Last weekend, we came across this amazing little place, Cresent Moon Cafe & Pottery Studio located just out of Manila. You can literally feel yourself relax as you enter this wee oasis, the driveway is overgrown with jungle of tropical vegetation, an abundance of birdlife, insects and flowing waterfalls which drain into the three partnering ponds, teaming with Japanese giant goldfish -  'oh the serenity'
(classic one line from 'The Castle).

For p350(pp), you can feast apon a four course meal while gazing out across the waterfall and ponds. Our menu included a delicious creamy mushroom soup, beetle leaves with seven different types of fillings to wrap in the leaves, a box suey, chicken curry, and a delightful sticky rice and mango to cleanse the palette.

After our monster meal, we waddled across to the pottery studio which was piled up with beautifully crafted pieces and molds. I was like a kid in a candy store - what a feast for the eyes. An abundance of colour and choices, and so incredibly cheap.

 

Where: McKinley Hills, Manila

Who: 700 teams

My goal time: 55mins

My actual time: 51mins 28sec

 

Where: Banapple Cafe, Manila

What's on my plate:

Hungarian chorizo al ajillo

Hickory smoked barbequed country ribs

Banoffee pie

Web: www.banapplekitchen.com

Menu: pdf

If you happent to be travelling to Philippines throughout May, I highly recommend making the trip to a little town called Lucban to experience the delicious Pahiyas Festival.  Pahiyas is the time of year when Filipinos give thanks to San Isidro Labrador for a good harvest.

Pahiyas means “decor”. Every May 15, the fronts of houses are elaborately decorated with brightly colored rice wafer, vegetables such as eggplant, carrots, broccoli, fruits, woven palms and flowers.

When the festival is over, these kiping are cooked and eaten as rice chips. In the Afternoon, San Isidro Labrador’s image is carried across town in a procession to assure farmers of more bountiful harvests in forthcoming seasons.