Gelatissimo Cafe

After the disappointing lunch at Mary Grace Cafe, Tapioca and I were on search for a dessert place. Tapioca particularly wanted to have some gelato and I knew a place near Market Market that sells cheap but good gelato. While walking around the Serendra area we noticed this tiny cafe packed with customers. Turns out it was a gelato place. Just what Tapioca wanted.

The store has two chest freezers. We thought each chest showcased the same flavors but when we checked out the second freezer, there's even more flavors to choose from!

This is just one section of the freezer chest I'm talking about. The variety of flavors they offer were mind blowing. From the regular flavors like vanilla, chocolate and mango to exotic like passion fruit, guava, coconut, etc. It was awesome. Aside from gelato, the cafe offers coffee, sundaes and shakes. Yeah, I did not get my wish to have cheesecake from Cafe Mary Grace but I got my dose of cheesecake here. And my oh my, they have three different cheesecake flavors! I had a hard time choosing. In the end, I bought the forest berry cheesecake while Tapioca had his favorite Snickers chocolate.

. . . snickers gelato in cone 

Their gelato was a bit pricey but I'd say worth it. A serving of their smallest cup was full to the brim. As in siksik sa laman! What I love even more was the smooth and super dense texture similar to luxury brand ice creams. It's not too sweet and heavy that I feel like having more.

 my forest berry cheesecake - in gelato form!!!

This is one of the best gelato I've tried so far. Will definitely be back and try out other flavors.

Read more...

Häagen-Dazs No More

Today, I just heard the saddest news ever. My favorite high-end ice cream has ceased operations in the Philippines. That's why we couldn't find Häagen-Dazs when we went to Megamall or in Mall of Asia a few weeks ago. That's why the Eastwood branch closed down as well. Now, it all made sense. They left the country for good. And I was the last person to know!!! *Sobs*

But before they went away, they did give their customers one big farewell. Freakin' 50% discount on all Häagen-Dazs ice cream until supplies last. Are you kidding me? The announcement was like 2 months ago and by this time all the supplies are gone. I'm sure I'm gonna miss Häagen-Dazs. I still haven't tried their ice cream fondue.

Photo from here. 

The decision to cease its operations in the Philippines was because the brand was unable to attract enough customers. True enough competition is tough. Mahal kasi ng ice cream nila eh. With all the artisan ice creams coming out not to mention the Italian gelato, the ice cream market is quite a battlefield. And there's Magnum who's also a newcomer and getting all the hype these days.

I'm bitter for missing out the sale. Chance ko na sana mapuno ng Häagen-Dazs yung ref namin. It's one of my dreams. Parang ganito lang ang peg . . .

Photo from here.

I guess I have to move on and find better ice cream out there. Which reminds me, I actually did find the ice cream that swept me away a few months ago. I found it in MOA and SM The Block in North Edsa. Will share that soon. 

Yeah, there are no more Häagen-Dazs stores but I heard S&R carries them. Hah. We really need to get that S&R membership.

Read more...

Cheesecake Factory

This was my very first cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory all the way from the US of A. So happy that TOSH (The Old Spaghetti House) carried them. I would love to buy an entire cake but part of me wants to justify the price tag.

. . . unboxing the precious cake

Since it's imported, the cake was frozen.

Since we brought it home, it had a good time thawing out.

You can also opt to have strawberry or blueberry toppings for the cake but I already knew what strawberry and blueberry tasted like so I declined. I wanted the pure goodness of the cheesecake.

Eeek! CD-R king is peeping out from the photo . It's like saying my cake is a hoax. Lol!

Is it the real deal? Does it taste good?

Hell ya! And that glossy red sauce complemented the cheesecake well. It was cheesy, creamy with a note of citrus (prolly from lemon/lime), not crumbly, not too sweet, not too much gelatin, very smooth indeed. Yummy! I'm craving for this right now. Unfortunately, TOSH has removed this on their new menu :-(

But I've read somewhere that S&R carry these cakes. Sino member ng S&R? Pahiram naman ng card, please? Or better yet, will have to talk to Tapioca about getting a membership. Gosh, I'm so craving cheesecake. Must be PMS.

Read more...

Meatball Sandwich, Mac n' Cheese and More Surprises

Remember our experiment with meatballs (see it here)? As I've mention a long time ago, Tapioca came up with a better idea. You see, he loves meatball sandwiches. Sadly, Subway or any other deli or sandwich places here in Manila don't offer this kind of sandwich. If you do know a place though, please let us know, okay?

Here's what he did. First, he made the meatballs and steamed them in a rice cooker. Next, he made marinara sauce. You can find tons of marinara sauce recipes online or if you're too lazy to make one, you can always buy store-bought marinara sauce from the supermarket or deli shops. He also bought a baguette from French Baker.

. . . baguette from French Baker 

steamed meatballs . . .

Now it's time to assemble the sandwich.

. . . meatball sandwich baby!

Slice up the baguette and remove the insides so the meatballs will have space. Spread the marinara sauce. Topped with parmesan cheese. Voila! To make it healthier, you can opt to put fresh greens, tomatoes, onions, cucumber, etc. 

Here's the deal. I was not able to try this. It was all gone by the time I got home. The only consolation I got were the photos. I should be angry but my guy prepared something else to make it all up.

mac n' cheese . . . 

It looked instant because he used powdered cheese. Ya know, the stuff we put on french fries as flavouring. By the way, it tasted instant too. LOL!

. . . Campbell's cream of mushroom

Another instant item on the table. I'm not complaining though. I love Campbell's. Actually, I love soup. Anything with soup.

A&W root beer . . .

The original aged vanilla root beer. Our favorite :-) For dessert, we got cakes from Banapple.

. . . strawberry amaretto cheesecake

jeepers creepers pie . . .

As usual, the cakes were too sweet for my taste. Again, I'm not complaining. It's the thought that counts. At least nakabawi cya for not saving some of the meatballs. Hehehehe!

Read more...

Banapple On A Busy Weekend

The tiny Banapple place along Katipunan Avenue was packed with diners one weekend night. Didn't want to go to the other side of the road for the bigger branch, Tapioca and I decided to have take out instead. Here's what we ordered . . .

. . . warm chicken salad sandwich

Chicken in creamy white sauce with lettuce and cucumber.

trio of sausages fettuccine . . .

Fettuccine with crumbled chorizo, garlic longganisa and hungarian sausage in creamy sauce. Tapioca's choice.

. . . baked creamy cheesy penne

A combination of white cheese and tomato meat sauce with hungarian sausage. Jellybean's choice. After a couple of forkfuls, I realized this is not my kind of pasta. I'm more of a cream-based pasta. Ending? Tapioca and I switched pasta dishes.

apple caramel crumble pie . . .

I've already tried most of Banapple's cheesecakes but they're more on the sweet side. Not really sure what cake to order, Tapioca picked a pie instead. This was his kind of dessert. I gave it a try and still found it too sweet. Tsk, tsk. I'm still on the lookout for the perfect cake from Banapple that fits my palate.

Read more...

The Big Bread's Egg Tart

No time to cook for dinner I ordered take out from Andok's. Then I passed by SM Cubao and saw these lovely egg tarts. They looked so pretty and yummy, practically screaming 'take me, take me'. And I did. I thought it'll be a perfect dessert after the oily and fatty meal from Andok's. I bought a box of 4

The verdict? Err, let's just say I would go for Lord's Stow egg tarts anytime of the day.

Read more...

Chuck's Deli

One of the advantages of working in Eastwood City is the variety of shops and restaurants where you can dine and enjoy a hearty meal. But it can also be a disadvantage. Dining out every single day is not good for your health nor your wallet, if you know what I mean.

I am celebrating my one year of wearing retainers. I still despise them but finally I don't have to wear them 24/7. Tapioca on the other hand is on another journey towards healthy living (read: diet) which I can only hope be successful and would go for the long run. At dahil jan we opted to have sandwiches for lunch at . . .

. . . Chuck's Deli

Every table had a hand sanitizer  as they encourage you to eat with your hands.

the sauces . . .

The garlic sauce and the spicy one.

. . . coca-cola cherry flavor

The cherry coke spells nostalgic. The moment I saw this in their fridge I knew I had to get one.

root beer float . . .

Tapioca had this. We love root beer and we love it more the fact that they used A&W root beer (in can). Awesome!

 

. . . chili fries 

Home-made double fried fries, chili without the beans, jalapenos and grated cheddar cheese on top. If you noticed on the pic there was too little cheese but nevertheless Tapioca was raving on this especially their version of chili. He said it was like the real deal, the one he was so used to eating when he was still in the US. I have low tolerance with heat but I was able to manage eating the jalapenos. It actually added some oomph and made it more yummy.

french onion soup. . .

This is the first time I tried an onion soup. I am  not really fond of onions but I decided to give it a try on this visit. Ya know, for a change. I must say that the broth was very flavorful. I also loved the melted cheese on top. But the onions, there was too much. Even Tapioca who never say no to onions gave up. Don't get me wrong. The soup was good. And I should have known this was going to happen. Obviously, it's not called onion soup without onions. Anyway, I guess I just got so overwhelmed with way too much onions. For a first timer who's trying to be adventurous, open-minded and still learning how to appreciate the food she's not so inclined to, I find this as a good start. I can say I still have a long way to go.  One thing's for sure. This is not going to be my last french onion soup.

the sidekicks . . . 

Each order of their sandwiches comes with a side of your choice. Potato chips, french fries or onion rings. Since we already tried the fries we then chose the home-made potato chips and beer-battered onion rings. These sidekicks went well with the garlic sauce. I personally loved the potato chips with the garlic sauce. Let me also tell you that we liked the plain garlic sauce better since it has more garlic flavor as oppose to the spicy sauce which we found the garlic flavor to be overpowered by all the spiciness.

. . . philly cheese steak subwich 

Beef, American cheese, onions and mushrooms on a hoagie bun. This was Tapioca's choice.

off the hook slabwich . . .

And this was Jellybean's choice. Just half a slab. Nice touch of serving the sandwiches on a wooden chop board..

. . . a peak inside my slabwich

Beer-battered fish with dill pickles, greens and more of that garlic sauce.

NY cheesecake from sugarhouse . . .

We were suppose to eat at Sugarhouse but Tapioca changed his mind so I had a cheesecake to go for dessert.  Overall, we did not regret choosing Sugarhouse over Chuck's. Tapioca can't seem to get over the chili so we might  expect a return visit. He already know what to order next. Clue: it has chili on it.

Read more...