HIDDEN TREASURE OF MANILA

Who could have known that at this hidden little area at one of the busiest places in Manila is a small district with big surprises? I did. Only by hearsay. Till we had the chance to actually visit this quaint place which i have been dying to see! I was really pushing to go to Cubao Expo than that of Greenhills which i bet we all have been to, may not be frequent, but just done with it.

It was a friday night when we ventured traffic, and it gets really terrible especially on our scheduled time, but surprisingly it was not that traffic when we went and lucky enough I had friends who rode with me who knew where to go and how to get there fast (ahh, the perks of location knowledge).

As we got to the place, I did not want to expect a lot, but hey! the place was not so bad and we were excited to start our mini adventure only that our stomach went first (haha) and headed to this famous Italian restaurant, Bellini's, which had awesome food and an ambiance that makes you feel somewhere in the world.

After our mouth-watering meals, and their iced tea too!, we started walking around and checked the stores. There's so many interesting boutiques that we don't even know where to start! An interesting store, that caught our attention by their window display which was located on a 2nd floor, was this quaint shop that at the bottom they were sell paintings and trinkets. As we enter their store and went up through their hidden stairs we were happy with what we saw. They were selling vintage stuff from Europe to the U.S. Despite of our happiness with what our eyes laid on, the prices were not as cheap as we expected. There was this vintage hounds tooth jacket that cost P6,000 and he was offering it for P4,000 only. But the fact that it cost THAT much for this apparel that was "vintage", pretty much cost a lot. We prefer to buy a new one if it was the same price. We also went to this store that sells antique furnitures and displays with a hidden library of old books that i guess were for sale as well. They were well preserved only that the covers had some rips and chips obviously from the age of it. Another one that struck our attention was this reading room. Our friend wanted to get his future "read". And we pretty much got in to it and agreed to do it too. To our disappointment, when we entered it was close, so we went to the nearby store, checked some clothes and shoes that they were selling and the girl from there overheard us about the reading room and told us that it was only by appointment actually. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our Cubao Expo experience and had a good meal as well. :) - Ann A.

Bellini's

Outside Bellini's while waiting for our food

Anavie, Orlie and i

The Reading Room, where you can get your future "read" for P500. By appointment only.

Where finds from Europe and The U.S. can be found

Gil "reading" at the store with hundreds of old books