Crescent Moon Cafe Culinary Experience
Angono Petroglyphs
Art Houses: Nemiranda and Blanco Museums
Balaw Balaw Restaurant: An Extraordinary Fare
On one particular occasion, I was given the task to plan for our team-building activity. Even with a very limited budget, we wanted something different, and not the usual swimming or bowling.
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| Crescent Moon Cafe Interior |
By sheer coincidence I had read about interesting attractions in Angono and Antipolo in Rizal province just the week before. This was the perfect opportunity to visit them. It was nearby, cheap, unusual and took only one day to explore. What more could I ask for?
A co-worker suggested that our first stop would be at Crescent Moon Cafe in Antipolo. We were supposed to have brunch here but we late in starting so it became lunch, instead.
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| Feeding the koi |
We left Ortigas at 10am and arrived at Crescent Moon at around 12 noon. The place has a very homely feel. It is owned by Lanelle Abueva-Fernando, the niece of the National Artist for Sculpture, Napoleon Abueva.
This restaurant is unusual in that it has no set menu. You walk in and order whatever is the dish of the day. It's still guaranteed to be awesome. While waiting for our meal, we had fun exploring the place.
It was obvious that careful thought and love went to building the restaurant, with small personal touches here and there, like the crescent shaped tiles in the walkway, or the shell and starfish windchimes. There was also a pottery workshop, while the finished pieces were displayed in the restaurant.
It was a pleasant surprise when we were handed a small bowl of fish food to feed the huge koi in the pond. One of them vaccuumed the food straight from my hand!
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| Appetizer |
The restaurant is famous for its's appetizer, called the alagaw. The alagaw leaf is said to contain medicinal properties and it is used as a wrapper to hold the ingredients such as bean paste, dried shrimp, minced onions and coconut shavings.
We had fun wrapping them in the alagaw leaf and taking a bite. The taste is unusual but definitely a must try! Next, we were served a bowl of pumpkin soup that I positively enjoyed. I'm not usually a fan of vegetables but I really liked that soup. Lol.
The rest of our meal proved to be just as awesome. I can't name them though. I'm not good at cooking and can never identify half of what I eat. Lol. Let me just say that the food was great and leave it at that.
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| Suman with mango |
I know the desert, though. It was suman (sticky rice cake wrapped in coconut leaves) with a slice of mango. The suman was so delicious that we bought a dozen more to take home.
On weekdays, meals cost Php 350 and Php 450 on weekends. It's also a good idea to make a reservation first so that you won't have to wait too long for the food. You can reach them at 658-3866 or 09175232356.
A map to Crescent Moon Cafe is provided below.
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| Map to Crescent Moon Cafe via Ortigas |
Next, we headed to Angono to see the ancient Petroglyphs.
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