We’re planning an upcoming visit to SM Mall of Asia in mid-July. My asawa and I are accompanying her sister Majorie, an OFW, Overseas Foreign Worker, back to Manila so she can catch her flight back to Kuwait. My sister-in-law has been working in Kuwait for over six years now.
SM MOA is a gargantuan shopping mall in Bay City, Pasay, Philippines. It’s on our bucket list of places we want to visit in the Philippines along with Bicol, Puerto Galera and Palawan. It’s the fourth biggest shopping mall in the Philippines, right behind SM Seaside Cebu.
We’ve been fortunate this year to visit Bacolod, Cebu City, Bohol and Boracay. We’ve never been to the Mall of Asia so traveling with Marjorie will give us a good excuse to visit this shopping mecca in the Philippines.
SM City North EDSA, now listed as the biggest mall in the Philippines and the third largest in the world, is only an hour or so from MOA, and since we have planned a five-day stay, we’ll also be able to visit that mega mall.
My asawa also has a ton of relatives in the Metro Manila area so I’m sure we’ll be planning to visit some of them. If memory serves me, my wife has one brother and three sisters in the area. How many nieces and nephews? I have absolutely no idea but I’m sure the figure is at least over 50.
Our stay will be from July 14 through July 19. If anyone has been to either one of these malls, I’m open to suggestions as to what restaurants and shops should be on our “must see” list. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
(Photo Source for Mall of Asia: What’s New Philippines?)
(More on the Boracay visit coming up)
Just a short walk away from MoA is Conti’s in Blue Bay Walk. The Conti’s in MoA is cafe only. My asawa and I often visit MoA but we don’t eat a lot while there since Conti’s is our favorite restaurant. I would also suggest to visit the beach at MoA.
SM North I have only been to once but it is huge. Across the street is another shopping center and not too far away is Metro Center which is also huge and home to one of the rare Taco Bell. As far as my opinion, Metro Center has the more upscale restaurants but also a more confusing layout.
The Metro Center in Alabang is the one I was referring to. I’m not sure why I thought to bring it up since it’s about an hour from the Mall of Asia, rather than “not too far away” as I previously said. “Metro” is a type of mall/department store just like Robinson’s (do they have Robinson’s in Cebu?) or SM.
I just returned from Manila and stayed across the street from the Metro Centre in Alabang. I agree, VERY confusing layout. Tons of places to eat. Have to admit I ate at Taco Bell, just a gross but had too. There is also a Dairy Queen.
We were taken to Dad’s buffet in Manila. AMAZING. Tons of choices (including American roast beef, turkey and lamb) and the non-alcoholic drinks are free. Well worth the money.
I have been to MOA hundreds of times and absolutely love it. Wow! It is now only the 4th largest mall in the Philippines? Holy moly, because MOA is huge.
I am not sure how they calculate the size of a mall (I would assume square footage) but MOA is HUGE. Like I said I have been there 100’s of times and I still have not seen it all yet.
They are currently doing some remodeling of the place. It used to have a very large food court but that is no longer there, at least as of a few weeks ago.
Ruby and I love to go down to the water front in the front of MOA on Saturday nights and just relax and watch the firework displays they have every Saturday at 7pm.
Hope you all have fun.
Enjoy your trip to MOA. We’ve visited this mall a couple of times and probably have not seen everything but I’m not much into malls so usually I’m doing more people watching while the wife shops around.
I’m guessing your biggest dicision will be what restaurant to eat in. I’m sure you have visited there website to see there layout and the list of all the stores and restaurants.
Dave,
If you are going to SM North Edsa, you can also stop at SM Mega Mall which is also on Edsa and the 2nd largest mall there in the Makati/Guadalupe area. We ate at Viking restaurant there, but for the price was not impressed. They do have a Subway on the other side of Edsa from Megamall near the overhead cross bridge.
There is a Subway in Mall of Asia as well.
Hey Dave, even though the food court was being re-done when I was last there, or maybe they have gotten rid of it (hard to imagine a mall without a food court) there are still a lot of places to eat at MOA. A LOT.
You can find about any type of food you want there from Chow King to higher end Japanese and other restaurants. So finding good food will not be a problem.
Hi Dave,been busy last few days ,your coming to Manila we will have to meet up
There are lots of malls to chose from , we can take you about in our car my wife knows Manila very well, the city is huge if you haven’t got a place to stay yet you’re
Welcome to stay at our house no problem, it’s a pretty big house in a quiet neighbor hood on a gated subdivision, haven’t heard of the metro centre he could mean Megamall which is really more upmarket now but well worth a visit , the best area to visit is bonifacio global city with fantastic malls and bonifacio high street with literally hundreds of restaurants, if you’re staying with your wife’s family home no problem we can still meet up , Derek in pasig.