Aside from the clean and cozy rooms, Lotus Garden Hotel also boasts of its in-house restaurant and sports bar where guests can enjoy Filipino delicacies while unwinding and relaxing over a variety of drinks.

The Cilantro Restaurant provides guests with a fine dining pleasure while savoring a choice of Filipino dishes. Our accommodation at the Lotus Garden Hotel comes with a breakfast buffet for two per overnight stay. And since we booked the room for 3 days and 2 nights, we got to have breakfast buffet at the Cilantro Restaurant for two days! :D


The buffet opens at six in the morning. Breakfast stubs are claimed at the reception.  On our first breakfast, we arrived a little after nine and so we had to wait a little for seats to be vacated.  On our second breakfast, we came in earlier around 8 am and got the liberty to choose our seats. :D

After our lunch at Pan de Amerikana in Katipunan, we went to Manila to book for a hotel. We didn't have any reservations and so we just searched over the net for hotels while we were having lunch.

We were supposed to book a hotel at BGC in Taguig but since a Manila Bay dinner cruise was also included in our itinerary, we thought that it would be practical to just stay in Manila since there are a lot of hotels there anyway.

After surfing through different hotel websites, Mark and I finally agreed to stay at the Lotus Garden Hotel in Manila.


We were greeted by the hotel guard as we alighted the cab and he ushered us to the reception.  The receptionist that accommodated us was all-smiles as she answered all our queries and handed us the leaflet with room rates.

Mark and I first got to try out Pan de Amerikana in Marikina early this year during Mark's birthday. We instantly fell in love with the place and told ourselves that we'll get back there or at least visit their other branches.

When we were planning on our itinerary for the long weekend, Pan de Amerikana in Katipunan was at the top of our list. And so there, it was our first destination during the long weekend.

Pan de Amerikana in Katipunan, Quezon City, just like the Marikina branch, is also a themed restaurant. While the Marikina branch is the first and only chess-themed restaurant in the Philippines, the Katipunan branch is the first and only upside down restaurant not only in the Philippines, but in South East Asia.

Pan de Amerikana Katipunan

It features an upside down full size Land Rover 4x4 defender 90 with working lights, as the site boasts. We went there over lunch so I really didn't get to see the lights. :p Just like my first time at the Marikina branch, I also got excited when we arrived at the Katipunan branch. The facade which was an upside down house was really amazing! The details were perfectly built just like a real house. From the roof to the windows, the trees and the plants, the land rover, the stone pillars...

Yesterday, August 27, marked the 8th year of Mark and I being together as a couple. We were both looking forward to this day especially because we were apart during our 6th year and 7th year.

Since August 27 was declared as a holiday Monday, we initially thought of having an out of town trip in Tagaytay. But since it is a long weekend, and we got to plan a little late, most of the places that we were eying on were already fully-booked. So we just decided to celebrate our anniversary by spending the long weekend together in Manila. Mark is from Caloocan and I'm from Antipolo, so technically Manila is still out of town for us haha! :p

Here's a sneak peek of what we did over the long weekend. :D

August 25, Saturday

Lunch at Pan de Amerikana (Katipunan)

The first two Sundays of August mean birthday feasts for our family. :D Last August 5, my mom celebrated her 49th birthday. Yup, she doesn't mind having her age published here because she looks way younger! :D

She doesn't look her age, does she?

Since the food that we have during any feasts is always cooked by our dear daddy, we always do a merienda-to-dinner celebration to make time for the preparations.

Arroz Caldo which literally means "rice soup" has always been one my family's favorite comfort foods.

"Arroz caldo is actually a Chinese congee that was adapted to the tastes of the Spanish colonial settlers who patronized Chinese restaurants in the Philippines." ~Wikipedia

It is commonly flavored with chicken, garlic, ginger, and safflower (or our local saffron, which gives the arroz caldo a distinct aroma and a bright yellow tinge). But my dad, being adventurous when it comes to cooking, has his own version of the arroz caldo which my family loves. With a squeeze of calamansi juice plus a dash of black pepper, a hot bowl of arroz caldo is a perfect way to warm our tummies especially on a cold weather.

I actually tried to cook arroz caldo using my dad's recipe one rainy afternoon and it turned out to be a hit! Try it! :D

Arroz Caldo