Nobu Hotel City of Dreams Manila - the staycation that felt like a dream

Stayed two nights at Nobu during Holy Week and I might say, it's so far the best hotel staycation we've had! Nobu is one of the three hotels that is part of the integrated casino resort that is City of Dreams Manila. The other hotels are Nuwa and Hyatt Regency. We chose to stay at Nobu because mainly Jeckie wants to try something out at the casino, ako naman I liked Nobu's interior. ♥

I uploaded a Room Tour vlog on YouTube, check it out here: [Room tour] Nobu Hotel City of Dreams Manila - Deluxe room, breakfast, amenities

We booked through Agoda and checked in early at around 2:30pm. Room wasn't ready yet and we were made to wait around 30mins for it. It's a peak date (holiday) so it's expected that rooms can take longer to get assigned.

When we got to our room I was pleasantly surprised. I super love how it's designed. Normally I would prefer elegant, modern, or minimalist styles but I think I've graduated from that cos I really appreciate the Japanese inspired theme. It's very characteristic.

The big brush paint accent on the wall, the roman shades, the roll-up blackout curtains, the lamps, I love the room so much! ♥ FYI I used to hate that big wall accent whenever it comes up in my feed but now I love it so much I specifically requested for it lol. 

We didn't get a room with a bath tub but it's more than fine. Maybe next time!

The large TV is an Android TV which is something I really admire because most hotels still only have cable which nobody uses anymore, so we always have to bring our Mi TV Stick just to watch Netflix or YouTube or Disney+. Glad we didn't have to set it up this time. ♥

I learned about this late, but apparently all the food at the minibar is complimentary. There's soda, juice, m&ms, and cup noodles.

Besides check-in taking too long, another thing I didn't like was that they're not responsive through email. Which I don't really mind but that's minus points in terms of hospitality for me. 5-star hotels usually are very responsive through email. Okada, being another busy hotel, never missed my emails. Anyway. Just to compare... cos I normally email hotels after booking to confirm, reiterate my requests, and subtly hint if we're celebrating anything cos most of the time they take cues and prepare something hehe.

Oh wait, Smart signal is bad in the room. We're on the 8th floor facing the pool. Little to no reception at all. But the free internet is fast and doesn't require a username and password so yey.

They don't allow outside food. Understandably so cos they have their own retail area where you can eat, so yeah take note. There aren't a lot of food choices though. And most of the shops are high-end so we didn't indulge. We focused on the restaurants. Personally the only familiar names are Mary Grace, Mango Tree, and Starbucks, and they're the cheapest in the lot haha. There were a bunch of unfamiliar restaurants but owing to the fact that they're in a casino resort, we have above average expectations. And they did not disappoint! We ate at Red Ginger (Southeast Asian) and Season 88 (Chinese, Filipino) and I highly recommend both when you're in COD! 

They gave us three breakfast options. Option 1 is buffet breakfast at Hyatt. Option 2 is ala carte dining at Wave restaurant (by the pool). And Option 3 is ala carte in-room dining by Nobu. We stayed two nights so on day 1 we tried the buffet, and on our last day we ordered in-room.

Hyatt buffet was just okay, there weren't a lot of choices to be honest. But it's all good. I don't tend to eat a lot during breakfast anyway so my plate was mostly continental, you know... bits of everything... pancake, bacon, eggs, potatoes, sausage, coffee.

Personally I prefer in-room dining because Nobu is serving and they have a good breakfast menu. Day 2 we got Nobu Style eggs benedict which was perfect.

We also got side salad, fresh fruits, bread, and juices. I love it!

Wave is the one option we didn't try cos it's too hot to dine out here.

We didn't think of eating at Wave because of the heat wave haha. Sobrang init sa labas grabe I don't think we would enjoy breakfast by the pool, but their menu looks good din!

They have a cute sized gym hehe. There are enough cardio equipment, a rack of weights, medicine balls, and other machines, but it's pretty tight.

No enough space to lay down a mat and maybe do some yoga. To be fair I don't think people would even use the gym when they're here.

What really made this staycation special, and like I said, the best haha, was that we were able to win everything we spent here by playing at the casino. And before you say we're lulong, let me be clear that I'M NOT PROMOTING GAMBLING because we all know it could lead to a serious addiction... 

yeeeeaah, that's about the extent a disclaimer I can make...

but I still wanna share my excitement cos it's quite an elated experience for both of us. Something I want to relish but also control cos there's no knowing the depths of this rabbit hole we just peeked through haha. 

Thankfully, we came in with a strategy (ah! like many others before us haha). My husband taught me the martingale betting system which effectively works with roulette. But it's not foolproof okay, it's a slow process depending on your risk appetite. Like any wise man would say, bet only with what you can afford to lose. Have an exit point and a reward ceiling. I'm not gonna elaborate the system but so far in the few times we played we never lost. Sometimes we gained only a little bit, but overall our 14k yielded over 50k. We were ecstatic cos that's more than enough to pay for our whole stay plus everything we ate there haha. 

When we wanted to eat at a restaurant we'd just play for 2k and call it a day. That's basically how we enjoyed our stay hehe. It feels so freaking good. We're on a high. But it's so dangerous, this feeling, this brewing addiction, if you may. And we only ever hear regret stories about gambling so I have to be very very clear about my motivations every time we enter the playing field. 

What's really off-putting thing about the casino though, besides losing and the growing possibility of being addicted, is the lingering smell of smoke, which is common naman with Casinos I think but I didn't realize I'd hate it so much I'd gag. I wore a face mask the whole time but I still couldn't stand it specially when someone in the same table is actively smoking. To be fair, COD smells better than Okada. Slightly or maybe because it's larger. The cigarette smell in Okada is too thick and the place feels cramped. Over time you get used to it but again it sucks when someone nearby keeps puffing hehe.

Yeah I should stop raving about our measly winnings. It feels immoral to be proud of this. I shouldn't be proud of it.

But yeah we would love to go back to City of Dreams haha. Char.

[A Raving Review] Staycation at The Peninsula Manila

I think we just had one of our best hotel staycations ever. 

Booked two nights at The Peninsula Manila hotel (or Manila Pen) to celebrate my husband's 30th birthday. Originally we just wanted to try out their Beef Wellington, then we decided to indulge with two nights because... I don't really know hehe guess we just wanted to enjoy the place more.

Watch: [Room Tour] The Peninsula Manila - Deluxe King, Amenities, The Lobby's Beef Wellington

The Lobby

It's not my first time to stay at Manila Pen, I remember having a girls night out here with my cousins three years ago. The hotel didn't have much impact to me then, despite their gorgeous lobby, cos for the most part we were nine girls nervously waiting for our rooms. We only booked two rooms and we can't get caught "overbooking" lol. Is there actually a rule about this? XD

Now that we got to really check the place out, I must say, it's really one of the best hotels in the metro. And what set them apart for me is not the grand lobby, nor the impeccably clean and spacious rooms, not even the delicious food at The Lobby. You know what placed them a notch higher than other 5-star hotels we've tried? It's the level of hospitality. 

They don't just listen to you, they relate. I asked if they allow pets at the lobby, and besides the answer no haha, I also learned the person I'm talking to has a pet. The F&B coordinator who came to check on us while having dinner seemed very pleased that we're enjoying our food, actively engaging with us about the menu. And the security who led me to front desk when we got locked out on our second night, even accompanied us back to our room to make sure that the locks are fine and not just low in battery. Even checking out was a delightful experience cos nakakahawa yung energy nung nasa front desk? hahaha

It's the small things that really make a difference. You get tired of the niceties after a while but knowing that they'll go the extra mile to cater to you is something you don't get to see that often within their range of hotels.

Deluxe King Room

We got a Deluxe King room which has a nice view of Ayala Triangle Gardens. I could even see our new office building from the window, which isn't a very good sight hahaha. I didn't expect to like this room that much. The walls are all white, something I'm not used to in hotels. Usually they're beige and warm and textured so this was different. It's got a modern Filipino touch to it, mostly white, with dark wooden furniture, and streaks of blue. Interesting!

We loved the bathroom. The bathtub is bigger that it seems, the water pressure is perfect and the hot water is scalding... which is a good thing haha of course you have to temper it but I love how we're able to easily setup a relaxing hot bath.

The highlight of our stay is really the Beef Wellington at The Lobby. We ordered this at least two days in advance, and it was very well worth our penny. It came with Red Wine Jus for the sauce and Potato Gratin on the side. It's our first time to experience steak and potatoes this way and my goodness we're definitely ordering this again. Looks at bit meager on the plate but the weight on the tummy is gravid. Took a while to realize that it's indeed a very dense meal, with steak that thick and a pastry shell covering its entirely, it's one you definitely can't take lightly.

And that's pretty much it! I have no complaints. We didn't get breakfast cos it's too early for us. Booked through Agoda for around ₱9k/night. The Beef Wellington costs around ₱4.8k which serves 2-3 people. Check out my Youtube video for a hotel tour. 

Hope to be back! ♥

[Review] Our Grand Hyatt Manila Experience

Had a delightful long weekend staycation at Grand Hyatt Manila in BGC, Taguig. Check out my room tour video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Jg8EoX4JA9c

Stayed two nights here with my husband from Sunday to Tuesday cos wala lang hehe we didn't have anything better to do to for the upcoming holiday so I look a leave last Monday to just enjoy the long weekend. I booked through Agoda cos may discount and they have an ongoing deal called The Grand Escape Offer where we get ₱2k dining credits per night, flexible check-in and check-out, plus some other things (I forgot cos we didn't avail every perk). We still paid almost ₱10k per night so it's not really that big of a deal (pun intented) haha. 

There's early check-in and check-out but it's not what I thought it was. Basically you're only allowed to check-out as late as you checked-in, giving you a full 24-hour stay. So if we checked in at 5pm which is late, we can check-out as late as 5pm din. Ganun sya.

Alright let's look around!

This is their lobby. It's pretty expansive but it feels very bare at the center where you approach the reception desks. The lounge area though is very elegant where all the seating areas are. 

They have these glass staircases connecting each level of the lounge and they're very nice to look at, except that sometimes they just strike me as fancy jalousie windows lol.

The pool is just one big lap pool. Maganda pa ata condo pool namin haha. There are lots of cabanas and seating areas, and there's also a pool side restaurant which serves really good food (we'll get into it next!). We didn't plan on swimming though.

So we had dining credits right? That gave us ₱4k to spend on food which I thought is more than enough, but it also means getting 4k off on this bigass lobster from the pool side restaurant!

So that's what we did. That marvelous sea creature is an ₱8,900 worth Live Australian Rock Lobster, which we complemented with a ₱2,000 worth meat platter to give us the most indulgent surf and turf yet.

We shared this. Just the two of us. And we finished it. It was super good. The lobster may be huge but the bulk of the meat is just enough for two. My favorite part of the meat platter would be the sausage cos it's so flavorful! 

They also served us this super delicious salad with lemon mustard dressing and greens groceries don't usually carry. We loved everything on this bowl so much we had two of it. Good thing it was free-flowing lol

This tomato soup is also very good. It's not creamy, sarap higupin habang mainit! I love it. The sourdough on the side is also very very good. I've always been curious about it so it's feels nice that I finally got to try it. ♥

Room

Let's go to our room!

We got 1 King Bed / Grand King from Agoda. It's 45sqm big and we loved it! Everything checks out as far as 5 star hotels are concerned (wait I'm not actually sure if this is 5 star haha). 

Bathroom has a bathtub which I love. It's kind of something I'm looking forward to now when it comes to hotels hehe. Dipping in a warm bubble bath is one of my new found luxuries, apart from hotel dining, and regular staycations hehe.

If there's one thing I'm waiting for every hotel to offer eventually, that would be SMART TV ACCESS. In this day and age of widespread digital streaming content, I don't know how it still makes sense to ONLY offer cable channels to your guests. We always have to bring our Xiaomi Mi TV Stick on hotel staycations just so we could watch Netflix or Youtube on their TVs. Okada has Netflix and Youtube access on top of their cable channels, hope it becomes a standard soon! Victoria Court nga may Netflix eh! Hahaha

Also! I hope they offer drip coffee instead of nespresso machines because honestly, people who use nespresso in their homes have an entire station of condiments that go along perfectly with flavor of the pods. Ako lang naman yata to. I prefer brewed coffee over espresso. Or if I'll drink espresso I prefer it to be in latte form. Coffee mate barely does anything haha.

In-room Dining

Obviously, we've maxed out our dining credits but that doesn't stop us from trying out their in-room dining (which isn't covered by the deal). It's kindof tradition now for us to try in-room dining whenever we're at hotels cos we know it's always good haha

This one kinda disappoints though. That's their Indian Butter Chicken and it's very bland and malabnaw. A far cry from any butter chicken we've tried. Okada has an unexpectedly amazing butter chicken so when we found this on Hyatt's menu I assumed it's a staple in-room dining dish and couldn't go wrong. Sadly it did.

We also ordered buttermilk fried chicken which is just okay. The fries however are perfectly cooked. Evenly sliced, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and well seasoned. Love it!

The following night we ordered a burger and a sandwich. I got a Reuben Sandwich after seeing it uses sourdough bread and I loved it! It's got corned beef (not the usual kind), swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and some kind of dressing. Tastes very European. My husband got a bacon cheeseburger which tasted good, thankfully! The fries, as usual, are perfect! 

Gym

We also tried the gym cos we didn't wanna miss a lot of days in the week. Their gym is open 24 hours which is great and it's pretty well equipped too. It's got towels and drinking water for the guests and a good array of exercise equipment and free weights. They also have a private yoga room which they allowed us to use since we're doing routines and we're the only people in the gym hehe.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served daily at The Grand Kitchen between 6:30 and 10:30 in the morning. They don't offer buffet yet so you have to choose one set from their menu. There's Continental, American, Filipino, Chinese, and Japanese. The small portions you can order as much as you can; there's fresh fruits, bread basket, pancake, cheese and cold cuts, etc.

I got the Filipino breakfast (tapa) and loved it! The pancake I ordered on the side was weird though. They gave me honey instead of maple syrup and they don't go well together. 

And that's it!

Overall, I really enjoyed our staycation. Definitely got a much needed rest. You'd think I'd be all refreshed and ready to work hard, but here I am procrastinating yet again! 

You reached this part? Wow thanks! :D

Our Okada Manila Experience

Heya! Before you dive into this lengthy post with me ranting and raving about our Okada stay... here's a video I uploaded on YouTube about my birthday celebration...

Watch: My Okada & Nobu Birthday Celebration

Soon! Okada Manila Tour - Deluxe King Bay View, The Retreat Spa, In-Room Dining

I turned 31 on Tuesday and Jeckie and I celebrated it by spending the weekend at Okada Manila and having Omakase dinner at Nobu Restaurant. This post is just gonna focus on Okada. We stayed for 2 nights starting November 13, 2021.

First of all, I was never attracted to Okada Manila. Specially with how it looks in photos. With the obnoxiously pink lobby and the amount of drapes covering the wide columns, it's totally unrelaxing and kinda overkill. For me ha. Had they picked red for a motif, then it's a circus. And it's even more stressful in person cos the lobby is actually smaller than it looks in photos. I'm both overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time hahaha.

Nevermind that they placed an enormous Christmas tree at the center, it's all washed out by the glaring pinkness of it all. It's a Casino complex naman daw and not really a hotel per se so every garish design decision at the lobby is probably science-backed to invite as much high rollers as they can.

Alert Level 2 situation yikes

Anyway. Ako lang naman to and it's not like tatambay kami sa lobby wahaha

To my slight dismay the deluxe room is yet another splash of pink.

Good thing there are some muted elements and half the room is occupied by the bathoom which has warm marble tones so yes to familiar elegance!

Oh, the hallways are beautiful too and a far cry from the agressive fuschia lobby. The Retreat Spa is also very very relaxing. I wish they designed it more cohesively. But after learning that Okada is patterned after Macau, the arresting lobby suddenly made sense hehe.

Sorry I'm overreacting. But you know, part of me kinda regrets this staycation decision cos we could've booked somewhere quieter, less busy, and cheaper too... but I must admit, the jacuzzi with an ocean view kinda snagged my attention. At least now I can say I've stayed at Okada!

Enough about how I hated the lobby hahaha... let's move on to other things I hated about our stay hahahaha. Actually there's just one thing but this very basic thing affected our entire stay and that is...

Very high turnaround time...

✖ Checking in? Wait at least 30 minutes in line...
✖ Request for bay view room? If there's none readily available, prepare to wait for another hour...
✖ Wanna call the operator? Wait at least 5 minutes on queue...
✖ In-room dining? Wait 1 hour for your food...
✖ Want extra pillows? They're complimentary but you gotta wait 5 fucking hours for it. I'm serious.

That's how understaffed they are. I guess.

This is the most expensive place we've stayed at (so far) but the response time beats that of cheaper hotels. I'm entitled to feel this way but I also can't get mad at the people because I know they're just trying to deal with the chaos one guest at a time. And I felt that, cos once it's finally our turn to be attended to we were treated professionally and with empathy naman so it's hard not to simmer down.

They knew their guests are struggling with impatience so I appreciate that they don't rush to get to the next guest and is proactive with meeting our needs. Placing requests is a breeze. But it's the eternal waiting that gets to you talaga hahaha. It's just that they're faced with an overwhelming amount of guests, hello Alert Level 2, and they're pretty darned understaffed. That's the only explanation I see fit, otherwise why would my fucking pillows take 5 hours to get delivered lol.

There's nothing 5 star about having to wait too long for a service but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt because we're still in the middle of suriving a pandemic and every ounce of consideration goes a long way. Plus, they just pretty much reopened after alert levels went down so maybe they haven't fully adjusted yet, what with the sudden surge of overexcited guests (like us haha). 

Now that the negative things are out of the way... here are my favorite things about this staycation...

Ay wait may isa pa palang negative but I'm not sure who's to blame. I woke up with a stye on my left eye for some reason so feeling ko may ipis hahaha. I saw a vlog where it showed there's ipis in the room eh so I can't rule it out. Pero kebs naman at least I wasn't awake to face the horror lol and I brought mefenamic so it helped with inflammation. But it ruined my birthday dinner makeup eh so grrr. 

Osya ito na, my favorite things about our stay...

1. DigiValet - your in-room ipad control panel

This big and heavy ipad controls everything in your room and it's a service portal for everything you wanna request

✔ You can control the TV from it and choose from various channels
✔ They have Netflix, Youtube, and you can cast your Android and Apple device too
✔ You can open and close the curtains
✔ You can adjust the lights and AC
✔ You can order food
✔ You can reserve at the spa
✔ You can request for extra pillows, baby stuff, and PWD assistance
✔ You can settle your bill and check-out without having to go to the lobby

2. Jacuzzi facing the sunset

It's really the experience I'm after and it did not disappoint specially with the sunset view! I have a timelapse in my vlog and it's a splendid sight. The way the sun's reflection shimmers on the roof panels of Cove Manila, the slow turning of colors, haaay it's pretty romantic. 

3. Drip coffee!

I brought my own coffee grounds and pourover but their coffee is also good :)

4. Built-in bidet at the toilet

You know the high-tech stuff with bum sensors and all sorts of nozzle spray options. This one even has a deodorizer and a pwet dryer.

I love it but you can't wash with soap and water like a normal person so I brought a tabo with me para sure wahaha.

5. In-room dining

The food we ordered is so good we got room service three times during our stay. Ibang level guys. I really enjoyed in-room dining because walking to the retail area can get really tiring considering how massive Okada is. 

We ordered Buffalo Wings and it came with pineapple slices. It's new but it works perfectly so I hereby declare this as my new favorite buffalo wings.

We also ordered Butter Chicken. We're big Indian food lovers so our eyes literally zoomed in at the sight of a familiar dish. After confirming that it's indeed Indian, we punched in our orders and waited excitedly! Butter Chicken is served with Naan and Biryani but when it came to us the bread is actually Roti, but no biggie. Grabe to ang sarap diiiin! RICH levels Makhanwala sya guys. 100% recommend.

Comes with assorted bread

Finally, another new favorite. This wet cement looking hodge podge is the best mushroom soup I've ever had I swear it tasted so rich and heavenly I might have gotten a high from this soup. What kind of mushroom is this? o_O

6. The Spaaaaa

Dear Lord I had the most amazing spa ever. Booked Bespoke Therapy in a couple's room for Jeckie and I and we had an extremely relaxing experience. We had a massive private suite just for the two of us with a steam shower, toilet, jacuzzi, and a spacious dressing area. The massage beds are unlike anything I've ever laid on. It's reclining, heated, and there's an entertainment tablet beneath the face hole. I don't know why anyone would use the tablets though. We mostly slept during the whole session. My husband was drooling haha and I was close to sleep talking. It was that heavenly.

There are other facilities you can enjoy in The Retreat Spa like the pool and lounge which is way better than the hotel pool to be honest haha but the water is shallow like 3ft lang.

---

Yeah I guess that's it, despite a lot of waiting, I can say we still generally enjoyed our stay. Grateful for the experience!

Tips in consideration of the current restrictions in place:

✔ Get the Bay View room cos the Fountain is closed and the pool is empty. You can request this upon check-in. Sea view is better than city view for me plus you get to watch the sunset colors shimmering on the roof of Cove Manila! It's beautiful!
✔ Avoid the weekends cos it can get really crowded hehe
✔ Be patient!
✔ There are currently a limited number of guests allowed at the Coral Wing Pool, so you have to line-up before 8am to get ahead.
✔ Sign up for Rewards Circle membership (it's free!) at the Casino to get discount vouchers. We got 30% off vouchers on spa and dining upon signing up. Sadly we registered too late huhu
✔ Complimentary water is capped at 4 bottles per day. But according to front desk, there's unlimited water at the Casino hehe. Actually we ordered 8 more bottles but it didn't reflect in our statement so... thank you? Hehe


If you reached this part, thank you for bearing with me!