Fireworks at Eastwood Mall

We went to Eastwood the other day to watch some MMFF entries and have dinner. The old Eastwood was still the same, retaining some of it’s old charm of warm lights, low ceilings, mod shops and a pretty young crowd.

The old Eastwood Walk

We were pointed to the New Eastwood Mall for Ang Panday. We headed there and paid P185 for the cinema. I’ve written a separate review about that (Eastwood Mall Cinema review – click here) since for this post I want to focus on the Mall and Fireworks display. The walk toward sthe mall is quite nice, you’ll pass through the Eastwood City plaza and there’s a tiangge currently happening here.

Tiangge and lights at Eastwood Stage

It’s quite small (think Podium) and the shops and restaurants will set you back a few bucks (there’s no Jollibee here, though there is a Mcdonald’s at the top floor). But one nice thing about the Eastwood mall is that you can bring pets in, and walking around you’ll see some cute pugs.

Mall walk - think walking along Podium

If you go out the veranda at the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Eastwood mall, across you’ll see a giant interactive billboard and the colored lights display of the building across. It’s quite nice and worthy of a few photos.

Veranda with some pretty lights

Looking down, you’ll also notice there’s an open area where people can sit and lounge around some trees and fountains underneath the stars.

Fountains and a bridge below the veranda

At 8pm until the 3rd of January, there’s a fireworks show at this open space. It’s quite nice and a bit better than those of other malls – I personally think the Eastwood mall building colors and architecture complements the fireworks display. It’s good for about 5-7 minutes, and you’ll find yourself vocally expressing your delight. You’ll develop a slight neck strain though from looking up – the fireworks are directly above the open area.

Lots of people waiting for the firworks underneath the giant billboard

The very nice fireworks display above the mall building

Parking will set you around P50 for a three-hour stay – it actually depends where you park. I really don’t recommend parking at the metal parking lot (with the polka-dotted floors), it makes me queasy and nervous.

The rest is up to you -  for a movie and lunch date, I recommend preparing at least P500 per person.

A stroll at the Eastwood mall for the fireworks and the cute pets alone is definitely worth it. If you’re out for dinner, I recommend Cyma at the Eastwood Mall for some greek cuisine.

There’s a 2010 Eastwood City New Year countdown this December 31 and it’s free! Check it out:

The Eastwood City – QC New Year Countdown to 2010!
with performances by Kyla, Kris Lawrence, Juan Pablo Dream, The Dawn, Freestyle and Arnel Pineda
PLUS Grand Fireworks Display!

Hosted by Cesca Litton and Andrei Felix
Attire: New Year Chic
Dining Reservations at the Eastwood Mall Veranda are welcome. Please call the concierge at 709-9888 or 709-0888 or 0918-8-EWCITY.

Eastwood City
E. Rodriguez, Jr. Avenue (C5), Bagumbayan
Libis, Quezon City
1110 Philippines

Phone Number
687-1499 / 709-1893 / 0918-8-EWCITY

Eastwood City official website

Here was last year’s 2009 Countdown Fireworks display. It should be bigger and better this year.

Eastwood Mall Cinema

The New Eastwood Mall cinema is small and quaint, again very similar to The Podium (view my Eastwood mall fireworks and ambiance review). The plush and new cinema seats just around 100 people, and going in you’ll fell like you’re going inside a private screening.

The price we paid for watching Ang Panday (MMFF entry) was P185. This was P20 above the Podium price of P165, and I was not satisfied with the experience. Here are my reasons why:

1. The cinema is too small. The creen is big alright, but the room is so small that the cinema projector above lights up the whole room and I feel like the room is to bright ecuase of that.

2. Arms of the seats cannot be moved up.

3. The seats are comfortable enough and they can be pushed back to recline. However, you cannot lock the reclined seat in place, so if you want to recline you’ll have to put your weight on the back of the seat to make it recline, similar to a rocking chair. Try doing that for 2 hours.

4. The projector was projecting at 1 foot above the screen, meaning there’s a blank space at the bottom of the screen and the entire movie had 1 foot of it’s top part cut off. It was very irritating and I almost stood up and asked the people to fix the projection. Good thing it went dark towards the middle of the movie and the blank part at the bottom of the screen stopped bothering me.

There you go. I like old Eastwood cinema better and if I had a choice I’d still watch there. Watching at the new Eastwood cinema certainly didn’t bring a nice experience, and I don’t advise you to risk this unpleasant experience with your date.

Conclusion:

Skip this cinema and head to Podium, Greenhills or Rockwell instead. Or if you’re going to Eastwood, just stroll or do the old Eastwood cinemas.

Eastwood City
E. Rodriguez, Jr. Avenue (C5), Bagumbayan
Libis, Quezon City
1110 Philippines

Phone Number
687-1499 / 709-1893 / 0918-8-EWCITY

Eastwood City official website

Cyma Greek Taverna is a pretty popular Greek restaurant in the city but we’ve always snubbed it, thinking that we’ve found our favorite at Manos Taverna Greek Restaurant at Tagaytay City. However, a recent birthday allowed us to sample food from here.

Cyma Eastwood Greek Taverna

The place is cute and cheeky, but I wouldn’t know if it was Greek. I was used to the countryside and open air interiors of Greek Tavern, much similar to how Greek houses and restaurants are shown in movies. But the blue and white themes were similar.

The waiters, once in a while, would shote “Opa!” when something hot is about to be served.

We surveyed the menu and realized that it was quite pricey. We had the impression that food in Greek Tavern (around P250-P350 per order) was more expensive and Cyma was cheaper, but apparently not. The food here is pricier – an order of salad cost P400, an order of pasta (for 4) costs around P800, and the leg of lamb must have caused at least P1,700. A brief research showed us that the Executive Chef is Bobby Goco.

Greek food abound in the menu

More greek food listed

More Cyma Greek meat and pasta

The Spinach and Artichoke Fondue (P350) and Hummous with pita appetizers (P125) were decent. The Solomos Angel Hair (pink salmon pasta, solo for P380) was totally weird – it tasted like Jollibee’s Palabok Special.

The food was delicious enough though. Or maybe we were just starving.

Anyway, on to the main course. The Pastisado (pasta with beef stewed in tomatoes sauce, solo for P320) tasted like kaldereta pasta, which would be interesting to make, actually. The Arni Sto Fourno me Patates (leg of lamb with potatoes) was soft and succulent, and we actually found the potatoes a better bite than the lamb.

Beef pasta that tasted like Kaldereta

Yummy Lamb Chop - luckily not too many people liked lamb

I think their waiters are getting paid a lot – they speak impeccable English and go by the names of “Flash”. They’re also polite, though at times you get the feeling that they’re feeling too comfortable and close with you.

We also had a bottle of Two oceans wine for around P1,100 (that one I remember, I chose it), and it was smooth. It was served non-chilled, and I think this went better with the lamb. The glass goblets were as big as our faces. To illustrate:

my friend holding up Cyma's giant wine glass goblets

In any case, the good news is that the servings are big and you can share an order with 2 other friends. The ideal number of people going here together is 3, then order two dishes you can all split. Expect to shell out about P400 each for that.

Overall, the great time we had at Cyma can be attributed to the great friends and conversations we had, partnered with the great food. Would I bring a date here? Probably not, now that I know how it tastes like. It’s good but personally it’s nothing to write home about, and I’ll settle for more reasonably-priced, same-tasting food. Either that, or take a trip to Greek Tavern in Tagaytay. It will be more romantic for you and your date anyway – imagine the great conversation you’ll have spending 2 hours stuck in traffic together.

At least P400 per person for a basic meal

Really, don’t get the salad. If you’re looking for a vegetarian fix, get the spinach and artichoke instead. Also, try to go at off-peak hours as it will be hard to get a seat without a reservation.

Unit 638 Level 6 Shangri-la Mall, Mandaluyong City
Telefax: (02) 637-3090

G/F Greenbelt 2, Ayala Malls, Makati City
Telefax: (02) 729-4837

Unit 4 002A Level 4, Trinoma Mall,
Quezon City
Telefax: (02) 915-2859

D’Mall, Boracay Island, Aklan
Telefax: (036) 288-4283

G/F The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu City
Telefax (032) 417-1351

Level 2 Eastwood Mall Libis, Quezon City
Telefax: (02) 709-1955

Make your own Hummus with this recipe!