This was my first weekend out after returning to Manila! Our plan included breakfast at Pancake House, and then off to Palacio de Memoria.

PANCAKE HOUSE

Pancake House currently has an ongoing weekend promo – All You Can Pancakes and Waffles every weekend from May 21st to Jun 27th for only PHP259. This also includes one drink (I ordered coffee!). Of course, we had to go! I’ve tried their unlimited pancakes years ago in BGC, but this time, it had waffles as well so I wanted to try it out. My friends were more than happy to do it with me!

We decided to do it at the Pancake House at MAAX (Mall of Asia Annex) since it is very close to Palacio de Memoria. According to the rules, there is a 2-hour limit, but I think we were there for 3 hours. I mean there were only two other tables that were occupied aside from us and they didn’t do the unlimited pancakes promo, so I don’t think they would really rush anyone out.

We ended up finishing 3 plates only because the waffles were anti-climactic. LOL. The pancakes were really good though! I think if I stuck with pancakes, I probably could have eaten more. I kind of want to go again before the last weekend of the promo. HAHA.

PALACIO DE MEMORIA

Celine recommended that we go here because her boss told her about this place. I checked it out on Instagram and the planes definitely caught my eye. Of course, I wanted to go!

LOCATION:

Palacio de Memoria is located at 95 Roxas Blvd, Tambo, Parañaque, Metro Manila. I cannot believe there is an old mansion near Coastal! I remember walking here before every time I would visit my friends in Parañaque, but I never realized there’s a house by those condominiums in Baclaran! It is right in the middle of the Bayview Condominiums, so it is so crazy that there is an old house in the middle of all these new, tall buildings.

OPENING HOURS:

They are open from Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10am to 6pm. Like most museums, they are closed on Mondays. We went on a Saturday at around noon, and there are not a lot of people. Most of the visitors are eating in the restaurant.

RATES:

You can view the rates here. One thing to note though is that, walk-ins for self-guided tours are welcome. For tours with a guide, prior booking is required. We paid a total of PHP350 – PHP250 for the admission fee, plus PHP100 because we wanted to see what’s inside of the plane as well. When we got there, it was a bit confusing because we got dropped off in front of the mansion itself and we had no idea where to pay. We were led to this small door on the right side of the property, which turns out to be the museum.

SAFETY PROTOCOLS:

They only require face masks, but we were wearing our face masks and face shield almost the entire time. The only time we removed it was when we were inside the plane, because we were the only ones there.

THE PALACIO DE MEMORIA EXPERIENCE:

After paying our admission fee, we were given a history of the mansion at the sort of reception area. I think that is really helpful because you get so much information about the place, instead of just reading what’s on the wall. So there have been three owners so far. The original owners were Antonio Melian y Pavia and Margarita Zóbel de Ayala, back in the 1930s (or 20s?), and then after the war, the Villaroman family became the new owners. The patriarch is a doctor, that’s why there is a clinic and morgue on one of the top floors. They left for the US in the 1980s, abandoning the mansion for two decades before the Lhuilliers in the early 2000s. However, renovation didn’t start until 2015 and was finally opened to public in 2018 or 2019.

Even after leaving the mansion, my friend and I were still discussing why the Villaromans left. I feel like it’s so mysterious! My theory had something to do with Martial Law, because I had a feeling they left the man just like that.

Anyway, so after that little history lesson, we toured the ecclesiastical museum, which houses the Lhuilliers’ collection. It has two floors, and it was pretty warm in there. We only spent a few minutes there, and then went to the plane. That was definitely what we were excited about the most! We were the only ones when we got there so we removed our PPEs and had a blast taking photos! The plane’s theme is kind of like a man cave, and we definitely took advantage of the props! You know how influencers rent this place to make them look like they’re in a private plane? We totally felt like we were in one! HAHA! Before COVID, I think you can rent this plane for your private parties.

And then it was time to tour the mansion! The mansion has 7 storeys, but unfortunately, only the first two floors are open to the public for the self-guided tour. The rooms are really beautiful, it includes stuff that they are auctioning so obviously, you can’t touch anything. I wish we can access more rooms though. However, I get that the mansion is continuously getting renovated so maybe in the future.

PALACIO DE MEMORIA PHOTO DUMP:

Some pics I took of Palacio de Memoria!