Last Saturday (08/20/2021), I woke up feeling a little bit down because of previous events in my life. I’m not happy with my work anymore so I decided to skip last week’s last shift, and decided to sleep in. I woke up around 10:00 am and decided to stay in bed and watch my favorite series on Netflix, when my friend sent me a link to a TikTok video promoting a Ramen Shop near the sea.
At first, I was not interested because I decided my weekend to be boring and consisted of lying down, unproductivity, and a hint of negative imagery about myself. However, I’m thankful to my friend because, in a way, she dragged me out of bed by constantly asking me if I have watched the video already. So I did. Since we both like Japanese Culture, we decided to try it out.
Around noon, she told me to prepare already, because even though the store opens at 4:00 pm, we need to be there at least an hour before. After all, there will be a long waiting line, and we’ll just go to SM Seaside (a mega mall here in Cebu City), near the Ramen Shop, to pass time before 3:00 pm. I was about to prepare and take a bath when I noticed that I forgot to do my laundry. So I texted her and said that I’ll be doing my laundry first because I won’t have anything decent to wear if I don’t do my laundry. She said she’ll just wait. I finished doing my laundry around 2:00 pm so I had to take a bath quickly.
When I was done preparing myself I messaged her that I’m good to go, and we met outside my apartment. We’re neighbors in case you’re wondering. Our itinerary for the day was to go to SM Seaside first so my friend can go to the optometrist and get her eyeglasses fixed, then we’ll wait for time to pass, and then we go to the Ramen Shop.
So we went to SM Seaside and got her eyeglasses fixed.
“Me and my friend, Tonet waiting for her eyeglasses to be fixed”
After her glasses were fixed, we decided to kill some time by buying cold drinks. We went to the top floor of the Mall where the Food Court was located beside the Ice Skating Rink, and near the arcades. I ordered a Piña Colada Slush from one of the Fruit-Juice stands in the food court and Tonet ordered Lemonade. Tonet left me at the fruit juice stand to order fries from another food stand. The Fries here in the Philippines don’t need dips because they are already coated in flavored powders like Cheese, BBQ, Sour Cream, etc. Tonet ordered Chili-BBQ flavored fries, while I ordered Sour Cream. We sat at one of the vacant tables and went on to talk about a lot of things. It was around 4:00 pm when we went to the Ramen Shop. We didn’t realize that time went by so fast that we weren’t able to follow the plan. We rode a Taxi to go to Il Corso Lifemalls because this is where the Ramen Shop was located.
It was my first time going there and I was so amazed at the structure of the Mall. An actual lighthouse oversees the sea, and the Mall itself looks like a cross-section of a ship. With different decks and hallways, or at least that’s how I see it.
“This is my first time seeing a lighthouse in person. Since the village where I live in the province is located in the mountains, there is no need for a lighthouse there, hehe”
The boardwalk stretches for miles (as per my estimate). However, I felt sad when I saw the state of the sea. The shore was not the usual sand but was cement and stones. It was also littered with garbage by irresponsible people. On top of that, the color of the sea was murky green, close to being black. I think that it is because it was just a constructed land, and that part of the sea was just filled with rocks, and other construction stuff so that establishments can be built upon it.
Tonet and I took some more pictures and then decided to go to the Ramen Shop we planned to go to. We passed by some stores that sell food as well, there is Thai Street food available, and an Ice Cream shop beside it.
We finally arrived at the store and immediately regretted that we didn’t come early. The whole place was teeming with crowd and there are only a limited amount of tables and chairs. By the way, the store’s name is Ramen Sàge.
We went to the counter first and ordered our food.
Tonet ordered Miso Ramen, while I ordered Hakata Tonkotsu. I was planning on buying pork Gyoza but Tonet said she wanted to eat Karaage. It was quite expensive so I thought that it’s too much if we still ordered Pork Gyoza, and then we ordered two bottles of Coke for our drinks. I paid a total of P848.00 and then we left the counter to look for seats.
I love how the place is located beside the sea. Since the sun is setting, the cool sea breeze gently brushes our skin, and the soft waves crashing on the cement shore made me feel relaxed. However, though the scenery was relaxing, I felt so annoyed. I mentioned that they lack tables, this is because of the sudden boost of customers after they got viral on TikTok. I understand that it is hard to manage changes, but what irritated me is the insensitivity of some of the customers. Our Karaage order is ready to be served, however, it had to wait because we don’t have a table to sit on. I noticed that there are lots of customers who are done eating already and were just idly sitting.
It was only then at twilight when an elderly couple offered us their seats so we can sit down while waiting for our orders to come. I was a bit sad though because our orders didn’t come until it was dusk. The bowls left by the couple were half-full and the staff must have assumed that the bowl was ours. I tried to call the attention of one of the staff so that our table will be cleared, and it took me three times before we were attended to. I know how hard it is to work in Customer Service so I just let things slide.
Tonet’s order came first after the table was cleared. I asked for the Karaage because it was supposed to be served in the first place, however, it seems like they have forgotten about it. To be honest, I was having mixed feelings about the place because the service was poor. The staff kept on asking us what we’d ordered, even though we were given a number already. My order came and we were finally able to eat.
Tonet finished her bowl first, I finished mine after a few minutes, and we stayed for around five more minutes to rest while finishing our drinks. There were a few customers who were waiting for a seat to clear up, so we decided to return the favor given by the couple who gave us our seats. We stood up and there was a group of female customers who were looking for a seat, so we gave them our seats and went on our way.
We were about to go home when a notification from the speakers in the mall informed us that there will be a water fountain show that will play in a few minutes so we decided to watch a little. Here are some of the pictures from the show
I was so amazed by how coordinated the whole show was and its accuracy where the water shifts position every time the background music’s beats changed. This is one of many fountain shows that I have seen, and I can say that this show is mesmerizing.
After the show, we decided to go home, hailed a taxi, and separated ways.