Lost Flores

The reason we went to Robinsons Magnolia yesterday was to have lunch at Las Flores. We've been craving for good Paella and croquetas, and this place is one of our go-to spots.

But when we got there, it was already closed!

That makes 2 Las Flores branches that closed already. The first was in Podium, and now Robinsons Magnolia.

Hope this isn't a trend and their other branches don't shutter, too.

Moss valuable

Another pleasant surprise that greeted me when I went to Robinsons Magnolia this weekend was the Topshop branch there. 

The reason? The carried the 2014 Kate Moss for Topshop collection!

There are a lot of nice pieces from the collection, such as the fringed dress and the fringed leather jacket. But methinks that the biggest seller will be this canary yellow dress.

Since everything is new, it's still sold at regular prices. As usual, I suggest that folks hold back buying it for a few months or so, and wait until it goes on sale. It's bigger bang for the buck, and you get more value for money.

By your Side A

It's been ages since D' Frendz watched a concert. In fact, I think the last time I watched a concert with Bonique and Alfie was in Annapolis Live. (Yes, it was that long ago.)

Saturday night changed that, though. Thanks to the heads up from Bonique, we were able to watch an outdoor concert at Robinsons Magnolia. 

The band playing was Side A, which was one of the quintessential bands of our generation. Ask anyone to sing "Forevermore" and "Tuloy pa rin," and they'll probably know it by heart.

Needless to say, majority of the audience were people from our generation. People who would sing with Joey G. and shriek everytime he would approach the audience. Yup, it's been almost 2 decades since they broke through the music scene, and they still have that charisma and appeal.

After listening to Side A for almost an hour, one thing I realized that this was more than just a concert. It was actually a walk down memory lane.

Birthday enjoyment!

Today is Ate Bullet's birthday! And this year's celebration is special because the immediate family is all here for the celebration. We had the usual rowdy dinner at Elias and enjoyed the awesome Pinoy cuisine capped off with a cake from Dexter's.

The dinner was at Robinson's Magnolia, and Javi had a lot of fun running around and exploring the mall. He went through nooks and crannies, and the result was a lot of cute photos of him just enjoying himself.

Like enjoying a humongous drink at Jamba Juice:

Enjoying his part-time job as an ice cream boy:

Enjoying his moment as a nerd:

And amidst all this enjoyment that Javi was savoring, I enjoyed accompanying him every step of the way.

Now that was definitely an enjoyable way of spending the evening.

Postale Code

Here's another reason to look forward to visiting Robinson's Magnolia once again.

Aeropostale is opening a store there soon! (Well, next year, so it really isn't THAT soon.)

I think this is going to be their first store in Manila, and I'm glad they chose a location nearby to open it.

Can American Eagle be far behind?

Sweet Memories

I've always had fond memories about the Magnolia Plant along Aurora Boulevard. 

Back then, it was the "place to be" for families, particularly Magnolia Ice Cream house. Every weekend, it was crammed with parents and kids who trek there to get their fill of their signature desserts such as Ernie and Bert, Peach Melba, Egg Nog, among others.

When there was a special occasion, families would go and buy an ice cream cake from that plant as well. I still vividly remember how it goes: you go to the display area to choose the cake you want, then go to the cashier with your order slip, then go to the releasing area where the big boxes of ice cream cake would roll out from the conveyor belt. Watching that was such a thrill.

It was also memorable for me on a personal level because Dad was still working at San Miguel that time. We had access to the offices and the actual factory, and I remember how I'd go to their pantry and eat as much ice cream as I wanted. There was also a time that they allowed me to walk on the conveyor belt, which I thought was way cool.

A decade ago, the Magnolia Plant became a Nestle Plant, and a few years after, the Nestle plant was closed and torn down to make way for a new mall. That made me sad because it was like seeing your childhood being demolished.

Yesterday, we made our way to the spanking new and impressive new Robinson's Magnolia Mall. Bonique told us how nice it was, and my parents also went there and said that it was a nice date place.

They were right to hype about this new mall. It really is impressive! Not to mention classy and so upscale. The interiors were tastefully done, and the attention to detail is noteworthy. Heck, even their trash cans look upscale. As D' Frendz joked, it's so beautiful, you wouldn't think it's a Robinson's Mall. Harhar.

What I like about this mall is that it has a good amount of open space. The back area of the mall opens up to a garden, along with some al fresco restaurants. It actually has a very Greenbelt 3 and 5 vibe, while Maricar said that it felt like Ayala Center Cebu's Terraces.

Even their movie houses have a dedicated entrance from outside. This eliminates that pesky problem of talking to the guard in the main entrance after mall hours and trying to explain to them that you're going to the cinema.

The garden is going to be a hit with families. The mall is just a week old and people haven't really discovered it yet. That's why the garden is still quiet and empty. This gave Audrey and Becca enough room and space to run around and play with bubbles.

Give it a few months and I'm sure this area will be crawling with people. But in the meantime, we'll enjoy the wide open space and let kids be kids. (And no, that does not include Tintin.)

Thankfully, they've "retained" Magnolia Ice Cream house. It's much smaller, much more expensive and has a smaller selection of ice cream concoctions. But the fact that its there will surely satisfy our generation whose memory of this place was anchored on this ice cream house.

It's probably because they know the history of this place, but the tagline for this mall is "Make New Memories." 

And after visiting the mall once and being impressed with what they done with it, I'll definitely take their suggestion.