Dippin' Dots: A Futuristic Dessert Throwback

Futuristic yet retro - my friend saw that description of Dippin' Dots ice cream somewhere online. Dippin' dots has also been in the country for quite some time. I remember having one when I was a kid. It's not the usual ice cream that you scoop out of a tub. Rather, you scoop out tiny colorful ice cream dots. They also had this type of ice cream in Universal Studios Singapore, in their Sci-fi Cafe, when we visited last 2012.

Wanting that futuristic-retro-ice-cream, I bought a cup at their SM Mall of Asia kiosk.

There were 4 flavors on display: Peppermint, Candy Cane, Strawberry and Vanilla. You could order a maximum of 3 flavors in a cup. They only had one serving size. I ordered Peppermint, Candy Cane and Strawberry.

Peppermint and Candy cane looks alike with the green, red, and white colored dots. They also both have a minty taste. The difference is that the peppermint had brown dots which are probably chocolate flavored. The white-light pink on the left side is the strawberry.

You could choose to let the dots melt in your mouth or just munch on them.

Peppermint is what I liked best. The novelty of eating ice cream in dots form is fun too. I just hope there were more available flavors or even just a variety with what was available since candy cane and peppermint tasted almost alike.

Branch visited located at: 2nd floor, Main Mall, SM Mall of Asia

Click here for the Dippin' Dots website: Dippin' Dots!

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Chewy Junior: Cream-filled Dessert

For an alternative dessert, we went to Chewy Junior to have some chewy cream-filled goodies.

My gastronomer friend had the New York Cheesecake. This one is vanilla cream filled with a creamy cheesy topping. It is also covered with cheesecake-crust-like powder.

I ordered the Java Chip Cookie that was covered with chocolate and topped with cream plus half an Oreo. As the name suggests, it has coffee cream filling. On my first bite, I got chocolate and cream on my face - a sweet mess I had to clean. This did not stop me from finishing the whole thing.

The consistency of the bread is similar to a Japanese doughnut - chewy. The creaminess comes from the filling while toppings determine the flavor. So if you have cheese toppings, you ought to get some saltiness. While if you have chocolate based toppings, you get more sweetness. These are perfect for snack time, dessert time, or for any time you need a little chewy-creamy fix.

Branch visited located at: 2nd floor, Entertainment Mall, Mall of Asia, Pasay City

Baskin Robbins: Ice Cream for 3, coming right up!

Want to cool down or simply just want to enjoy the afternoon? Ice cream can be an answer to both. We visited Baskin Robbins in BGC to finally get a taste of their ice cream after years of absence in the country.

Decision time...There were many flavors on display.

Scooping up! We chose Pistachio Almond, Jamoca Almond Fudge, and Love Potion #31.

We ordered a triple regular scoop ice cream. I just felt like a kid holding this big bowl of ice cream. An excited and happy kid. (P.S. I shared this with 2 other people)

The ice cream tends to stick to the plastic spoon. That explains the crater in my pistachio scoop - where a plastic spoon used to be. I can't smoothen it out since somehow more ice cream just sticks. Is this a sign of creamy ice cream? Thus, we proceed to tasting.


Pistachio Almond

Occasional nuts and a not too sweet ice cream. Perfect if you want to have a little bite in your ice cream. One of the more common flavors in the market but with an added treat (almonds).


Jamoca Almond Fudge

When you can't decide between coffee and ice cream. It has that coffee flavor with ribbons of chocolatey syrup.


Love Potion #31

Raspberry filled chocolate hearts and white chocolate and raspberry ice cream. I think this one was the sweetest because of the chocolate hearts. The hearts weren't too few nor too many. I almost always get a piece every spoonful but it did not overpower the ice cream. The tart-berry taste went well in the mix.

What I liked about the three is that its sweetness is not super super sweet. Sometimes a super sweet food makes me feel like my throat is going to itch and I need to flush it down with water. But for these three, it was nothing like that. Just ice cream eating time :)


Branch visited located at: Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

Potts Point: Mother's Day 2015 - Australian Organic Lunch

--------- Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!! ---------

Potts Point has recently opened a branch in Mall of Asia. What's good about their food is that it is organic. What's better is that we got online discount coupons (again) that gave us 40% discount. Yay! Just in time for an advanced Mother's Day celebration. We had our lunch here the day before Mother's day.


Organic Roasted Chicken Fillet with Salsa Verde, Mango Cream, Garlic Yoghurt Sauce, and Quinoa-Red Rice Salad

I liked the way they presented this with the sauces forming patterns on the side.

This one is perfect for rice-people who want a healthier alternative. A little salty outside tender and simple inside.


Australian Grass-fed All Beef Burger with Australian Cheddar, Pickled Beets, Olive Oil Aioli and House-made Brioche Bun with Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

The patty was made of pure beef, a little crumbly in texture, but juicy and tender. The patty itself was a little salty compared to other burgers where the saltiness comes from the sauces and other burger toppings (like the Cowboy burger of Village Tavern where its saltiness comes from the bacon topping). Pickled beets, cheese, lettuce filled up this burger. You could also add an organic egg if you want for additional Php30. It comes with sweet potato fries generously sprinkled with Parmesan cheese on top.


Baked Prawn Thermidore Shepherd's Pie with Garden Salad

A thin layer of cheese covered the prawn pieces resting on top of mashed potato at the base of the "pie". This was a little spicy. It also came with a salad and 2 pieces of bread. It had two of my favorite food items - prawns and cheese.

You get cheese, prawns, potatoes, and spice with almost every mouthful.

Old Fashioned Grass-Fed Meatloaf - for sharing

Another pretty sauce pattern.

For more beef, we had meatloaf for sharing. We were hesitant at first to order meatloaf. But we were glad we did. The sauce was what I liked most about this dish. Sweet, just the right sweetness. The loaf itself was tender and the mashed potato was lightly seasoned.


Branch visited located at: 2nd flr, Veranda, Entertainment Mall, Mall of Asia, Pasay City

Backlog Post: Tokyo Cafe: Mother's Day 2014

Mothers' Day is fast approaching! Around this time last year, my mom and I had a mini food trip of our own at Tokyo Cafe in SM Mall of Asia. Aside from Japanese dishes, they also have American and Filipino inspired dishes in their menu.


California Maki

The mayonnaise inside the maki itself is what I remember best about this. The rice was good too. It was the first item served and being at my hungry state, I easily devoured some.


Tokyo Boneless Chicken

Pieces of herbed chicken fillet in gravy. The chicken itself was tender but the sauce was a tad bit salty for us.


Pork Tonkatsu and Ebi Furai Bento Set

We ordered the Tonkatsu and Furai as part of a bento set. Bento sets are good deals if you want to get more than one type of food. This one came with rice, soup and side dishes.


We got a free set of lifestyle magazines and a tote bag due to the special occasion.

*This is a backlog post. Actual food expedition was made a few months prior to publishing of this post.

Branch visited located at: Ground floor, Main Mall, SM Mall of Asia

Backlog Post: Green Pastures

Off to the healthier side, we went for something organic and headed to Green Pastures at Shagri-la East wing.

Stracciatella Cheese was first on the food list. Being a cheese lover, I liked this immediately. It was made of buffalo milk and indeed tasted fresh. It was also served with arugula and toasted bread.

Their sliders set was a sampler of three burgers: 80/20 Burger, Blue Ribbon Burger, and Vegetarian Burger That Doesn’t Suck (yes, that is the name).

True to its name, the vegetarian burger really tasted good! The patty was made of organic vegetables. Too bad we only ordered a sampler with slider-sized patties. I wanted more.

As for the two meat burgers, I preferred the 80/20 Burger over the Blue Ribbon Burger perhaps because I am not much of a fan of blue cheese.

The 80/20 burger had 80% wagyu beef, and 20% pancetta, topped with stracciatella cheese (fan of this cheese now) while the blue ribbon burger was made of Wagyu shortrib, chuck, and brisket, topped with blue cheese.

The Miso Tapuy Glazed Lapu Lapu was a slab of tender fish on a bed of asparagus. Sweet-saltiness of miso glaze paired well with the seafood. And the seafood itself was of good quality, “hindi malansa”. Sauce was also served at the side for added flavor if desired. The buckwheat noodles provided carbohydrates and made the dish a complete meal.

I chose Milk Eggs Honey as dessert because I was curious at what honeycomb tastes like. I first tasted each component that provided distinct flavors. The lemon curd was generally sour with hints of sweet but it was not like some lemon sauces that just tasted like melted citrus candy. The greek yogurt was smooth and a good contrast to the texture of the honeycomb. The honeycomb tasted like sugar in a chewable form. I tried eating the honeycomb on its own, sipping out the sweetness, then what was left was something dried and tasteless. I then learned that it was better to chew the whole thing and not sip out the sugary goodness. When I ate the components together, along with the almond slivers toppings, it was a carnival of textures and flavors. Sweet, sour, smooth, something with a bite.

Branch visited located at: Edsa Shangri-la East Wing, Ortigas Center


*This is a backlog post. Actual food expedition was made a few months before publishing of this post.

Backlog post: Bar Dolci @ 50% off

It was sometime last year when Bar Dolci opened their new branch at Blue Bay Walk in Pasay City. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of their opening month, they offered 50% off! I'm not sure if it was only applicable to the gelato or to all menu items. Of course we didn't let this pass by.

We ordered three small cups with two different flavors each.



French Vanilla and White Chocolate Wasabi

It may not be noticeable at first but this cup has two different flavors - one is a classic and another has a wasabi heat that reaches up to your nose. It's a game of "guess what flavor is on what side of the white ice cream".




Milky Cookies and Ferrero

Here we have another cup with similar colored flavors but this time it's with chocolate based flavors. The one on the upper right half is the Milky Cookies. I love how the chocolate cookie chunks add texture and bite to the ice cream. The other one on the lower left half is the Ferrero which really tasted like the ice cream version of the famous chocolate.




Rum Raisin and Hazelnut

We can sort of distinguish the colors of the ice cream now. The beige-y brown on the left is Rum and Raisin which taste reminds me of fruit cake. The Hazelnut ice cream on the right had real hazelnuts in it too.

A week after, we visited again and had these servings of gelato and sorbet. I can't recall the names of these flavors but it still looks very yummy...

Would like to try more of their gelato including the Tequilla Rose. According to the person at the store, it runs out of stock really quickly.


Branch visited located at: Blue Bay Walk, Pasay City

Village Tavern: Celebrate with Burger, Pizza and Ribs

Have you tried a Black Pizza? And have some burger and ribs too.

Off to celebrate something special, we went to Village Tavern at Bonifacio High Street. This was a perfect time to use our 40% off coupon for any Bistro group restaurant (Italiannis, Fridays, etc) which includes Village Tavern.

We arrived before noon for an early lunch. One side of the wall, the one beside the couches, features a mural. The other side features wine display and the bar.

Cowboy burger and Black Pizza arrived first.

I’m intrigued at how the Black Pizza would taste like. It is a thin crust pizza with chewy edges and with squid ink infused in its dough. I did not taste the squid ink in the crust though. Or maybe I am just not familiar with it. The more dominant flavor is the cheese which I liked. Other toppings include onions, bell peppers, mushroom, pork, and pepperoni.

The Cowboy Burger has a thick patty with pure beef goodness. It is the cheese and sauce gives the cowboy burger a Mexican taste. The bacon added saltiness to the mix. This is what I liked best among the dishes we ordered.
We ordered this with sweet potato fries instead of ordinary potato fries. The sour taste of the dip went well with the natural sweetness of the fries.

The Pan Seared Lapu-lapu and Texas Ribs arrived next. It is seldom that I see a lapu-lapu dish in a restaurant’s seafood menu nowadays since the fish commonly used in fillet or other dishes is cream dory. A slice of lapu-lapu sat on a bed of potato wedges. Potato wedges serves as the carbohydrates of this dish. The saltiness of the sauce complements the fish and potatoes but is quite salty for me to eat on its own.

The Texas Ribs had a good amount of meat and a little fat on it. It has just the right amount of sweet BBQ flavor.



A Previous visit:

We visited this place some time last year and we had this dish with wonderful slices of tender pork and mushroom gravy.

While this one is the lime flavored dessert we had that time.

Branch visited located at: Bonifacio High Street, Taguig