Restaurant Favorite: Via Mare

My constant food craving is driving me insane. It never stops. And when I saw a post about palitaw, I craved for it for weeks. I even tried to have some made at home. But we had a hard time finding some ingredients. Thankfully, Via Mare opened several of its branches to satisfy my appetite for Filipino kakanin.

Hello, Via Mare.

Via Mare is one of my go-to restaurants whenever I feel like having palitaw or bibingka. I also didn't have to wait for the holidays for me to indulge in a plate or two of puto bumbong.

First Bite: Manam Café

My first Manam experience was love at first bite. From its superb sisig down to creamy leche flan, everything was spectacular and memorable. And when Manam opened a spin off brand Manam Café, I was excited and curious at the same time especially after hearing that it offers different dishes.

Hello, Manam Café.

Manam has been one of my favorite Filipino restaurants in town and just when I thought I couldn't love this brand more, The Moment Group has something in store for its patrons, Manam Café.

When in Bacolod: Aboy's

It was an endless eating spree for me last week when I tagged along R's business trip to Bacolod. I had zero expectations for this trip as I've never been to the City of Smiles. I was even worried that I might get bored as my research on things to do in Bacolod only says The Ruins, Negros Museum and Butterfly Museum. Food-wise, I just wanted to visit Calea. But my friends (and clients) were very excited for me. They gave me a long list of restaurants and highly recommended several dishes for me to try. And I must say, their excitement was contagious! I was so excited just staring at the list they gave me. And on my first day, I visited Aboy's. 
 
Hello, Aboy's.

This Filipino restaurant is one of the highly recommended establishments by my foodie friends and R's dealers. 

When in Davao: Saging Repablik

I'm always on the lookout for good food. I usually check apps and ask for recommendations whenever I'm somewhere I'm not familiar with. And when ForkSpoonManila recommended Saging Repablik to me when I was in Davao, I made sure that I drop by the place. After all, Forkie said the magic word... bibingka. 

Hello, Saging Repablik.

I've read a few reviews about this place on TripAdvisor before visiting. Most reviews say that service is slow and that the serving size of the dishes are not that generous. All reviews agreed though that this place offers delicious meals. It's just lacking in some aspects. Reading these made me expect a bit less from the place. 

Freezer Burn's Holiday Specials

Nothing screams “Christmas is near” than the good ol’ bibingka and puto bumbong. These two holiday staples are slowly popping here and there again and it is not surprising that the innovative ice cream parlor Freezer Burn will incorporate it in its offerings sooner or later.

Hello, Freezer Burn!

I was lucky to be invited by High Street's favorite dessert shop to sample some of its limited edition Christmas flavors and I decided to go for Simbang Gabi (PHP225, solo | PHP295, regular) and Santa’s Fave (PHP225, solo | PHP295, regular). Too bad I couldn’t sample all as I was alone when I dropped by and I do not have the heart to waste awesome ice cream just to take photos and a few spoonfuls. 

First Bite: Choco-late de Batirol

On my birth week, R and I decided to escape Manila and went to Baguio for some fresh cold wind. I've always wanted to visit Cafe by the Ruins and after several failed beautiful eyes, R finally agreed to bring me to the charming place. But the Panagbenga visitors seem to have flocked to this place the time we visited the city center. With one hour wait time, R and I decided to go somewhere else. I was already about to pout till my lips reach Manila until when we discovered... 

Choco-late de Batirol!

The place is so adorable and the hues of green and brown makes you feel in touch with nature. Sweet chocolate scent dominated the air during our visit and made me drool for its famous hot chocolate. 

But we had to wait for a bit as all tables were taken when we got there.

When we finally got served, we ordered the following: Bibingka (PHP105), Suman sa Lihia (PHP64), Traditional Blend (PHP95), and Baguio Classic Cold Batirol (PHP150). 

In less than 15 minutes, the Traditional Blend drink, bibingka and suman arrived.

The hot chocolate drink had a nice and rich smell of tablea. It had tones of dark chocolate which I liked but the texture was not as smooth as I wanted it to be. It had a lot of grains that made my throat itch. 

Restaurant Favorite: Via Mare

It was my first time to host a Malaysian CSer. I had no idea what to do as I have posted in my profile that I am only willing to meet up for coffee or whatnot. But since it was Christmas Eve, I wanted to be a host for a day.

December 24, 2011, 2PM. 

 

We have this Filipino tradition of bringing foreigners/tourists to Filipino restaurants and share with them how magnificent Filipino dishes are. But since my friend and I met at Shangri-La, we were left with C2, Via Mare, Recipes and the food court as options.  Well, since I wanted to be the greatest host-for-a-day ever, I brushed off the food court and decided to have lunch at Via Mare instead (since they also serve palitaw which I have been craving for months!).

Restaurant Discovery: The Café

Last Friday was perhaps the lightest day of my career life… so far. 

After our morning client presentation, one of our AEs offered to buy us lunch. *Happiness!*

She did not inform us where she will be treating us so we kept on guessing and guessing. There were happy thoughts of us having lunch at Yakimix or at this posh Japanese restaurant (or so what one of my colleagues said). Then we realized that we were in front of the wrong building.

Oh, hello The Café.

We saw our AE in front of a packed quaint-looking restaurant called The Café. (Packed means good right?) We waited for 2 minutes for some seats to free up but since we were too hungry to wait any further, as staring at some hungry diners smile while chewing their food was plain torture, we decided to eat outside. (There were a few tables outside the restaurant just in front of the parking area.)