The A.Venue Hotel Suite & Antel Spa Suites

The A.Venue Hotel Suite and Antel Spa Suites are two condotels (a combination of residential units and hotel rooms) that are located inside the Antel Lifestyle City along Makati Avenue, Makati City.

Inside the Antel Lifestule City, you will find the the two earlier-mentioned condotels, a mall and an event venue call A. Venue Hall. A third tower/condotel is soon to rise by the name of Serenity.

There is currently a re-branding of the hotel name to include the Best Western name, a chain of mid to low level hotels in the US and around the world.

THE A. VENUE HOTEL SUITE

Let us go first to the tower that was built 3 years ago, The A. Venue Hotel Suite.

The hotel lobby felt like a residential condominium's lobby more than a hotel's. It was quite cramped and low-ceilinged. Since the owners of the Antel group actually specialized in residential condominiums, it was quite understandable why the hotel has this kind of lobby for its first hotel venture.

I was then ushered to a show-room with a one-bedroom unit being first in their showcase.

A spacious kitchen compared to the kitchen of the two-bedroom unit although I doubt if anybody really ever takes the time to cook when staying in hotels like these. Cutleries and plates and other cooking equipment are available upon request.

A writing desk squeezed in instead of a side table is a fantastic idea to maximize the space available.

No bathtub but who actually takes the time out to soak oneself in hotel bathtubs...i certainly don't.

Now this is a little jiffy if you ask me since the chair is actually blocking the closet door and there is nowhere else to put the chair into.

And the two bedroom unit:

I like the flexibility of the center table which can be flipped on its side to function as a mini table to put your popcorn bowl and drinks should a movie night be desired.

A table for four is a bit of a squeeze to use as there is not much space to move around when you're seated beside each other.

As I mentioned earlier, I prefer the layout of the kitchen for the one-bedroom unit as this one seemed to be added as an afterthought since there still some available space (which I'm sure it ain't)

The second toilet located beside the 2nd bedroom.

The master bedroom bed.

A suitably sized lcd TV inside the master bedroom although the dangling power box is an eye sore.

The master bedroom toilet with a bathtub.

The 2nd bedroom.

The corridor at The A. Venue Suites.

On top of this, The A. Venue Suites has a Grand Ballroom and three other smaller function rooms, Business Center, Infinity Pool and Kid's Pool, Wi-fi (charged), spa, gym, Coffee shop, Laundry service, and Parking.

The A. Venue Hotel Suites

Antel Lifestyle City

7829 Makati Avenue, Makati City, Philippines

Tel: (63 2) 4030865 / 4030888

Fax: (63 2) 4030854

Website: http://www.avenuehotelsuites.com/index.php

ANTEL SPA SUITES

Antel Spa Suites is the second hotel built by the Antel group and it seems they have started to do a little bit of research on how a hotel should look like. The lobby was airy, spacious and had a high ceiling. It looks very much like a proper hotel lobby.

The only room type available was the Studio Suite which is adequately sized and furnished.

For such a small room, it comes equipped with a kitchenette and dining table. A welcome addition for occasions when you want to eat inside your hotel room and not do it on your bed.

The bathroom, although compact, comes with a bathtub. I just hope its not too tight sitting on the toilet seat.

A shot taken from the hotel hallway.

Facilities of the hotel include a Spa, Infinity Pool, Gym, Laundry Service, Coffee Shop, Business Center and Parking.

Antel Spa Suites

Antel Lifestyle City

7829 Makati Avenue, Makati City, Philippines

Tel: (63 2) 4030808

Fax: (63 2) 4037572

Website: http://www.antelspahotelsuites.com/index.html

The Rotisserie

Aren't there times that you wished you could just take a relaxing and un-hurried dinner with friends with the ambiance of a fine dining restaurant. I do! Which is why for my post birthday treat this year (my birthday is actually in February but we always wait for the group to be complete before we do any celebrations, thus, this dinner happened early part of May), I decided to introduce my friends to The Rotisserie.

According to The Rotisserie's press kit "Preserving a traditional exceptional food and service, Rotisserie is the home of Manila's Prime Rib of Roast Beef and Caesar Salad. Take a stroll down memory lane and reminisce the flair of the Old Manila through Rotiserrie's classic vintage setting"

The Rotisserie has been around for more than 30 years if my memory serves me right and this restaurant used to be THE restaurant to be seen. Nowadays, it seems as if the restaurant has lost all its glory and the young ones would not even be familiar with this restaurant.

Be prepared to spend a bit when you dine at The Rotisserie. Expect to spend at least Php 2,000 or US$ 46 per person, not including the drinks yet. I was fortunate to personally know the Food and Beverage Director as well as the Executive Chef of the hotel and I asked them to prepare a special menu for me and my friends at a very special price (hotel director's privilege which I was able to "borrow").

First off, we had the complimentary bread basket. Remember this is in a fine dining setting so we expected the food to be served one at a time and at a slow pace. It helped that there was an abundance of bread for us to help ourselves and satiate our hunger while waiting for each of the dishes to be presented.

Our soup came out next. Lobster Bisque it was. Very thick and tasty. You immediately know that this is no run-of-the-mill bisque.

The Caesar Salad which was tossed by the maitre d' at the salad tossing station (?). The dressing was perfect as was the generous topping of cheese and bacon bits.

My entree consisted of Roast Beef and Prawns. Now, The Rotisserie has always been known for its Roast Beef and this is where we would find out if the restaurant was able to maintain the perfect way of preparing this dish. I am usually not a fan of steaks or beef for that matter but since this is what the restaurant is famous for. I, of course, would not want to miss the chance of tasting it once again.

Certainly, the roast beef was excellent. Topped with the gravy, it was soft, chewy and delicious. The prawns were also very good and taking their shell off was a breeze. I was the only one presented with this combo dish (my friends were given the roast beef + sea bass combination) since I am allergic to fish.

My friends also enjoyed their roast beef serving. Unfortunately, the sea bass was a disappointment to all. The general consensus was that it was not fresh. A pity since it looked very appetizing.

Last came the dessert. Tiramisu with a side scoop of ice cream. Everyone sang praises for this light and tasteful end to our meal. I expected it to be mediocre but to my pleasant surprise, it was so good that I wanted a second serving.

All in all, it took us more than two hours to finish our meal. I also brought in a bottle of red wine (corkage waived upon my request) to compliment our roast beef. For special occasions, I would highly recommend this restaurant as it oozes of romance and Old World charm as they claim. The price as I mentioned earlier is hefty but in the end, your taste buds are satisfied as only a proper find dining restaurant can satisfy it.

The Rotisserie

3rd Floor, Manila Pavilion Hotel

U.N. Avenue, Ermita, Manila

1000 Philippines

Tel: (63 2) 5261212

Mon-Fri lunch: 1130H to 1500H

Mon-Sat dinner: 1830H to 2230H

Closed on Sundays

Tokyoflash Japan

On my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I did a lot of window shopping although I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted or needed to buy. That is until I browsed through a watch shop at the Pavilion Mall. I remembered that I had been looking for a gold Nooka watch which is quite difficult to find in Asia. I then noticed this gold watch from Tokyoflash Japan which had a different way of displaying time. I first read about Tokyoflash Japan months ago on both engadget.com and luisaviaroma.com.

My R75 Tokyoflash watch.

From www.tokyoflash.com : If you're looking for a watch that simply tells the time, then our watches are probably not for you. We design wearable art, many people don't appreciate art but many people do.

If your sole reason for buying a watch is to tell the time, we would recommend purchasing another watch brand that does just that. If you have a cell phone, computer, PDA or wall clock, the chances are you don't even need to wear a watch, so why purchase a Tokyoflash watch?

You have to press one of the two buttons to show the time. Above is actually the date display...five dots mean the month of May and the number 12 being the date.

The beauty of Tokyoflash is that its unique. I don't think I would see a lot of people wearing these on the streets of Manila. Also, it has 3 different ways of telling time. Call it selfish but it gives me a bit of pleasure knowing that people can't easily read the time on my watch when they secretly steal a glance at it hehehe.

Tokyoflash actually has other watches with an even more unique way of telling tiime but honestly, they are too complicated even for me.

The cost of my tokyoflash watch? RM599 (Malaysian Ringgit) or approximately Php 8,386. But I haggled my way (truth is there is a discount price so I didn't really haggle) and I only paid RM410 or Php 5740. Tokyoflash's website lists it as US$ 153.16 or Php 6,585 (doesn't include shipping and taxes yet) so I guess I got a good bargain. It's also way below the price of a Nooka gold watch which is approximately Php 10-12K.

My old silver Nooka watch on the left most. Gold Tokyoflash watch on the middle. Xemex silver watch on the right most.