Dong Won Garden Korean Restaurant

Hats that remind you of historical K-Dramas adorn one wall of the restaurant. 

Sweldo Friday Group is out again and the night's restaurant of choice was Dong Won Garden Korean Restaurant. We decided to give this place a try because we have been going to the same Korean restaurant for more than two consecutive paydays already, it's time to check out other restos out there,hehe. The price was fair and it's in the same area, so off to Jupiter we went. :)

Table for four. 

The establishment doesn't look new but I wouldn't call it shabby either. It may be the minimal furnishings that gave it a homey vibe. We chose the tables in one of the rooms that I think were reserved for bigger groups but were still allowed to be used by us. We were able to sit comfortably, like when you're lounging around your own living room floor, heh. We took our sweet time deciding on what to order (we ended up picking the usual ones, though) and taking pictures which were fine with the servers (me thinks) given that they had more customers than they could handle. We were left alone striking silly poses in whichever part of the room we wanted. We eventually got tired and felt that we really were hungry by that time.

Burp! Taken after all the food had vanished. See how the throw pillows were strategically positioned to hide the evidence?.. hahaha

We originally intended to grill the meat ourselves this time since we always just let them serve our samgyeopsal ready to eat. But since it was a very busy night, everything was taking a little too long for their staff to prepare. Oh, did I mention that they were short staffed? There were just two waitresses on the day in question. About half an hour have passed and still the charcoal was not yet available? For a restaurant this size, and considering it's a payday weekend, you'd expect them to be well prepared to serve everyone, in a timely manner. We especially watched out for our dinner that night choosing to go light as we were planning to make room for this outing, so we were already hungry. They just had about a couple of tables with customers when we came. But when we arrived, more people started coming, too. 

Refillable banchan. I especially liked the salty & spicy potatoes. Don't know what it's called, though.

Our default order Jeyuk Bokkeum P300

Saeu Bokkeum (fried shrimp with chilli powder) P380

Samgyeopsal P300

FREE Chiggae! We ordered Dwenjang chiggae, assorted seafood with soy bean paste stew, but this one looked like Dubu (tofu) chiggae. At least it had clams in it. :P  We got this for free because we ordered 2 servings of Samgyeopsal but the price of Dwenjang Chiggae is around P250-P300, i think.hehe 

What we liked: 
Refillable banchan. I think ours were refilled at least twice. 
FREE stew (Dwenjang jjigae) since we ordered two servings of Ssamgyeopsal. 
They're open 24/7. 
They also have a food mart. 


What they could improve: 
Slow service. With (maybe) more than five tables and most were in big groups, they really had to hustle given that they only had two waitresses present. That may have been sufficient on a regular day, but on a weekend proved to be lacking.


photo credits: Tine, thanks a bunch! 



Dong Won Garden Korean Restaurant 
53 Polaris Corner Jupiter Street, 
Bel-Air, Makati City


Budget P900 for 2 It's always better to come in a group so the bill could be split between more peeps. 

Packing for a 2D/1N Weekend Getaway

packing light 

While I believe that I still have not mastered the art of packing light, i'm pretty certain I have improved. :) I was able to cram my stuff in a backpack and a small shoulder bag. We were given a checklist of "must" brings 

Things to bring:
1. Clothes for adventure tour, swimming, night and return attire
2. Mesh / lunch kit, water bottle, spoon and fork
3. Flashlight, slipper, life jacket (if any), shades, sunblock, off lotions and toiletries 
4. Jacket, Blanket/Malong
5. Digicam/Videocam, Cellphone 

and adding 'a few' more items wouldn't hurt, right?


The contents: 


Backpack: 
2 pairs of swimmies 
2 cover ups 
1 sleepwear (socks, jammies & a long sleeved shirt) 
2 board shorts 
2 tank tops 
1 tshirt and a pair of shorts for going home 
1 jacket 
4 pairs of undies 
flip flops 
towel 
malong 
Vinyl mat for lining our tent or for lounging by the beach 
many trash bags (for waterproofing my things) 


shoulder bag: 
my toiletries, meds and vitamins (in a plastic microwavable container to waterproof them)
camera, cell phone, flashlight (in a plastic container, too/ziplock) 
wallet, candies, snacks sunglasses 
water bottle 


Needless to say, I was not able to use all of them.haha But i'm more than pleased when I didn't have a problem returning all of them in the bags when it was time to go home na. And I had more things since the clothes I wore when I left home were not light. I had denim shorts on and I decided to go home in slippers instead of the rubber shoes I was wearing the day before. It may be trivial but definitely an achievement for me. hahaha 



Disclaimer: this is not a tip, just my realization. :P 

Next Post: Dong Won Garden Korean Restaurant

Avon Pink War 2014: Walk & Run Against Breast Cancer

from Avon Philippines facebook page

It's the day! I'm really terrible at preparing for important things, that much I could say. I was (yet again) sleep deprived, having only managed to catch about 3 hours of sleep. The assembly time at SM MoA was 4:30. We wanted to at least get there by that time just so at least we could warm up before the gun start. Well, apparently that's a target set too high. (sigh)

I was already having coffee at McDonald's Cainta before 4 am, Jo and I were supposed to meet at 3:50 to catch a cab there and then pick up Vea along the way. The thing is, our girl is still on her way out of their subdivision, hence, the rush. To make the long story short, not only did we miss the assembly time, we arrived just in time for the 10K runners to start. There goes our warm up time, too, so we just managed a few stretches before we ran. Err, jog, hehehe.

We registered for the 5K race this time. Only because that's the shortest distance available, hah! And hey, we finished right? So we'll definitely be trying it out again, I think we're still a lot of bananas away from trying out 10K, though hehehe.

What were waiting for us after the run:

Zumba party with Regine Tolentino, Solenn Heussaff, Kris Bernal, and Rocco Nacino.

Top - with my office friends.

Bottom - with elementary/high school friends (tibay.hahaha)

Freebies!:

The Avon loot bag. The content of which could easily go over the registration fee. Sweet, eh? ^^

Vita Coco

Keychain at the Skechers booth. This booth is more popular than it's neighboring health check booth.

Soleus booth and a health consultation booth. 

I don't know why, but I think I wasn't as tired compared to my 3K Energen run. (yabang.hahaha) Well that's what I thought until I woke up from my supposedly short siesta which apparently took more than 6 hours. :-P I woke up at around 9 pm on Sunday feeling sore.

So there, reminders for myself: sleep WELL before the day of the run; leave early and have a proper warm up; and be consistent with my daily exercises.

Breakky with zeh girls at Adobo Connection. The downside: well they do serve hot coffee, it's just that this particular Sunday they're out of hot drinks. Our savior? The neighboring 711. ^^

* photo credits: Vea, because pics I took from my phone weren't clear enough :'( (I tinkered with my phone cam settings for a bit and I was only able to return it to how it should be just now. Yep, darn!)