happyfoodies.com – Philippines Food Blog
Angeles City Foodtripping: Finding a piece of Vietnam in Banh Mi Saigon
Posted by oggie on 12 May 2012
Tags: Angeles City, Banh Mi, Spring Rolls, Vietnamese
Cold Cuts Combo Banh Mi (P75)
Angeles City may be a chartered city independent of Pampanga since the 60s but it still shares the Kapampangan flair for cooking up delicious fare and perhaps more importantly, a contagious appetite for joyful eating. It’s a tall order to live down its naughty, steamy reputation but the city has another side that can satisfy the other senses. By that we mean the nose and the taste buds. Your Happyfoodies tagged along for a food trip of Angeles City and what we found pleasantly surprised us.
For starters, we found a piece of Vietnam along Jesus Street in the historic district near the Pamintuan Mansion — in Banh Mi Saigon. Who would’ve thought that you can find heavenly Banh Mi sandwiches and spring rolls in between a neighborhood gym and a sari-sari store? Owner Rex Soriano, recently repatriated from the U.S. after nearly a decade of working at Nobu in New York counted on his experience as a chef and the invaluable inputs of his Vietnamese mother-in-law and wife to come up with fare that begs for repeat visits.
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Posted by oggie on 25 Jan 2012 under Feature, Gut Feel
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Lia’s Cakes, Always in Season
Posted by oggie on 13 Jan 2012 under Feature, Light & Hearty, Sweet Talk
Avocado is one of my favourite fruits and being a sucker for desserts, the combination of the fruit on a cake is lethal. Strolling along with a fellow foodie friend in the streets of Kapitolyo, Pasig, which is fast becoming a food hub with a lot of new dining options popping up, we discovered Lia’s Cakes in Season. Lia’s is one of the old dining establishments in the area (been there since 2004) that has been known for their signature Avocado Cakes.
J. Co Donuts get the sweetness and softness just right
Posted by oggie on 25 Dec 2011 under Sweet Talk
Before you know it, we’re deep into the Christmas holiday. It’s the time of the year when part of the tradition is the merry eating, often a cause for indulgence that will visibly manifest itself come January. It’s also the time to give and receive (food calories included in the merry swapping of presents) so it was really a pleasant surprise to get boxes of J. Co Donuts at the doorstep. Hmmm, gets us into thinking: is there really room for another donut brand in a sweetly saturated market? J.Co isn’t really a new brand, having been around in other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia where it got started since 2005. Well, only with a taste test can tell so we made room for extra calories to give Happyfoodies readers our impressions.
Fun dining at Madam Kwan’s
Posted by oggie on 21 Nov 2011 under Feature, Gut Feel
Ahhh, those Malaysia, truly Asia commercials running endlessly on the cable channels. Catching them every so often, you can’t help but wonder about the sightseeing, shopping and of course, the eating over there. By a stroke of luck, Happyfoodies got an invite from AirAsia Philippines and Tourism Malaysia for a look-see, look-buy and look-taste in Kuala Lumpur. One of our memorable food stops was Madam Kwan’s at the upscale Pavillion Mall which is a good opportunity to see why the place is popular.
Milk Tea: The Cha Dao Tea Place Way
Posted by oggie on 18 Oct 2011 under Quenchers
Nowadays, the choice of beverages has never been so complicated. It’s no longer as simple as coffee or tea but a more complex mixture of ingredients suited exclusively to one’s palate. Take for example the growing popularity of Milk Teas in the past years as a healthy alternative drink. Though I’ve never been really a fan, there’s no harm in trying especially when Cha Dao Tea Place gave us an opportunity to try out their Milk Teas. There’s one branch near our neighborhood so I invited guest foodie Jen to their Kapitolyo branch.
