Restaurant Review 5: Mang Inasal

My whole family decided to try Mang Inasal in KCC after hearing mass. We made a good decision to have an early lunch because at 11:15 the place was starting to pack up. Gensan people really love bbq a lot.

We ordered pecho, boneless bangus and sinigang na bangus ng belly. The prices are affordable and the portion is not bad.

The taste is another story though. Of course, I understand that it’s not fancy restaurant food. The chicken pecho is not as good as Nadie’s or other Gensan chicken bbq. It is ok. The boneless bangus is good. It looked odd with the yellow food coloring and the grill lines on the surface but it was good. The bangus belly gladly is hot but the broth is obviously made out of some instant sinigang mix. One remarkable thing is the all-you-can-eat rice. Overall, the food was not awesome but it was good for the price.

The dining area looks very comfortable with wood chairs and the yellow and wood colors. The tables and chairs were just squeezed together to maximize the space that there is barely any space to walk around. The place looks clean and polished.

Service? On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the highest, I would give them a 4. Prompt, attentive and courteous despite the crowd.

Will I go back for another meal? I just might if there are just a few people in the restaurant. It will not beat my I love sushi craving lately or KFC but Mang Inasal could be an option.

Where do you go for your salon services?

Being a woman, there are just a lot of salon or parlor services I need. Not as many as other ladies though.

For my haircut, since it’s always simple, for practical reasons I go to Reyes Haircutters in front of KCC. I am honestly just going there because it’s cheap and near KCC.  But I might be moving to another salon next time because I have had encounters with not very courteous hairdressers over there. Not rude-rude but a little lack of finesse.

For my pedicure, I go to Scent of Lavender at the second floor of KCC. I used to have a suki there who left work already. Luckily, there is another lady there who can clean my toenails just the way I like it. Her name is Leny. Very nice lady. Look for her if you need a good manicurista. I don’t get any manicure though.

For massage, I go to Body Excellence along National Highway (near T’boli Hotel). I have tried Asmara on EARH Arcade. Good but forgettable. Body Excellence has really good masseuses (is that correct?) and their rate is very affordable. I usually bring my own massage oil since theirs leaves me smelling of mentholated oil. I bought mine at Zen Zest. Very cheap at P 140 or P 160 per bottle, can’t remember anymore. There is still a lot left after a full body massage. My husband has tried Holiday Spa.  He says it’s good also and the price is not bad either for the beautiful place and the good service. I tried their foot spa. You’ll leave the spa with really soft feet. For wax, (yup, ladies need it!) I go to Pleasures Salon and really like how they do it. Their staff are really friendly and they obviously know what they are doing. You know, Pleasures Salon very active in promoting and customer service. They really put a lot of effort into it by sending text messages, asking you if you liked your service and the like.

Now, please don’t ask me about hair treatments and dermatological services because I’ve not really tried any. I hear Egay de Guia is a good place for haircut and treatments.

What do you like about Gensan?

I have met people who both have expressed their appreciation or otherwise for General Santos City. Being from Manila/Luzon, one question that people always ask me is if I like living here. I have always answered yes. If I have to choose between living here or in Manila, I would choose to live here.

I know some people who would rather stay in Manila or elsewhere because of the seeming lack of bright future in the quick five years for Gensan. They say that businesses would not really thrive well here unless it’s for the masa. Others miss the other conveniences that Gensan does not have yet. Others simply don’t feel at home here.

If you ask me why I choose to live here, I would say that Gensan is a great place to raise a family. I have found a good school in Shalom Crest Wizard Academy for my kids and I have heard of other good schools too. Let’s not talk about college though because, right now, I honestly don’t plan to send my daughters to college in the city universities even.  I do pray our”powers” can enable us to send them to good schools in the future. One more thing is that cost of living is so affordable here. When my former employees ask my opinion when they get job offers in Manila, I ask them how much are they going to get and then I tell them if it’s enough to have a comfortable life in Manila. We have fresh fruits, fish and vegetables in the city at great prices. The pork that goes to Manila comes from Gensan so shouldn’t we be proud?

Yes, there are a couple of things in the convenience and luxury category that the city still doesn’t have. But as it is, we have an expansive choice of restaurants, spa, salon, shops, malls and the like to really have a comfortable life. Things are a lot different when I got here five years ago and believe me, things are still getting better, faster.

What do I dislike about the city? Tricycle and motorcycle drivers who don’t know how to drive properly (why do we even give them their freakin’ license?) and lack of transportation after 8pm. I have a couple more but some are private matters for the concerned people alone.

How about you? Do you like living in Gensan?

Restaurant Review 4: Grab a Crab

Don’t think I’m sosyal. Dr. Abella treated me to lunch at Grab a Crab then coffee at Coffee Club 101 afterwards. Thanks doc!

You will already see from the exterior of their building that, well, it’s a posh restaurant and it is. The restaurant’s main dining area is fabulous I would say. The furniture and dinnerware speak of elegance. I salute them on deciding on a wood floor because it is definitely harder to maintain and clean than tiled or concrete floors. But it does make the room look warm or cozy. One thing I always worry about wood floors is that they absorb all the steps and moving of chairs.

I’m not sure if they claim to be fine dining but honestly, there are points where I think they would have to be categorized as a casual dining restaurant. One they have paper table placemats and paper napkins. Most of their competitors in gensan are already into the cloth table napkins so I’m surprised they did not do that too. The table set up was not definitely fine dining. Second, they have a tv, two in fact! And they have upbeat pop music. I’m not a fan of television sets in even casual dining restaurant as it tends to make the place look not very elegant.

On entering, I was not welcomed. I’m not sure if it was because I was alone or I didn’t look too rich. But seeing from how the other guests who arrived after me were welcomed, it seems it is not their norm to welcome or even greet guests as they enter and seat them, which should be a standard for any restaurant category. Good thing, the rest of the service was satisfactory. Our waiter seems pleasant although he left out an order out of our total bill. Luckily, we still decided to have coffee. Otherwise, it would have been charged to him. Uh-oh.

The food is good. Our soup, hot and sour szechuan was excellent. We had crabs of course, but it was not too impressive. Maybe we should order more the next time. The lapu-lapu we had was cooked just how we liked it. The taste was simple, even fresh and not unpretentious or overtrying. I could still sense Orient Seas somewhere in the cooking.  Good thing they served water in water goblets. I have to point out that they have so many dishes on their menu. I think they probably have about 100 dishes there. Their menu this early is looking dilapidated already, the main pages coming off the binding. Might not be their fault but the printer’s.

The place was almost full for that lunch service so they must be getting good business if they get busy at lunch on a Monday.

My answer is yes. if you will ask me if I wll come back or not. If you have guests and want to show off, you should bring them to Grab a Crab.

Big LCD Screen at Six Blings Sports Bar

This is the clean fun gimik place to be!

Guaranteed ice cold beer! Wide LCD screen!

Check out Six Blings Sports Bar now at Bigshot Badminton Courts, NCCC Compound, National Highway.

Watch out for our coming exciting pulutan choices and cocktail mixes.

Gensan Hotels online

I am glad to note that major hotels in General santos have their own websites already. However, some are not maximized. What do I mean by that? One, when you search for them in search engines, they are not even anywhere page 4. Even if you use the keyword gensan hotel. Two, some don’t have any presence in travel websites.

Travel websites are a great way to get exposure for your hotel or resort. It’s also a good source of bookings as predicted that 65% of bookings will come through the internet. Usually, inclusion is free and easy.

One of these travel websites I recently discovered is hotelreservations.com.

Before, if you have to book for a hotel or airline ticket, you or somebody has to go to the office of a travel agent or ticketing office or at least call to make your reservations. To get hotel discounts, you either have to know somebody connected to the hotel or travel with a group. Sometimes, it could get inconvenient having to brave through traffic or having to leave work.

Some of you might be still doing that, going to offices and booking. Some are already discovering the convenience of booking online through websites that provide for all your travelling needs and even better!

Hotelreservations.com has a wide range of destinations, a lot of hotels in key cities and grants competitive rates. The website is written in English and Spanish and soon to come, in languages and currency n your country. If you ask me, that’s very customer-friendly. The rates can definitely compete with those of other travel websites. What’s more, the layout of the website is not confusing, easy on the eyes and clean.

Other great things I found interesting:

• Up to $ 100 rebate when you put in a 12-flight booking

• Option to book online or call their toll-free number

• Up to 70% savings on your bookings

• Multilingual capable site

• Destination guide for key cities all over the world

• Wide range of travel arrangements from cruises, vacation packages, car rentals, airlines, discount clubs, condotels and more

• Special link for Group bookings

So if you own a hotel or work for one or will travel soon, try the site. It just might be just what you are looking for!