Love at First Bite: Bamba Bistro

Our third Aguirre stop is a well-loved restaurant that is known to serve really good pasta and other comfort dishes. And I have to say this now (or forever hold my peace), this was my favorite stop in Aguirre. 

Hello, Bamba Bistro!

The small restaurant has a very warm ambiance that reminded me of La Creperie. There are only a few tables inside and we had to wait for a group to bill out before being accommodated. 

It took a bit of time though (and it was also humid outside) so I asked if we could take the two small tables by the window. The server tried to put the small tables together but given the tightness of the space, she struggled. We then just decided to wait for the table inside the main area but placed our orders beforehand so that we do not have to wait longer. We ordered Duck Ravioli (PHP495) and Huevos Flamencos (PHP210).

We were ushered to our table right after it was cleared and soon, our appetizer was served.

The Huevos Flamencos came in a small clay pot placed on a wooden plate. The chorizo, ham, ground beef, stewed tomatoes combination topped with egg was delicious. 

First Sip: Magnum Opus

My college friends and I have been planning to visit Aguirre for the longest time but it always get cancelled, moved or totally changed to another location. But it finally happened! Today is an Aguirre food trip. 

Our first stop was Bread and Botany but it didn't leave much of an impression. And honestly, I was disappointed. The only good thing I got from it was that it is beside Magnum Opus, a well-loved coffee shop along the popular food street. 

Hello, Magnum Opus! 

I went straight to the menu as soon as I set foot. Well, the place is pretty small too so you'll hit the counter as soon as you open the door. 

I went with the famous Belgian Heartbreaker (PHP175) as I have been reading and hearing a lot of good reviews about it so I was excited with my cup.

I was surprised that it was served on a 9 ounce glass without handle. "How will I hold it?" Or so what I thought. But it was lukewarm. And I doubt that it was because I took a few snapshots of it. It was less than a minute. 

I took the first sip and... it was okay. The Belgian chocolate taste was evident but not too strong. It wasn't as sweet as I thought as it had espresso in it. Overall, it was good, but not as good as I thought. It was very similar to the mocha drink I whip up at home and it does not cost me more than PHP50 to make a giant cup of it. 

Iced Belgian Chocolate

Would I go back? Not anytime soon. 

Magnum Opus is located at 2nd Floor, Prime Building, 115 Aguirre Street, BF Homes, Parañaque City.

First Bite: Holy Crab!

Part of our Aguirre itinerary is E’s sister’s seafood restaurant. I haven’t been to this place before and it didn’t really make a lot of noise as well hence being out of the looloo radar. But I’m sure glad we stopped by.

Hello, Holy Crab!

The not so new seafood restaurant has the same concept as Boiling Crab in the US and Shrimp Bucket here in Manila. I heard though that Holy Crab was the first one to bring such concept here in Manila. It’s just that the other player was a bit more aggressive in expanding. 

The smell of shelled fish was the first thing I noticed as soon as I stepped inside the restaurant. It reminded me of dampa. It wasn’t funky; but it wasn’t exactly pleasant as well. 

Since we just came from Bamba Bistro, I was a bit hesitant to order a dish for myself so I decided to just share with E and K. 

We ordered Mussels in Garliky-Lime and Salted Eggs Sauce (PHP330), Grilled Tuna Belly (PHP260), and a pitcher of Raspberry Cooler (PHP175). 

Service was fast and first served was our drink which was refreshing but dilluted. 

Mussels were served next and it was a pretty generous serving. One order was definitely good for sharing. 

First Bite: Nicandro Lutong Bahay

I usually avoid Filipino restaurants when I eat out as I could easily cook most of my favorite Filipino dishes at home. However, whenever I crave for dishes that painstakingly take time to prepare like bulalo and kare-kare, I’d eat out. Honestly, I have not heard of Nicandro Lutong Bahay as it doesn’t seem to be active in social media. I only came to be acquainted with this cozy Filipino restaurant tucked along the famous Lilac Street during a Marikina food crawl sponsored by Zomato and ABS-CBN. And I was not prepared to taste something different.

Hello, Nicandro Lutong Bahay. 

The first thing I noticed was its tables adorned with machuca designed laminate. It was the perfect flat lay background! 

As we wait for our food, we were served with two types of beverages, House Blend Iced Tea (PHP80) and Fresh Sugarcane Juice (PHP95, glass | PHP185, bottle). I got sugarcane and I wasn’t too happy with it. It tasted off and I just could not pinpoint what was wrong with it.

First Bite: Coffee Project

I love adorable cafés. I really appreciate it when owners invest time, money or both in designing their coffee shops. And when I saw a few reviews about Coffee Project, I knew that I have to visit this place! 

Hello, Coffee Project! 

The very feminine coffee shop is screaming beautiful in every corner. I just have to take snapshots of the overly yet tastefully decorated ceiling and hallway before placing my order. 

Since we were expecting to visit a lot of restaurants, I opted to share a breakfast rice meal with R. We ordered Garlic Beef Tapa (PHP295) and I ordered a glass of Caphe Sua Da (PHP155) for my drink as I badly needed coffee yesterday. (I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before.) 

After placing our orders (or was it before?), J and I had fun with our mini photoshoot by the corridor towards the quaint washroom of the establishment. This is the perfect spot if you want a new profile picture! 

First served was the Caphe Sua Da. It was served with the condensed milk at the bottom of the glass and the dripped coffee on top of it. There was also a separate glass of ice where you pour the sweetened coffee after. 

It was good though I find it too sweet. It would have been nicer if they put the condensed milk in a separate glass or container so that I could control my drink's sweetness. 

Our food arrived within the acceptable 15 minute mark and first served was Abe's and Jai's deconstructed 3 piece Garlic Longganisa (PHP295 each). It came with two sunny side up eggs, half of a tomato and garlic rice. Surprisingly, they didn't feel that there was not much longganisa for the rice. I guess serving it deconstructed is a nice way to portion your viand well. 

First Bite: Catabolic Café

It was a few weeks in the making but we finally made it to Maginhawa for an epic food crawl. 

We didn't exactly plan our stops but thanks to looloo and Waze, we managed to find the rainbow cake store, Catabolic Café.

Hello, Catabolic Café!

The store was pretty empty at 2 p.m. with only two tables occupied. 

We quickly placed our orders namely Pares Rice with Crispy Tadyang (PHP350) and Chicken with Waffles (PHP330).

The Pares Rice with Crispy Tadyang was a hit. The rice was flavorful and complemented the slightly sweet and tender beef ribs. I would have liked it better though if the beef was more succulent. 

Gastro Park Kapitolyo Find #7: The Masala Bar

Our desire to stuff ourselves till we burst brought us to our last Gastro Park Kapitolyo food discovery, The Masala Bar. This stall didn’t have a long line when we spotted it. (The ones with long wait are the milkshake stall and SurFries!!!.) It didn’t cross my mind that the store might offer mediocre dishes hence the lack of foodies lingering in front of its store. I just wanted to maximize my Kapitolyo visit. 

Hello, The Masala Bar!

We got the Chicken Tikka Quesadilla (PHP120) as it is easy to be shared and it sounded light, giving us room for drinks or dessert. An order comes with pico de gallo and garlic dip.

The server told us that they will just serve the quesadilla to us. We just have to inform them of where we’re seated. 

Our order arrived in about 10 minutes and it was served warm. 

I dipped my slice in the garlic dip and topped it with pico de gallo and… it was still bland. I had to sparingly drizzle more garlic dip as I was sharing it with my friends. 

I am not sure if we ordered pita with a hint of cheese or Chicken Tikka Quesadilla. I could not taste the chicken or any of the other ingredients. Perhaps they were almost out of ingredients when we placed our order? I have no idea but I’ll buy from the other stalls next time. 

The Masala Bar is located at Gastro Park Kapitolyo, 1st Street, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City.

First Bite: El Cabrito by Mexicali

Simply because I did not want to head home, yet, I pulled E to join me visit one more restaurant before we end our San Juan food trip. I wanted to try the Japanese vegetarian cafe in the same compound as Dohtonbori and Carousel Creamery but E hesitated as we just had Japanese food for lunch. We then decided to roam around Promenade and we spotted this Mexican restaurant by Mexicali named El Cabrito.

Hello, El Cabrito. 

I could still taste the delectable IHOP tacos from yesterday's looloo rendezvoos in my mouth (I did brush my teeth in case you're wondering) but I couldn't say no to restaurants I haven't been to. 

The place was a bit dark inside and only one long table was occupied when we got there. 

We opted to go light this time as our outfits were turning a bit too fit. I went with the bestseller Carne Asada street taco (PHP105) while E went with Lengua street taco (PHP135). We also tried one Grilled Boneless Chicken Skewer (PHP60) and had one beer each at PHP50 per bottle. 

Service was quick and our street tacos were served in less than 10 minutes. 

Presentation-wise, it was like the tacos were just dumped on the plate. But hey, that's why they call it street tacos. 

First Sip: Yellow Tree Coffee and Tea

With all my friends dieting or hibernating due to the crazy summer heat, I hardly go on food trips myself. *cries* But I knew I was destined to get fatter when the food gods paved the way for me to meet some fun looloo-ers. I heard them planning a Quezon City (Tomas Morato) food trip and I couldn’t help but ask if I could tag along. And since everyone in looloo is friendly, they said yes. Yay!

The first stop of the Quezon City food trip was the adorable The Bunny Baker. I was dying to visit this place as the place looks so pretty and I heard that the sweets are great! But I woke up a bit late and R insisted to drop me to the place. It took a bit long and I missed the first stop and just went straight to the second stop which was…

Yellow Tree Coffee and Tea. 

The coffee shop was quite small and could only comfortably fit around 15 guests. The menu is similar to most café/milk tea places. Since I couldn’t decide on what I want, I asked for the server’s suggestion. She recommended her personal blend of coffee, bananas and milk. Since I never had a coffee banana drink as the fruit is usually paired with chocolate or peanut butter, I gave it a go. A medium cup costs PHP115. 

After a short while, my drink arrived and it was actually a frappe which I was not really feeling to drink that day. Oh well.

But I was delighted at first sip. It had a nice light taste of coffee and banana. It was not exactly thirst quenching but it was refreshing enough. I tried to avoid the whipped cream as I was never fond of this foamy topping. 

Love at First Bite: Balai Pandesal

I love pandesal. It is one of the reasons why I’m a morning person. Nothing beats enjoying freshly baked pandesal in the morning paired with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. I am perfectly happy with Pan de Manila or Pan de Amerikana. There is also this bakeshop in Manila (as in Lungsod ng Maynila) that serves pretty good mini pandesal which I really love. It has this nice faint sweet taste that is simply addicting. But I only get to enjoy it when my aunt visits; which is very seldom. Then I saw Balai Pandesal. 

Hello, Balai Pandesal!

I have been seeing a few reviews raving about this place. But the bakeshop locations I saw were not exactly near my area hence I was not really curious to try it. But it was fate for me to have this for breakfast when I saw it in San Juan during my food trip just last weekend.

I decided to buy a couple of Small Pandesal (PHP3.50 per piece while large ones are PHP7.00 per piece) and Toasted Siopao (PHP9.00 per piece). I didn’t buy much as I just bought a box of diced hopia from Baker’s Fair the day before. 

Love at First Sip: United Coffee

Now on our last stop, simply because the establishments in the area were getting ready to close, we decided to go for a nice and quiet place to chat. The coffee shop in the Nav compound made me curious and after our meal at Diner on 16^th, we opted to look for it. And thanks to the shop’s signage, finding it was a breeze. But the climb up wasn’t due to my aching knees. >.<

Hello, United Coffee.

There were only two other tables occupied when we arrived. The interiors reminded me of a humbler Yardstick—warm and cozy. We settled in one of the window seats.

The place is still on its soft opening, having opened its doors last December. Menu is not very extensive but since I was already full and slightly sleepy, none appealed to me. The friendly server suggested their bestseller, Espresso + Milk + Mocha (PHP160) and as a sucker for bestsellers, I gave it a try. I wanted to try the S’mores cake but I just do not have space for it anymore. T_T

Love at First Bite: Diner on 16th

Our impromptu Kapitolyo food trip stop #2 is just a few steps away from Taco Vengo! and it was just perfect as it was drizzling that night. This stop captured my interest after seeing a few photos of its mouthwatering milkshakes and diner inspired interiors online. Yes, I’m talking about Diner on 16^th.

Hello, Diner on 16^th.

The place reminds me of Grease or Hairspray as the interiors have an American diner feel.

Since my sister and I were not so hungry anymore, we opted to order two dishes and one milkshake to share. We got Waffle Florentine (PHP265), Chicken Buffalo Kabob (PHP197) and S’mores Milkshake (PHP134). 

We were informed that the dishes we ordered will take around 15 minutes and since we were still digesting the tacos, we said that we’re willing to wait. (Don’t you just love it when the server tells you how long you’ll wait to set your expectations?)

First served was our milkshake and oohlala… it was overflowing!

Each sip is packed with a lovely milky and chocolatey taste. It wasn’t too sweet or feel like we were having dessert with our meal. I also loved the s’mores on the brim. It was a chewy piece of sweet heaven. 

It’s just a bit messy to enjoy this one as the mason jar was covered with chocolate syrup. Not that I’m complaining.

Waffle Florentine was served next and yowza! For its price, it was bang for the buck! What was served before us was a plate good for sharing.