A recent curiosity-triggered visit to SM Sta Mesa revealed some pleasurable surprises. 

I’ve long wondered what could be found inside this mall, which, for someone who stays in Makati, is rather out of the way. The mall, named Centerpoint when it was launched in 1990, was the second SM supermall to open after SM City North EDSA. It was named such because of its location is on the boundaries of the tripoint — Manila, Quezon City and San Juan.

On its 15th year of operation in 2006, the mall was renamed SM Sta. Mesa, although it is really part of Quezon City and not in that district found in the eastern side of Manila.

Still and all, on a day off not too long ago, this guy from Makati found himself along with some friends exploring this mall which, after 14 years, had been given a fresh, bright look.

Food crawl

Walking in cool comfort through four floors of over 130,000 square meters of retail shops, the ubiquitous SM Store, restaurants, wellness clinics, an amusement center with slides, ball pits, trampolines and a playground with bump cars for kids (and adults, why not?) to gambol in, took care of my once-weekly long walk exercise. 

Hungry, we went on a food crawl, starting with Modern Shanghai, one of several specialty restaurants under The Bistro Group. This was going to be a restaurant crawl, we told ourselves, and yet, it was all we could do to refrain from stuffing ourselves with the restaurant’s delicious yang chow fried rice; hot & sour soup; spring rolls; steamed hakaw shrimp dumplings; and roasted crispy pork, among others. 

Someone in the group said a swell all-day promo was being offered at Italianni’s next door and we decided to check it out: An appetizer, one entree and a drink, all for under P400. Well, let me just say that choosing from the various promo options on the menu was tough, and it’ll take several trips to the restaurant to try out all possible combinations, but that day, we settled for a sampling of Shrimp Basil Aglio Olio Pasta, Angel Hair Pomodoro, Spaghetti Alfredo, Italian Truffle Potato Chips, Chicken Picatta and a plate of Parmesan-Crusted Fillet of white fish — all whopping delicious! To down all these, we had thirst quenchers that included non-alcoholic coolers like four seasons, mango and peach mango lemonade. 

Shopping finds

Stuffed, we decided to walk off what we ate, and headed for the upper floors where the girls in the group went a little crazy over items sold at Flying Tiger Copenhagen. This Danish variety store, with outlets all over the world, including here in SM Sta Mesa, is known for the affordable, creative and quirky products with a particular focus on quality stationery, ball pens and pencils, little toys, gadgets and accessories like decorative trays, mugs and more, on its shelves. 

We tried on sunglasses at Sunnies, dropped by our favorite Japanese casual wear retailer, Uniqlo, on the mall’s first and second floors, took a look at what we could possibly spend on at SM Store, and visited SM Surplus where some of us bought foldable, inflatable bean bags and memory pillows and, well, I couldn’t resist buying this powerful portable battery-chargeable vacuum cleaner, which is perfect for sweeping off dust in my place for an indecently low price — my best cheap purchase for the month!

Everyone was having good vibes and we went on to wander around the fourth floor where one can find the Food Hall with stalls offering a mixed variety of cuisines, from snacks to home-cooked refreshments.