Wow! One of our favorite restaurants, Banapple, has just celebrated their first year anniversary! It seems just like yesterday when I posted an entry about Banapple’s opening. I even included their menu! Well, one year after, they are doing very well, and with new pies and meals too! My absolute favorite is the COFFEE TOFFEE ROCA PIE! (P75/slice, P560/whole)

Click here for their pies and cakes price list.

Congratulations GJ, and here’s to another great year ahead!

I got curious when 3 friends told me that there’s a new place with really good ice cream \. Off to Podium I went to search for Sebastian’s. Since they have Macadamia, that’s what I ordered. You see, my favorite ice cream flavor EVER is Haagen Dazs‘ Macadamia Nut ice cream. I didn’t like Sebastian’s version, because it was TOO RICH. It was just too much. I couldn’t finish a scoop!

First impressions are always important. Because of my first experience with their ice cream, I wasn’t interested anymore. But, we had to attend a party at Podium once and I decided to try out another flavor, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. It was YUMMY!!! The cookie dough chunks were really big and they tasted really good! Now, I’m a fan, and I’m planning to try the other flavors. However their waffle cone tastes bland. I wish they can use sugar waffle cones instead.

Just realized today that I like Pepsi Max more than Coke Light.  And I really don’t like Coke Zero – weird, but for me it doesn’t taste like Coke Regular at all.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Pink Cream Cheese Frosting
Originally uploaded by Miss Bexxie.

Look at that. It looks so yummy! I’ve been looking at cupcake photos in Flickr for the past 3 days. I think this is a result of my diet. If I can’t eat and savor the food, then I’ll just look at them and admire them. And because of this, I was inspired to take up baking lessons. I just wanna learn how to bake again – we did a lot of baking in high school, and that was it. After high school I would bake one in a blue moon – maybe a total of 5 times from then til now.

Can you suggest a course/workshop/class that I can take? Baking only, and I’m really only interested in cakes.

The girls at C’ Italia
Originally uploaded by Carambs!.

I joined the girls last June 2-3,2007 and we went on a roadtrip to Subic and Clark. I was with Joe, Carmela, Cathy, Cookie, Yoj and Angie. We brought two cars, one driven by Cookie, one driven by Angie. First stop was Subic where we had lunch and shopped! Then we went back to Clark where we stayed for the night. We stayed at Monte Vista, in Mimosa. The villa was really nice, and we were lucky that we got it at a promo price of P4,500. We were really tired by then so we just ordered room service for dinner – and what a surprise! The food was actually good! The rest of the night was spent singing. We sang the night away using Yoj’s good ol’ magic sing.

Stopover at a gas station.

The villa.

Room service. Yummy food!

The next day, we had lunch at C’ Italia which I now consider as one of my favorite restaurants. The food was GREAT! Their best seller, the panizza, was a hit with the girls! We met the owner, Chris, who was very accomodating. He toured us around the restaurant and told stories about his famous customers, which included a couple of Philippine presidents (Ramos and Arroyo).

Cristina Panizza

With the owner, Cris.

We got back in Manila at around 6PM, and by that time we were really tired. It was such a fun roadtrip that we decided we would do it again sometime in the future.

Complete set of photos here.

Banapple is a cafe/cakeshop/coffeeshop along Katipunan extension, owned by our friend GJ. I worked with him during my PinoyExchange days – he was still with Sky Internet then. And then in ABSi, I turned over my telco relations duties to him. His wife has been baking for a long time now – I have always ordered cheesecakes from them and gave these as gifts to friends. They have also been supplying cheesecakes and pastries to some coffeeshops/restaurants, like Windows. So it was a pleasant surprise when we saw the Banapple sign weeks ago across Kopiroti. They’re expanding!

They opened yesterday – so we made sure that we had lunch there. It was another pleasant surprise that they also offered entrees. I ordered the Herbed Chicken Rolls w/ Basil Cream Sauce (P145). It was good! Though similar, it’s not the usual cordon bleu/a la kiev. I really liked the sauce. And even if I’m not fond of potato salad, theirs is actually good.

Here’s their menu for now:

SANDWICHES
Terrific Tuna Sandwich P85
Asian Crabstick and Mango Salad Sandwich P85
Warm Chicken Salad Sandwich P90
Rafael Maple-Glazed Ham and Honey Mustard Sandwich P110

PASTAS
Fettuccine Jacintha P110
Penne Bolognese P110
Fettuccine Magnifico P110
Pasta Verde P110

ENTREES
Herbed Chicken Rolls w Basil Cream Sauce P145
Garlic Beef Tapa w Creamed Parsley Eggs P120
Glazed Pork Tocino w Creamed Parsley Eggs P110
Breaded Fillet of Creamy Dory w Honey Thyme Mustard Sauce P150

PANCAKES
Buttermik Pancakes P70
Awesome Blueberry Pancakes P85
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pancakes P85

SAVORY PIES
Creamy Chicken Pie P75
Savory Tuna Pie P75
Cheese and Mushroom Pie P75

PIES and CHEESECAKES
Blueberry Cheesecake P700
Two-Nut Caramel Cheesecake P700 (Yummy!)
Chocolate Chip Walnut P480
Banoffee Pie P480 (I love this!)
Apple Caramel Crumblr P500
Snicker Fudge Cheesecake P800
Strawberry Crunch Cheesecake P700
Cadbury Old Gold Oreo Cheesecake P1020
Classic Pecan Pie P800
Honey Carrot Walnut Cake P650
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake P650
Super Caramel Fudge Cake P700

Their address is 225 Katipunan Ave, Blue Ridge QC. Phone number 4392675. It’s right across Kopiroti, before Katips. Hope you can drop by!

Thanks to Mikoid for the photos!

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Photo_04.jpg,
originally uploaded by CharoLP.

Having dinner at OJs in Eastwood. There’s Mongolian here. It’s good, and it’s yummy!

On Green Tomato and Favorite Restaurants

I have a new favorite restaurant – Green Tomato at Shangri-la Mall. So far, all the dishes I’ve tasted are yummy! I was able to taste Arrabiata, Amatriciana, Chicken Fingers, and Chicken Chunk Pizza. The prices are reasonable, and the service is okay. The only negative thing I can think of is that the area is almost always full, because of Mongkok. But that’s okay with me!

Speaking of favorite restaurants, I was devastated (yes, it’s not an exaggeration) when I found out that Sushi Mart was gone!!! Sushi Mart, though not a full-pledged restaurant, is one of my favorite restos ever. For me, they have the best kani sushi! The tempura is good, and the gyudon is even better! 80% of the time I’m in Megamall, I have lunch/dinner there. I was a frequent visitor over the years. It’s gone now. Sigh.

I have another favorite restaurant in Megamall – Krua Thai, along the Megamall Strip. I order the same thing every time we go there – Chicken Pandan and Krua Thai fried rice. I’m not confident that it will stay long, so I’ll enjoy it while I can.

Krispy Kreme

My parents came home from the US yesterday and they brought home 3 boxes of Krispy Kreme. They loved it so much so they wanted me to taste it because they remembered that I introduced them to Gonuts. I think I’m the only one among my friends who has’t tasted this. They’ve been telling me that it’s nothing great, that it’s similar to Gonuts. I agree, Gonuts is as good, but the texture is really different. Aside from the texture, I guess the only other thing that’s different is the variety of flavors.

I find it too sweet, which isn’t good coming from someone who loves sweets. All in all, after finally tasting the much-hyped Krispy Kreme, I can say that we’re not missing much. I just hope that Gonuts can add more flavors.

South Beach

Hi guys! Need help. Do you have the actual recipe line up for the first two weeks of South Beach? The info I have is very general, from the website, which encourages visitors to sign up (paid membership) to get the more accurate information. If you do, kindly email me at charo at pinoyexchange dot com.

Thanks thanks thanks!