A hotel for shopaholics

The Greenhills Élan Hotel Modern towers over the Greenhills Promenade restaurant row of the Greenhills Shopping Center. We've never stayed there, but their published rates are pretty reasonable. If you're a foodie and a certified shopping bargain hunter, then its location can't be beat. The shopping center is the home of the huge Greenhills tiangge.

Fast and cheap

Greenhills Shopping Center has a restaurant row at the Promenade. Behind one of the buildings which leads to the supermarket, it also has a row of food stalls along the sidewalk. Needless to say, the food and drinks here are much, much less expensive than those at the Promenade.

Nothing else

How important is food in the social life of Filipinos? When we say "restaurant row," we mean it literally. This is the restaurant side of the Greenhills Promenade in San Juan City, in the same complex as Metro Manila's most famous tiangge (bazaar).

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How time flies! April is almost done and I'm again reminding all CDP bloggers about our next theme day. The May 1 theme is Statues, and have you voted for the June theme already?

God and mammon

The Philippines is the only country I know where Sunday Masses are celebrated in shopping malls. They are usually held in big, open areas where performances and other special events also take place. Some shopping centers that have many buildings sprawled over a large space even have their own chapels. I showed the one in Greenbelt last year. This one is the Chapel of the Holy Family in the Greenhills Shopping Center in the City of San Juan.

Standing watch

The small, pretty chapel used for wakes beside the main church of the Santuario de San Jose (Sanctuary of Saint Joseph) parish in East Greenhills, Mandaluyong City. I've been there several times but have not discovered if the chapel has its own name. It was only when I was editing the photo that I saw the tree-shaped air freshener hanging from the lamp.

Too many choices

It started as an occasional bazaar, but the huge Greenhills tiangge is now almost all-year-round, and airconditioned too. It's the breaks that are now occasional, so some stalls can be changed to reflect the season (like Christmas or school opening). This is just one corridor of the bazaar, which regularly has sections for shoes, clothes, jewelry, and home accessories. The tiangge is now celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year, and the special section (which I wasn't able to take a photo of, unfortunately) included Chinese delicacies, and all manner of figurines and charms meant to bring luck during this Year of the Water Snake.

Double red

Metro Manila has been red this past week because of this double special day. These Chinese lanterns and banners were hanging from the roof of the Greenhills tiangge (bazaar) because of the Lunar New Year.



Since it's also Valentine's Day, hearts and cupids were also decorating other parts of the shopping complex. But I thought I'd post something from the tiangge that women would appreciate receiving today. The bazaar has different sections and one of them is dedicated to jewelry. Rows and rows of stalls with rows and rows of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings made of semi-precious stones, crystal, coral, pearls and cloisonné.

Happy Valentine's Day and a Prosperous Lunar New Year to all!

Not quite

The Greenhills Promenade in the City of San Juan isn't quite a mall. It has too few shops to be called such. What it does have is three cinemas, a theater and lots of restaurants. Except for the bookstore (another branch of Fully Booked), it doesn't really need stores. Promenade is in the same complex as the oldest and most famous tiangge (bazaar) in Metro Manila.

An oasis from consumerism

A small pond within a small park in the middle of the Greenhills Shopping Center in the City of San Juan. It is right next to the tiangge (bazaar) and is outdoors, hence the covered walkway between buildings. I wonder if the thousands of shoppers that pass through the park everyday notice just how lush it is.

Urban or rural, natural or man-made, take a sightseeing tour of our world's diverse scenery!

Drool!

I have to confess that I'm not really crazy about chocolate cake. I mean, I like chocolate, but I'd rather just have the bars—plain and dark. When it comes to pastries, my choice is usually cheesecake. Except when we're at Bizu Patisserie (Promenade in Greenhills, Glorietta 4 and Greenbelt 2 in Makati City, Alabang Town Center). It's the only place in Metro Manila where I always go for the chocolate confections, and here are my two favorites. Nirvana is caramel chocolate mousse and pistachio cream on a crisp chocolate crust and a layer of chocolate cake covered with chocolate brilliant sauce.


Samba is a combination of milk and dark chocolate mousse between layers of chocolate cake and coated with chocolate brilliant sauce. Both are heavenly! And make me giddily light-headed with a sugar and chocolate high.

A bouquet of electrical flowers

Last October, I posted a photo of the unusual and pretty lamp of Bizu Patisserie in Greenbelt. I saw it again in their Promenade branch but against walls of a different design. Back then, I called it a splash of light but Olivier of Evry Daily Photo saw un beau bouquet de fleurs électriques (a beautiful bouquet of electrical flowers). I like his description better—so much more romantic. Maybe because he's French?


And because I'm sure that people will ask where the pastries are, they're here, here and here. Enjoy!

Hacienda

The commercial, residential and shopping complexes that are now Greenhills and Ortigas Center, which straddle four cities in Metro Manila, began as part of the estate of the Augustinian Order in the Philippines. The religious order sold 4,033 hectares to a group of prominent Spanish-Filipino businessmen in 1920 who called it Hacienda de Mandaloyon (or Mandaloyong). This relief map of the origins of the area—and the history of the company that founded it—is in the tiny Ortigas Park.

Limited partnership

The company that developed Hacienda de Mandaloyon (see yesterday's post) into what is now Greenhills and Ortigas Center was incorporated as a limited partnership named Ortigas, Madrigal y cia., S. en C. (sociedad comanditaria por acciones) in 1931. There were several changes in the partnership between the 1920 sale and its incorporation, and in 1931, the company's partners were Francisco Ortigas, Vicente Madrigal, B.C.M. Johnston, Fulgencio Borromeo, Clyde A. Dewitt and Manuel L. Quezon.

Yummy to the last sip

When something becomes popular in Manila, it really becomes popular. During the past year, tea shops have opened in almost every block in the metro. The range is very wide—from quiet places that serve fresh, carefully brewed organic teas to shops that serve tea drinks with milk, all sorts of flavorings, sago pearls and jelly cubes, and everything in between. One guess what kind of tea Pao Pao Xiao Chi serves. It was the only place I could get a cold drink at the Greenhills West Clubhouse. To be fair, the simple iced fruit tea I had was pretty good; it wasn't too sweet and they have a light touch with the flavoring so I could still taste the tea.

Transparency

V-Mall is one of several buildings at the Greenhills Shopping Center. When I was much younger, it was called Virra Mall and was a concrete block with a warren of tiny shops selling pirated software and videos, PC clones and other questionable electronic gadgets. With the new name came a brighter and airier space, and—hopefully—more legitimate merchandise.

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My Manila will be on autopilot from November 1 to 5. Be well, be good.