A Happy Tummy in Tacloban City

Hi! It's been too long since our last post. As I was thinking about what to blog about next, I realized that I need to share some cool dining places that not everyone has heard of. And since I just spent a lovely vacation from my beautiful hometown, This post will be all about Tacloban City.

Tacloban City is the capital of the province of Leyte. It is the first to be classified as a Highly Urbanized City in Eastern Visayas. The San Juanico Bridge, McArthur Park and the Santo Nino Shrine are one of the many places you can visit. But since this is a food blog (yay!) I'm going to share 3 awesome places to eat, drink and party in Tacloban City.

1. Mex 'Em Up Grill.

Mex 'Em Up Grill is a restaurant with a fusion of Mexican, Italian and Filipino cuisine located the ground floor of Robinson's Tacloban. Their dishes are very tasty and suprisingly inexpensive! The main reason why I decided to include this place on the list is because of their amazing cream of mushroom soup.

This, right here is the tastiest mushroom soup I've ever had. At 49 pesos, you get a serving of creamy heaven. Just the right amount of mushroom, a hint of garlic and they definitely did not scrimp on the cream.

This is their cheese and beef supreme nachos. The dip is loaded with bits of onions, tomatoes and lots of beef and melted cheese. Yum!

Now this is the triple burger steak. Three burger patties with mushroom and gravy. I wasn't a fan of it. But my best friend and her boyfriend found it tasty.

We also tried out all three kinds of quesadillas they offered. The bacon and ham melt, pesto and the cheese and beef. All of them were tasty but the bacon and ham melt was my favorite. And oh, just a friendly reminder, if you do try the pesto, be sure to have a TicTac afterwards.  :)

Anyway, here are some of the pictures we took:

with my best friend and foodie partner.

my best friend and her beau.

Our bill:

Not bad huh?



Mex 'Em Up Grill
Ground Floor, Robinson's Place Tacloban
Marasbaras, Tacloban City, Leyte
(053) 323 7460
http://www.facebook.com/mexem.up







2.  Club Rage

Sometimes, when life gets the best of us, all we need is a place to let loose. If you happen to be in Tacloban City, you should visit Club Rage which is located at Tacloban Convention Center. It is owned by Ryan Sevilleja and managed by Aya Santos. This place offers upbeat, euphoric music as their DJs Louie and Niko work their magic to keep the people on the dancefloor.


But if you do need to get a little inebriated before you bump and grind and show off those other dance floor worthy moves, you may wanna try their bestseller: The Caribbean Cocktail.

 

This baby right here is vodka mixed with orange and lime juice. My friends and I order this all the time. It's so sweet and fruity that you can barely taste the alcohol. Don't let this drink fool you though,  a couple of shots paired with a bottle of Tanduay Ice and you'll be doing the dougie in no time.



But if you're a hardcore drinker, here's what you need: The Black Russian.

The Black Russian, according to their menu is a mixture of vodka and Kahlua. If you finish a glass of this drink and you don't feel the slightest hint of being sloshed, then hats off to you my friend.

Club Rage's main men: Ryan (left) and Aya (right)

with one of my closest friends, Rhona.

the girls

the gang

the effect of a few sips of the Black Russian and a couple shots of the Caribbean Cocktail. :) 

Club Rage
Tacloban Astrodome Sagkahan, Tacloban City, Leyte
0917 327 6456
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Club-Rage-House-of-Music/203463656390236





3. Calle Zaragosa

Now, after the drinking and partying, we almost always head straight to this place. Now, before I continue with this post, let me apologize in advance if I did not take a lot of photos of the place. I was not able to bring my camera on my vacation. All these pictures are courtesy of my best friend Elvin's boyfriend, Marcos. 

Anyway, this place serves the best bulalo in Tacloban City and I think the most affordable too. At 110 pesos, you a get a cup of rice and a bowl of bulalo. The serving size is good for two people. Its hot, tasty, light broth is oh sooo comforting! It's as good as a back rub while you're throwing up all those Caribbean Cocktails and Tanduay Ice from the party. Hahaha. But seriously, their bulalo is one delicious cure for hangover.

Add caption

We also ordered their tocino meal. A cup of rice, one fried egg and a thick piece of tocino for 50 pesos. All I can say is that everytime we visit Calle Zaragosa, we always get our money's worth and a big happy tummy. :)

Calle Zaragoza
39 Independencia St., Tacloban City Philippines 6500
 +63 53 321 3197; 325 8582, +63 917 306 0168
http://www.callezaragosa.com/



Anyway, there are lots of cool places to hang out and dine in Tacloban City and I haven't even started with Club 6500 yet which has lots of good restobars. So watch out for my next posts about Tacloban City.

Ciao!


Submitted by: D
Photos by: Chang and Elvin Grace.



Note:  Prices of food and location of establishment are in Philippine currency and are subject to change without prior notice.