Creating quality al fresco experiences
Now that the alert level status has become one where al fresco experiences that involve the family, friends, or pets are at a premium; it’s nice to know that on one stretch of Roxas Boulevard, we find the Palacio de Memoria. It’s a place where history, culture, finely curated shopping, and excellent dining experiences, all ‘collide’ in a good way.
Their recently held Flea Market was a weekend for the senses; and it’s great to know that the grounds are open throughout the upcoming holiday season for ‘paseos,' guided museum tours, quality al fresco dining at the Loggia, and dusk and sunset cocktails, plus ‘chill’ evenings.
One is asked to show proof of vaccination, pass the stringent health and safety protocols; and presto, you’re ushered into a laid back environment that at times resembles a time warp of post-colonial Manila, and yet has a fantasyland element to it, thanks to the parked aircraft found in the expansive garden. It’s a play land steeped in culture and refined taste; and it’s where families can gambol in the daytime, where young adults can unwind and socialize in the evenings, and where pets on a leash are welcome.
There’s a holiday season menu that Margarita Fores, who handles the Loggia, will be unveiling very soon. And the Flea Market had a host of intriguing merchants, different from the line-up of the previous Flea Market. Sensasi, Presidential Paws, Etnika Pilipino, Mark Bumgarner—there’s a lineup that shows how a dynamic and eclectic sensibility is brought into the mix of merchants, and the crowd who showed up on the Saturday I was there, reflected this wished-for diversity.
In fact, as I had posted about being there for lunch, who do I get messaging me that he’ll be there at Palacio later in the afternoon? My middle boy, Matteo, was joining up with friends who were behind the Sensasi table, and he knew the guys providing the music in the evening. As it was, my good friend Monchet Olives, whose conversation-piece fans were also being sold at the Flea Market, was with me over lunch, and then hosted Matteo in one of the aircraft for cocktail hour.
Over at the main house, there was an impressive table set-up created by Karen Santos of KASSA, for rue Angelique. Etnika Pilipino’s Ding Perez was excited to take Margarita Fores around the Flea Market, and an intriguing sight was young star Sofia Andres with her pet dog. Angie D. Lhuillier, and her son, Daniel L. Miranda, were the gracious hosts on the Saturday I was at Palacio, and along with sister Camila L. Albani, the two sisters have done so much to make Palacio de Memoria such a welcoming and interesting proposition... and destination.
