La Lola's awesome churros ****

Do not fall into the trap of overbuying/hoarding because you lined up long for La lola's churros. There's nothing grandmotherly about these fried snacks. They are professionally prepared and each stick is crispy and well done. A medium order is good enough for two unless you're on a deathwish and go for the XL size without sharing.

The churros are fried in olive oil and the chocolate dip divine. The reviews were spot on and the cashier's slow speed can take its toll on the long lines. those in front can't help ogling at those golden fried sticks of pleasure. I can't help ogling either.

Chrurros Extruder

 La Lola Churerria

G/F powerplant mall

Love Shack *** Great Burgers at SM Aura

Love shack is at the far end of the earth. small and is at the end corner of aura, i almost missed it. But boy, they have great burgers! The menu is a weird mix of rice meals and other stuff that it suffers from an identity crisis whether it's burger place or an all in one casual restaurant. 

the burger menu

Come here for the burgers and you won't regret the experience, the Creation #2 has a tender beef patty with bacon and sauce that would definitely please 

all ages. Neatly presented in a wooden tray with potato croquettes,  the burger tastes as good as it looks. 

The other entrees that i ordered like the asian pasta was too sweet and forgettable. 

Try their Spareribs with a satay like peanutty sauce, this is delicious and the spareribs size is not bad

Will return for the burgers instead.

Spareribs - Good Sauce and filling

Asian Pasta - the sauce was too sweet for me

Love Shack

LGF Sm Aura Mall

The Fort, Taguig

Ramen Kuroda BF Paranaque***

Ramen places has been sprouting around town. This restaurant has been packing in huge crowds of diners for their  affordable ramen and Japanese specialties. Their ramen comes in these variants - shiro, kuro, miso, aki, chasyumen

We had the kuro ramen set with tonkatsu and the aki ramen set with prawns.

The shiro ramen is milky and flavorful. It sort of reminded me of santouka's shio ramen but this has light hints of spiciness. The ramon comes with seaweed, bamboo shoots a slice of chasyu and leafy greens.

 But i was blown away by the garlicky flavor of the aki ramen. This has a stronger umami taste and the noodles were firmer and aldente.

 The prawns were not exactly picture friendly but it does its job.

Here are the chefs at work in Kuroda

Ramen kuroda is located at Aguirre street, BF Paranaque.
About 300 per head.
There's parking outside.

Cafe in the Park (Century Hotel Manila) *

I remember during the late 90's and early 2000's, the weekend buffet at Cafe in the Park

Decades later, there still is a buffet at Cafe in the Park but the place looks so old it the 90's clock just stopped ticking. The good old charm of Cafe in the Park chefs are still there, and holding on to my plate I take a deep breath, as I look at their spread during a Sunday lunch to celebrate an aunt's birthday. 

The food selection is in a terribly sad state although some are cooked deliciously. The lechon kawali station is the crowning glory here but after one round this was never replenished. The service was really bad and the waiters were either non existent or they were really undermanned. A pity that the place has suffered as well as the food, avoid at all cost.
. 

 

Farmacy Ice Cream and Soda Fountain **

If you're around the BGC area, you won't help but notice the Farmacy,
the ice cream and soda fountain near Wildflour.

I love the 1950's era charm of the place. The interiors will take you back in time
when ice cream parlors were the rave. Think Pops' Choc'lit Shop of Archie comics.

The area is quite narrow as there are only rows where customers can have their ice cream fix. You may also have it by the bar or al fresco where more tables are set up. (Please be warned that there are a lot of mosquitoes outside, I don't know why)

Farmacy serves different flavors of their home-made ice cream, in scoops or in sundae,
soda fountain classics like thick milkshakes are also available.

3 scoops: Cheese, Double Milk Chocolate, Straciatella

 Ice cream flavors include: Vanilla, Cheese, Double Chocolate, Black Sesame, Strawberry, Banana, Melon, Starciatella, Butter Pecan, Mint Chocolate Chip, Green Tea and more. They also have sorbets like calamansi.

We ordered different scoops to try and I can't help but notice their ice cream melts easily.
The ice cream is too sweet for my taste but the Double Milk Chocolate is spot on. 

At night, Farmacy is a great place to hang out with friends, beer and local craft beers are served. Check this place out and do tell me the flavors you like




Farmacy Ice Cream & Soda Fountain
4th Avenue corner 26th Street, Bonifacio Global City

The Lowdown on the KFC Double Down Dog

Double Down Dog poster from KFC Philippines twitter account

From the mad, evil genius behind KFC's Double Down comes another innovation of carnivorous cholesterol madness - The DOUBLE DOWN DOG!

Why waste precious tummy space on bread if you can have both meat and hotdog in one go? For pure double chicken madness, they use a Purefoods Chicken and Cheese hotdog to double your chicken pleasure, plus another dollop of cheese sauce on top!

To make things interesting they will only be releasing 50 of these meatwiches
on select branches per day. Get ready for the lines!

We tried one out at the SM MOA branch.
It was only prepared upon order and comes in set meal for Php 129 with a small Coke and any fixin.




At one glance the Double Down Dog isn't really that big, but it sure is tasty.
The Double Down Dog was dog-gone after it was gobbled it down for less than 5 minutes and there's this weird feeling like you'll want yo order another because of the size.

And the DDD didn't look a bit like the one in the poster as you can see below.
You have to hold the wrap so the chicken will stay in place.
I swore I would've enjoyed it more with a dipping sauce of gravy - for
extra heartbreaking fun. Unless you have a deathwish, do not order this every mealtime.

Conquer it at your favorite KFC branch before its gone.

Sambokojin is love ***

If Dad's Buffet marries Saisaki, Sambokojin is going to be the offspring.
Named after the Japanese Kitchen God, Sambokojin has a buffet spread that features a wide array of best-loved Japanese and Korean favorites, an elaborate sushi bar, plus Yakiniku, the Japanese way of grilling. Notable mention is their Kamameshi, Beef stew, different katsu and furai.

With the number of prepared dishes, you might skip the Korean barbecue and head on to the buffet. But do not miss those pieces shrimp in foil.

Rates are affordable for what they offer:
Php 599 for lunch Monday - Friday
Php 699 for dinner Monday - Friday
Php 749 for lunch and dinner on weekends

Kid rates are about Php 330
and senior citizens 70 years old and above get 50% off.

From the same group that brought you Dad's, Saisaki, Kamayan, this is buffet done right and priced right.


Check out the pics:

Sushi/ Maki

Cherries on top

Sushi

These went to my plate

Prepared food

This tastes like Bon Chon Chicken

Takoyaki station

Different types of okonomiyaki

Different types of gyoza

different types of katsu

Meats for barbecuing

Enjoyed my Sambokojin experience tremendously.

The food is cooked in small batches, so you get your food freshly prepared.
Lines are quite long so please be ther early.


Sambokojin West Avenue

Address : 15 West Avenue, Quezon City
Contact no.
(632) 372-8846 / (632) 921-2873
0917-8948845
Operating Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:30am – 2pm / 6pm – 10pm
Sat –Sun 11am – 2pm / 5:30pm – 10pm
 
Here's the map from their website:




Sambokojin EDSA

Address : 207 EDSA, Greenhills, Mandaluyong City
Contact no.
(632) 726-4466 / (632) 726-4520
0917-8964465
Operating Hours:
Mon-Fri 11am – 2pm / 6pm – 10pm
Sat –Sun 11am – 2pm / 5:30pm – 10pm

Magnum Opus Fine Coffee BF *

One of the most basic rules of a coffee shop is to serve your coffee hot.
No matter how good your coffee gets, everything is ruined with a lukewarm cup.

Magnum Opus is one of those small artisanal coffee places that emerged from BF. It has good reviews on spot, a loyal fanbase and a small arsenal of coffee flavors in their menu.





Being a former barista myself, I understand brewing a great cup takes some time. But I thin one must also be careful not to dwell on it too long. Temperature is important and hot coffee must be served immediately.



Sadly my Magnum Opus experience did not live up to my expectations. The Belgian Heartbreak, one of the famous coffee blends with Coffee and dark chocolate was like its namesake. It broke not just my heart because we ordered two of this. Our order took more than 20 minutes, and that was not even a busy night. The coffee was cold. The barista, I noticed was multi-tasking, she was the cashier, she made the coffee and scraped the used ground coffee without washing her hands at all. Screw the reviews, I'll stick to my Toby's Estate, thank you.

This Belgian Heartbreak just broke my heart