Cucina Gayuma

Cucina Gayuma - quite a bizarre name for a restaurant which caught my curiosity at once after reading about it in one of the many food blogs that I religiously check everyday.

Cucina Gayuma serves Filipino dishes with a twist, putting together famous Continental concepts to our usual Filipino cuisine. Laing Cheese Spread (at P80), for instance, can be compared to Cibo’s Spinaci Zola – native taro leaves cooked with cheese, served with flatbread. Some of Cucina’s more popular dishes would include: (1) Laing Pasta (which is cooked with taro leaves, coconut milk and cream, topped with smoked fish and crumbled white cheese) and (2) Beef Balsamic Adobo (Pinoy adobo served with bulalo, or bone marrow).

Baked Ribs (at 280) – tender and juicy. Unlike other restaurants which serve ribs which flavors rely solely on the sauces, the meat itself was very flavorful. A must try!

Cheese Crusted Baked Fish (at P210), currently a best seller, is Cucina Gayuma’s version of Cookbook Kitchen’s Parmesan Crusted White Fish. Baked Dory fillets with mushrooms and spices, topped with cheese. Rich and flavorful, but I think it had too much pepper, which overwhelmed the natural flavor of the fish, cheese and the other spices. Cookbook Kitchen’s Parmesan Crusted White Fish is definitely much much better.

Cucina Gayuma is oddly located at Villa Ortigas along Granada Street, QC (intersection of Santolan and Ortigas) where its surrounding establishments are shops which sell car accessories and construction supplies. Parking space might also be difficult to find so better come early if you’re planning to visit this place.

Cucina Gayuma

Unit 22, Villa Ortigas, Granada St., QC

723-2975

Wheatgrass

Lately I have become more conscious of my health. I exercise more often (Hip Hop Abs and speed walking along Ayala during rush hour are considered as exercise, right? Hehe!), eat more veggies, and take some health supplements.


And today, I finally found the courage to try wheatgrass. Wheatgrass shots smell and taste unpleasant (like bitter melon, makes you feel nauseous) but it is equivalent to one kilo of green veggies, nutritionally speaking. All the vitamins and minerals that you can get from a kilo of green veggies, all squeezed and juiced into a little shot glass. Essential vitamins and minerals that improve the digestive system, detoxify and promote overall well-being.

Today, I am healthier.

My Blogging Camera

Yes, I am just an amateur food photographer… But my Canon Digital Ixus 750, plus a little help of some photo editing tools, could bring quality images to life!

All photos (well, most of it) uploaded to this site were captured using this camera... I love it and I love the pictures. It's my official blogging cam… Or at least for the mean time until I get myself a better one :-)

Lulubelle

Long lashes.
Mischievous smile.
Wings of an angel.

Who is she?

She’s Lulubelle... a very cheerful cow (yes, a cow!) who is now the face of a new dessert place in Rockwell. Lulubelle, a sister establishment of Fruits in Ice Cream (FIC), promises to satisfy your sweet tooth by indulging your cravings in their three mouth-watering treats: yogurt, ice cream and smoothie.

Here's how to enjoy your dessert at Lulubelle:

First: choose your base; it could be either ice cream or yogurt. The choices for ice cream include almost all FIC gourmet, sorbet and lite variety. For their yogurt, you can have it natural, flavored (strawberry or green tea), or both (a swirl of natural and your choice of flavored yogurt). They also have the sugar free line which they will be introducing to the market soon.

natural

green tea and natural

Second: choose how you want it; you can have it as a smoothie, or have it as is – in a cup.

toppings

Third: choose your toppings – (1) fruits and chocolates, (2) cookies and cake, (3) nuts and (4) candies and cereals. For those health conscious peeps, you can skip this and enjoy your yogurt hale and hearty.

Yogurt is priced at P80 for a small cup and P120 for a big cup. A scoop of ice cream is at P70 for gourmet and sorbet, P80 for FIC lites. Smoothies are a bit pricier – P120 for small and P180 for a large one. Lulubelle sells yogurts a bit more expensive than its competitors. It’s worth the try but not worth coming back for. Yoh-gurt Froz still tops my list (for overall taste and price), followed by White Hat.

Lulubelle

3/F Powerplant Mall

Rockwell

Royce Chocolates

The famous Japanese chocolate is coming to town! Now you don't have travel hundreds of miles just to have a bite of Royce's exquisite and heavenly chocolates.

Watch this space at the 3rd floor of Powerplant Mall, Rockwell.

Annabel Lee Café

Annabel Lee Café, Home of Finest Cheesecakes - awarded by the Philippine Tatler as one of the country’s 100 Best Restaurants for two consecutive years: 2006 and 2007.

Annabel Lee's Strawberry Cheesecake is smooth and creamy... with just the right amount of richness of cream cheese that perfectly blends with the flavor of strawberry. I wish they could have a fat-free line of cheesecakes soon. These cheesecakes make me gain 10lbs with just one slice! Hehehe :-)

Annabel Lee Café

Promenade, Greenhills

Pepper Lunch

One word - overrated. The food here is good, please don't get me wrong. Maybe I just expected more out of this resto - round-the-clock long lines, all the very flattering word of mouth, and tons of appetizing blog features.

Since Pepper Lunch opened in Manila, I have been wanting to try it out but the looong line is just unforgivable... not until last week when the line was actually not so bad, but still we waited for around 20 minutes.

Beef Pepper Rice

I had Beef Pepper Rice and my friend, E, had Chicken Pepper Rice.

Chicken Pepper Rice

Chicken Pepper Rice - I personally recommend... it's better than Beef Pepper Rice, but both were good :-) We mixed it with a bit of everything - the sauces (both Garlic Soy & Honey Brown Sauce), chili powder and more pepper! You can't eat it without adding anything, it's bland - just pepper and butter.

For dessert, we had Molten ala Mode. This dessert is very sinful! I can just imagine how much calories it has! But... very very good. One of the best desserts I ever had.

Molten ala Mode

My overall rating: 4.5 stars :-)

...minus 0.5 for the long line!

Pepper Lunch

Powerplant Mall, Rockwell

Bag of Beans

One of Tagaytay's best bragged about classics... the Bag of Beans. Famous for their English pies and al fresco ambiance, this is one place you shouldn't miss when you're visiting Tagaytay.

Apple Pie ala Mode

Apple Pie ala Mode – a Bag of Bean’s timeless recipe beyond doubt. Fresh pastry dough filled with dazzling hand-picked red apples served with vanilla ice cream, caramel syrup and cherry, you can never go wrong with this house specialty.

Coffee Alamid is one of Bag of Bean’s signature coffees but knowing how it’s made… I don’t think I would have a stomach for that. So I just had one of my favorites – hot white mocha.

White Mocha

Bag of Beans also serves lunch and dinner and has a mini bakery where you can enjoy other pastires and bread like cinnamon, cinnamon-raisin, or white bread. These are the same loaves of bread that are being served in Sonya's and in other lovely dining places in Tagaytay.

Bag of Beans Coffee Shop & Bakery
115 Aguinaldo Highway
Mendez Crossing West, Tagaytay City

Mister Kabab

Our third week (and counting...) of discovering sumptuous restaurants in a place which is now considered as Manila’s food trinity – the Tomas Morato / Timog / West Avenue loop.

One of the more famous places which serves authentic Persian cuisine in the Metro is Mister Kabab, located along West Avenue in Quezon City. You won’t miss this resto when you’re driving along the busy street of West Avenue since it has a huge sign which shouts – I serve the best kababs in town!

At first I was confused, is the name of this resto misspelled? It should have read – Mister KEBAB instead of KABAB. Due to my curiosity I looked it up and to my surprise, this barbeque like cuisine can be spelled in four different ways! Cabob, kebob, kebab, kabab – whichever name you want to call it – are small pieces of meat seasoned and broiled to perfection. These are usually on a skewer and often come with tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and other vegetables.

Special Beef Chelo Kabab

Special Chicken Chelo Kabab

Both the Special Chicken and Beef Chelo Kabab were good. The meat was just right – tender and moist – taste really yummy with Mister Kabab’s hot or yoghurt sauce and buttered rice!

Lamb Beryani

Lamb Beryani was kinda weird… Tasted like... Hmmm... Curry with a hint of kare kare. Basta! Don’t order this na lang when you plan to visit Mister Kabab. Hehe! :-)

Beef Shawarma in plate

Shawarma was just okay, but K and I both agreed that Food Channel’s shawarama is still the best! :-)

Yoghurt Shake

Yoghurt shake – too sour! I bet it was just pure plain yogurt + shaved ice. I think it would be better if they put some milk and sugar with it.

Although not all the dishes that we had were good, we came to Mister Kabab for their kababs (or cabob, kebob, kebab! Hehe!) and our hungry tummies were happily satisfied so I am still overall pleased with our dinner at Mister Kabab. Looking forward to our next visit! :-)

Mister Kabab

West Avenue, Quezon City

Starbucks Planners Through the Years

Planners, planners on the wall...

Which is the fairest of them all?

2009

2008

2007

2006

2006 - with free coffee coupons

The BIG Outlet SALE 2008

The biggest liquidation event of the year! Up to 80% off on major brands!!!

Rustan's Cosmetics, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Giordano, Chocolate, Salsa Trends, Triumph, House of Laurel, Mizuno, Puma, Nike, Adidas, Reebok, FUBU, Reebok, JB Music & Sports, Jaguar Automobiles, Power Mac, Bose, Abenson's, Rudy Project, Oakley, Vans, Rockport, Luxasia (Guerlain, Shiseido, CK, Burberry fragrances, etc.), MaxFactor, Tefal and much more!

* Present your BPI Credit Card & get in for FREE!

* BPI Edge cardholders get EXTRA perks!

* BPI CC purchases over P3000 qualify for 0% Interest, 3 Months to pay!

November 21 - 23

9am-8pm

Mark those dates!

Starbucks Planner '09

It’s here… The Limited Edition Starbucks Coffee 2009 Planner.

Red paper cups mark the start of this very festive Starbucks Christmas tradition. Aside from that, you’ll easily know if Starbucks already is giving away its planner when you see people lining up just to get their favorite Starbucks drink.

Dark Cherry Mocha, Toffee Nut Latte and Praline Mocha – enjoy them hot, iced or frappuccino. Sixteen stickers to collect: eight holiday beverages and eight drinks of your choice but each promo card comes with a gift – a free sticker! :-) What are you waiting for? Head to the nearest Starbucks and start collecting your stickers today.

Kozui Green Tea

Kozui serves green tea infused drinks (hot/cold) and desserts. If you enjoy Starbucks' green tea frapp, you'll probably fall in love with Kozui’s green tea ice cream. It has the same great green tea taste, but even creamier, smoother and richer.

Anmitsu is Kozui's most popular dessert. Shaved ice topped w/ mangoes, grean tea jelly, dango balls, sweet azuki beans, taro jam and green tea ice cream - a truly delectable treat!

Mango Anmitsu

Be healthy, go green! :-) The best things in life are green! :-) Enjoy Kozui :-)

Kozui Green Tea - It's Healthy To Go Green
Tomas Morato, QC

Som's Noodle House

Lunch at Som's Noodle House in Makati. K and I have been hearing [and reading] rave reviews about this modest Thai restaurant near Powerplant, Rockwell. It's actually a Thai sort of hawker place but they serve really really good Thai food. K even said that this would bring People's Palace down! Hahaha :-) but let's not be silly, there's nothing fancy about Som's. Ambiance? Nah. Presentation? Pwede na for a restaurant of its kind. Clean kitchen? I don't wanna know. But expect authentic and great Thai food that would satisfy your palates.

Here are what we had: [Everything is very good!!]
* Tom Yam [Special request to the chef to make it extra hot]
* Garlic Pepper Chicken [Sorry, wasn't able to take a picture of this :-(]
* Shrimp Paste Pork
* Bagoong Fried Rice

Shrimp Paste Pork

Tom Yam

Bagoong Fried Rice

You might be wondering how could a place like serve savory Thai dishes? According to rumors, the owner of Som's is a retired chef from Sukhothai - a prime Thai restaurant in SM Megamall but I'm just not sure if it still exists.

Som's Noodle House

5921 Alger Street, Poblacion, Makati

Tel.: 757-8079

Pink Citrus

Our spontaneous and unplanned visit to The Block led us in discovering the newest name in the froyo market - the Pink Citrus. I have never heard or read anything about Pink Citrus until our recent visit to The Block.

Pink Citrus offers pretty much the same toppings as the other froyo shops in the Metro – they have fresh fruits (mango, strawberry, banana, kiwi, pineapple and blueberry) and dry toppings (corn flakes, rice crispies, graham crackers, brownies and mochi). Pink Citrus also offers green tea flavored yogurt. I have always been curious about how green tea yogurt would taste like. I have heard a lot about it since it is very popular in the States due to the very good health benefits of green tea. Good thing we already have it here in Manila. Green Mango (in Katipunan) also offers green tea froyo’s and I think they were the first to introduce the green tea variant in Manila.

Pink Citrus

K had original yogurt with fresh mango and chocolate chip toppings and I just had a plain green tea yogurt.

Plain Green Tea

Five delightful swirls for a medium cup and eight mouth-watering swirls for a large cup… Pretty generous compared to the other froyo stores. The yogurt itself is not the bad. Pink Citrus promises to satisfy your cravings for a good and tangy froyo…

PINK CITRUS
The Block, SM City North Edsa

Cerealicious

Food Park, The Enterprise Center – this was where I first tried Cerealicious. I tried it out of curiosity since I've already been hearing reviews and blog features about this new craze… and at that time, I wasn't really happy and satisfied with what I had. I am not sure what happened back then but I guess I just had the wrong cereal variety. This time, I bumped into Cerealicious again while strolling around Galleria with K...

K had The K After Tomorrow [Special K, fresh mango slices, granola] and I had Charlie and the Chocnut Factory [Milo balls, fresh banana slices, Chocnut + additional vanilla ice cream]. It's not that bad after all... :-)

Dry Toppings

Candies and Chocolates

Cereals Galore

Cerealicious’ cereal combinations come in two sizes – blockbusters for a big cup and trailers for a medium cup. Their cereals also come in a unique vanilla-milkshake-like base that complements any type of cereals.

The K After Tomorrow (L), Charlie and the Chocnut Factory (R)

Another interesting idea about Cerealicious are their signature cereal combinations which are named after famous movies. Here are a few of them:
*Apple-O 13 [Fitnesse, apple, almond, cinnamon];
*Harry Butter, Finger of Azkaban [Honey crunch, butterfinger, candy sprinkles];
*Oreo Afraid of the Dark? [Oreo Os, oreo, choco kisses];
*My Best Friend's Pudding [Honey stars, peach, pudding], etc.

Cerealicious!

A healthy treat, for a healthy you! :-)