First Bite: Froozy

This year's summer is crazy! With the temperature hitting 40s, Manila has never been this hot! And I can't stop dreaming of swimming in ice cream. But I found something a little bit close to that. By stuffing myself with shaved ice from Froozy!

Hello, Froozy. 

Froozy is a local shaved ice concept inspired by the Korean dessert bingsu. Designed to be a sweet escape for the health conscious, the ingredients you can find here are made from scratch.

Grandma Approved: Mangan Restaurant

Filipino cuisine will forever have a special place in my heart. I am not being biased or what but there’s really something so comforting with eating Filipino food. Could it be the umami?

One Saturday, I had a girls’ lunch out with my mom and grandmother at Robinsons Galleria. Since my grandmother isn’t that adventurous with food, we decided to head to Mangan, a Filipino restaurant.

There wasn’t much people eating and it was lunch time when we arrived. I guess those new restaurants at BGC and Shangri-La’s east wing are eating other malls’ share of hungry tummies.

It didn’t took us long to decide what to order. We ordered my grandma’s favorite Sinigang sa Bayabas Bangus (milkfish) Belly (PHP280) and Gatang Sigarillas (PHP120). After some thought, I also ordered Lechong Babi (PHP240) as it goes well with the veggies I ordered.

While waiting and munching on the complimentary crispy shoestring sweet potatoes (where some were oddly wet), one of the servers approached us. He shared that they are selling PHP300 gift certificates and if we buy now, we get free puto bumbong. (It made me wonder if he saw my excitement when I saw that they sell puto bumbong.) I then asked if the GCs have an expiry date and true enough the GCs are valid until November this year. I told him that this is against DTI rules as gift certificates should be treated like cash as it was bought with cash, at full amount. The server just… smiled then asked if I still want to avail of it. Uhm…

A Yummy way to start December

December literally is a day away! For some reason, I feel that 2012 is the fastest year ever! So many things happened and yet another yummy event is on its way to start the happiest month… 

Yummy, in partnership with Lady’s Choice, will hold a cooking demo this December 1, 2012 at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria.

 

Learn how to whip up amazing, delicious and easy-to-do recipes with Yummy’s contributing food stylist Chef Katherine Jao. Chef Dianne dela Cruz of Unilever food solutions will also demonstrate delectable dishes using Lady’s Choice mayonnaise.

There are also exciting prizes for lucky participants from our sponsors so see you there! Don't forget, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on December 1, 2012 (Saturday) at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria.

 

-Gluttonshopper

Chatime all over again...

Just when I thought I was over going to milk tea places, I discovered something that blew me away. Fine, it was a bit of an exaggeration but it definitely made me smile from one ear to the other.

“Do you want some Chatime?” is perhaps one of my favorite office questions. It also reminds me how blessed I am to have great colleagues who LOVE food.

This time, I ordered Chocolate Mousse (PHP85, small; PHP95, large) and had exactly the same specifics as one of my officemates who convinced me to try it.

We ordered via City Delivery and I was surprised that it will take Chatime Pioneer 50-60 minutes to deliver our drinks (to think that our office is just 5 minutes away). But we love 

Chatime so much so it didn’t really matter as long as they deliver our drinks cold.

My First Bite: Delicious Kitchen by Eat Well!

Watching a cooking demo on an empty stomach is pure torture.

We had a cooking demo last Saturday which was well attended and the dishes featured were definitely mouthwatering. Thus I wasn’t able to stop myself from buying food from nearby stalls (as we held the cooking demo at Robinsons Supermarket, Galleria). I started my snacking trip with a large order from Chatime (the Pearl Black Tea was yummy!), followed by a hotdog on stick and some candies from Candy Corner.

I was still very much hungry when the event ended thus I couldn’t wait to visit a restaurant I’ve never been to before. The first restaurant that came to mind was DELICIOUS KITCHEN. I’ve been eying that restaurant since I first tried Johnny Rockets. The line “by Eat Well!” sure made me curious.

I was so hungry that I initially ordered a lot. Good thing I was with my mom and she told me that I should stop being a glutton and just order 3 dishes. Fine.

I ordered a combination meal—rice with Lechon Macau and Steamed Chicken (PHP240), Pan-Fried Eggplant Stuffed with Minced Shrimp (PHP275), and Fried Shrimp Puff with Wasabi Dressing (PHP330).

Yes, no appetizer or desserts this time as I was restricted to order so. L

First dish that arrived was the combination meal. It wasn’t very photogenic. The taste was at the same level with how the photo looked like. It was rather bland. The dish was not served with any sauce and we had to ask the server for it. He gave us hoisin sauce… which was sweet (but we were craving for something salty… think Mang Tomas. Okay, we are the typical Filipino eaters when it comes to lechon macau).

Next dish served was the Fried Shrimp Puff with Wasabi Dressing. I thought that the wasabi dressing was nothing; but I was wrong. One bite made me remember the sensation of inhaling Vicks Inhaler. The wasabi sure made me breathe better. I find it quite spicy so I scraped off most of the dressing. The shrimp puff was good but it was not far from the ones from Paotsin. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed given that this was the most expensive dish we ordered.

Finally, the Pan-Fried Eggplant Stuffed with Minced Shrimp…

It was… quite oily. It was definitely different though. There was the chewiness of the minced shrimps and a bit of crunch. I find the dish a bit too salty though since it was sprinkled with salt and pepper so I made sure to put a lot of vinegar to kill the saltiness. Nonetheless, it was a very interesting dish.

Overall, I was disappointed with the restaurant. The name didn’t seem to have matched the dishes we ordered. Perhaps we should have asked which ones were their best sellers and our dining experience could have been different.

I might visit this place again, but most likely not in the near future.

Delicious Kitchen is located at Robinsons Galleria Veranda, Quezon City.

Goodie Goodles!

For some reason, I always remember Oodles whenever I hear Goodles. It was only last month when I realized that the two food establishments are not the same. 

Cute wall!

Anyway, the first thing I noticed in Goodles was their cute way of packaging their food. Unlike other stores that put its pasta on a plate, Goodles serves its pasta on a bowl container. Also, just like coffee shops, they write your name on the bowl. 

As a newbie, I asked the server what the bestsellers were and she recommended Creamy Sausage and Mushroom (PHP145). Creamy Sausage and Mushroom it is.

While waiting, the server gave us some garlic bread to munch on. It was super good… or maybe we were just so hungry that everything will taste good.

When the pasta arrived, we were not very hungry thus we had the will power to take pictures first before digging in.

My pasta was indeed creamy but it was a bit bland for me. I guess I was too used to the 1:1 pasta and parmesan cheese ratio. I looooove parmesan cheese. 

There was just minor booboos in their service. First was that they failed to give me my drink. I ordered for regular cola and they told me that I didn’t order any thus I had to present my receipt to them. It was weird though because it was already jotted down in my bowl (is cup a more appropriate term?).

I also noticed that they spelled my name wrong. Since people hardly get my name right, I just mention my first (of three) name. The server was very passionate to write (I guess) that she added an extra R creating a new meaning to my name. (This was not the first time though. I experienced the same thing in a tea shop. Is this a sign? Nah!) The more I look at it, I think they spelled it NARRY. At least it was not LARRY.

I can’t wait to try the other dishes. I really wanted to try the pesto but I had another event to attend to that day that I had to avoid dishes that can potentially get stuck between my teeth.

Hmm… maybe I should try it this Saturday. :)

High with Hainanese chicken

Thanks to my mom’s friends, we were able to discover this hidden treasure in front of the Robinsons Galleria supermarket. There lies a small restaurant with glass walls. The name of the restaurant is… you guessed it HAINANESE DELIGHTS.

The restaurant offers mostly chicken dishes. We had Hainanese Delights (their most ordinary yet best selling dish), Hainan Fried Chicken and The Singapore Staple (which was basically just noodles with Hainanese Delights).

To all rice lovers, for every order of Hainanese Delights and Hainan Fried Chicken (and for some of their other entries), you get UNLIMITED RICE. Yes, it’s not only in a certain inasal or Japanese store can you get unlimited rice. What’s even more delightful about this is that the unlimited rice is not your ordinary white rice. It has butter and it goes really well with the ginger sauce they have. It is truly something that will make you eat more.

Sorry, we were so hungry that I just took a group shot instead.

Moment of truth.

The Hainanese Delights looks like your typical boiled or steamed chicken. But it has a different taste. It has a light sweet taste that is further enriched by soy sauce or the ginger sauce. Because the taste is quite light, you will not get tired of it easily.

As for the Hainan Fried Chicken, well… it’s not really the fried-meaning-crispy kind of chicken. The chicken is quite the same as the Hainanese Delights only this time, the skin of the chicken is darker because it was supposed to be fried. The taste though is richer than the Hainanese Delights making it more appealing to kids.

Lastly, presenting The Singapore Staple.  To describe it in basic terms, it is your typical Wanton Noodle soup with chicken instead of siomai. It’s actually good, though I needed to add some soy sauce to add more flavor.

All of the dishes we ordered are only PHP120 each and believe me, if you eat like me (meaning an order of Caesar salad is enough to make me full), then you won’t go wrong with this one and you’ll even end up having leftovers.

Hainanese Delights is located at the Lower Ground of Robinsons Galleria (in front of the Robinsons Supermarket, the one beside Watsons).