Little Tokyo: Umareshi-ya

I never knew there was a gem beside Makati Cinema Square. The area called Little Tokyo. I have long ignored this place since I didn't think it was a good place to dine in, but I have long wondered why a lot of cars were always parked in the area. May ginto naman pala kasi dun.

It was Nina's idea to have a "meat-all-you-can" evening since she said she was in the area that day. So we found ourselves (Jay and me) with blogger-friends Juned, Jayvee, Maro, Winston, Nina, Fritz, Coy, Sha and Karla. Rochelle and Panda San joined us too.

I didn't really know what to expect. Nina just said, we'll eat as much meat as we can and just bring PhP500 each. We entered Little Tokyo through the grocery fronting Pasong Tamo. I ended up buying 3 bottles of milk tea to sample for my tea blog. We wanted to try out the Japanese ice cream, but Fritz said that they weren't that frozen anymore.

The experience was quite different from shabu-shabu. We were served different kinds of meat for 45 minutes. Mix of beef, pork and sea food which we had to grill. We took turns cooking and eating and were quite full half-way through the alloted time, but since Rochelle and Fritz kept cooking, I ended up eating a lot and surprised myself by finishing almost 2 bowls of rice.

We all smelled like grilled beef after eating, but hey it was a fun experience! I'd like to visit Little Tokyo again soon and try out the other Japanese restos in the area.

Little Tokyo (map)
2277 Pasong Tamo
Makati City
*it's in front of Herald Suites

University of Sto. Tomas Museum of Arts and Sciences

University of Sto. Tomas is the oldest school in the Philippines (399 years now!). It was my first time to really go around the school (even though it's where my best friend got his Bio degree) and the last time I visited UST was four years ago when my Mom was confined in the hospital.

The building is earthquake proof because it was built in segments.

Sweetie and I grabbed the chance to visit and tour UST with blogger friends, Nina, Juned and Winston and the hubby. We met up with them inside the campus and was pleasantly surprised that we had student-tour guides! A lot has changed since my last visit (2006) when a lot of construction work was being done. The campus is now greener and eco. A lot of students were hanging out under huge trees (something that's quite rare in my alma mater).

The lush greenery encourages students to have fun outdoors.

The tour of the UST Museum was a real treat. It had a lot of very interesting artifacts. Here are some of them:

Two floors of artifacts and paintings from Filipino masters.

I asked the curator if this two-headed carabao is real. It is! 

Three dimensional bulul. 

Weaponry.

This is something I want for my kitchen! Ancient siyanse!

An awesome model.

 Mama Mary and Baby Jesus. I got my Mom a post card of this statue.

The UST Museum of Arts and Sciences have the following collections (a lot though are in storage):

The Natural History Collection
Coins, Medals and Memorablia Collection
The Ethnography Collection
The Oriental Arts Collection
The Hall of Philippine Religious Images

I wish though that they'd have more space so they can feature everything that they have!

UST Museum of Arts and Sciences
3rd Floor Main Building
University of Sto. Tomas
Calle Espana, Manila 1015
Tel. No.: +63(2) 781-1815
Telefax: +63 (2) 740-9718
Email: museum @ mnl.ust.edu.ph
Website: http://ustmuseum.ust.edu.ph

Viewing Schedules:
Tuesday to Saturday
9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
(Gallery is closed on holidays)

Admission Charges:
Non-student: PhP30.00
Student: PhP20.00

More Cheese at Cafe 5845

Managed to sample more cheese dishes at Cafe 5845 last weekend!

Cheese Cake

 Strawberry Cheese Crepe

Mango Cheese Crepe 

Cheese Croquette

Cafe 5845

SM Mall of Asia (near Cabalen)

*open only until end of August 2010