Sale Alert: H&M Anniversary Month-Long Sale

Remember when there was a big crowd in front of SM Megamalllast October 17? Yes, it was a year ago when traffic madness happened because of the opening of H&M Philippines.

Forgot why there was a long line just to shop? Well, H&M was giving away several gift certificates for the first 100 or 200 customers and a lot were hopeful to get one. (Though others say that those people who lined up were paid to create buzz about the opening of the awaited retail fashion brand. But that's another story.)

To celebrate its first anniversary in the Philippines, H&M is treating its customers with a MONTH-LONG sale. Yes, a sale during the whole month of October! Shop and buy several OOTD at 50% off.

See you there!

H&M branches are in SM Mega Fashion Hall, SM Makati, SM City North EDSA, SM Fairview and Robinsons Manila.

Sampaguita Ice Cream, anyone?

Since I could not get over the Nilagang Mani ice cream and the fact that the server told me that their best seller was the Sampaguita ice cream, I just had to go back to try it.

Who cares if you’re alone if you’re armed with a pen, paper, camera, and money (okay, just a few bucks)?

I hurriedly went back to Café Ilustrado one day to try its Sampaguita ice cream (PHP80). 

Yey! Sampaguita ice cream.

I took a sniff and it didn’t smell like ice cream. The cream or milk must have drowned the scent of the tiny flowers. I also noticed that it was a bit icy. I guess this was the leftover ice cream as they had to check the fridge first if there were still some ice cream left to scoop.

A Nutty Afternoon

Sampaguita. Ginger. Nilagang Mani. Apparently, they all have something in common.

We had a client meeting at Café Ilustrado in SM Makati this afternoon and the first thing that came to my mind was “Hmm… what should I order?”

I was surprised that this small café offers meals such as Tapa, Lengua, Salpicao, among others to think that the kitchen (placed right after the counter) was made for one person and one person ONLY. Apparently, it is more than just a small café situated along the walkway to the department store.

We were still full then and we were there for a meeting and not to eat so we just ordered some pastries and desserts. Something got my attention though… ICE CREAM.

There it was… sampaguita (ignoring pandan, pinipig and nougat)… ginger… nilagang mani!!! I crossed out ginger since I was too scared that it might be just like those chocolate chili snacks. I was torn between sampaguita (jasmine flowers) and nilagang mani (boiled peanuts). 

The server told me that their bestseller was sampaguita but I was so interested to try the nilagang mani. I then let my finger decide (eenie meenie miney mo… ) and it landed on nilagang mani.

I got excited since this will be my very first entry in my food journal.

WOO hoo?

My first impression was… the serving was too small for the price. I could have gotten gelato instead with that price. I guess the word homemade made it expensive (just like how organic stuff are priced).

Anyway, after taking a few shots, I finally took a (tea)spoonful and it… tasted like rocky road… at first. Soon, I got the taste of the nilagang mani. The taste was a bit weak though. It was still very much like vanilla ice cream with a hint of the sweetness of the nilagang mani. 

Maybe I should have listened to the server instead. Nonetheless, I will be back to try sampaguita and ginger. 

Café Ilustrado is located at the 4^th level of SM Makati, Makati City.