Toyoko Inn Cebu — Complete Guide (Part 2 of 3)
Date: 2020-02-14
Continued from Part 1: Room, location, and access.
Breakfast
Served 6:30–9:00am on the 6th floor, in the same hall as reception. Two identical food and drink stations at the far end of the hall — a practical layout that reduces queuing.
View from the breakfast room: Cebu City skyline and the hills behind it. An outdoor deck beside the windows allows smoking.
What's served: Hot dishes, a rice station, and a drinks counter — all included in the room rate.
Hot food rotates daily and typically includes:
- Fried rice
- Scrambled eggs
- Stir-fried green beans or seasonal vegetable
- Corned beef (a Filipino staple)
- Filipino pork sausages — sweet-and-savoury, slightly caramelised, excellent with rice
At the drinks counter: plain white rice, miso soup, udon-style noodle soup, sliced bread with a toaster, coffee, fruit juice (changes daily), and water.
Fruit: watermelon (two varieties) and banana, fresh daily.
Salad: fresh lettuce and a cooked vegetable — both present every day. In the Philippines, fresh vegetables are a genuine luxury: the tropical heat makes leafy greens difficult to grow and consequently expensive. Getting two vegetable options at every breakfast is a meaningful benefit for longer stays.
Over four nights, the menu rotated completely — nothing repeated. A reassuring detail.
Timing note: After 8am it gets crowded, and the elevators back up. For a relaxed breakfast with seating choices, arrive before 8am.
Daily 9am Farewell
A tradition that deserves its own mention. At 9:00am, when breakfast service ends, the entire breakfast staff line up side by side and deliver a group send-off in both Japanese and English:
"Thank you very much. Please enjoy your stay in Cebu. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow morning."
All together, loudly, with big smiles. Everyone in matching aprons and traditional Japanese-style triangular head scarves (sannkakukin).
The discipline and cheerfulness of the service here — particularly impressive given that the general pace of work in the Philippines tends to be relaxed — is one of the things that makes Toyoko Inn Cebu genuinely stand out.
Coin Laundry
For anyone staying more than two or three nights in Cebu's heat, laundry accumulates quickly. The hotel has coin laundry on floors 7 and 8.
How to use:
Ask at the 6th-floor reception: "Can I use the laundry?" They check availability, take a 1,000 peso deposit, and issue a numbered token.
Use the machine matching your token number. Floor 7 machines: 15kg capacity. Floor 8 machines: household size (4–5kg). Use liquid detergent only — available at the front desk for 10 pesos/sachet if you don't have any (with a handwritten receipt, as it turns out).
Recommended wash cycle: Mixed or Eco mode. For light tropical wear without heavy stains, this is sufficient.
Transfer to the dryer in the unit above. Normal drying cycle: 40–50 minutes on Normal mode is enough to check if items are done. Heat-sensitive fabrics: use Normal mode throughout.
Important: Complete wash and dry within 2 hours total. Overtime incurs additional charges.
Return token to reception. Sign the form; 800 pesos of your 1,000-peso deposit is returned (200 pesos charge for the wash/dry).
Alternative (outsourced): Across the road from the mall entrance, look for "Wash and Dry." 29 pesos/kg, including washing, drying, and folding. Turnaround: 1–2 days. Same-day rush service: 59 pesos/kg, approximately 4 hours. Practical for larger loads.
The Lounge Bar
On the 6th floor, beside the breakfast hall. Open 4pm–10pm daily.
San Miguel Beer: 60 pesos. (The SM Hypermarket downstairs sells it for 55 pesos — the 5-peso premium for not carrying it from a supermarket is acceptable.)
Food: Curry, udon noodles, and curry udon. Modest menu, but ideal for an evening when you don't want to go out. Curry udon in particular — eaten here after missing it for months — was a satisfying comfort.
Dried squid with spicy mayonnaise: Order this with the first San Miguel. This is San Miguel brewed at the Mandaue factory a short distance away — possibly the freshest San Miguel available anywhere.
Prices: Curry 200 pesos (~¥430, ~£3). Significantly below the local restaurants outside.
The bar is quiet and unhurried. Tables have space. The evening view over the Magellan Strait lights up as darkness falls.
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View on AmazonContinued in Part 3: Sky Water Park, massage, staff service, and overall assessment.
