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

Wee Nam Kee

One of the most talked about restaurants nowadays in the vicinity of Makati is called Wee Nam Kee. Wee Nam Kee is a franchise from a hawker stall in Singapore which is very popular for serving Hainanese Chicken Rice. Personally, when I visit Singapore's hawker areas (there are several), I prefer to go and queue up for the Laksa located near Fook Hai Building in Chinatown. Laksa, for me, has more character and flavors than Hainanese Chicken Rice (but then, I digress from what this blog is all about). Anyway, its amazing how the franchisees of the Philippine Wee Nam Kee transformed it into a proper restaurant here in the Philippines compared it to being a hawker stall in Singapore.

So as I mentioned in my previous blog, I had the chance to eat at Wee Nam Kee with my good friend Eon as I happened to be in the vicinity of the restaurant last Wednesday.

First of all, allot enough time when you want to eat at Wee Nam Kee because you will definitely have to queue up to get a table. Fortunately, Eon was there ahead of me and was able to secure a table by the time I arrived at the restaurant. Ordering was easy since everybody knows that they are supposed to be the best in Hainanese Chicken Rice (steamed). I also ordered a Personal Set (includes rice and soup) of Roasted Chicken and a plate of Cereal Prawns (been hearing great reviews about the prawns so was curious to try it plus I count prawns as one of my favorite food items).

I expected the chicken dishes to arrive first since the prawns were an additional order but surprisingly, the prawns arrived first. A plate of cereal prawns includes 4 medium to large sized prawns with cereal flakes and red chili slices. I was excited to bite into my prawns as I am a big big fan of prawns (and mussels).

It's suggested that you eat the shell with the prawns but I opted to do the normal way of eating prawns by only eating the meat without the shell. Then grabbing a spoonful of the cereal/chili flake combination and eating it with the prawn was just pure goodness. The dish was as good as advertised. Up to this point, everything was going perfectly and the restaurant was living up to its popularity.

Now here comes the tricky part. If you are eating while reading this or you have a weak stomach, please stop right here!

I was ready to attack my second piece when lo and behold, what should be hiding underneath the flakes and shell...

Now to take a closer look...

There's a strand of hair on my prawn! Any normal person would lose appetite once one sees a strand of hair on one's food and I'm no exemption to that rule. I hurriedly called out the waiter and showed him the 'evidence'. He was very apologetic about it and looked quite sincere. Normally, I would have been upset but the logical part of my brain was telling me that this was no fault of his so I just let it go. He grabbed the plate with the remaining offending prawns and promised to replace them with a plate of newly cooked prawns.

While waiting for the prawns to arrive, our chicken dishes arrived. The waiter apologized to us for the late delivery of the chicken dishes and his explanation was that the cutter was not around (during a peak hour period?????)

Both chicken dishes look good enough to eat but what I really ordered was the roasted one for myself. Hainanese chicken for me is the same everywhere around.

My observation of the roasted chicken was that it was a little bit dry. And the chicken slices looked a bit smaller than the steamed one although this could just be my imagination and I'm sure the kitchen staff do weigh the chicken portion. The taste was good enough but honestly, it was not exceptional. Perhaps its because I've tried a lot of roasted chicken dishes in most parts of Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore,etc) that my taste buds have become jaded?

Next up was the infamous steamed chicken. It was juicier than the roasted one, due to perhaps being a steamed dish. The taste was good as it should be since this was their piece de resistance. But as I mentioned earlier, Hainanese chicken doesn't do anything for me.

The only saving grace for me on the steamed chicken was the trio of sauces associated with Hainanese Chicken rice. You mix together the sweet soy sauce, ginger and chili sauce to create a delicious sauce worthy of flavoring a bland chicken.

The chicken order came with a cup of rice and a bowl of chicken stock soup. I must say that I loved the rice. I'm not a big fan of eating rice but I could have finished ordered additional rice if I was a glutton. I didn't but I was so tempted.

The soup tasted like your ordinary chicken stock soup but what stopped me from finishing it was the fact that I found a small strand of hair on it (looked like a hair from one's eye lashes). I told the waiter about my double luck that day with regards to body hair getting into my food but managed to keep it cool and also managed to finished the second order of my Cereal Chicken.

So was all the hype worth it? In my humble opinion, eating there once was already enough to last me a lifetime.

Wee Nam Kee

Ayala Triangle Gardens

Makati Avenue
Makati City

Tel: (+632) 8468924

Sala Bistro

As we did a post-celebration of my very good friend's birthday (P.So), he decided to treat us to dinner at Sala Bistro.

We started off with cocktails. I had my usual and unadventurous Cosmopolitan...

Cosmopolitan is made up vodka, triple sec, lime juice and cranberry juice. I like their mix because the balance of the alcohol and the juices is just right. Although some may find the alcohol content too high, I recommend one glass should be enough to last you the night

My friend decided to try Fresh Pineapple and Mint Mojito (made up of Bacardi rum muddled with fresh pineapple, mint leaves and a little fresh vanilla sugar and shaken with crushed ice).

A basket of freshly baked (or looked like it) bread served to satiate our hunger since it was already close to 2100H when we met up for dinner


The Soup of the Day was Sweet Potato Soup. I loved the taste of the soup as it was nicely made and the ingredients blended well to produce a light and delicious soup


My friends decided to partake of salad instead of soup...

I forgot the name of this salad but it came with Chinese sausage

Pear, rocket, blue cheese and walnut salad

Between the two salads, the first one, according to my friends, tasted much better.

Then a slew of main courses came marching in...

I ordered this Penne, Italian Sausage, Tomatoes, Oregano and Chili pasta. Everything about it was delicious except for the toasted bread which was really hard (it eventually became better when we dipped the bread on the remaining sauce...maybe this is how its supposed to be eaten? but normally I want to eat the bread at the same time with the pasta and its impossible to dip when the plate is still full). Among the four dishes, this was the favorite amongst the group.

Chicken Saltimbocca with spinach and rosemary potatoes. I love how they cooked this dish. It was very very tasty for a chicken dish. I wouldn't mind getting this the next time I dine there.


I may be mistaken but I think this pasta dish is the Casarecce with porcini, guanciale and truffle cream. Its very tasty but its the kind of food that you will eventually tire of the taste when you have to finish the whole plate.


The only dish I did not try simply because I absolutely do not eat Fish.

Finally, dessert came...

I honestly cannot remember the name of this dessert but honestly it was no good. As a dessert person, this one doesn't quite make it to the memorable list of desserts.

Since I love to eat bananas, this Banoffee pie was a bit of a disappointment since it was mostly made up of cream and not enough bananas in it. My friend, P.So makes a meaner and better Banoffee pie!

Valhrona Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows and whipped cream. Admittedly, a very sinful end to my full meal. It was worth it though...

Dining at Sala Bistro may not be a cheap affair. But the ambience, excellent service and good food makes it all worth it.

Sala Bistro

Ground Floor, Garden Side

Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center

Makati City

Tel: (+63 2) 7297500

Website: http://www.salabistro.com/