The Wicked Waffle Express

A new breakfast place in town had open near our office in McKinley Hill! My officemates and I check it out right away since we love breakfast! Wicked Waffle also served Bon Appetea milk teas.

This is what we ordered:

Sirloin Tapa Bowls

Spicy Tuyo Bowls

Blueberry Waffle

Over-all, the food is not great. I find it very expensive since it is very small. I can feel that I can cook this dishes at home with a better quality. For the waffle, it is good since it is freshly made but you need to wait for 10 minutes.

Menu:

Address: GF R-E1 Stamford Executive Residences Mckinley Hill Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

Lugang Cafe

When Lugang Café had this promo for the first time, we never got the chance to try it due to our busy schedules. So when this ad popped on my FB wall, I told my friends right away! And, we ate our hearts, stomachs out!

Below were thedishes we ordered:

Aweto Flower, Mushroom and Jelly Fish- this was our ultimate favorite, we ordered 3!

Taiwanese Omelette with Preserved Turnip Bits- this goes so well with the pickled cabbage

Taiwanese Pickled Cabbage

Vietnam Egg Rolls

Stewed Pig Slices

Soup of the Day

Xiao Long Bao –> very tasty, served hot, we ate 5 baskets of these!

Each get to choose 1 main dish.  since are a group of 5, we got 5 dishes:

Chicken top with Scallion and Ginger Oil- the skin is fatty but tasty

Wasabi Mayo Prawns- must order, very delicious!!!

Taiwanese Crispy Chicken- very good, skin is crispy!

Oyster with Black Bean Sauce

Szechuan Tan Tan Noodles with Peanut Sauce

Overall, the dishes were delicious! Although this was supposed to be a PROMO, they did not scrimp on the ingredients. This was really a great deal!!!

Address: New Glorietta, Ayala Avenue,  Ayala Center, Makati City

Chef Lau’s Pugon Roasters

After Chef Lau’s BFAST did not become a hit, they have an overhaul change to become Chef Lau’s Pugon Roasters. The ambiance is better and I noticed there are more people eating at this place. So after checking in at Manila Pen, we dropped by this place to have some lunch.

It shows that their food has no MSG

Cashier and the open kitchen

Food that we ordered:

Baked Bangus Belly

Chicken Liver Surprise!

Sizzling Angus Beef Sisig

Pancit Lukban

Side Order Veggies

I found their food too sweet for my taste and oily.  We are very disappointed with the food and we will not be coming back very soon.

Address: Ayala Triangle Gardens, Makati Ave,  Bel-Air, Makati City

Laduree

Laduree is one of the pioneers in selling macarons. It is in our list to at least taste their macarons. Since we chance this at Champs-Elysees, we decided to just have lunch here.

Love the walls

Since we cannot decide on what to eat, we just get a set lunch each. It cost 45 euros per person.

Bread

Appetizer:

organic scrambled eggs served with grilled small artichokes

OR

Salanova Salad

Entree:

Blini served with Grissons beef and herbs cream- very salty for my taste buds

OR

Wild sea bass tabbouleb

OR

Organic Salmon Carpaccio with ginger

Dessert:

We got to choose 2 each

Cafe

Overall, the ambiance is nice. The food is of good quality. I must say this was our most expensive lunch in Paris.

Outside the dining area

picture taken outside Laduree

Address: 75 Avenue des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris, France

Tim Ho Wan(添好運)

Tim Ho Wan (添好運) is the cheapest Michelin-starred dimsun in HongKong. So before heading home, we have brunch at their Central Station branch. At 10 am, there is already a queue. We waited for 2 hours just to be seated in. Take note that you need to share table with other people. You cannot choose your own seat.

Menu

What we ordered:

Baked bun with BBQ

This one of their bestsellers, the bread is very soft and tasty. The filling inside is very delicious. It is all worth the wait!

Steamed rice with beef and pan fried egg

Pan-fried turnip cake

Steamed spareribs with black bean sauce

Glutinous Rice Dumpling

Hakaw

Steamed Rice Roll stuffed with pork liver

Mun Chicken Feet with Abalone Sauce

Steam bean curd skin roll filled with beef and eggplant

Malay sponge cake

As you can see, we ordered a lot! Everything is delicious at a cheap price. You just have to be patient in queuing.

But do not worry! Tim Ho Wan is coming to the Philippines. It will open at Megamall and Glorietta (beside Globe).

(photo grabbed from pepper.ph)

Address:  Shop 12A, Hong Kong Station (Podium Level 1, IFC Mall)

Ginza Bairin PH

Last year, many famous tonkatsu places have opened up in the Philippines. One of them was Ginza Bairin. They opened their first flagship store at the newly renovated Glorietta 2.

One Saturday afternoon, I met with my tennis buddies for a Japanese Lunch.

Everything in this poster is refillable

What we ordered:

Rosu Katsu Set (moist, flavorful loin)

Seafood Set (Prawn, Premium White Fish and Salmon)

Ebi Fry Curry Set

Rosu Katsudon Set

Ice Cream Trio (Vanilla, Black Sesame and Green Tea)

Overall, the food is great. The Rosu Katsu is very tender and flavorful. The Ebi Curry is very delicious. The curry is not too strong, is just have the right amount of spices.

I must also commend the waiters of Ginza Bairin because they were really attentive in everyone’s need. The ratio of waiter to the table is equally distributed thus efficient service.

Address: Ground Floor Glorietta 2 (along Palm Drive), Ayala Center, Makati City

Tel No: 553-7350

Modern Sichuan Restaurant

Sichuan/Szechuan (四川) cuisine is famous for spicy dishes. The spiciness is based on the used of garlic, chili peppers and the unique flavor of Sichuan pepper.

Since my teammate knew the manager of the restaurant, we got 10% off (technically, they just waived the service charge). So off to this restaurant to try their famous Sichuan dishes.Modern Sichuan also have the menu of Modern China if you do not like spicy food.

Main Entrance

The food that we ordered:

Complimentary Peanuts

Pork Slices in Chili Sauce

Yang Chow Fried Rice

This is always the staple order when dining at Chinese restaurants. We were surprised their large order fits 9 people to eat! Their definition of large is different from other restaurants. The rice is very tasty and delicious!

Sichuan Mapo Tofu- lacks flavor

Baked Egg with Oyster

This is also delicious, the oyster are plumpy and it’s pipping hot when served!

Sichuan Meat Appetizer Sampler

This came in late. This should be the first one to serve. The dish is okay but nothing to rave about.

Cha Misua

Boiled Fat Beef in Chili Sauce

Sauteed Slice Pork with Pepper and Chili

Sichuan Fish Fillet in Hot Chili Oil

This dish is famous in Sichuan. Underneath the fish is loads of togue. The fish is fresh but I cannot taste the spiciness of the dish.

Spciy Sweet and Sour Pork

Definitely, the best dish of all. A good combination of spciy, sweet and sour!

Buchi

They gave as a complimentary dessert. Buchi is one of my favorite Chinese dessert but I hope they served them hot.

Overall, the experience is not bad. It is also my first time to try Sichuan dishes.The winning dishes for me are the Yang Chow fried rice and Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork. Definitely will come back to try the order dishes which are not available that day, like the Pork Slices in Chili Sauce and Maoxuewang.

Address: 5th Avenue, The Fort Entertainment Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Philippines

Telephone: 856-0470

Vanilla Cupcake Bakery

After having dinner, Karen and I went to Vanilla Cupcake Bakery to have some coffee. They have transferred to a bigger and better location so it’s time to blog their new place!

Fancy chairs and table

Menu

Variety of cupcakes

the P305 slice of red velvet cake

Brewed Coffee. They used Cath Kidston mugs.

What can I say? This is the cutest set-up of a restaurant that I have seen. From the chairs, which I think they sew it with cute cloths. They also used Cath Kidston. A little bit pricey but to think they have the best interiors, I will not complain!

Address: Ground Floor, Glorietta Ayala Center (beside Family Mart)

Jipan Cafe and Bakeshop

Whenever we are stressed from work, Karen and I usually go to Jipan to stress eat. For the several weeks, Jipan was under renovation. We thought Mrs. Fujimura (the owner) had the restaurant make-over. Surprisingly, she had sold the restaurant to Stephanie Brimo since she had decided to go back home to Japan.

     Today, Mrs. Fujimura has passed on the reigns and recipes to someone who is a lot like her. Stephanie Brimo spent her life in the food industry. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and after working at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto for 3 years, she decided that it was time to make the move back into the kitchen. She spent the next year training as a Patissiere at the Ecole Ritz Escoffier in Paris and worked as an intern at their world-renowned kitchens. After studying and working abroad for 11 years, Stephanie returned to the Philippines hoping to start a small place of her own, and that’s when she met Mrs. Fujimura. Through common friends, the two began talking about their love for the business, the joys of baking and their mutual belief in creating good food from scratch without relying on chemical enhancers and mixes. ( Source: http://jipan.com.ph)

We still tried it out since we want to know if the taste would be the same.

Everything had changed. Their color scheme is now black and red.

Shogayaki Meal (thinly sliced pork, sweet and tangy ginger sauce)

Agedashi Tofu

Overall, the food had changed. The pork was slightly salty. I had to add chili oil to counter the saltiness. Their old theme of green and white makes me feel happy and homey. I feel sad that they have changed the entire restaurant. I will probably go back once in a while, but we will look for a new comfort place to eat and relax.

Menu:

Address: 2/F Glorietta 4, Ayala Ave cor Pasay Rd Ayala Center, Makati

Sophie’s Mom

Sophie’s Mom recently opened at Tuscany, McKinley Hill. Sophie’s Mom is the home of the best red velvet cakes and the happiest place on earth.

cute stuff in the walls

beautiful table setting

post-its in the wall

I miss Paris!

Cute water dispenser

This is what we ate:

Red Velvet- very soft and delicious!

Lasagna- it’s ok

Coffee to pair with the cake

Over-all, I like the ambiance of the place. It is cozy that I actually like to work there. They just need to improve on the service since there is no waiter on the second floor. You actually need to go down if you want to get something or pay your bills.

Sophie’s Mom
Tuscany, McKinley Hill
Opens from 7AM-10PM