Back-to-school mini shopping + Kyukyu ramen + a leisurely stroll at Shangri-La Mall = an afternoon filled with fun and delicious food.

Hello Hivers! A pleasant day to you all! Here’s a short story about food, life and in between.

The new school year has officially started here in my country. My daughter is now in pre-kindergarten (how time flies, really!) With the opening of school just around the corner, we needed to prepare and gather all her supplies. Armed with her checklist, we headed straight to Shangri-La Mall on EDSA.

For those who don’t know, Shangri-La Mall is a high-end shopping center in Mandaluyong, near the huge MegaMall. We chose this mall because I knew it wouldn’t be too crowded, making it easier to find everything on our list without the hassle.
When we arrived at the mall, we took some photos because the interior is beautiful, nice and clean.

Our first stop was the National Bookstore, a well-known spot for school and office supplies. As soon as we walked in, my daughter’s excitement was contagious. She eagerly browsed through books, art materials, and even some toys. She even said “Hello” to other kids. If you’re looking for papers, folders, envelopes, art supplies, party items - this is definitely the place to go!

After grabbing everything we needed, we were pleasantly surprised to win a spin on their prize wheel. This makeshift wheel featured various prizes, and I gave it a try just for fun. To my delight, we won 10-peso points for our National Bookstore card! Since I didn’t have a card with me, they kindly gave us an art pen instead. My daughter’s smile was priceless.

With our bags full and spirits high, we left the store feeling accomplished.

Soon afterwards, we felt hungry. We went one floor down to the food court. This is where you can choose what food to eat as there are many small food stalls here. Pizza, burgers, local or international dishes, noodles, fish - up to you to choose and satisfy your cravings.

What caught our attention was Kyukyu Ramen 99 - a Japanese store that offers ramen or noodles with different toppings. And the best part? We couldn’t believe it! An ordinary bowl of ramen costs only 99 pesos or less than 2 dollars. Isn’t it cheap? Well, totally budget-friendly. But what about the taste? We decided to give it a try. After all, from my experience, Japanese food rarely disappoints.

We ordered four bowls of their basic ramen. It contains noodles, savory soup, pork slices and green onion tops. We paired it with refreshing red tea.

Then, we looked for a vacant table to occupy. Surprisingly, it actually tasted good. We loved it. In fact, we finished all four bowls. Even my daughter loved it. The highlight was when she instinctively ditched her fork and ate her ramen with chopsticks. Yes, she did it without any help from us (I guess she’s getting more independent now)! She happily finished her bowl, saying, “Oh, it’s so yummy!”

When we’re done, we tried to look for something to bring home for my hubby. Then, we remembered that we cooked before we left so we still have food at home. Therefore, we ended up going home without pasalubong (a take-home treat) but it was totally fine.

We got what we needed, made our tummies happy, took great photos to capture the moment, and shared lots of laughs along the way. Indeed, an afternoon well spent.

Thank you for reading my story and I hope I made you smile today.
Happy hiving! See you in my next post.

Photos are mine. Taken using Samsung Galaxy A26, edited in Pixlr and Picsart.