Eric Kayser

This cookie!!!! It's so fat! And chocolatey! And sweet! I ate this at one go. Steep at P90 per cookie, but definitely worth it.

My cookie did not reach home. 

Up next, the Kouign Amann. I've read praises for this all over the internet. Don't even know what it is! And how to pronounce it! I just pointed when I was ordering. Ooh lala ang sarap din! Its chewy and sweet with its caramel glaze on the outside. It's very soft inside.  According to my mom - makunat at lumalaban. Hahaha!

So happy Eric Kayser's newest branch is open at Rustan's Makati. Five stars! 

Salt Makati

My friend was raving about this place which offers steaks for less than P200. Comments from our friends who have already eaten here are - you get what you pay for. These are not high end steaks, but good enough for the price. 

We ended up ordering the salpicao and grilled tuna both P220 each. The serving was generous, kinulang kami sa rice. Both were normal. Nothing special for salpicao and tuna. 

For dessert, we got the frozen brazo. Good, but it's the same frozen brazo than can be bought outside. 

We weren't satisfied with just one order of dessert so we ordered the tartufo. This was the highlight of our meal. Yummy dark chocolate ice cream with cocoa powder. 

Overall, good place to eat but I won't be craving for anything on their menu. 

Chocolate Fire

The disappointment that is Chocolate Fire.

Here's what my friends had to say about their orders.

Display was very appetizing - sure fooled us.

Little Banoffee - P132

My staple order. Not that bad, but nothing to rave about! I think I got the best order haha!

Banana Blob - P132

Dry. Red Ribbon banana crunch tastes better.

Hot Milk Chocolate with Cream - P160

Tastes like Milo. My friend said we should have went to McDonald's for hot chocolate

Chocolate Ganache P198

Apparently, you can go wrong with simple chocolate cake. This was like normal sponge cake. It was enrobed with real Belgian chocolate but the sponge cake part was very dry.
It has no flavor. Just chocolate coloring!!

Tiramisu P153

Waste of money and calories. Depressing. Worst tiramisu ever. Chiffon!

Desserts should make us feel better but we got the opposite. We had to go to another place and eat something else to delete the memory of what we ate.

We're just hoping we ordered the wrong things.

Ambiance - 4
Value for money - -5 (Negative)
Taste - Negative

Stella

More from the new High Street in BGC - Stella

Fire Roasted Corn and Shrimp Scampi Soup - P195

Soup was creamy, had tomato, corn and shrimp bits.

Bleh didn't like the complimentary appetizer :p

Wood Fired Garlic Mushroom Cream Fettuccine - P425

Porcini dust, truffle oil, Malagos pecorino, fresh lemon, herbs
In our family, only my sister likes pasta.. But all of us agreed that this was good!

Salt Baked Gindara Fillet - P395

400g, light dill-citrus cream, citrus bits
This one was our least favorite. Although this dish has a lot of good reviews online, we just didn't feel it. Still a bigger serving than the gindara served in Japanese restaurants.

Porcini Herb Rubbed Australian Rib-Eye P995

400g, fire roasted onions, Gorgonzola, and black pepper cream
Serving was huge!! This was bigger than my hand. Maybe two fists! Very soft and tender. I ate half that night and the other half the day after.

Braised US Beef Short Ribs - P495

Spicy, sticky, sweet sesame glaze, grilled leeks, kimchi pineapples
The favorite for the night. Just like the rib eye, it was very soft. The meat slides off the bones. Very tasty and sweet.

Spanish Chorizo Rice and Garlic Fried Rice - P95

This is good for one hungry person, but my parents shared and I didn't get to taste it. They said it was okay.

Homey feel inside Stella

Baon for the next day!

We ordered four main dishes which were all good for sharing! The servers didn't warn us that we were ordering too much. Maybe they thought we were that hungry.
Overall, serving of the food were huge but not too overpriced, and the taste did not disappoint!

Stella:
Ambiance - 4.5
Taste - 4.5
Value for money - 5

Where to find Stella

• Ground Level, Bonifacio High Street Central, 7th Ave cor 29th St, Bonifacio Global City

Nolita: North of Little Italy

I had to eat pizza on my birthday! Thanks to my friends who were supportive and ate pizza (and gelato and macarons) with me. We wanted to try something new too so we went to Nolita. Nolita offers New York style pizza by the slice.

Shrimp Carbonara - P290

My favorite!! Breakfast food and pizza combined! Must try :)

Wild mushroom with walnut - P250

I ate this after the shrimp carbonara, so this was kinda bland compared to that. Not that bad though!

Cheeseburger - P220+

Cheeseburger on a pizza!

Buffalo Chicken - P220+

We also got the potato chip fries (P130), which was like Shakey's mojo potatoes. I was expecting it to be thinner (chips). The dip was also weird for us.

We stayed here for a while, waiting for our other friends to arrive. My eyes were teary after around an hour! It was so smoky inside. They should improve ventilation.

Nolita:
Ambiance - 3.5
Taste - 4
Value for money - 3


Where to find Nolita

• UG/F, West Superblock, Bonifacio High Street Central, 7th Ave cor 29th St
  Taguig 

M&M's Pretzel

My favorite M&M's! This beats peanut, crispy, dark chocolate, almond and peanut butter!

The perfect mix of sweet and salty!!!

What's inside the M&M? A big chunk of crispy and crunchy pretzel!

I can eat the whole bag in one sitting. Hello calories!

Anyone know where we can get this in the Philippines??

Sebastian's Cold Comfort

Cold Pizza - P195

Cookie dough overload cold pizza! Chocolate chip cookie crust + vanilla ice cream + generous amount of cookie dough and walnut chunks!! It would have been perfect if the chocolate drizzle was not frozen.

Store is clean and the staff were friendly.

Chocolate lovers unite! Let's try this!!

Other cold pizza flavors. Cookie Monster and Reese's Delight are on my list.

Haven't tried their chilly burgers yet! They have red velvet chilly burgers for the red velvet fans out there!

Ice cream flavors are posted. My favorite is still the chocolate chip cookie dough!
They have new flavors now like champorado, sapin sapin, halo halo and frozen taho.

Look at those dive bars and chilly burgers!

If you have a sweet tooth, then Sebastian's ice cream is for you! I hope they open a branch in Makati! I miss the stall in G4 Food Choices.

Sebastian's:
Ambiance - 3.5
Taste - 4
Value for money - 3.5


Where to find Sebastian's

• 2nd level, Entertainment Hall, SM Mall of Asia

Ba Noi's

My mind was always closed to think that Vietnamese food equates to only noodles or pho. Silly me! Thanks to my friend KimiLu who kept on insisting that there are choices other than noodles. 

Goi Cuon - P200

Fresh Spring Rolls - Pork, shrimp and vermicelli attractively rolled in rice paper served with their famous peanut sauce.
Not really a fan of healthy tasting food, but it wasn't that bland. The peanut sauce helped too! Hard to eat though as the noodles fall when you bite.

Cha Gio - P190

A mixture of ground pork, shrimp, taro, and black fungus wrapped and deep fried and served with fresh greens and traditional nuoc mam dipping sauce.
Fried = crunchy! You can wrap them with the lettuce if you're feeling healthy.

Pho Bo - P255

Beef noodle soup - A perfected homemade beef noodle soup served with fresh herbs and spices.
Perfect for cool rainy days!

Ga Nuong - P240

Grilled chicken in rich lemongrass marinade.
This was good and tasty!

Dau Hu Sot Xi Muoi - P275

Fried tofu fillet with ground pork mixture, spiced with shallots and ginger, covered with sweet and sour plum chilli sauce.
This was surprisingly very filling! One piece was enough, so you have to share this with friends.

Munch away while waiting for your food!



Ba Noi's:
Ambiance - 4
Taste - 4
Value for money - 4


Where to find Ba Noi's

• Ground Level, Greenbelt Mansions, 
• 106 Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati

Gong Cha Philippines

My friend from outbite.com is a milk tea addict. She was the one who told me to try Gong Cha in Hong Kong early this year.

I had trouble ordering since they couldn't understand English. I ended up with a bitter chocolate milk tea without pearls. Fail!

Gong Cha in Mall of Asia

When I heard that Gong Cha was coming to the Philippines, I was willing to give it another chance.

Ice cream special?? Oooh!

You can also choose the sweetness level of your drink.

Earl grey milk tea samples. Yum!!

Yakult green tea w/ coconut jelly (M) - P100

First up, Yakult green tea with coconut jelly, 100% sweetness level. Refreshing!! Yakult + green tea = win! Add P20 for the coconut jelly.

Gong Cha milk chocolate w/ pearl (M) - P105

Had to try one of the house specials. Went for 100% here too. I love chocolate so this is one of my favorites. Add P15 for the pearls.

Milk tea w/ pearl jelly (L) - P95

If you want the regular milk tea, go for this. Safe order. 100% ;)

Earl grey milk tea w/ pearl (M) - P85

Got it 70% sweet, but it's still sweeter than the milk tea with pearl. My sister liked this!

Lemon winter melon tea w/ coconut jelly (M) - P80

There were lemon bits (I think) which I didn't like. When I got home, I poured it in a glass and removed the lemon bits. 

Toffee milk tea w/ pearl (L) - P105

I realized after this that I'm not a fan of toffee drinks!

Gong Cha milk green tea (M) - P80

milky after stirring

While I was buying my toffee milk tea, I saw my friend and she shared that the Gong Cha milk green tea was her favorite. Good thing she recommended it! I liked the milky green tea taste.

Welcome to Manila, Gong Cha!! 

Gong Cha:
Ambiance - 3.5
Taste - 4.5
Value for money - 4


Where to find Gong Cha

• Level 1, Mall of Asia