First Bite: Overdoughs

What's your staple cinema snack? Mine's always popcorn, hot dog on bun, soda and some sour tapes. And those last me till the end of the...trailers. I'm not kidding! But I might change my movie munchies to something more interesting and hopefully it lasts me till the first 10 minutes of the movie. 

Hello, Overdoughs!

After the successful launch of Overdoughs at Century City Mall, it opened its second store at Ayala Malls the 30th. And I was lucky to be invited to its grand opening last October 7. 

First Bite: Mrs. Graham Macaron Café

Our dinner at Eighteen Bistro was quite heavy. But there is always space in the tummy for desserts! Since Mrs. Graham’s Macaron Café is just beside the bistro, R and I decided to visit the quaint little shop. 

Hello, Mrs. Graham’s Macaron Café!

The interiors of this café is so charming. The white rustic tables and chairs, windows with dainty decals and mouthwatering sweets, this place is to die for! 

R and I decided to go with Bittersweet and Cookie Dough macarons (PHP70/piece), Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake (PHP160) and Cookie Shot (PHP74). 

While waiting for our food, we took some board and card games from the game corner of Mrs. Graham’s. We started with Monopoly Deal Millionaires’ Edition.

We were busy dealing the cards when the macarons arrived. 

The bittersweet macaron was delightful. It was the perfect macaron for dark chocolate lovers. It was not exactly bitter but it was dark. I also loved the slight chewiness of the macaron.

The cookie dough was fatter and sweeter than bittersweet. The ganache reminded me of peanut butter (but without it being cloying) for some reason. This would go well with tea or coffee. 

R’s Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake was a bit of a surprise. We were expecting rich brown marshmallows. Instead, we got black marshmallows. I know that once you go black, you can’t go back. But I don’t know with this one. I even asked the server if it was meant to be black than brown. She insisted that it is how they prepare it. We just let it be and R just avoided the black parts. It sure made me wonder though how they define burnt if toasted is black.

Foodie Event Alert: BELLYSIMA! FOOD FESTIVAL 2015

Yipee! It’s a long weekend again this week and I can’t wait to discover more food finds! And just my luck, M emailed me this morning and shared with me an upcoming yummy event this Independence Day. Presenting…

BELLYSIMA! FOOD FESTIVAL 2015!

The foodies behind Mercato Centrale are at it again and will bring together new (and healthy) food concessionaires this June 12 to 13 at Glorietta 5 Activity Center. Some of the concessionaires to look out for are Milkman Dairy Bar, Jacob’s Peanut Praline Butter, Friggies, Healthy Shots Manila and Healthy Monsters PH. I’ve never tried any of these but they all seem interesting and promising.

My top picks (from the list M sent this morning):

Jacob's Peanut Praline Butter

Friggies

Milkman Dairy Bar

Be there early so that you get to sample the offerings of each concessionaire!

See you there!

-Gluttonshopper

A Chocolove Story: Risa Chocolates

I love Risa Chocolates. It never fails to brighten my day. If only I could have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it would be like living in chocolate paradise.

I still remember my first box of Risa Chocolates. It was during the Best Food Forward way back in April 2011 and luckily, I met the friendly owner Pam. I was able to try several chocolates such as Classic, Dark Rum, and Cerveza Negra (my favorite—and no, it will not make you drunk).

It has been a while since I last bought a box but I could still remember how great the truffles were. 

This time around, I bought more Cerveza Negra.

NEW PRODUCTS! Risa Chocolates has new products!!!

Pantry Surprise: Mochiko Cookie Dough

I just love pantry surprises! Oh wait, let me define “pantry surprises”. It is when you get a call that there’s a delicious treat waiting for you at the office pantry. This time, the treat that was chillin’(okay, that was not funny) was Mochiko’s newest flavor… Cookie Dough!!!

I love cookie dough and my lovely relationship with it all started last year.

I first got a taste of cookie dough in 2010. It was the Pizza Cookie Dough of Joey Pepperoni—literally a cookie shaped like a pizza (it’s been a long time and I wasn’t able to take a photo of it). I still remember that the dough itself was a bit hard and we had to exert a lot of effort to take a bite. But we did not mind it at all for the chocolatey taste compensates the effort. Oh, did I mention that it was also topped with a generous serving of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup? 

My second encounter was even sweeter. It was with Carmen’s Best cookie dough ice cream. I just love how creamy and smooth the ice cream was with a bit of crunch (from the cookie bits). It was really flavorful yet not extremely sweet kind that make you hate it after a few spoonfuls. I must remember to place an order soon (and also some of its rich milk).

I also had some cookie dough chocolates from Chocolate Fire and it was quite weird because the texture reminded me of shaved coconuts. Maybe the one handed to me by the server was wrong. Nonetheless, I will still claim it as cookie dough.

I got a taste of Mochiko’s latest flavor when I went to the Ultimate Taste Test and it was one of my top 5 concessionaires but I remember telling Nowie of Mochiko that I still prefer Azuki… then.

Well, after round two with this sweet goodie, I take it back. 

I just hate it that I had to wait for it to thaw. It was plain torture that you couldn’t take a bite right after getting it from the fridge. A colleague of mine attacked his mochi right away though; and he’s a-ok! He must be using a certain branded toothpaste (blind item?).

Cute packaging. :)

Anyway, I waited for my mochi to become softer… 1 minute… 1 minute and 30 seconds… 2 minutes… oh whatever.

The first bite was a bit bland for it was all mochi. As for the second bite… it was a different story.

I got a bite of the cookie itself with chocolate chips with creamy vanilla ice cream (which I assume is FIC). It was quite sweet but it was somehow addicting. The crunch from the cookie and the soft mochi was a very interesting combination. I had to stop myself from getting another one as the box of mochi was for the team.

I just hope that there’s a smaller mochi (Mochiko Jr.?) so that it will be easier to eat. 

Thanks Nowie and the Yummy editorial team for sharing it with us! :)