Love at First Bite: Mama V Delicious Party Trays

I adore establishments that have stories to tell. I love learning about the inspiration behind each brand. And sometimes, knowing the hard work placed on each dish makes the food extra delicious. Such was the case with Mama V Delicious.

Hello, Mama V Delicious!

Mama V Delicious started as a restaurant along Leon Guinto Street, corner Estrada, Malate. Managed by mother and daughter tandem Mama V and Tina V, the quickly became a hit among the students of St. Scholastica, De La Salle University, College of St. Benilde, and the like.

First Bite: Wok with Mom

I feel absolutely bad for not being able to properly celebrate my mom's birthday. I was swamped with work on her birthday that we only got to briefly meet on her special day. To make up for it, I decided to host a small lunch party for her with my sister. And Wok with Mom definitely came in at the most perfect time.

Hello, Wok with Mom.

Wok with Mom is a humble home-based party tray business that was started in 2018 by Oi's 77 year old mom. Specializing in authentic Filipino-Chinese dishes like Eight Treasure Chicken, Citrus Baked Pork Spareribs and Potato Shrimp Chinese Salad, Wok with Mom became a popular choice for celebrations and all kinds of festivities. 

First Bite: The Nautilus Whiskey Bar

It's interesting to see Quezon City bloom into a dynamic food scene. Gone are the days where the area is just a place filled with beer pubs and cheap eats. As more boutique hotels open in the city, we get more options for dates and night out with friends. And one perfect spot to hang out is Nautilus Whiskey Bar. 

Hello, Nautilus Whiskey Bar! 

Located on the roof deck of Prime Hotel along Sgt. Esguerra, Nautilus Whiskey Bar offers a nice vantage point to enjoy Manila's sunset. One must be prepared to take two flights of stairs before enjoying the view though. 

Best Purchase Ever: La Petite Fromagerie's Truffle Cream Cheese Spread

Cheese lover? Then La Petite Fromagerie won't be a stranger to you. This brand has been around for quite a while; spoiling cheese lovers all over the metro. Though I never get to catch its pop-up booth in events, I was lucky to have finally tasted its famous truffle cream cheese spread during this year's Kain Tulog Gang (KTG) Thanksgiving party. And it was love at first bite. I simply could not get over it that one jar became 4 in less than a month. 

Hello, La Petite Fromagerie. 

I've seen multiple posts of La Petite Fromagerie online and it never fails to make me drool at photos of its mouthwatering raclette. I'd always find myself frustrated as my schedule played diva and never cooperated with its pop-up events. I sure was glad though to finally have a taste of this talked about cheese expert last January. 

First Bite: Crosta Pizzeria

Aged pizza dough? It's something I've heard in the US but I haven't really tried anything like it here in Manila... till a few weeks ago. A pizza stall at Social on Ebro offers scrumptious premium pizzas at reasonable prices. And what sets it apart from fancier savory pies is its 48-hour aged dough. 

Hello, Crosta Pizzeria. 

Restaurant Love: Cibo

Cibo is one of the you-cannot-go-wrong restaurants in Manila. I have never ordered anything from this place that I didn’t like as every single dish offered by this restaurant has been well thought of and beautifully executed. And it is not surprising given that this is the brainchild of Asia’s Best Female Chef of 2016, Margarita Fores. But given the number of new restaurants here and there, I tend to forget this well-loved restaurant till R’s family decided to have dinner there one Sunday. 

Hello, Cibo!

It was my first time to visit its Eastwood branch and it was packed! We had to wait for 10 minutes or so before we got a table to fit our party of 8. 

R’s sister had everything planned out and ordered a few dishes for sharing such as Patatine (PHP165, medium | PHP295, large), Spinaci Zola (PHP270), Tartufata (PHP395) and Penne al Telefono (PHP375 | PHP660, La Famiglia). R and I were not very hungry when we went so we decided to share one order of Grilled Tenderloin, an off the menu dish. For drinks, we both went with Pomelo Shake (PHP150).

First served were two orders of Patatine, Cibo’s famous thin potato chips with garlic mayonnaise dip. It was funny how all the guys thought that these were complimentary wait baskets. Well, these delightful treats weren’t but definitely worth the price. Crispy and well seasoned, it was perfection!

Spinaci Zola is yet another famous appetizer of Cibo. I have always been a fan of spinach and gorgonzola combination and Cibo puts those two together like a spinach dip master! 

Pizza Party at Peperoni Pizzeria

Peperoni Pizzeria sure knows how to tickle my tastebuds. I have sampled a few of its pizzas before and I enjoyed each one. The chocolate lava cake was also something worth ordering as it made me go to chocolate heaven! And when Peperoni Pizzeria invited me to its U.P. Town Center’s pizza party, I just have to say yes despite it being far from me!

Hello, Peperoni Pizzeria!

Peperoni Pizzeria's U.P. Town Center branch seems to be a bit smaller than its Uptown Mall branch but was the same ambiance. 

It also has the famous "All you knead is love" signage. 

First Bite: Shaburi

After our fun dice game at R's place with his family, his siblings teased Uncle R, the chongwan winner, to treat the whole family (and I) to dinner at Buta+Wagyu. Unfortunately, the SM Aura Sale and traffic made us change plans. Eventually, we decided to try this new Japanese shabu-shabu place in Uptown Mall instead. 

Hello, Shaburi! 

Since we were a party of nine, R's sister H, took the initiative to place reservation so that we are guaranteed a table to fit everyone. The place though seems to be doing very well on its first two weeks as the earliest reservation slot was 8 pm. We just took the slot and had light snacks so that we won't turn hangry. 

We got to the place a few minutes before 8pm as R's family is strict with time. However, it seemed that Shaburi doesn't share the same value. There was no table available for us and we were told that it'll be available after half an hour. WHAT THE HECK?!? So what is the point of reserving a table if we have to wait outside the restaurant basking in humid Manila air and wait for half an hour for our table to be ready? 

We approached the front host and told her that we do not find waiting half an hour acceptable and that they should also respect the customers' time as we did with theirs by taking the effort to be there by 8 pm. Dazed, she told us that our table was being prepared. She told us that at 8:10 pm. 

As I grew even more impatient and hangry, I approached the front host again seven minutes later and found out that the table they were preparing for us was imaginary. The area supposedly reserved for us was still being occupied by other diners and it didn’t look like they will be done anytime soon. In short, she did a terrible blunder, lie to upset customers. 

First Bite: Xiu Fine Cantonese Dining

Xiu has been making a lot of noise since it opened last week. Socialites and food bloggers have been posting their favorites on Instagram and I could not help but get curious. Luckily, I was not the only one eying this place. R's dad wanted to try it too and asked R to make reservation arrangements given that he knows one of the owners. But the place was fully booked on its first week so we had to wait for the following weekend. And finally, the wait was over! 

Hello, Xiu Fine Cantonese Dining!

R's family was already there when we arrived and they did the ordering and picked Roast Goose (PHP1,980, half | PHP3,800, whole), Tiger Lobster Baked with Cheese and e-fu noodles (market price, ours reached over PHP10,000), Mashed Taro Puff with Scallop and Truffle (PHP1,080), Fried Squid in Chili and Salt (PHP580), Sweet and Sour Pork (PHP480) and Mixed Mushroom with Truffle Paste (PHP680).

While waiting for our food, we were served some crackers and vinegar which we paired with... our Malvasia-Chardonnay. Odd pairing but it was better than being (h)angry. 

First dish served was the Roast Goose. Given its price, we expected it to be good. 

The skin was slightly crispy and the meat was fatty. The darker meat on the other hand was quite chewy and tough. 

Taste-wise, it was flavorful enough to be enjoyed alone or with minimal sauce but its fattiness and toughness made this dish a disappointment. R's mom even said that we should have just ordered from all-time favorite Summer Palace.

The Mixed Mushroom with Truffle Paste was served next and it was delightful! I loved the soft yet subtly crunchy bite of mushrooms and the heavenly taste of truffle. It was so good that I had to get three servings of this! 

While still in mushroom heaven, the Fried Squid in Chili and Salt was next to be devoured.

There was really nothing much to say about this one as I always believe that it would be hard to mess with a deep-fried dish, especially if you claim to be a good restaurant. The squid used was fresh and not tough at all. The breading was not oily and the dish was not overly salty. 

The most anticipated dish of the night, Tiger Lobster with Baked Cheese and e-fu, made quite an entrance. We were so lucky to be able to get the last lobster for the night as a bunch of diners seemed to have placed their orders in advance.

Restaurant Love: Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza

A few weeks back, my college friends and I pushed to meet for dinner on a week night since our schedules are all packed with meet ups and travels in the next weeks to come. And since most of them are working in Ortigas, L and I had to brave the traffic going north. And we survived to have dinner at…

Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza.

It has been quite a while since I last visited Gino’s Brick Oven Pizza. I think it was over 3 years and it was with my favorite Takaw Trio (T3) friends. Anyway, this time around, we tried Mushroom Pizza (PHP375), Prosciutto Pizza (PHP445), Carbonara (PHP220), Pesto Pasta (PHP225), Nutella Soup (PHP195) and Crack Pie (PHP55, slice). 

We also ordered a pitcher of Calamansi juice (PHP150) to help us digest the food we were about to consume. (And it was a bit too sweet.)

M was amused with how the Pesto Pasta was served as it was all bundled up. It reminded us of semi cooked instant noodles. The texture itself was also a bit hard and it had a slight sweet taste which could have been from the cream. 

The pesto itself wasn’t very oily which was great but I wish that it had a stronger pesto flavor over cream.

First Bite: Motorino

I’ve heard of Motorino for quite some time now. Known to be one of the best pizza places around, it has been on my list for months. But since I hardly frequent Makati, it wasn’t exactly on top of my must-visit-and-get-fat-there list. Then again, what’s meant to be is meant to be and so…

Hello, Motorino!

I got some free Fast and the Furious 7 tickets from Sub-Zero and Wolf; but the catch was I have to watch it at Greenbelt 3. R and I tried to watch it last Easter Sunday but failed as the place was PACKED! (There was only one seat left for an 11 p.m. show and we were there at 3 p.m.. Crazy!) I was actually scared that there would still be a lot of people on the 9^th given that it was also a holiday but we got seats! Yay!

Anyway, since we went early, we decided to have a quick lunch first and Motorino was perfect place as it is beside the cinema.

While checking the menu, R saw the lunch for two and figured it was a good deal for PHP395. The set comes with a 13” pizza, iced tea and dessert of your choice. We chose the Mushroom and Sausage Pizza, Classic iced tea and Crimson Berry iced tea, and two gelato scoops—dark chocolate and cookie.

Restaurant Love: Leona's Art Restaurant

I was so excited for the Quezon City Food Fest as it sounded so promising. Imagine, gathering all the best finds in Quezon City in one area. It was a foodie’s dream come true. But I wasn’t expecting (1) that it’ll rain pretty much the whole afternoon and (2) that there wasn’t anything special about the whole event. There were no special dishes or offering and every single restaurant was packed! In short, I ended up being a sticky and wet hungry girl.

After an upsetting trip to this new Japanese restaurant I shall not mention, M recommended that we visit his favorite pizza place instead. And since I was famished and the two sorbetes cones I bought were about to disappear, I agreed.

Hello, Leona’s Art Restaurant!

The place is pretty small and we had to wait for a bit for a table to clear up. Luckily, the wait wasn’t that long.

Since the place was packed, it took the servers a while to clear our table and to get our orders. But since the owner was apologetic, I was more forgiving this time. (Plus, the sorbetes helped calm me.)

We opted to get the Take Three Pizza Promo for only PHP499 (for 10 inches). For the flavors, Three Cheese and Pepperoni are fixed. We could only choose one more and we got the Garlic and Mushroom. I also ordered the Tomato Espresso (PHP80) and Soft Taco (PHP90). I also got a rootbeer float as drink/dessert.

Restaurant Discovery: Corner Tree Café

A has been telling me that there’s this good vegetarian restaurant along Jupiter street in Makati. I never really bothered to visit the place right away as I’m not vegetarian and I was going crazy with the number of restaurants popping here and there in Kapitolyo. But I guess I was fated to visit the said vegetarian restaurant when I went to Mystery Manila the second time around.

Hello, Corner Tree Café.

The quaint café is located at a corner hence its name. The place is pretty small too and could accommodate perhaps 20 people maximum.

J and her friends were already there when I arrived. I then hurriedly ordered as we only have less than an hour to go to Mystery Manila. I went with Vegetable Dumpling (PHP150), Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna (PHP445), Chocolate Mousse with Dark Toblerone (PHP220) and a glass of Organic Lemongrass Iced Tea (PHP99).

Service was slow. I waited for over 20 minutes before my first dish arrived.

Restaurant Love: Old Oven Art Café

As foodies who “somehow” plan, we plan half of the stops we’ll visit. N mentioned that she wanted to visit Old Oven so we made sure that we have enough space in our tummies for its risotto and it was one of the best decisions, ever!

 

The Old Oven Art Café was our fifth stop during our White Plains food trip so just imagine how full we should be. It may sound bizarre though as we weren’t really that full at all.

We had a hard time finding Old Oven as the numbers seem to be a bit messed up. But the place is fortunately just a few steps away from Pan de Amerikana.

We were greeted by a curved staircase and once we entered, it seemed like a chill hang out place for college students. With friendly prices, this place is actually perfect to be along a university district so N and I find it odd that the place is in White Plains.

 

We practically own the place when we were there. I took two jars with puzzles for us to enjoy while waiting for our food.

Restaurant Discovery: Grande Torino

Social media makes me fat. There, I said it. Every time I see a food post, I drool and I always end up asking the postee (is that even a term?) where he or she got that particular dish. Soon, I find myself sitting in the same restaurant giddily munching like there’s no end. And it happened again last weekend. Maybe I will lose weight if I stop checking Instagram and Facebook. Hmm… Nah. Even if I don’t check, I sense it. 

The stop of the day is courtesy of H’s Instagram post. Her caption made me so curious that I just have to change my plan of exploring Teachers Village to a Kapitolyo food trip. Luckily, J was okay with the sudden change (since we plan on having lunch at Blacksoup Café + Artspace). Sorry J for being a fickle-minded foodie.

Presenting… Grande Torino.

The place was a bit away from the bustling area of restaurants of Kapitolyo. You can surely miss this restaurant if you have no idea that there’s an Italian restaurant in this area as it is slightly hidden with only Smile Elephant Thai Restaurant as the other restaurant nearby.

If I recall it right, there was only one other table occupied when we arrived and it was lunch time on a Saturday. I guess the place is still yet to be discovered.

The friendly waitress guided us on what to order and we went with the following: Patè  di tonno (PHP65), 4 Stagoni (PHP490), Filetto (PHP350/100 grams with 300 grams as minimum order), and Green Apple Yoga juice (PHP120) while J had wine.

Service was rather quick. First served were our drinks and I was surprised (and felt rather dumb too) to find out that Italian Yoga Juice meant that the brand is Yoga and it came from Italy. I thought it was something preferred by yogis! The server gave me another glass, this time with water as she mentioned that the juice is too concentrated. It was fine with me though.

Next served was the appetizer. To be honest, the patè lacks taste. I coudn't taste the tuna and anchovies. In short, it was forgettable.

The angus beef tenderloin filet was served next and to our surprise, it was plated in a very simple manner. It made me wonder if that's how steaks should be served and I was just lack culture in my blood. (Will Yakult do the trick? Fine, it's a corny joke.)

Finally... Da.u.de

I have always wanted to visit Da.u.de for the longest time but every single time I visit, a CLOSED signage greets me. Every. Single. Time. However, I never give up. If I want something, I will do what it takes to get it. Determination!

C and I agreed to have lunch over a silent chat (weird!) last May 1 and since I get to suggest where we’ll have lunch, I suggested Da.u.de simply because I just have to eat there (fine, and have my photo taken with their adorable mustache glass mugs). Luckily, C decide to call first to check if the store was open last May 1 and my bad luck was still with me as they were closed that day. Then again, C was told that they actually have another branch near A. Venue and it was open to feed the hungry tea fanatics. Yahoo!

It was surreal when I stepped in. Finally, I get to try Da.u.de after so many failed attempts.

The place was empty when we arrived. The food selection was limited so I opted to have a Salmon + Cream Cheese (PHP275) while C had Mushroom Mascarpone (PHP370).

First served was our tea which came with a plastic tea pot with a hole on its base. Apparently, you have to put it on top of the tea cup and it pours the filtered tea in an instant. It was like magic! (That or I just get easily impressed. )

Restaurant Discovery: Ogetsu Hime

I’m so thankful that some of my friends decided to stay in Manila this Holy Week so I was able to drag a few friends for a food trip over the weekend. Our plan was to visit four stops in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) but I guess we were no longer used to eating a lot as we just managed for stop by three restaurants.

It was one hot Saturday when M, T and I went to SM Aura. Our plan is to stop by Ramen Nagi first but the line was crazy at 11:30 a.m.! So we decided to just have our names listed for reservation and looked for another restaurant to have a quick meal to appease our grumpy tummies.

We thought of going to Magnum Bar first but the place was packed as well and it was just too hot to wait outside. So we opted to go to the restaurant beside it, Ogetsu Hime.

Ogetsu Hime was about half full so it w asn’t that hard for us to get a table. And since this was our first stop, we opted for only a few dishes: Oyako Shake Roll (PHP240), Rainbow Batera (PHP240), Gyoza (PHP165), Goma Ebi Tempura Roll (PHP205), Enoki Bacon Kushi Yaki (PHP190) and Momo Teri Maki (PHP205).

Given that we only have an hour to eat and rush back to Ramen Nagi, we were in a hurry and Ogetsu Hime did not fail us with its quick service.

First served was my Oyako Shake Roll and it was divine. Thinking that the right and polite way to eat Japanese food is eating it whole, I stuffed the whole maki inside my mouth. And yes, I choked a bit while doing so. Why do makis have to be humongous anyway?

The salmon was fresh and there was a slight tangy taste from the cream cheese. There was also an interesting play of different textures brought by the smooth salmon and the slightly crispy salmon skin. I wasn’t able to taste the avocado and the wasabi mustard that much though.