Manila Vanilla!

The hospitality industry is getting a shot in the arm with the new Mabuhay Restop. It's a restaurant cum activity cum tourism hub as they offer a variety of ways to entertain visitors to the city of Manila. Who says there's not much to see and do in the capital city?

Billie de Jesus, marketing manager of Mabuhay Restop invited a couple of tourist guides to their spot nestled in the Rizal Park to watch their self-produced musical review entitled "Manila Vanilla". The show runs for about an hour or two and it is an interesting and entertaining hodge-podge of music and dance that "orients" visitors on what to expect among the Pinoys.

The show comes with a buffet dinner of yummy Filipino flavors: Bangus Belly ala Pobre, Prawns, Pancit Sotanghon, Soup served in Coconut shell, Calderetta and for dessert... luscious Halo Halo! The show does come cheap considering you can enjoy second and third helpings. Their appetizers of garlic peanuts, nachos and shing-a-ling (crispy puffed deep fried noodles) are tasty enough to whet your appetite.

Of course, the laughter helps get you hungry enough for more servings. The first half starts of with two actors talking about Pinoy English... Even as we proudly tout how well we speak the language there are  certain Filipinisms where our use of some of the idioms don't quite exactly sound right. We, as Pinoys, understand it though. Some of the lines are a bit too self-deprecating for us Pinoys. It can still be tweaked to soften the dig. But knowing Nestor U. Torre's acerbic sense of humor, he will keep the runs as is.

Don't bring the  kids if  you plan to see this show. Some of the humor can be off color. Too adult for the kids to comprehend. Besides, for kids it would be best to take them to Tita Beauty's story-telling But that's another blog post...