Love at First Bite: Ya Chou

I love manthou. I often order some when I see it on the menu or grab a plateful at Chinese buffet. Just thin‌king about these freshly steamed buns smothered with butter makes me drool for hours. And I'm so thankful to discover a shop that allows me to have my favorite snack anytime I want. 

Hello, Ya Chou. 

Ya Chou is a small shop in Quezon City that specializes in Taiwanese delicacies like dumplings, peanut balls, radish cake, sausages and machang. Being in the food business for over two decades, Ya Chou has gained loyal patrons who would drop by its store to grab hold of its sweet and savory products. 

First Sip: Baguio Craft Brewery

Visiting Baguio is always fun. Aside from the cool and fresher than Manila breeze (sad that I have to make it relative as Baguio is turning into another Manila with its crazy traffic and trash problems), I love that I get to disconnect from everything. Yes, disconnect because I literally have no signal at R’s rest house. 

On my birthday weekend, we were crazy enough to head to Baguio during Panagbenga Flower Festival. But it wasn’t totally a crazy idea as traffic wasn’t that bad going to the land of strawberries and ube jam. It wasn’t even traffic in the city. Then again, must visit restaurants like Café by the Ruins are packed. *cries*

R2 happened to be in Baguio too that weekend as Grab had a GrabHorse promo in Burnham Park. We arranged to meet up on our last night there and R2 recommended Baguio Craft Brewery.

We agreed to meet up at the brewery around 10 p.m. and when we got there, R2 was nowhere to be found. Apparently, he was still around Hill Station that time.

While waiting for R2, R and I opted to get a glass of beer each. I went with Lagud (PHP170) while R got Rolling Fog (PHP170). 

If you're tired, you might not enjoy this place as there are very limited seats inside. There are only about 10 uncomforatble bar stools inside. I guess the owners do not want people lingering around.

After a few minutes, our drinks arrived. 

Lagud (5.04% ABV and 20 IBU), which is a strawberry flavored beer, tasted like beer with syrup. I felt that there was absolutely no harmony between the natural bitterness of beer and the sweetness of strawberries. 

Love at First Bite: Juju Eats

I have to lose weight. Yes, reality slapped me in the face real hard this time. And I am more dedicated now to get fit. I’m actually surprised myself that I’m stricter this time. I guess the fear of continuing this unhealthy lifestyle might lead to a not so good future made me realize how much I have to be more careful. So, I signed up for anti-gravity yoga and started to eat healthy. I also happen to read somewhere that there’s a thing called alkaline diet which helps detoxify the body. I gave it a try and I’m now eating nothing but fruits and vegetables on weekdays. ONLY FRUITS AND VEGETABLES! But weekends are my cheat days. Then again, I still strive to eat healthy food while pigging out. And it wasn’t that hard when you’re at Juju Eats.

Hello, Juju Eats!

I have been seeing (or should I say reading?) a lot of positive posts about Juju Eats. I am familiar with the Juju Cleanse which I tried once due to curiosity but I never had the chance to try Juju Eats. I was so delighted when I saw a JUJU EATS COMING SOON signage when I visited Podium. And I finally had a chance to try Juju Eats’ salads last Saturday after yoga.

I was famished! I only had a banana for breakfast and it was already past 1 p.m. when I got to Podium. Luckily, I was next in line.

I decided to go with the ones the staff recommended: Greek Salad (PHP250 regular | PHP165 half/wrap) and Korean Kimchi (PHP295 regular | PHP180 half/wrap). I also got a bottle of Green Bomb and Qcumber Quench.

Restaurant Discovery: Pan De Amerikana

Ever since the upside down bakery caught my eye, I have been bugging my mom that she brings me there. But I think I need to work on my charms. Thankfully, N was open to the idea of visiting the place with me. So off we go to the upside down bakery, or popularly known as Pan de Amerikana

It was a hot day when we visited Pan de Amerikana. And the place being an open space wasn’t something that we were looking for that time. Such made us order Halo-Halo (PHP50) with the hopes of helping us cool down.

We had fun taking pictures of the place as it is such a pretty place. They even have a minibridge as a pathway to the dining area. Soon, our orders were served.

Well, I actually forgot to take a photo of the Halo-Halo and I didn’t really mind as it was practically a bowl of ice. There were not much toppings. I didn’t get to taste any langka, saba or leche flan. I was hoping that there would be an ube ice cream but there was none. :(