Beat the Heat: Bonchon's Ube Macapuno Bingsu

There's only one thing in my mind during summer. Cold desserts. I seriously think of ice cream, halo-halo and bingsu pretty much the whole time I'm awake (not counting the times when I dream about it). And one yummy and cool treat that caught my eye a couple of weeks back is Bonchon's Ube Macapuno Bingsu. 

Hello again, Bonchon! 

Visiting Bonchon is starting to become a habit. But this time around, I wasn't there for lunch or dinner-- I was there for dessert! 

First Bite: Open Kitchen

I've lost count of how many food parks opened in Metro Manila. There just seem to be too many to track. I used to even brave unfamiliar places just to visit a few; but more often than not, I go home disappointed. Sadly, some food parks do not curate their establishments that well. Some just get the ones that offer affordable food at so-so quality while others bring in brands because of relationships or connections. There are also food parks that just focused on being Instagram-worthy and that's pretty much the end of its vision. I've told myself several times to stop visiting these so-called food havens. But the curious foodie in me can't resist going whenever I get word that a new one just opened. And I sure am glad that I dropped by this newly opened food park along P. Tuazon.

Hello, Open Kitchen.

Beat the Heat: Seol Bang

Summer is here and so is the detestable unbearable heat it comes with. But summer is also the perfect excuse for me to indulge in cold treats every day. And it was timely that I spotted a new favorite bingsu place. 

Hello, Seol Bang!

It’s not hard to miss this new dessert shop if your goal is to just have your photo taken by the picturesque “Venice Grand Canal”. This place is located a couple of meters away from on the selfie stick zone of the mall and that instantly warrants +10 points from me as I do not have to dodge phones and sticks on my way here.

Beat the Heat: Snow Creme

With the never ending summer heat, shaved ice treats have become a staple dessert in the food scene. I find it interesting how it evolved from Cerealicious and Ice Monster to bingsu. Such changes show how locals also evolved as foodies. We are no longer satisfied with rough shaved ice and now yearn for snow-like ones. We also now crave for a variety of toppings and are no longer content with just brownies, chocolates and cereals. And these changes in preferences help push the food industry to come up with better dishes. I was pretty pleased to find a shop that actually merged two of the food trends that made Manila, well, fatter. 

Hello, Snow Creme!

This charming shaved ice dessert shop is located in the same building as some of the famous Maginhawa restaurants such as Wicked Kitchen and Papa Diddi’s. Cat Café Manila is also in the same building. 

I was actually just looking for something to quench my thirst when I passed by this shop. I figured that shaved ice will do the trick and that I’ll be able to satisfy my insatiable desire for desserts at the same time. To my surprise, this shop offers more than shaved ice treats. 

Snow Creme also offers milk teas, fruit teas, smoothies and light snacks like fries and squid balls.  I ended up getting Strawberry Kiwi Iced Tea (PHP70, Large | PHP80, Extra Large) and Taiwan Shaved Ice (PHP130, Small | PHP180, Large). 

My Taiwan Shaved Ice was served in less than 15 minutes and it looked pretty nice with its generous serving of mochi, red beans and coffee jelly. It sure was a steal for PHP130. 

Love at First Bite: Soban K-Town Grill

I have been hearing a lot of good words about this Korean grill place in Eastwood. Aside from its delectable wide range of options, I read that this place offers value for money meals (PHP135 for bibimbap!!!) making it an ideal place for lunch break or treat after work. And after weeks of drooling over its photos on Instagram and food review apps, I finally managed to visit... Soban K-Town Grill! 

Hello, Soban K-Town Grill! 

We were greeted by hues of grey, a bunch of exhaust tubes and friendly staff who assisted us to our table. 

We browsed through the menu and decided to order Green Iced Tea (PHP65, single | PHP110, bottomless) and Lychee Shake (PHP105). For the food, we tried Kimchi Fries (PHP199), K-Taco (PHP75, 1 pc| PHP145, 2 pcs | PHP220, 3 pcs) and Premium BBQ Combo Set (PHP2,120). 

First served were our drinks and both were sweet but still refreshing. 

We figured that it would be the perfect drinks too for the savory (and slightly salty) dishes we were about to enjoy. 

The kimchi fries was served a few minutes after our drinks and it was L-O-V-E! To be honest, I wasn't excited to try this as I'm not a fan of kimchi but it was love at first bite! The kimchi taste was evident but not overwhelming. 

You would still get that characteristic tangy and spicy taste but for some reason, it was magical with those crispy fries. Serving size was generous too and definitely great for sharing. 

The K-Taco was served right after and it was awesome too! The taco filling was very generous that we had to lessen it first before we get to roll the soft tortilla over it. 

First Bite: Ikigai Kakigori Café

Bingsu has been popular in Manila last year when Café Seol Hwa made such an impact to the foodie community (especially to those struggling to survive from the summer heat). Since then, several bingsu restaurants popped literally everywhere.To spice things up, a Japanese shave ice concept came to Manila--Ikigai Kakigori Café. Since we were already around the area, we decided to drop by after Kozui Green Tea. (Yes, it was right after wolfing down a bowl of soft serve ice cream simply because we were really melting that day.)

Hello, Ikigai Kakigori Café.

The quaint looking café has a very Japanese vibe with its adorable façade and decors. The restaurant itself is cramped and could sit a maximum of 10-12 diners, sardines style. Moving around the restaurant was barely possible when we were there. Anyway, on to our orders.

One thing I love about these looloo foodies is that they are game to try anything. We got our orders down in less than 2 minutes. We got the bestsellers Matcha Kakigori (PHP190 | PHP250), Mango Kakigori (PHP180 | PHP240), Kuromitsu Kakigori (PHP180 | PHP240) and Strawberry Ichigo Kakigori (PHP210). 

Service was quick and first served was Strawberry Kakigori. 

It didn’t look as appetizing as the ones I'd get from bingsu places like Hobing or Seol Hwa but it was spot on with the milkiness of the shaved ice. The strawberry chunks were a bit mushy and covered in milk and sweeteners but still delightful to munch on. This was the best one we had at Ikigai.

The Matcha Kakigori was served next and it came with matcha ice cream, adzuki, shiratama (mochi) and extra matcha syrup. 

It was quite plain and needed more matcha syrup (more than what was given as extra) especially for hardcore matcha lovers. I liked the shiratama and adzuki though as it added a different texture to the bowl of shaved ice. The matcha ice cream was pretty good too.

Restaurant Love: Café Seol Hwa

I have been raving about Café Seol Hwa for weeks now. I was really happy with the bingsu that I ordered the last time I visited to the point that I crave it every day. So one hot day, I decided to visit again and this time, I went with R.

Hello again, Café Seol Hwa!

The Korean dessert place was quite empty during lunch and we easily got a table. Since we were a bit hungry, we decided to go for Cheese Garlic Toast (PHP220) and Strawberry Bing Su (PHP240, regular | PHP360, large).

Service in general seems to be slow in Café Seol Hwa as it took them around 10 minutes to prepare our toast. (Then again, an average toast would be 3 minutes so it seems reasonable.)  

And after one bite, I realized that… it was stuffed with MOCHI! This is BRILLIANT!!! The crunchy toast with a generous spread of cheese and garlic and the chewy rice cake was a lovely combination. It may seem pricey for PHP220 but it was worth it.