SHERATON MANILA Starts 5th Anniversary Celebrations with SUNDOWN SOIREE

It was so much fun to be amidst media friends and the executives of Sheraton Manila. "The World's Gathering Place" had us in a Sundown Soiree as preparations for their 5th Anniversary in the Philippines are on its way. It was lovely at the 10th floor of Sheraton Manila's Sheraton Club. The interiors were conducive for talk, so we did that over cocktails and food served by Chef Andrea Burzio.

He's Sheraton Manila's new Executive Chef and was also there to tell us about the cuisine served at the restaurant. He says "I am a Filipino by heart, I learned sarap, mahal kita and hay nako so far and I'm excited about what to serve here. When I came here in 2016, and we have family, just like in Italy. We are family based, on October, we will feature lunch and dinner with family. Between our main meals, we are also offering Merienda Cena, and we hope you all like it. This is a teaser to Pranzo e Cena which we will be doing at S Kitchen this coming October, you should look forward to it!"

We were welcomed by Sheraton's GM Ms. Anna Vergara. She says "Welcome to Sheraton and today we kick off festivities for our 5th anniversary. This is a gathering of friends, perfectly way to start the holiday season. We have several activities as we showcase our facilities and celebrate the near tree lighting event, it's not an easy feat especially after the pandemic. We are celebrating with you now with our Sundown Soiree."

Ria Galvez Director of Sales and Marketing adds "This is the world's gathering place, and since it's the start of the holidays in the country, we have curated several packages coming out soon. All you need to check is SheratonManila.com. The Marriot Bonvoy app is also available so you can be a member and get perks. This September we have Beyond Happiness for those celebrating love, for family or friends, just talk to us so we can tailor fit your weddings and your most memorable events. We can't wait to see you soon!"

This is just the start of the festivities on their 5th year. There will certainly be more events up til early 2024. Make sure to be part of Sheraton Manila Hotel's celebrations as they do "JIVES AT FIVE". Head on to sheratonmanila.com and their social channels for more updates @SheratonManila. You can also call 02 7902 1800 or their mobile number 0917 859 7496 if you want to make it official. See you at The World's Gathering Place!

TaskUs Philippines Gets Coveted Great Place to Work Certification

Looks like the folks at TaskUs Philippines are mighty proud to wear another feather on their hat as they recently receive the coveted Great Place to Work Certification. It's a program to help create the best environment to work in the country and elsewhere around the world. TaskUs Philippines has been experiencing continuous growth applying the people first culture they've been known for over the years.

Through it, they gather surveys about employee experience. Much of it is in the line of leadership, respect, fairness in practices, pride on work and camaraderie. It gets collated and is used to evaluate a company's culture and practices. And this is where their people first culture takes the spotlight.

TaskUs Philippines has always been putting people at the forefront. They make sure everyone gets welfare and benefits that are inclusive, appropriate health coverage, wellness programs that includes mental health, career development, great facilities and exemplary leadership.

TaskUs Philippines's people first culture has already brought several recognitions for the company. Their success remains dedicated to their organization and the clients they serve. This surely would be a good addition to last year's Best Place to Work award by the Business Intelligence Group plus Everest Group's Fastest Growing Service provider award which they also got in 2022. There's no way to go but up, and TaskUs Philippines will continue to be a leading digital service company bringing world class customer experience and help various stakeholders become their best selves.

If you want to know more about them, visit their official website TaskUs.com

Chaplin Cafe at Century City Mall

Had a wonderful small brunch at Chaplin. It's a restaurant at the 5th floor of Century City Mall in Makati Avenue, Makati City. It's been a while since I've been here so I'm making the trip worth it and show you around this place which I found very nice. The seats are comfy, even though it's a little packed I still managed to get seats in the center. I got to do my favorite activity, people watching. Aside from that, we got the best items on the menu as recommended by the wait staff and chef who came out to say hi later on. A foreign lad, concocting upscale middle east/Mediterranean dishes for the restaurant. I knew I had to see this.

The interiors are nice. It's like a California modern restaurant with functional, minimalist interiors. The colors are basic, black, white, green and wood tones all around. It's upscale but relaxed, I can imagine this being frequented by Titas of Manila, those who have meetings, or foreigners who just want something quick for breakfast and lunch. They have dinner, the ambiance up there was quite conducive for talk and lovely.

 

For business travelers, they have wifi. Although not that fast, it was okay for the small things like browsing and Instagram. I wanted to stay there for work but I had to attend another event on the same mall on the lower floors so after brunch I left in a jiffy.

What caught my attention was that most of the foreigners opted to stay under the sweltering heat of the sun. They didn't mind it was super hot that day and just got hydrated by drinks and perhaps took advantage of our tropical weather to get a tan while they're there. Makes sense though.

I ordered this Orange-Carrot juice which the server recommended. It was very refreshing, not too sweet, and you still get that legit orange juice taste on every sip. I think it's imported boxed orange juice though, or maybe fresh (since it's also available), I couldn't tell. A bit pricey but considering the heat outside, it's something you would think you'll need.

I thought this was chicken, but apparently this is their version of Potato Wedges. It's more on the sweet side, but I do like the variety rather than just spuds on a plate.

This is Shakshouka. It's a middle eastern egg and tomato based dish. The star here is the egg of course and is served a little runny so you can put it on your bread like a spread.  It reminds me of the Italian bruschetta, but this is vegetarian with the exception of the egg of course. They love this in any meal as part of their starters. Pretty good.

This is Eggplant Melanzane. To me, it looks like the Greek Moussaka with none of the cheese and cream. It's very nice to see something vegetarian that's this good. I think this is my personal favorite and perhaps when they come out with breads (I heard they are really soon) this would be something that would be perfect for that.

This is their Chicken Steak. It's a hearty version of Chicken Barbecue, butterflied. It's very savory. I also like that this comes with an option of potato wedges or mashed potatoes and their side salad. You basically get this as a complete meal perfect for lunch or dinner. I love the small crispy parts and how soft it is inside. If you like barbecue, you'll love this healthy plate.

 This is their signature Chaplin Pizza. The ingredients are fresh, although I found it a little unseasoned. I did put a generous amount of salt and pepper (which they had on the table) and it was okay after that. What's good is that they have a "Make Your Own Pizza" section on the menu where you can choose the ingredients and have it ordered like that. Still, they had very healthy options for toppings so you're not gonna miss out on the veggies even if it is pizza.

My friend and I had this for dessert to end the meal. She also ordered another one just so we could see the best sellers. The first one is my personal favorite, the Chocolate Souffle. I liked the flavor and how deep the chocolate is in every spoonful but, there seems to be some presentation problems. I like my plate pretty, and if it's a souffle, at least have it risen properly and not all broken down like a mush on the bottom. I was so glad that they were very receptive about comments of their food since they just opened. The Napoleon was so good, I like the flaky crust crisscrossed with luscious caramel and the dollop of cream on the side. Then the last one is the Triple Chocolate Mousse, it went missing after around 5 minutes and I don't know where it has gone. Maybe it just vanished.

Chaplin Cafe is located at Century City Mall's 4th Floor. You can access it through the Kalayaan Avenue side of the mall to get breakfast even if the mall isn't opened yet. It's the perfect meeting spot, but I'm just telling you. Yes, it's worthy to go to for a visit, or do your work. They've actually got pretty good coffee too so if you're around the area and it's a little early, go give them a visit. It's a little pricey (for Pinoys but not for foreigners) but considering the upscale ambiance, the vegetarian choices, the good food, I think it's worth it. There you go.

For more information about their restaurant:

Chaplin Cafe

Like them on Facebook


Visit their official website

https://www.facebook.com/chaplin.cafe.philippines

Millie's at Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Manila

A skip and a hop away from SMX Convention Center and SM Mall of Asia is Microtel Inn and Suites by Wyndham Manila. I seldom go to these parts in the metro because of its geographic location; but I never knew I was missing so much. I visited the hotel's restaurant and fell in love with a few dishes.It was small but classy. It was upscale but accessible to everyone who wanted to grab a bite. A lot of contradictions but mostly, I got schooled about this quaint place right beside gigantic malls, hotels and casinos in Pasay City.

This restaurant is located at the ground floor of Microtel Inn and Suites. You might fear the place because you would think everything's expensive but in my standards it wasn't at all. The lovely interiors are laced with modern chairs, tables and a couple of compartments where they showcase the actual things of Millie. She was a woman and a mother who enjoyed to travel; and it was shown evidently on the shelves of this restaurant. From perfumes, suitcases, memorabilia it had that sense of powerful matriarch personified in this establishment.  

Best of all, you can feel that you can come home and she'll whip you up homey Filipino, European and International dishes that's unpretentious, nothing fancy and just straight forward comfort food. It's a thing you would love to have while on a vacation. It's like what Mom would have made for you if she were an Italian modern woman.

First up was my drink!

It's Not Your Usual Vacation: Gratchi's Getaway - Tagaytay Farm Resort!

Tagaytay is a couple of hours or so away from Metro Manila. It's the closest vacation spot that we usually go to because of the quaint cold breeze and majestic "Taal Volcano" view that it is known for. It's one of the places that you usually just chill around and do nothing. That's about to change. We got to see a great place off road but quite near the main thoroughfare of this quaint city. Let me show you around Gratchi's Getaway - Tagaytay Farm Resort!


Imagine a huge 6 hectare property right smack in the middle of Tagaytay quite close to popular Picnic Grove and People's Park on the stretch of Tagaytay - Calamba Road.

This place is huge and contains a couple of home grown crops, vegetables and fruit bearing trees amidst a mountainous landscape. Several native animals also inhabit the place together with a monkey, a bulldog and a local dog named CHOCO to keep you on your toes. He was literally even the first one to greet us when we arrived that evening!

The owner Ms. Gracia "Gratchi" Bautista Nuval and her good looking son Geoffrey welcomed us to their great place and even prepared a sumptuous dinner. On the menu is all Mushrooms which the matriarch is also proud about. They grow em right in the farm and they even teach locals, from Metro Manila and nearby provinces the art of cultivating Mushrooms.

Geoffrey Nuval, Rod Magaru (of RodMagaru.com) Ms. Gratchi Nuval, Ruth Floresca (of MommyWrites.blogspot.com), Jeman (of OrangeMagazineTV.com) and Myke Soon (mrmixofeverything.blogspot.com)

The family currently manages this resort wanted this place to be a haven for those who want to educate themselves while engaging in team building activities. At the back of my mind, wouldn't that be boring? Wouldn't that be a drag to go to? What does this place offer? I was in to find the answer.

Dinner Was Served


Gratchi's Getaway - Tagaytay Farm Resort promotes an environmental, environmentally sensitive - self sustaining lifestyle. I mentioned earlier that they have their own Mushroom house and yes they got us hooked up. Imagine your usual Kare Kare without the fattening pig parts. Yes they can do that. The meals actually can come with the package you acquire from them and boy it was good! The mushrooms actually felt like real meat and the texture was lovely; I ate quite a hefty serving. Add in a bit of local bagoong and it's a done deal! They have developed a number of recipes using Mushrooms and I must say I'm impressed at first bite.


The second one looked so good. It tasted like slivers of pork chop. The difference though is that this is also made of mushrooms. Yes, the photos don't justify how good it was. When no one was looking I grabbed some more. I loved it!


Dessert comes first but this was a sweet way to end the meal. We initially didn't know what this was and they said it was a surprise. It tasted like bukayo, a local delicacy in the Visayan region. The difference though is that this was made with oyster mushrooms. Sugar and water (or maybe a bit of vanilla) just became so nice with it. Meals designed with mushrooms that they harvest straight from the farm made this experience a whole lot different.

Then we proceeded to our quarters.



This place was called THE RUINS (local name Ang Guho). They perked up the place and made a structure worthy of the historical name that it's got. The first floor housed the dinner table and a white board probably for discussing things. Yes, the resort has this notion of educating people and they give seminars for Mushroom cultivation etc. (they have conference facilities). Do you even know how much mushrooms cost these days? There's really no reason why people should stick to noodles for lunch and dinner in impoverished communities. Once they learn how to do Mushrooms, their lives would be a tad better. They can literally harvest twice a day for a couple of months. It's that fast. So just imagine how much this would benefit less fortunate people. The resort knows this and they want this change to start in Gratchi's Getaway - Tagaytay Farm Resort. They even have scholars for the course when they don't charge anything; if they know it will benefit quite a lot of people they would gladly oblige, just ask them for that because I'm telling you they're that nice! The structure (photo on top) was our home for that evening and it was quite a treat to live in it. The rooms were spacious.

The first floor contains the dining hall. The second floor are for the rooms. The top floor currently houses their indoor activity center. It's got a pool table and a table tennis area. Eventually they would like this to be some sort of a spa for a more holistic experience in the resort.

They are gunning for a natural - native looking interior. The materials and even labor making this place was sourced within the community so just imagine how the resort just becomes a catalyst for economical activities in Barangay Cabangaan. They are helping the surrounding towns too.


Although it doesn't have air conditioning, who would even want to have that in the first place? Tagaytay is known for being so cold in the evening and morning. You'll have that breeze taking care of you while you sleep. Isn't that amazing and au naturelle? This is really perfect for conferences and seminars too!

The Morning After...

We were jazzed up to try some of the activities in the resort. Together with my blog friends we were treated to an adventure and take part on the easy hiking trail. Oh boy was I in for a surprise! It wasn't easy at all as we had to traverse the side of a mountain. I'll let the photos speak for itself...

Going down to the river was pretty challenging as you need to stay on your toes. You have to be careful. It was made pretty safe because you have veteran locals to guide you through the trail.

The place was wonderful. You get to reconnect with nature. As we went down, the river greeted us with it's pristine clear hues; even though it just rained. They say you can drink from it but we didn't at that time. I had to remove my shoes too because it might get wet. Walking barefoot in this trail isn't easy because of the rocks and crevices in between. Make sure you have slippers or better hiking/climbing gear ready.


I wasn't the only one who went barefoot (as seen in the photo above). It was really nice to get to know the place and its people. It was so nice that even Geoffrey Nuval went with us in the trail. He was really pushing us to go further when we felt weak. A city boy like me who didn't like going to mountains suddenly had a change of heart. It was well worth the trip. Experiencing it together with blog friends was mighty special too, we definitely knew that we had so many things to write about after that.

The place had small waterfalls and different heights of waterways.
It was cold and refreshing!

It made me realize that activities like these can really mold a group together. You kinda depend on each other. You have different times asking someone to carry your things for you. Or maybe just help you out on high stones and dark caves. Yes, there was a cave but I dared not to go in it because I was barefoot. Maybe next time eh? The path actually can take hours to trek and you have to go back the same way. So if you are upto an adventure I definitely recommend you do this!


There are lots of caves in the area. Some of them are not officially explored. Some say there were treasures found in some of these but had a tragic story to tell. You should ask your guide about it. I wouldn't want to spoil your trip hehe.


Make sure you freshen up a bit with the river's water. It's cold. Maybe I'll try taking a bath there just like the locals next time.


When we went back up these treats were there for us! I love them, just thinking about how thoughtful they were since the night before is giving me flashbacks. Ms. Gratchie, Geoffrey, Tammy and the people there were making a difference. They are the ones that made this trip special.



Lunch and snacks was awesome. You should request for the spring rolls and Turon with cinnamon. That really made my day.

The Resort Facilities

The farm also has a vermiculture and composting facility so that when a rich top soil is needed for the things they have in the garden this is one way of enriching it. This is a proven way of getting the best out of planting and they can teach you this plus more.

I have been boasting about this in the whole article and it was really a great thing to see that afternoon. We had so little time to roam around the resort and this one tops it all! Do you know that these mushrooms actually can grow and be harvested twice a day? Yeap you heard that right! It was like magic before our eyes!


This is one of the pet projects of the gorgeous Ms. Gracia "Gratchi" Bautista Nuval and she actually has been doing this for quite some time now. She did some experiments to achieve this modest haul of mushrooms... basically by trial and error. She's been happy about the outcome of this batch and continues to share what she has learned in the past few years. This is going to be her pet project for those who wish to learn in Gratchi's Getaway - Tagaytay Farm Resort!



Outside the Mushroom Green House/ Mushroom Dark Room is the herb garden. It's where most of their plants and trees are started. Sort of a nursery.

It was a delight to see Mint, Tarragon, Rosemary, Basil and a lot more in her herb garden. I love what she's starting. I hope this works like "pay it forward". For sure it'll be nice to see people benefit from this.

They also got these cute pot belly pigs. Unlike the native ones, these guys don't smell at all. They are more of a "pet" rather than a commodity.

The Activity Area

The activity area has some courses that you and your team can do to test out trust. It's one of the things that can really make you and your people stay together, perform good just like in a normal office environment. Activities like this really build relationships and you will eventually get the point because this is not just theoretical. This is totally different from the normal vacations you probably often do. It's high time we think about what you and your people can do through practical means. It was so nice to see natural materials like Bamboo and hard wood on the course, I guess they put a lot of thought to that. Things can be so simple it could already be right in front of us. We have so many things near us that we can use; and all we need to do is just take a look. The course is also situated on top of a mountain with a spectacular view of the Palace in the Sky and The Highlands area. It's as cool as those places too.

The luckiest people in the world are those who get to live their dreams. They are doing that. What's more lucky is they want to share it with us. Ms. Gratchie Nuval wants every single person to learn something from their experience with the resort. That's exactly what we felt going out of that place. I think it's not really the fun that we had that spelled me to say nice things about it (but that's a plus don't get me wrong!), it's that and the people running the place. The sincere gesture of "wanting us to learn and experience" made the difference. This place truly has a lot of promise and if everyone just had what we had, the offices or workplace you belong would indeed be truly something to look forward to everyday. After the team building activities you plan to do in this place you'll surely have greater appreciation with your work. You'll learn to love it; and if you choose to work in a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life!

For more information and reservation inquiries

Please Call Gratchi Farm Resort
Phone: (02) 664-1633
Mobile: 09189109633
09228910963
Email: GratchiFarms@gmail.com
Website: http://www.gratchi.com

P.S. Don't worry too much about prices, you can talk about it! They'll even throw in a small discount all you need to do is ask! =)