Food and nostalgia are Araneta City’s draws for the holidays
FOR THE holidays, the Araneta Group is pulling out all the stops with food and a fair.
During a short tour around the Araneta City complex on Dec. 3, guests tasted the Ultimate Cheesy 7 pizza (beginning at P549) from Pizza Hut (franchised by Araneta Group’s PPI Holdings, Inc.). This pizza is made with mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, cream cheese, Hokkaido milk cheese, Gouda, and Emmental, with a melty cheese fondue-filled crust.
Blizzards were had at Dairy Queen (another PPI Holdings Inc. franchise), while at Araneta City’s Gateway Mall, guests got to taste Japanese treats from Sachi, served at the mall’s Oasis garden, where one can dine. Also at Gateway, we had a taste of Cibo’s (Cibo was founded by Araneta scion, chef Margarita Fores) Christmas ham (P899), hitting all the right smoky and sweet notes.
The real highlight of the tour was the C.O.D (Christmas on Display) presentation, which showed the Christmas story with automaton figures of the Holy Family and the other characters of the Jesus Christ birth story. It introduces to new generations the spectacle, first seen at the Araneta Center in the 1960s at the C.O.D department store. This time, the mechanical play is shown at the Times Square Park at Araneta City, with shows in the evening until Jan. 8, beginning at 6 p.m. A fireworks display at 7 p.m. comes after the show.
And what’s Christmas without playing? We were given free passes to go wild at the Mini Fiesta Carnival (based on an Araneta Center staple of the 1970s, since closed). Passes cost P50, with individual rides charging different rates, ranging from P50 to P150, though one can get an all-ride pass for P500. Most of the fair is strictly for kids: we only got to ride at the Carousel (the only ride that could support an adult’s weight), but we did win some prizes at the fairground games (tip: go to the one with rubber ducks, one can win a toy every time). The Fiesta Carnival revival is open daily from 2 to 11 p.m., and the P50 pass gets you some free food at the food stalls. — JLG
