly hand in their money to watch concerts and buy various merchandise in support and love for their favorite boys. I'm only too familiar with this as I was once a fan girl when American boyband, Backstreet Boys, were all the craze. Fast forward to today and the boyband is still taking the world by storm with BTS on the helm. Unless you're living under a rock, I'm sure you've heard of them and their songs. 

BTS is a K-Pop group from South Korea and the name is an acronym for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeodan (Bullet Proof Boyscouts). They're a global phenomenon with fans from all over the globe referred to as Army or Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth. According to what I read, the fandom name basically means they'll always be together with BTS. 

Meet my cousin, Mae. She's an ARMY.

BTS Themed Coffee Shop 

The BTS fandom is so great that not only has so much merchandise been created on these cute Korean guys, it's even inspired coffee shops. One such coffee shop is Rkive Cafe, located in Bangkal, Makati. 

I love checking out coffee shops. And because she's an Army, I knew my cousin was the right person to take with me to check out the place. 

It's a small place but it's popular among BTS Army. A reservation is required for those who want to dine in. If you want to visit this place, keep an eye out when they post about their reservation registration announcement on Rkive's Facebook page.    

A Look Inside Rkive Cafe 

 

BTS Recommended Reads  

Don't feel like reading? And honestly why would you read when you'd most likely be busy fangirling over the decor? You can also skim through the BTS coffee table books available in the cafe. 

The Food at Rkive 

We visited in the afternoon so snacks were in order aside from drinks. 

We ordered cheese mandu (Php165) and potato pizza waffle (Php125). For drinks I had the white chocolate latte (Php110) while Mae had the Borahae (Php95).  

While both snacks taste good, we couldn't finish the cheese (pork) mandu. Umay after a while.  The potato pizza waffle, on the other hand, oh yummy! It's definitely my favorite of the two snacks we ordered. 

 

The Borahae drink is a butterfly pea tea based with passionfruit juice and jam. Mae enjoyed this sweet drink. 

Overall, it was a nice experience at Rkive Cafe. My cousin, an ARMY, definitely enjoyed it more with all the photos she took of her "bebes" as she lovingly calls these boys. Drop by Rkive Cafe and indulge your Army self. 

Rkive Cafe

Lucban Street

Bangkal, Makati City 

Open 12NN - 9PM (except Tuesday and Wednesday) 

 

  

In San Antonio, Makati is a coffee shop called The Black Bean hidden in Eton West End Square. My friend, Mai and I decided to visit, after seeing the photos of the nice interiors from Preview. Yes, we're the kind of folks who like IG-worthy interiors. Reservations are required for this coffee shop. 

The Black Bean PH has two branches, the other located in BF Homes Paranaque, and turns out, the photos of that branch were the ones showcased in the article. We realized that when we got there because the Makati branch is smaller. 

Inside The Black Bean 

Black Bean sports off white and brown colors with touches of green courtesy of the plants displayed inside. It's rocking an industrial look for its space. It's definitely far from the photos we saw but it's got a charm of its own.  

We went here for brunch and there were only two other customers in the cafe when we got there. I think the fact that it's in a mall that's hardly got other retail businesses helps with that cozy ambiance. So if you want to relax or work in peace, you can do that here. You won't be disturbed. 

What We Ordered

Longganisa Duo, Php270.00 Chicken Parmigiana, Php350

My chicken parmigiana didn't come with rice so I ordered one. Just like Mai's, my orders had a big serving - yes including the rice which I wasn't able to take a photo of anymore. Too excited to eat! I also liked my chicken parmigiana. Even though it had a hint of spice, which I'm usually not crazy about, I was able to finish this off. 

The One of a Kind Coffees

Meringue Cappuccino, Php220

She certainly thought it was good. No need for sugar in the cappuccino. The meringue already brings on the sweetness. 

Hey Love! XX, Php220

As for me, well, I was initially going to try their Spanish Latte but I certainly thought their Coffee Temptations selection was worth a try. So I ordered Hey Love! XX, which is cream cheese foam and iced black coffee. I love cream cheese - that's what sold this coffee to me. Didn't disappoint! 

Verdict

Overall we enjoyed our stay at The Black Bean. If I lived nearby this area, I'd certainly be back because of the ambiance and good food. If you want to read up about The Black Bean Cafe, check out this article from Spot.ph. 

Dayrit's has been around for a while now. Actually I've first heard of this restaurant from Joei's blog. It was her post about this being an old favorite place of hers that made me curious to try Dayrit's. But it took years for me to finally get around to trying it out.

How's the Food?

On our first visit, I tried their Roast Beef. That's what the restaurant is known for. My cousin ordered the Spam steak plus iced teas for us two. It was a complete meal already what we ordered, with rice and even hot soup. 

 

I asked my cousin what she thought of her meal. She said she really enjoyed this dish. That pineapple combined with the spam made it a sweet delight to eat. The mashed potato on the side though without the veggies, was bland.  

I was excited to try their roast beef since it's been raved about not only by food bloggers but also diners who've posted reviews on Zomato. They weren't wrong at all. This was good roast beef. The meat was tender and juicy and good enough serving for one. I also thought that baked potato was tasty! Not like at all my cousin's mashed potato. 

And because we had a good first dining experience, we came back about a week later for another early dinner. This time we bought ordered hamburger steaks and iced tea. The iced tea's good. I read it's home made. 

I'm glad the servings are big so if you're really hungry, you'd definitely be finishing your meal on a full stomach. I expected our steaks to be served hot but it was just warm. Oh well the rice was steamed so it didn't matter.  

So we liked the hamburger steaks too. I liked the healthy serving of gravy on it. It's not the best gravy in town but good enough. The mashed potato I think is a little better this time than when my cousin ordered her food with this side dish. 

The Rest of Our Dining Experience

There wasn't much people around when we first ate at Dayrit's. Probably because we were there for an early dinner - around 4pm. The second time around when we came in later, we saw the place start to get packed with customers. But the food gets served fast. I read that there've been changes to the menu over the years. According to this blog, roast beef used to be served with java rice. I would've wanted that. 

Anyway, if you're also not comfortable dining in, Dayrit's has an al fresco area. That's where we stayed both times we visited. We get to enjoy the view of the sunset, the feel of the cool evening wind and just watch the cars pass by. 

   

Verdict