It's Pocky!

Another of my favorite snacks!  As I said in an earlier post, I usually just buy this in anime conventions I attend, but as I said, I still love it :) 

As seen in this pic, there are four flavors included in this box: Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana and Milk.  I enjoy all of these flavors equally, although by preference I like the strawberry best.  They're sweet, and I don't get tired of eating them.  I can continuously eat a whole box!

 In any case, if you ever get to try them, I know you won't regret it :)

Thornton's Chocolate: Milk, White and Dark Continental

Now who's mouth wouldn't water wouldn't water with this?

I've always been a chocolate lover, and I have to say it was quite a fun experience trying out the different flavors of Thornton's chocolate.  This was a box of continental flavors, containing dark, white and milk chocolate.  If you are not a risk taker and you would prefer to only try out things you're sure you would enjoy, see that small notebook at the corner?  That contains descriptions of the chocolates included, so you can safely be sure that you're eating what you want (I guess this is important especially for people who have allergies, since you have to avoid food that can trigger it). 

So how does it taste? That's something you should find out for yourself. :)

Enjoying Hong Kong Food in Manila

You need not to go far to experience the tastes of Hong Kong, you just have to visit the nearest David's Tea House within your area to explore Chinese food in Hong Kong fashion.

For my initial visit, I and my friend sank our teeth on a yummy treat of hot steaming bowl of noodles and a basket of assorted dumplings. The verdict: a sure way to fi ll hungry stomachs with all of China's unique flavors.

Beef Brisket Noodles for PhP180.00

We each had a bowl of noodles, mine was Beef Brisket Noodles while hers was Beef Wanton Noodles. I must say, that true to its name, my bowl contains big chunks of beef and bok choy (Chinese cabbage). Even the soup is beefy in taste. My friend's bowl has wantons with real bits of shrimp in it.

Assorted Dumpling Basket PhP 2++

Aside from the steaming hot noodles, we also ordered a basket of assorted dumplings. The dumpling treat consists of 2 pcs of each variety: sharksfin, wanton, beef balls, four-season scallop dumpling, kuchay dumpling (consists of kuchay leaves, sotanghon, ground beef and shrimp) and lumpia (which my friend touts as "Hallelumpia" because it was crispy fried but with a melt-in-your-mouth meat filling that was perfectly complimented with a spicy vinegar dip)

Cuapao with Condensed Milk Dip PhP 70.00

What took me by surprise was when my cuapao (this is just your siopao bread) order came. Unlike in other Chinese restaurants that serves cuapao alongside Pata Tim or Peking Duck, David's cuapao was served with condensed milk.

Overall, the experience was not only fun and filling but I could say that it offers great value for your money.

Later!

My IL Mercanti Chronicles

I suppose you have already read Pariah's version of our Il Mercanti adventures, well let me share mine. Yes, I was also one of those who went all excited with the highly-publicized Banchetto Lantern Event and got all disappointed that it was canceled.

Since it was a jam-packed Banchetto Friday, we decided to choose the next best option, explore the tastes that Il Mercanti has to offer. It was my first time to visit Il Mercanti but I am already a veteran when it comes to midnight food bazaars.

Il Mercanti is located right at the Metrowalk Parking space in Meralco Ave., Ortigas. It is an open area housed with various tent offering an assortment of food and drinks.

Compared with Mercato Centrale (BGC Taguig) and Banchetto (Megatent, Eastwood and Boni-Pioneer), Il Mercanti's concessionaires are somewhat in the line of Mercato Centrale and a bit pricier than Banchetto. However, some of the food stall partners are already familiar like MedChef and Monster Burger, who also host stalls in the other food night market I mentioned above.

For my first Il Mercanti adventure, I tried to sink my teeth in the following goodies:

The Monster Burger: For 150.00, I was able to enjoy a half pound of burger. Nothing really special, except that the burger patty is thick and the whole burger is filling. Not to juicy but not dried out.

Ihaw-Ihaw: Yes, am a huge fan of grilled food, especially innards and pork ears. Ranging from 20-25 PhP a stick, this grilled favors is complimented with a spicy vinegar. Guess its better paired with a bottle of cold beer or ice cold soda. :)

Bangus Sisig: I forgot the name of the stall but their main offerings include sisigs of various meat/fish variety. This one, I must say, is a perfect beer partner. It has the right amount of mayo, well season bangus flakes and appetizing hotness contributed by chili fingers (it has lots of them). Overall, the double serving is sulit for its cost of PhP160.

Finally, to satisfy my sweet tooth craving, the sight of a home made egg pie made my mouth water. Mr. Arjay of Rogelio's pastries was generous enough to let us have a taste (for free) some of his baked goodies, enticing us to purchase some of his sweet treats. For PhP25, I sank my teeth in his home made egg pie that shouts "egg." It was creamy but with the right amount of sweetness. The egg pie was indeed a crowd favorite. The 8-slices pie was literally gone in a matter of minutes. Another hit was his tart like version of apple pies, which costs PhP 65.00 for a box of six. And since we bought a lot from him, he gave us a freebie, another tart which he calls Banana Apple and Cream Mini (Pariah mentioned this in her post).

Sir Arjay and his Pastries
(a friend said his looks is the kind whom you'd expect to sell steaks and not pastries. LoLs!)

Rogelio's line of pastries and goodies


The simple yet heavenly Egg Pie (a blockbuster)

Banana Apple and Cream Mini

Rogelio's pastry stall can be found in Eton Centris in Quezon Ave., every Sunday from 4a.m. till 1:00 p.m. and at Il Mercanti every Friday nights.

One thing I noticed in Il Mercanti is that though they have a spacious dinning area, they do not have bust boys who clears the tables unlike in Banchetto or Mercato, thus customers have to deal with eating in front of other people's "trash."

So far, the food and the night was indeed an experience.

Later!

A Veneto Avenue

Now here's an Italian pasta place I totally enjoy.  It's not very expensive, and you're sure to get your bill's worth.  Here's A Veneto! :)  During my latest visit there, here is what we ordered:

This is their starter platter.  It had a good selection consisting of fries, crab sticks, mozzarella balls and spicy chicken wings, as seen in the pic.  I think the dips were sour cream and marinara sauce.  All of the items went well with the marinara sauce except for the chicken wings, which seemed to mix better with the sour cream.  The four of us had a hard time finishing this before our main orders arrived, but we still managed to lick this particular plate clean :)

Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce and Hungarian Sausage
This is one of our most usual orders.  The marinara sauce was very tasty, and the 3 Hungarian sausages included in the pasta was more than enough for all of us.  Just a note: there is just a bite of spice in the sausages, but it was just enough to complement the flavorful sauce.   

Carbonara
This is the first time I ordered this since we wanted to have a white sauce pasta as well.  The verdict?  Better then I thought.  The sauce was very creamy, with bacon and ham and mushroom as other ingredients.  I guess I am a bit biased since I have always enjoyed cream based food, but seriously, you have to try this out.

Since this is just a few of their offerings, I know I'd be coming back to test some more.  You should try it out yourself :)

AME Monogatari Food Trip

Yay! I went to the AME Monogatari with pals and we decided to go on a food tasting as usual :3  Here were our choices:

California Maki
The filling was a bit creamier than most of the Californian Makis I usually have, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary :) It was a good start to a food trip though, I have no regrets :)

Octoboy Takoyaki
This is one of the better takoyaki's that I've had.  It was not overflowing with veggies, and there was really some octupus inside.  The outermost layer was very crispy while the inside was very soft.  The thing is that it was so hot! I couldn't eat one piece in one biting :) Also, I wish they had place a bit more sauce.  It's also a bit expensive though, 3pcs for 50php.

Mitarashi Dango
Now this was a treat that I liked, even if my friends didn't think of it much.  It was mochi balls with sweet syrup.  I guess I just like the sweetness (not too sweet) and the soft and gooey feeling that I felt in my mouth.  A certified hit (with me xD)!

Tuna Onigiri
Okay, as usual, I don't know if this is how Onigiri is supposed to taste like, but as it is a Tuna Onigiri, it had tuna bits in the middle.  The tuna wasn't a lot, so basically it was more of rice and seaweed paper concoction.  Verdict?  I don't know, since I really don't know how it's supposed to taste :)

Of course, I never leave a convention without Pocky :)  I didn't take any pic of it since I hope to make a solo review of it.  It's one of my favorite snacks, that's why :)

Il Mercanti

A lot of people in Manila have probably heard of the ill-fated Banchetto event last Friday.  I was there as well, being one of the people who reserved lanterns.  My family and friends were with me, and although the lantern event made it more special, we were mainly there for the food (we missed dinner in order to be able to eat a lot of things).  Unfortunately, due to the crowd, we were unable to buy anything at all, and I just claimed my lanterns before we went to Il Mercanti at Metrowalk. 

Il Mercanti was similar to Banchetto in the sense that they offered various food for taste testing.  They say that Mercanti has a higher price when compared to Banchetto but I really can't compare 'coz as I said earlier, I wasn't able to buy anything at Banchetto.

In any case, here were the things we tried out:

 Monster Burger with 2 patties!
Yummy! Overflowing with beefy goodness, and very heavy on the stomach.  I shared this with a friend coz I knew I could never finish this :)

Mixed Pasta with white sauce - a bit salty, very oily 

Banana Apple and Cream Mini Pies (BAC Mini Pies)
I loved these! I honestly think they were great!  It really tasted like apples, bananas and cream, only the banana flavor was more pronounced.  Not too sweet, just right :)

Tikoy - nothing out of the ordinary :)

Corndog - typical :)

Unfortunately, I was unable to get the names of the store owners for these food :(  But it's really worth the visit :)

Mix it the Mongolian Way

A good friend and I decided to go on our usual "am-bored-let's-go-out-explore-and-eat."

Since we are on a tight budget but with big HUNGER spelled on our tummies, we rushed through Trinoma's Food Choices and got curious on this stand lined up with various bowls of veggies, meats, oils and sauces.

Ranging from Php120 (mini bowl with drinks) to Php180 pesos (large bowl with drinks), Mongolian Rice Bowls offers you a wide array of do-it-yourself rice or rice noodles meal topped with your choice of veggies, seasonings, meat, beef, chicken or squid.

Rules I've learned on trying this Mongolian thing:

1.) Pay first. You'll never get started without paying because you'll only be able to claim your bowl upon payment.

2.) Follow instructions carefully in concocting your own sauce, which can be sweet and sour, sweet and spicy, hot and spicy.

3.) Touch move. Once you have handed over your bowl to the cook who will stir fry you meal, there is no turning back.

Overall, it was a cool experience and a very filling meal. Recommended to those who wanna customize their own meals under a tight budget.

DIY FroYo

Good day all foodies!

Since my good friend Pariah invited me to share some of the gastronomic delights I have discovered in this blog, might as well start contributing some delish articles of my foodventures.

Well if you have an appetite for fro-yo then you might enjoy this one.

My bro, who happens to be not so adventurous when it comes to food, came buzzing me the other night about his latest exploration, a do-it-yourself frozen yogurt stand situated in SM Manila.

As per his account, Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt, the latest addition to the growing FroYo family in the Philippines, allows its customers to create their own FroYo mixes by choosing from their wide array of flavored FroYo and toppings. The cost, Php 20.00 per ounce.

You could select from an array of flavored yogurts and toppings ranging from fruits, candies, chocolates, syrups, brownies and nuts.

Aside from their branch in SM Manila, they have other branches in SM San Lazaro, Glorietta 4 and SM Megamall and would soon open in the following stores: Gaisano Mall of Davao, SM Sta. Mesa, SM City (I think this is SM North EDSA), SM Clark, SM Cebu and Eton Centris.

French Macarons

Okay, I had a Blair Waldorf moment earlier when I tasted divine French Macarons from Ireland.  It was from Maison Laduree, and I have to say it's no wonder that Macarons were her a favorite of hers.  Here's the pics:

One thing's for sure: these are very sweet.  I needed a drink of water after I finished eating one.  As for the taste? Well, it's quite hard to describe since there were different flavors.  I guess I like the Rose flavored one (seen at the 2nd pic) more than the black forest flavored one, but to each his own.

It's something to try out if you ever get the chance to :3