Almon Marina, Sandwich Bar & Deli, Megamall Branch

We’ve been passing Almon Marina but haven’t tried it, and so we thought of giving it a try. It was dinner time but there were only few people dining in.  There was no queue so we were able to order fast. We waited 15 minutes until our orders were served.

We ordered  their soup of the day, which I forgot the name (sori)

 

 



The soup is okay, it is creamy and it was served hot.

 

We also ordered Roast chicken, it is served with rice pilaf, side dish of your choice (it may be one or two side dish depending on your order), you may choose from macaroni salad, mashed potato, coleslaw, herbed vegetable or potato salad.

 

 

We chose coleslaw, its kinda okay, there is nothing special, the chicken is good because of the sauce, you can ask for extra sauce.

 

We also ordered, Stuffed Pork chop, stuffed with cheese, apples, herbs and spices.

 

 

It tasted good and I like the cheese stuffed in the meat and the meat is tender.

 

The food that we ordered are all okay, it all tasted good. The serving is not that big, it was just enough to fill in our hungry stomach, but not much to make it full. All of their food comes with a 5% service charge.

 

Almon Marina has a cozy dining area that it gives a homey feeling. The whole dining experience was okay, I will definitely go back to try their other dishes.

 

For their complete list of branches, you may visit their website http://almonmarina.com/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yabu, Megamall branch

It’s been quite awhile that Yabu has started operating in the Philippines and people were excited to try it. I attempted several times to dine here but it is always jam-packed, there were always long queue and not to mention that budget is also a concern. However, I am persistent on trying Yabu.

 

When I ate there with my officemate, it was lunch time on a weekday, there were only few people. However, we still waited for our turn to be seated.

 Upon ordering, we were oriented on the different sauces that they have. They have wasabi, vinegar, salad dressing and their famous katsu sauce that you have to prepare on your own. The service crew taught us how to make the katsu sauce. You need to grind the sesame seeds on a circular motion until it became a powdery like, you can smell the aroma of the sesame seeds, until you are ok with it then you can pour the katsu sauce.

 

 

We ordered the Tonkastsu and cream dory fillet, both dish comes with unlimited side dish and rice. Yabu has a generous serving, enough for a hungry person and it may be good for two persons if you have small appetite. You can ask for refill of rice and side dish without waiting for long. The meat in Tonkatsu is soft and tender.

 

Tonkatsu

 

Dory fillet

 

Miso Soup

They have nice ambiance and the interiors were cool, it has large comic strips on the wall.

 

 

 

Overall, I had a nice dining experience at Yabu. Though the prices seem to be expensive but it’s worth the taste.

 

A taste of Magnum

The Magnum Manila Pleasure Store at SM Aura, Premier was the first Magnum store in the Philippines. When the Magnum ice cream store was about to open, we were very excited to try it out. When it finally opened there were always long queue, and we were not patient enough to stand in queue.

Finally we were able to try it out. No long queues since it is a Sunday morning and the mall has just opened.

Upon entering the store, we were asked if we will order for dine in or not. There is a separate line for dine in customers and for the "make your own magnum".



Queue for dine in customers or for Magnum Café



Queue for "Make ur Own Magnum"

I was just able to try the "make ur own magnum", it costs P100.00 each, which comes with three (3) toppings of your choice.

The first step for the "Make Ur Own Magnum" is to choose for your three (3) toppings. There is a wide array of toppings to choose from, pistacchios, almonds, marsh mallows, rice crisps, dried mangoes, honeycomb, chocolate crunch, pretzels, oreo, and a lot more.
I chose pistacchios, oreo and marsh mallow.

 

The second step is to choose what flavor of your Magnum, you can choose from Vanilla, Chocolate and Chocolate-Caramel. I chose Vanilla.

The third step is to choose what dip flavor, the choices are: white chocolate, chocolate and dark chocolate. I chose chocolate for my dip for a good contrast of the vanilla magnum ice cream bar.

The fourth step is to choose the flavor of the drizzle, either chocolate or white chocolate. I chose white chocolate for my drizzle.

The fifth step is to top it with the chosen three (3) toppings and lastly, top it with the "M" chocolate coin, then its ready to eat.

Toppings: marsh mallow

For customers for the "make your own magnum", they can only stay on the couch provided behind the wall separating magnum café if you choose to stay inside the ice cream store.

The Magnum Café has a modern design and ambiance. Maybe next time I'm going to try their Savory menu at the Magnum Café.

You can eat your take - out Magnum ice cream on the couch inside and take photo ops with the famous "M" logo of Magnum, which is made of Magnum popsicle sticks. However, there is a note just below it that says, 'for your eyes only", I don't know what does it mean, does it mean that picture taking is not allowed or you cannot pull out the sticks. ;)

We enjoyed our Magnum experience at the Make your own Magnum store, we loved ice cream and what it made more special is the fun of making your own Magnum.

If you haven't tried it yet, check it out at the
MAGNUM MANILA PLEASURE STORE
5/F Sky Park, SM Aura Premier
McKinley Parkway corner 26th St., Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

Lunch @ Madecca, Podium

I have lunch out with my office mates. Most of us just wanted to have a light and quick meal to avoid over breaks, so we just dined at Madeca at the 5th level of Podium Mall. 

Madeca offers a Filipino-Mexican food like Sisig and Lechon Kawali Burrito or Sisig and Lechon Kawali Soft taco, just to name a few. They also offer Mexikanin or their rice meals.

We ordered different foods so that we can share and try each of it.

For starters, we ordered chicken chicharon. It is a deep-fried chicken skin. It tasted good, but the boys preferred those bought at the streets. =)

The sisig soft taco, is yummy, the taco is soft by its name describes it. The sisig filling is also good; there are few crunchy and chewy.

The Lechon kawali soft taco and salpicao soft taco are both good too. The meat filling is tender. All Soft taco comes into 2 pieces with salsa and cream cheese dip; it also includes few pieces of tortilla. The tortilla is thin and crisp.

The sisig burrito and lechon kawali burrito is just the same with the soft taco, except that burrito of course comes with a rice. This is much heavy to eat than the soft taco. The same with the soft taco, it also paired with salsa and cream cheese dip and with tortilla.

The Mexikanin are their rice meals. It is also the same filling put in the soft taco and burrito, the rice has a little Mexican taste which I liked.  The serving is big.

Salpicao Mexikanin

Sisig Mexikanin

The dalandan juice, at first tasted good then I realized it is carbonated just like a soda fruit drink that you can buy at the supermarket.  I liked the how it was served, it is placed on mojito jar with a colorful paper straw.

For the dessert for the girls only, we ordered banana fritters. No photo of it because we just take it out and eat at the office. These are fried bananas sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with vanilla ice cream with caramel syrup. It has only 8 pieces of small bananas, just enough to take away the “umay” taste of the foods that we’ve eaten.

Madeca has a fast food service format. You order your food and pay at the counter and wait to be served at your table.

Overall, I liked the foods at Madecca and prices are affordable.

We thought of eating a light lunch but we ended up super busog and heavy feeling.

For the other branches, you may visit their website www.madeca.ph

Happy eating. =)

Cafe by the Ruins

One of the famous restaurants in Baguio is none other than "Café by the Ruins". We happened to try the restaurant during our first stop of our Baguio Trip day 1.

I included this in our itinerary to eat here, to finally try some of their menus.

We dine at their branch at Chuntug Street, this place is a busy street and the parking spaces of the restaurant was full, thus customers opt to park on the road. We were lucky to have an available parking space when we arrived. However, there was a long queue waiting to be seated and be served.

It was around 5:00 P.M and it is getting colder since it is close to night time. It was long before we were given our seats.   While waiting, I kept on looking around, the decors of the place, the type of customers dining in. The restaurant has this rustic ambiance and I found it cozy, their customers usually comes in big groups, maybe just like us who are visiting Baguio and trying out their meals. 

They have the panederia, where you can buy the bread of your choice for take outs.

 Inside the restaurant they have this open kitchen, where the food to be served is prepared.

They have a great food choices. They offer rice meals, pasta, sandwiches, breads, desserts and drinks.

 

Soon our orders were served. We ordered Forest Stream soup (120.00) to warm our empty stomachs. It has a Shitake with a gingery broth taste. Oh I don't liked it. =(

For our main dish, we ordered Baguio Bagnet at the price of 340.00, it was served with Benguet rice,and tomatoes and fish bagoong as dip for the bagnet. It was heavenly. It really tasted so good!

We also ordered the Shrimp Mango Curry for the price of P300.00, it tasted good too!
For the kids, we ordered lemon chicken nuggets for the price of P150.00, it is a thinly sliced chicken fillet topped with lemon butter sauce, the kids liked it, the chicken is tender and the sauce is tasty.

We just ordered 2 extra rice for the price of P25.00 each.For our drinks, we ordered Srawbery juice at 110.00, mango juice at 110.00, pandan lemon grass at 85.00 and for our dessert we ordered suman and tsokolate at 180.00. The suman is so yummi, and the tsokolate is also good, it has enough bittersweet taste which I liked most.

When we are about to leave the restaurant, a band is setting up. I just don't know if the band regularly plays, or it is only on weekends.

It was a nice dining experience. Too bad, Café by the Ruins can only be find at Baguio City. When we go back, I will eat there again.

Icings cakes - breads - cafe

It was the last day of year 2014 and after few hours we are saying hello to year 2015. 

My sister and I went to Market Market  to buy for a cake and do some errands for the preparation of foods to eat during media noche. We wanted to eat something light just enough to fill our hungry tummies while waiting for my husband to fetch us. We passed by Icings – cake, bread and café, and we found the place inviting.

From the outside, you can see their display of cakes and breads. The place looks comfy and relaxing and it was not crowded at the time. So we go in. 

 

As soon as we were seated, copy of menus were given to us. They have a vast of food choices from pasta, rice meals, breads and cakes and browsing it made me feel more hungry, from the idea of having a light meal, I ended up of having a Gamberi in Aglio Oglio and paired it up with Pandan Juice.

As for my sister, she ordered Chicken Waldrof sandwich and paired with a Cappuccino. I don’t know if it is a good match.

 

We waited roughly 15 minutes before our orders were served. The serving was big for us, both meals were already good for two persons or maybe we were not that hungry that’s why we found the serving big.

The Gamberi Aglio Oglio comes with toasted pita bread for the price of P225.00 

 

 

 

 

and the Chicken Waldrof sandwich comes with a yummy potato chips, for the price of P160.00. Since it is our first time here, we tasted each other’s order.

The pasta is good. I love the taste of a bit spicy and it’s not that oily.  The Chicken Waldrof Sandwich is yummy too. It has bits of apples that add sweet taste to the sandwich.

 

For the drinks,

 

 

The pandan juice is fine, nothing’s extra ordinary, same with the cappuccino. 

 

 

They also have Twinings Teas.

 

Overall, we enjoyed our meal. The food is good and the place is comfy and the value for money is worth it.

Go out and check it for yourselves, they have several branches within in the metro.

 

For the list of their branches, check out their Facebook account

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Icings-Cakes-Breads-and-Cafe

 

            

 

Eat like a Viking

It’s my second time to dine at Vikings, Megamall branch, and this time I am with my family. The first time I ate here, it was my office mate’s birthday. Since it is my second time, I made the reservations two weeks ago and I chose the dining area at the back of the beverage station.

When dining at Vikings, it is better to make a reservation at least two (2) weeks before your target date of dining. Many people eats at Vikings, Megamall branch even on weekdays.

I remembered, we tried dining at Vikings on a lunch time on Monday, I did not make any reservation for I thought it is a lean day, to my surprise, there are many people (walk-ins) on queue , so we decided to just eat to other restaurant. So better to call Vikings first and make your reservations.

 

We were already there before Vikings opened. There were already lots of people on queue both walk – ins and with reservations. A separate queuing   number were given to walk-in customers and to those who have reservations.

Yes, Vikings is fair enough to accommodate also those without reservations.

We availed the birthday promo treat of Vikings since it is the birthday of my hubby. If you will dine on the day of your birthday, the celebrant is free provided that he/she has at least one (1) accompanying adult. And if you will dine on any day of your birthday month, the celebrant is free of charge as long as is accompanied with four (4) full paying adults.

Vikings has a nice dining area especially at the back of the beverage station, so better choose that place when you are planning to make reservations. It is more spacious compared to those seats near the Japanese foods (on the left side when you are facing the entrance) and those seats near the grilling station.

Dining area at the back of the beverage station and near the grilling station

 

The dining area at the back of the beverage station.

Dining area near the Chinese foods station 

Vikings has a lot of foods to offer, from Asian, European and American.

Dimsums and other Chinese foods station

They have the salad station, the carving station. I like the roast beef, it is tender.

The carving station and the "make ur own" shabu shabu

 

For the Asian food, they have Chinese foods which dimsums that I like best. There are different dimsum that you can choose from. Tthere are pork and beef siomai, hakao, and beancurd. They also have yangchow rice, stir fried vegetables, and others.

For the Japanese food, they have also different types of maki, there are shrimp tempura, which I think is one of every person’s favorite. It ran out fast, you just have to wait for awhile to have it refilled.

Vikings is also known for its grilling station. You can choose from their seafoods selection and even meat. You just have to choose what to grill and the waiter will serve it to your table.

 

The grilling staion

They also have Italian food station, where you can even make your own pasta. It has also different bread types, mini pretzels, croissant, oat meal bread (which I like).

Vikings have a great selection of desserts and beverages. You can choose from cakes, pastries, panacotta, crème brulee, ice cream, and crepes.

They have also kiddie plates with matching kiddie spoon and fork.

For their beverage station,

You can choose from any brands of soft drinks, draft beer and even Tiger beer (in can), Milo, this is so yummy, it is not the usual Milo that we make at home, coffee which you can make your own cappuccino, sago and gulaman, fruit shakes, different flavors of Winnings Tea, (blueberry lemonade, iced tea, four seasons, lemon with mint, lemon with tanglad, and others that I forgot, And what I liked most? The Wintermelon!! It is super yummy. 

You can also make your own milk tea, an instruction guide is provided.



"make ur own" milk station

You can also ask for Twinings tea, which I preferred to take it at home very discreetly. =)

I super like their beverage station that I even stand there and taste a little of almost everything. ;-)

 

If you are celebrating your birthday, you will be greeted and sang with a vey lively and happy song and a cake will be given as complimentary.

Since this is my second time, I can say that I have tasted almost everything.

I enjoyed dining at Vikings. I may not have tried all the dishes, but I can say that that all foods that I ate were all good. The dining experience is exciting. The value of money spent was worth it.