SM Mall of Asia. The first time I heard the name on television, I thought it was some humongous, extravagant, official shopping center of the world’s largest continent—Asia. Well, it is almost, actually.
According to its website, the 407,000-square-meter SM Mall of Asia, or simply MoA, is the Philippines’ largest and the world’s third biggest mall. But Wikipedia says that it is the second in the country, third in Asia, and fourth in the world. It’s confusing which one is true, yet surely, I don’t want to scare people like me who have phobia with numbers, so I won’t bombard this post with digits. But with its vastness, MoA has a lot of space to be more than just a mall, for it is also a tourist spot, and a leisure and entertainment go-to place.
Photo grabbed from Wikipedia
It was after a few months since its opening in 2006 when I first experienced its hugeness. My family and I just went there for Christmas to check out what everybody and the media were all talking about. When we arrived, we were somewhat dismayed by its size that at the end, we were only able to walk up to one-fourth of the whole mall, then we all decided to go back home. For us, it was just like any other malls, only farther from our place, bigger, and more tiring to roam into.
That was in 2006. I never thought of ever going back in there ’cause, hey, SM Megamall‘s nearer to my home, and though it’s not as gigantic, it is still big enough to house all the shops that have my needs.
But like they say, things change and people can have a change of heart. Since the first quarter of this year, MoA has become my rendezvous with a friend or two. Then I went to its SMX Convention Center just recently for the 33rd Manila International Book Fair (which made me reminisce walking at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre), and I even celebrated my birthday there with my mom and younger brother.
Maybe it’s because I grew mature and I have come to widen my horizon, or maybe I got tired of the malls around my place, or better yet, maybe I finally find it more refreshing and liberating–if that’s the right term–to be in a place where I can choose whether to stroll in open air or in an air-conditioned area than just the fully air-conditioned one. Whatever it is, I have seen MoA in a whole different light.
It is especially nice to walk and hang out at its esplanade during the night when the sun won’t have the luxury of burning one alive anymore and only the cold air can touch a person’s skin (Err… Not really, it is also a place where couples hold hands and cuddle. Please believe me when I say that I don’t do any of that anywhere. I swear! hehehe. Little Miss Defensive in the house, yo!)
Anyway, with a size like that, it is undoubtedly abundant in restaurants of all kinds in every corner. But the things is, irony comes when I tell you that there’s a scarcity in my little photo collection of the food I ate there so far. hehe. Still the same problem with my blog post Foodtografia de Camilla Pt 1. *sigh I’m trying my best to be more vigilant now, though. 🙂
So without further ado, let me present to you six images of the food I happily masticated from four restaurants located in MoA. They may be few, but they are some of the best. 🙂
Ranch Style Beef Strips
Holy Cow!
New York Cheesecake
Holy Cow!
Jamaican Jerk Chicken
Racks
(Some Ribs. I forgot what it’s called)
Racks
Tempura Japanese Grill
Tanabe Japanese Restaurant
Words of Happinest 