Tea of Spring

Birthdays for this family are usually celebrated with a simple potluck lunch or dinner, nothing extravagant really.  In Chinese tradition, we celebrate it a notch more special when the person's age ends with a "9".  Thus, for Jerry's 49th, we opted to have it at the Tea of Spring, Shangrila, Mactan.

Though Shangrila is synonymous with expensive, our food bill was surprisingly lower than what other fancy restos back in the city would have cost us for the same spread.  Thanks to the discount coupons we previously bought, we literally cut the cost by 30%.  Hehe... I just love discounts and markdowns.  Anyway...

By Cebu's standards, even without traffic, the 30-45 minutes on the road is actually a long drive, but that already takes you from the city to some of the nice beaches in Mactan Island.  That Saturday morning, traffic was not so bad and the weather was lovely.  

At Tea of Spring, though our meal was discounted, we still received five star service plus more.  The manager and the crew were very attentive and ready with their recommendations and some freebies.  In my book, these little touches are what set Shangrila distinct from all the other wannabe 5-star restos/resorts.  

Family and a few friends completed the small entourage.   And the chit-chat in between some dimsum and delicious Chinese fare stretched our lunch to almost 4 hours!  It was the perfect cap to bid 48 goodbye and to welcome another blessed year for our dear Jerry. :)