Last Thursday, I turned 34! Yahoo! I’ve been waiting to turn 34 since I turned 33. Haha! Don’t get me wrong. My 33rd year was great. In fact, it was full of great blessings. It’s just that I have a thing about odd numbers – I just don’t like them for some reason, especially in terms of ages. Yeah, I’m weird like that. So, I am so happy now that I finally turned 34. Haha!
Anyway, I wasn’t planning on a big celebration. All I wanted was to give myself a day off from work and from most of the chores, then go out for dinner with my hubby and kids, which was exactly what happened. Well, I did go to a “work” event first but I don’t really think of it as work because it was something I loved to do. So, there.
After the event, I met up with my family at Bonifacio Global City. We decided to go to dinner at the first IHOP (International House of Pancakes) branch in the country, which so happened to be at the BGC. I was never able to try eating at the IHOP when I went to the US a few years ago so I was quite curious about the place. The kids were also dying to go because they just love pancakes. So, the timing was perfect as the IHOP only opened last February 15. The place was so hyped up that people have been lining up for up to two hours, I heard. So, we were prepared to wait.
Good thing we went there on a Thursday, though. I also got there at 4pm and got my name on the list so we only had to wait for less than 30 minutes before we were given a table. Here’s what greeted us on our table – 4 types of syrups! Love it! We don’t normally have these many types at our house so this was a real treat. I ended up loving the Strawberry and Butter Pecan flavors.
We had already chosen what to order the night before from the menu I found online so ordering was a breeze. We had time to take photos while waiting. Here are Zoe and Ziya excitedly waiting for their food to arrive.
Here’s me, hubby and Ziggy, who was his usual adorable self, always amusing the people around us.
So, what did we end up eating? Here they are! I ordered the Big Steak Omelette. It has tender strips of steak, hash browns, fresh green peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and Cheddar cheese served with salsa and two buttermilk pancakes for Php 325.00
I loved the omelette! The combination of the ingredients was just so perfect and yummy. I only wish they put in more steak and mushrooms. It was very filling too, add to that the fluffy and tasty buttermilk pancakes and I was completely stuffed!
Here’s Ziya, who ordered the Pick-a-Pancake Combo, which consists of your choice of pancake served with two eggs, hash browns and your choice of two bacon strips or two pork links for Php 385.00.
I had a taste of her bacon, eggs and hash browns and they tasted like any other. For her pancakes, Ziya chose the Chocolate Chocolate Chip because she’s a chocoholic just like her mom. We loved it! It’s certainly a must try for chocolate lovers. The whole serving size for this meal though is quite big for a kid who doesn’t have a big appetite so she didn’t quite finish everything and we had to take home half of the pancake.
Here’s Zoe with her order of Hearty Ham and Cheese Omelette, which is made up of diced ham, a rich cheese sauce and Jack and Cheddar Cheeses plus two buttermilk pancakes for Php 245.00.
Zoe loved her omelette. She’s usually the slow poke when it comes to finishing a meal. However, she liked the omelette so much that she actually finished it in record time. She liked the fluffy pancakes too but I guess the serving size was also too much for her since we also had to take home half of it.
For those wondering, there are available kiddie meals at the IHOP. The kids were just too excited about eating there for the first time that they thought the kiddie meals would not satisfy them enough.
Finally, here’s my hubby’s order, the Cheeseburger, which consists of a thick, juicy burger with Cheddar cheese, served on a grilled bun with lettuce, tomato and red onion for Php 395.00. He actually wanted to order the Fried Chicken Dinner, but unfortunately they were out of most of their chicken dishes, which was really weird. Hubby was really disappointed about that. The fact that the cheeseburger tasted bland, according to him, didn’t help.
Overall, it was an okay experience eating at the IHOP. There were some hits and some misses. I definitely recommend going there on a weekday to avoid the crowd. Also, go slightly earlier than the usual meal times. If you can, choose the a table by the window, which is exactly what we did, by chance. It was still light out when we had dinner and it was just beginning to get dark when we left. I imagine the view of the BGC lights would be nice at night.
For more information on the IHOP, see below:
IHOP Philippines
W Global Center
30th St. Corner 9th Ave Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.
Phone Number: (02) 682.5611
You may also visit their Facebook page or connect with them on Twitter.
I had a nice time with my family on my birthday. I look forward to many more birthdays to come and hopefully, more blessings on my 34th year.
