Dessert at the Pen

Location: Manila Peninsula Hotel, Makati City

I don't like the Pen, thanks to memories of my high school graduation ball which was held there. But being there a second time, I noticed that it is quite beautiful after all. I love the sunburst sculpture on the four-storey high ceiling by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. I can stare at it the whole day. In fact, I'd like to have one installed in my future house.

After a superb dinner at Umu, B and I headed to the Pen for desserts. As expected, the prices were exorbitant, but the ambiance and the food presentation justify why.

Creamy creme brulee for him

Lovely pineapple carpaccio for me

Our desserts are from the non-ice cream specialties of the Pen Lobby. The hotel now serves a whole range of Selecta ice cream fanfare, from indulgent chocolate to tropical fruit flavors. They are priced from Php400 to Php650.

My dessert is about Php350. At first I thought I could've easily created the dish in my kitchen (if I had known what it was in the first place). But then I wouldn't be savoring it bathed in flattering warm light with live piano music in the background.

I still prefer kicking back at Sofitel's poolside bar with a cold Erdinger, but it was a different, rather childlike way of capping off nice date. Next time, maybe instead of being selfish B and I can share one ice cream dessert.

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Late night grub at the Filling Station

Location: Burgos St., Makati City

I've always wanted to check out this diner in Makati's red light district called Filling Station. I've heard nice things about it from friends, but I never really had a chance because finding a willing companion is a challenge. One night after a late one in the Fort, I was hankering for some pancakes, having skipped dinner. We couldn't find a place that was still open, until I remembered this retro diner is open 24/7. So how was the fare? Click click!

Basically, place is designed like a barbershop, complete with black and white checkered floor tiles. There's a pool table, but you need to order something in order to play. There's also a jukebox, but it's not working.

We got a booth (of course). There were some expat customers (some with Filipina companions), and Filipino oldies shooting pool. When we got the menu, we noticed that the food is quite expensive. By then I was over my pancake craving, so we got a Clubhouse Sandwich to share plus a Vanilla Milkshake, which I've heard good stuff about.

While waiting we took the time to admire the decors. It's too bad we went at night time, because it would've been fun to take pictures there.

I can't even begin to count how creative we could get with the statues of Batman, Superman and Spiderman (hanging from the ceiling). Elvis is also present, crooning with a guitar. Of course, what would a retro American diner be without bicycles (hanging from the ceiling over the pool table) and a motorbike?

Looking at the place, the word that comes to mind is over-decorated, but in a good way, like being in a museum. The servers are dressed in typical diner uniform, complete with the hat.

These accessories were on our table: a cool disc napkin holder, an ancient pay phone and jukebox machine.

As for the food, the serving is enormous, as expected in an American diner. I can't think of a way to make clubhouse sandwich spectacular; it's perpetually boring. It was good that it was prepared on the spot though, meaning the scrambled egg was fried just then. I didn't taste the ham, but I think the other half of the stack is chicken and mayonnaise. It was served with slaw and fries, which to our surprise weren't the frozen variety.

The highlight is the milkshake. I have not had milkshake in a thousand years, so I couldn't stop from taking "one last sip"s. It's basically vanilla ice cream put on a blender with milk. Oh so yummy!!! Aside from the tall glass it came in on, the server gave us the extra milk shake from the blender in a metal glass. The entire serving is one and a half glasses of cold, vanilla-ey, creamy, sinful goodness. It was simply too heavy to finish.

I wouldn't say I'd come back to Filling Station. The quality of the grub isn't worth their prices (Php200 up). True to its nature, the place is a greasy spoon where you can find unsavory elements of the community, especially given the hour we went. It was a fairly good experience, but I felt once is more than enough to appreciate the novelty.

Trivia: The word "diner" is a derivative of "dining car" and diner designs reflected the styling that manufacturers borrowed from railroad dining cars. The origins of the diner can be traced to Walter Scott, a part-time pressman and type compositor in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1858, 17 year old Scott supplemented his income by selling sandwiches and coffee from a basket to newspaper night workers and patrons of men's club rooms. By 1872 business became so lucrative that Scott quit his printing work and began to sell food at night from a horse-drawn covered express wagon parked outside the Providence Journal newspaper office. The success of the early converted wagons inspired a few individuals to form companies and manufacture lunch wagons for sale. Night lunch wagons or "Nite Owls" began to appear in 1800s. At the same time that lunch wagons were becoming popular, obsolete horse drawn streetcars were being replaced by electrified models. Operating on meager budgets, most owners were more concerned with making a living than maintaining their car. Dining cars took on the reputation of the "greasy spoon" and developed a bad image because of the sort of people they attracted at night.

Source: http://www.americandinermuseum.org/site/history.php

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Hong Kong chow

My recent visit to Hong Kong was less shopping and more food trip compared to 2008. Here are some of me and my family's chows in busy busy Hong Kong, where people are hungry 24/7.

Chinese food

Our hosts in Hong Kong threw lauriat for us practically every meal. Here in Manila, I try to avoid going to parties because I'm so tired of the usual Chinese fare during weddings, birthdays and everything in between. It's a different story in Hong Kong though. Everybody knows Hong Kong is not only a shopping mecca, but a foodie's dream too. The best Chinese chefs are either in Hong Kong or in Macau. Sometimes, they're not found in restaurants but in some grimy, cramped side-street eatery in front of which people would line up to get inside.

Of all the restaurants dined in, no two same entrees were cooked identically. The abundance of exotic and ocean-fresh seafoods like this giant abalone (below), not the mention the variety of mushrooms, vegetables and meat imaginatively prepared, made each meal feel like a luxurious food adventure.

By the way, this dish was served during the wedding we attended. I took a picture because my mom said it's very expensive. :p

... and I took a picture of the one above because I thought it's beautiful. Look how green the broccoli is!

After hours of walking and shopping, the best thing to do in Hong Kong is find a small eatery for authentic Chinese snacks! We noticed an especially tiny restaurant at the market that was always full everytime we passed it. My mom wanted to settle on buying pastry in one of the ubiquitous bakeshops Bread Talk style that seems to be the 'in' thing now. I convinced her to try the canteen instead.

Like most eateries in Hong Kong, the canteen has a stand outside where passersby can grab soy milk, various buns, or sticky rice to go. There were two women attending customers. Both can't understand either fookien or Mandarin, so we had to do our best with hand gestures. Good thing they have pictures of the menu on the walls. The tables inside are meant for two people, but four of us squished together in one. The result is a road block in the teeny eatery, but I figured if people were determined to eat, they wouldn't mind.

On to the food!

Below is fried buns with vegetable and meat inside. I only had a bite and gave the rest away because it was too oily. If you don't mind the grease though, this steaming bun is tasty and filling for an afternoon snack.

The egg on the plate is what my aunt says is called "tea egg," which I take to mean egg cooked in tea. It's supposed to be tastier then ordinary boiled egg, but I didn't try it. The way the eggs are cooked is shown below. That pot is outside the canteen.

The eatery's specialty is soy bean curd or taho. For an additional $3, the regular taho can be made special with toppings like sweet potato, red beans, jelly or fruits. We chose the basic one for $5 a cup. We weren't given the dark syrup usually poured over taho, also called arnibal, which is mainly sugar. Instead there was a jar of orange sugar and a pitcher of orange liquid on the table for the taho. The orange liquid is diluted sugar, so you can put whichever you prefer. A small amount of sugar was enough for the entire cup. I'd like to know what the sugar is called. Although the bean curd wasn't as soft and silky as we expected, it was delicious and refreshing.

I would've taken more "real food" pictures, but every dish was great anyway and some situations made it too embarrassing.

Junk food

When we weren't eating banquet meals, we were eating burgers and other junk food. Hehe. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Lamb burger set meal at ThreeSixty, Elements Shopping Mall

I forgot that I don't like lamb or goat burger when I ordered this. It's a lebanese take on burger, but I didn't like the dressing which is akin to hummus. I like my mustard and pickles and sometimes even tomato sauce in my burger. It was nothing compared to the Big N' Tasty burger I tried in McDonald's there, which I can't wait to write about.

Swedish meatballs at Ikea Bistro

I enjoyed this one, although basically they reminded me of Jollibee's burger steak in balls instead of patty-style. The sauces are cranberry and some mushroom-cheese gravy.

Finally, dessert! At the Hong Kong 44th Brands and Products Expo at Victoria Park, my dad and I had our very first durian ice cream. We couldn't resist because everyone--young and old-- was walking around with a huge ice cream cone in hand.

I have to say, at first lick you wouldn't like it because of the strong durian flavor. But at least it's not a rip off right? So you go and take a second lick, just because the cone is huge and after all, the pale yellow color is still appealing. And then surprisingly, it gets better as you continue to eat it. The creaminess of milk was a good match to neutralize the foul odor of the fruit, and together the flavor is exotic, rich and not too sweet for ice cream.

Here's a picture of my dad in front of the stall at the expo. Some fruit flavors are made into ice cream on the spot with frozen fruit pieces. The durian flavor is the most expensive though, which I'm sure added to people's hesitation. I'm glad we tried it because it was one of my most memorable experiences during the trip. If it wasn't so expensive, I'll even sell it in the Philippines!

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Chocolate Kiss Cafe, Sct. Tobias QC branch

Location: Quezon City

This is one of my restaurant review backlogs from last year. Back in college, I had to be in UP on Saturday mornings to be with Special Olympic athletes as part of my duties as a member of the Ateneo Special Education Society. The grounds where we'd jog and do exercises with the special children was behind UP's Bahay ng Alumni, so by lunch time, my orgmates and I could usually be found in Chocolate Kiss rewarding ourselves. Most people would say that the restaurant is more ideal for a romantic date though, and I'd have to agree as it's quite pricey for a normal uni student's allowance. Plus, its ambiance is conducive for quiet talks over cakes and coffee.

Chocolate Kiss is a combination of Italian and Filipino restaurant. Aside from the chocolate cake, it is famous for its iced tea which is real tea with honey. I have good memories of dining in the restaurant, but not because of the food per se. It's more of the place being a venue for once-a-week splurge impulses or whenever there's a special occasion. After college, I forgot about the restaurant until I saw a branch near Tomas Morato last year. One night after work, I decided to visit it out of nostalgia.

The interior is not as nice as the one in UP. There were only a few customers at the time despite it being the peak of dinner hour. If I remember correctly, the menu in UP's Chocolate Kiss is comprised of entrees that are more foreign. In this branch, the menu is locally inclined, including rice toppings like the ones shown below.

Tapa with rice and fried egg

Adobo flakes with rice and fried egg

I have nothing special to say about the food, except that it doesn't justify the prices. I was disappointed with Chocolate Kiss for adopting these dishes which I think murders its entire appeal. Then again, not everyone knows about the original Chocolate Kiss in UP. It can just as well be yet another Filipino restaurant-cafe indistinguishable from others in Quezon City. To make matters worse for Chocolate Kiss, my companion and I both felt we could've had the same dishes in Banapple, Il Terrazo, and enjoyed more while paying less. For desert, we ordered the angel--or was it devil?--cake (first picture) which was chocolate chifon cake thickly topped with sugar icing.

Though I don't recommend this restaurant, I'll still go back to the original branch if only for an afternoon date over iced tea, in a quiet corner by the window where I can see the blue sky and grassy field, and reminisce about simpler days long gone.

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Lunch at Hyde Park

This is my favorite ice cream growing up. Its mysterious disappearance broke my heart but I never gave up the hope of finding it again... to have another chance at sinking my teeth from the soft, chewy chocolate cookie sandwich exterior into the smooth, cold vanilla ice cream within.

If you liked Maxibon as much I did, you will know what makes this ice cream lovable: its ingenious dual personality. One slab of vanilla ice cream is dressed up in two ways: one half is an ice cream sandwich, while the other half is classically coated with chocolate and rice crispies. Two treats in one!

It's still as good as I remember it. My last recollection of the ice cream's presence in the Philippines is a Maxibon eating competition that was televised, and which I have always regretted not joining. I don't remember the price then, but here in Australia at AUD$3.95 (convenience store price; it's cheaper in the supermarket but they sell it by boxes), this indulgence is a luxury indeed.

A Hungry Jack's Grilled Chicken Burger completed my lunch. Hungry Jack's is an Australian fast food chain with offerings not unlike Burger King. It is the local competitor of McDonald's, much like Jollibee keeps the foreign company from dominating the fast food industry in the Philippines.

This burger has grilled chicken breast, lettuce, tomato, cabbage, and what tasted like wasabi mayo dressing. As you can see, the chicken is practically spilling out of the burger, and I could tell that it's real chicken breast. As for the greasiness, it's only detectable on the inside of the bottom bun where the chicken rested. The tomato tasted fresh and juicy, and the wasabi mayo was a pleasant surprise. I thought McD's bun tasted better though, but aside from that I was pretty happy with this burger.

I missed having lunch in a park which I often did when I was working in Makati. Hyde Park was my solace today as I took my late late lunch. I sat in a bench facing St. Peter's Cathedral, keeping myself exposed to the afternoon sun as much as possible. I felt at home with tourists from all nations taking photos of each other. I'd like to say it went without incident, but that's another story which you can read in my other blog.

A Monday that feels like a Sunday. Now that's a first.

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To You Milk Chocolate

I got this from one our company Directors while I was helping him list down the things to move out from his condo. He gave me this plus a couple of Korean instant rice toppings and a Korean SPAM. I don't want to think about how long this chocolate had been sitting in his fridge; the expiration date tells me it's good until next year anyhow.

Last Sunday, hit by nostalgia on high school days, I decided to sample it while snuggled comfortably with a comic book. The name of the chocolate, as seen on the packaging, is To You. It has an equivalent in Korean character, which you will see on the upper right above the product's name. The package says it's "rich taste milk chocolate" which isn't very promising, so I didn't have very high expectations about this. At first I thought the thing beside the name is some sort of nut, but since the chocolate bar didn't have any nuts when I opened it, I concluded that it must be cocoa.

I can imagine how this product must be doing poorly even in Korea beside its peers. The packaging makes me fall asleep. The colors-- red, black and gold-- are so standard, as well as the typography of the product name that the person managing this product must be an old fart without imagination, who doesn't go out and watches TV all day long on his day off, or a young fart without imagination, who doesn't go out and accompanies his granpa watch TV all day long on his day off. The only thing I can credit this product for is the name, which I think is genius. Imagine all the ads you can make with that.

The chocolate bar is in a gold foil wrapping which, I found unhappily, was lined with plastic. The presence of the plastic provided a bit of struggle when uncovering the chocolate. Chocolate in foil wrapper is equivalent to delicious body clad in easy-tear clothing. It's a seduction ploy. The brief difficulty in tearing off the gold foil in this chocolate turned me off. The only thing that kept me going was the rich smell of milk chocolate that promised "rich taste milk chocolate".

There are about 12 chocolate squares in the entire thing. Each square is stenciled with the manufacturer's name, Orion. The squares don't break off cleanly, which could mean lack of milk butter or too much sugar. I took a square and noticed how quickly it melted in my warm fingers. When I eat chocolate, I do it painfully slow to savor the taste. I like to roll it in my mouth and feel it slide smoothly down my throat, with the bitter taste of cocoa still in my tastebuds. That said, I'd enjoy this quick-melting bar as much as I'd enjoy being left with sticky hands, brown smudges around my mouth and chocolate dribble on my shirt. As for the taste, this product is pretty decent. It's not too creamy although it's very sweet. I was satiated with three squares and stored the rest for later.

I think Orion is a big snack manufacturer in Korea, but in the sense that it rips off all of Lotte's products. I've seen some of its reproductions in the local supermarket, and the difference in quality is pretty obvious from the packaging. I wonder what Lotte's version of this chocolate is named... For You? I'd leave the rest of the bar in the fridge and wait for someone to snap it up, but that's if it looked snappable. As it is, I need to shove it to my kid bro who couldn't distinguish Goya from truffle.

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Banapple

Location: Il Terrazzo, Tomas Morato, Quezon City

The craze with banoffie pies began when Starbucks came out with them several years back. Since then, every pastry shop has come up with its own version. I admit that I've always been partial with pioneers, so to me the rest of them would always be copycats, no matter how much better they improvise on the original.

I liked Starbucks banoffie pie, although I could never finish an entire pie. I've tasted Red Ribbon's version, which was an utter embarassment to the kingdom of banoffie pies. Red Ribbon's bakers seem to be the diabetics' nemeses, churning out new flavors of cake for every marketable occasion. While the effort is impressive, the taste of the cakes are not. If this goes on, pretty soon Red Ribbon will have to give up its restaurant business to display all its cakes. Come to think of it, that might not be such a bad idea. Good riddance.

Wait, I shouldn't be talking about Red Ribbon. The focus of this review is a pastry shop that's been getting a lot of attention lately, Banapple. I didn't really get to taste the banoffie pie pictured above. But I appreciate the thick chocolate shavings falling beautifully on the white, white whipped cream, and the chunks of bananas filling up the pie. Ok, I did have one bite. Who would be able to resist? The banoffie pie isn't as sweet as the Starbucks version, although I couldn't get the 'offie' in the banoffie. Is 'offie' supposed to be toffee, or coffee? Since Starbucks put it out first, I'm guessing it's the latter, but you never know with the way these behemoths play with us consumers. It's a huge slice, but eating it all won't make you feel as guilty as eating Starbucks banoffie pie, because it has less caramel and there isn't a block of chocolate lodged at the center of the pie that's a pleasant surprise when you don't know it's there. The Banapple banoffie pie has thicker crust, so in essence you feel like you're eating three things: whipped cream on top of bananas on top of crushed graham. The chocolate only registers at the end, and the syrup decorating the plate is nasty Hershey's chocolate syrup. I hate that stuff.

No, I didn't go to Banapple just to taste a forkful of the famous banoffie pie and stare at it hoping it'll reveal its deepest secrets to me. I did actually order a giant Oatmeal POWER Cookie.

I'm not sure why they called it a Power cookie, except maybe to credit your willpower in picking the healthiest and most awful baked item on the menu. As huge as my hand, the cookie is served warm and drizzled with the Hershey's chocolate syrup. It's not very sweet, kind chewy, and every bite is hard to swallow. It's a good punishment for a badly behaving child. Sample Banapple's other delectable desserts like the White Chocolate Truffle Cake while s/he watches as you lick icing off your spoon, and his/her sister makes a mess out of chocolate and whipped cream. If s/he is still behaving badly, tell him/her that s/he will never taste a real cookie again.

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Does cream puff make you happy?

Few things sound more succulent than "cream puff". One can almost taste the custard and smell buttery goodness upon hearing those two words. I'm not a big fan of cream puffs because I don't like caramel, and cream puffs here are smothered with it. A Japanese style cream puff store goes against the customary version, though, offering light as air puffs filled with moderately sweet and equally light custard inside. Introducing Happy Cream Puff.

I read somewhere that this is owned by a Japanese couple whose first venture is somewhere in the south. They recently opened a store in Makati (near New Bombay, which is how I stumbled into said establishment) for a bigger market.

There are so many varieties to choose from. The small cream puffs are P20 apiece, and range from original (sugar coated) to more exotic ones like cocoa power and dark chocolate with almond. We tried the dark chocolate with almond and white cholocate.

The flavors aren't so present; the chocolate doesn't taste like chocolate-- just cheap flavor coating of some sort. Then again, perhaps it needs to be sweeter to make the flavor distinct. Since the puff is not sweet and filling isn't thick, you won't feel so guilty afterwards. This isn't necessarily a good thing, since the tendency is to go for another piece because you didn't feel that heaviness which desserts provide to signal the end of a meal. For curiosity's sake, I'd say P20 is cheap, but for how it tasted, it's too expensive. Good thing I'm still not a fan of cream puffs.

The bigger cream puffs are P35 apiece. There are also elongated varieties such as the eclair, and cream puffs with whipped cream and fruits. Apparently, the Japanese like their puffs with whipped cream. It's good to know there's this Japanese variety for people to try (cultural enlightenment, people!). I''m sure Beard Papa isn't too happy about the news of competition though, as it doesn't seem to be doing well as it is.

You can buy a box of assorted cream puffs for P180, or opt for one flavor in boxes of 3, 6(?) or 8. I get why it's called Happy Cream Puff. Just look at that picture! Anyone who receives this box as a pasalubong won't be able to help but smile.

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Ice cream!

It's Chinese New Year today but I'm going to make a quick post about Japanese ice cream! Have you had Japanese ice cream? There is a quaint Japanese grocery store in Little Tokyo that sells five types of ice cream. I just had to try the red bean or azuki flavored ice cream sandwich, as seen in the pictures below.

Hokkaido Azuki Monaka by Lotte

Vanilla Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich by Morinaga

Among the deserts being sold in the frozen section is shaved ice with azuki in a cute cup. It comes in three flavors: milk, green tea and regular ice. If you're opting for something lighter than ice cream, that's definitely for you. The goods are pricey though, ranging from P78 to P90. If you want more selection, go to a Korean grocery instead. Their ice cream are really REALLY good. Prices aren't bad too, starting at P38 for a popsicle stick.

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Have you heard of Bizu?

Location: Greenhills Promenade

Of course you've heard of Bizu. If you haven't you must be living under a rock. Or you don't care for desert. Either way, it's a shame.

I was never tempted to enter a Bizu establishment because I'm not one to indulge on cakes. I always felt the place is too extravagant to visit without a special occasion, and of course I'm too cheap. The special occasion arrived yesterday, and without planning it I found myself inside the bright, homey interior of Bizu Patisserie's branch in Greenhills. I was surprised to know that Bizu is open until 2:00AM on Fridays and Saturdays, and with good reason as I found out soon enough.

We arrived at Bizu past 10:00PM. The original plan was to head straight for desert, but I haven't had dinner so I decided to order an appetizer.

Hors d ' Oeuvres Sampler

The Hors d'Oeuvres Sampler consists of mushroom duxelle in vol-au-vent, prawn cakes, caramelized apples and brie croute and grilled feta, olives and cherry tomato skewer. We were also served complimentary bread basket, but it was dry, as though the same bread had been served since morning. Mushroom duxelle in vol-what? means coin shaped croissant topped with creamed mushrooms. I could taste a little sweetness and overwhelming butter in the cream. Not being a fan of cream-based dishes, I appreciated the prawn cakes which is crab cakes but made of shrimp and went well the tomato-herb salsa. The caramelized apple is apple chutney on top of brie and toasted pastry. It was too sweet and I couldn't taste the brie. My favorite was the tomato skewer with olive and feta-- simple and all natural.

We waited a while before asking for our cakes to be taken out. It was SO hard to choose! We ne picked 3: one fruit-based, one chocolate-based and guilt-free, and a third tried and tested concoction as a fallback. While letting the appetite build up, I observed the crowd that filled Bizu that night. At past 10:30PM, almost all the customers were just beginning to have dinner! Next to our table, a Chinese man over his fifties was on a date with his late twenty something daughter. They had just ordered burgers which were heartily consumed as soon as the huge plates landed on their table. The servings were very generous; each order comes with salad and fries on the side. At another table not far rom us, a group of rowdy friends aged 30-40 were enjoying their steaks. A few minutes later, a couple came in and started ordering main entrees! I felt sorry for the chef at the back. Either those people's body clocks are seriously screwed or it's their cheat day. I guessed it was the latter, and as our cakes arrived, I totally empathized with them.

Mango Chiboust

The Mango Chiboust is just a fancy name for mango cheesecake. I appreciated the art though, and the mangoes were perfectly sweet.

Naomi

My choice. Naomi is a sugarless and fourless cake made of sugarless milk & dark chocolate mousse between layers of chocolate cake sprayed with cocoa liqueur. Texture is very silky, taste is chocolatey but not too sweet. You can even tell there's liqueur. Seriously very good!

Amour

Something tried and tested to serve as our fallback. And isn't the name fitting too? Amour is a creation made of valrhona orange chocolate mousse in between layers of crème brulee and brownie. The thing that holds it up is white chocolate. I thought it's some plastic material you need to take out before eating. The brulee has a hint of orange, and the brownie is akin to fruitcake. When it starts getting too sweet, eat the dark chocolate bits on top of the cake.

I'd give the service 3 out of 5 stars. Kudos are in order for the pretty design of the cakes. Unfortunately for Bizu, I'm not a fan of fancy food names. A mango cheesecake is a mango cheesecake. There's only one thing left for me to come back for in Bizu-- the macaroons. Tell me what's so special about them!

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