Sunday, March 22, 2015

Light Mall - New Mall as an Avenue of Convenience



There probably is no place like Metro Manila, where, with its vast space, malls proliferate in sheer dizzying speed. This conurbation such as the National Capital Region of the Philippines has 15 cities and the municipality of Pateros. Henry Sy's SM Malls and the Gokongwei's Robinsons Malls are ubiquitous. I was able to visit the newly opened Light Mall which is basically an SMDC residential complex of hundreds of condominium units. To make this new community functional, a mini-mall has been incorporated into this residential space, making it convenient for everyone.

"Light" because the commercial space is limited to 2 levels, the mini-mall has "Savemore" (for your supermarket needs) which also carries a Bills Payment and a Foreign Exchange counter. There are 2 BDO ATM machines and a Security Bank machine at the 2nd floor. At the time of my visit, the BDO ATM beside the Bills Payment isn't operational just yet.

The ground floor's right wing has gadgets and cyber needs, and even a CD-R King. At the end of the hall is a Savemore supermarket. At the 2nd level, there's a Watson's, a Medical City Clinic, an Ace Hardware, a National Bookstore (which is yet to open); a Shakey's, Brownies, Mister Donut, and a Formosa Bakery selling Taiwanese pastries and cakes. There's no SM Department Store here, but there'a a cineplex with 3 small theaters (probably the smallest SM Cineplex in the country) with very limited seating (think 4-5 rows).

One place that's worth visiting here is the newly opened Chef Lau's Pugon Roasters. In its infancy, this fast food-styled restaurant is already selling to SRO crowd. Yes, despite its very limited seats, there's a considerable queue "lusting" after their best seller, the Pugon Roasted Fried Chicken (aside from their sizzling chicken sisig) at a measly PhP99 price (without the drinks). We couldn't resist ordering it, alongside a "Pork Liempo Roast" said to taste like "lechon". They also have a "Chicken Liver Surprise", at PhP79 only. The verdict: my pugon-roasted (furnace) chicken wasn't something I'd be back for, or the lechon liempo roast for that matter. But I will definitely try the chicken croquettes, the chicken liver, the pancit lucban and the fried chicken adobo - if I have the patience to join the queue. Check their menu and you'd know there's plenty of options to choose from.

I was thinking, this mall would somehow eat into the clientele that Robinson's Pioneer (which is just 2 blocks away) is currently enjoying. Such is the nature of commerce, and if for anything, competition is good for the consumers. The place isn't quite done yet, with some floors outside that are yet to be completed. There's a 4 or 5 level parking but we weren't allowed to drive up the ramp. They're probably for the exclusive use of the residents of their units. We had to settle for the exceedingly limited outside-parking at the back of the building (check the photo).

The now-operational Light Mall spells convenience when we need to pay our bills, rush into a new movie not available at Robinson's Pioneer (The Forum), or try out a new dish from Chef Lau's Pugon Roast or the interesting-looking Eduardo's Restaurant. There's also an LBC shop and a Quantum Gaming arcade. If north-bound traffic to Megamall or Galleria is hellish, Light Mall will suffice. The second level also has a direct link to MRT's Boni station.

This is the Eye in the Sky!  
 


































Pugon Roast Chicken

Lechon Liempo Roast

Mango Cheese Cake at PhP120 a slice.

Chef Lau's Pugon Roast menu.

Eduardo's has affordable steaks among other stuff.

The Baikery. Note the spelling with "i" between "bake".





This Taiwanese bakery has delectable looking bread, cakes and pastries.

I am reminded of the Australian cake, the Pavlova to a certain degree.





List of shops and services at the Light Mall.

Fern Country en route to the outside parking at the back of the building.

Second photo above shows parking as you turn right to Madison Street from Edsa, then right again to the open parking.

Light Mall and Residences. This photo only courtesy of SM Megamall's website.

8 comments:

  1. Yet another swanky sparkling glistening glowing shimmering mall where you can spend a whole day and do a million things !

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  2. Hello greetings and good wishes.

    Lovely clean mall and excellent photos of interesting food.

    We have a huge mall in Kochi which is called the LULU MALL.

    LuLu Mall is the largest shopping mall in India situated in the City of Kochi. It is the 48th largest shopping mall in World. The mall contains more than 215 outlets including food courts, restaurants, family entertainment zones, a multiplex, ice skating rink and bowling alley.

    One can spend a whole day here buying things, eating food, playing games and watching a movie.

    Best wishes

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  3. Thanks for the information. Wow, had I known about the LuLu, I'd have visited it. To be quite honest, I've never visited a big shopping mall anywhere in India in my three visits to the country. I will make sure I will do that next time.

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  4. Looks like quite a variety of places to shop in that mall. I was surprised to see a fruit market inside.

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  5. It has all that one would need, the essentials at least. It doesn't have garments and fashion items (for now) but then this is a "light" mall, a rather limited subcommunity. I'm just featuring it here because it's close to home; makes life a little bit easier.

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  6. Check out the new mall in Balintawak Cloverleaf

    ReplyDelete