Halo-halo a favorite in Japan

HALO-HALO, probably the all-time favorite dessert of Filipinos is also becoming a fast favorite among Japanese. This cold concoction of mixed fruits and ice cream is just one of the many food delights being offered at the Travel Café Philippines in Iidabashi, Tokyo.

Fashion icon Anne Watanabe, the Philippines’ ambassador of goodwill to Japan, keeps on coming back to Travel Café Philippines to savor its sumptuous food and delicacies as well as relax in its exotic ambiance.

Anne was recently seen at the Café enjoying, what else -- but her favorite Halohalo.

Immersing herself in the Café’s artistic Filipino setting, Japan’s Model of the Year was visibly relishing every spoonful of Halo-halo like a tourist relaxing on the white sands of Boracay Island.

Travel Café Philippines operates as a café-style restaurant at daytime and as a bar at night. Philippine coffee varieties Barako (Philippine liberica) and Alamid (Philippine civet) are featured in the café menu, along with such Filipino favorites as Adobo and Lumpiang Binondo.

Multi-awarded restaurateur Glenda Rosales-Barretto of Via Mare has developed the Filipino menu for the Travel Café Philippines, interpreted by trained Japanese chefs of Travel Café Co.

Japanese space planner Shien Co. made use of the best furniture and indigenous Filipino materials developed by the Philippines’ elite Movement 8 designers Budji Layug and Al Caronan as well as furniture manufacturers/exporters Locsin International. Shien Co.’s Yasushi Hara has likewise been inspired by the works of noted Filipino architect Francisco Mañosa. The icon for Travel Café Philippines is a masterpiece sculpture of stone and glass created by Filipino sculptor Impy Pilapil.

With a vast collection of travel references, the café likewise serves as a Philippine information hub as it is envisioned to provide an optimum environment for making travel plans to the Philippines.

At the café, visitors can browse through resource materials – from books to videos shown on plasma screens. A "travel concierge" is also available to personally assist guests, answer queries on the Philippines, and recommend travel itineraries.

The interior of the café — from the chairs, tables, and furnishings – primarily consists of furniture and décor made using Philippine materials assembled in the Philippines. Also featured are Philippine destination videos shown on plasmavision TVs and Filipino songs and musical compositions as background music, thus allowing visitors to enjoy the atmosphere of a trip to the archipelago using all five of their senses.

This refreshing atmosphere is evidently the attraction that brings Anne and throngs of Japanese guests to the Café, whose design concept will be featured at the Philippine booth in the forthcoming JATA World Travel Fair at the Tokyo Big Sight on Sept. 22 to 24, right after the JATA World Tourism Congress on Sept. 21.

The Café serves as a monumental symbol of the "Premium Resort Islands Philippines" brand, with Anne personifying the "Philippines: Wellness from the Inside Out" image.