I love being from the South, just the right balance of probinsya and city-ness. The trendiest things in Manila are accessible via the malls in Alabang or the outlet stores in Sta Rosa, sans the big crowd. We had lunch recently at Alabang Town Center and I was so happy to see some popular restaurants have already started to set up shop in the new wing.
For this trip, we tried Hapa Dog. I’ve read about this in clickthecity but gave up on the idea that I will be able to eat there since it’s in some location that I know I can never visit at a whim.