happyfoodies.com – Philippines Food Blog

Spud Diner: More than just a slice of the ole Potato Corner

We’re a rice-eating nation and even with the globalization of the Filipino taste buds, rice remains to be our main source of carbs. But every once in a while, one just wants a break — maybe a pasta dish here or a sandwich there. With the birth of The Spud Diner, you can add potato to the list of options. It used to be that potatoes are relegated to side dish status on the dinner table (mashed with gravy on top or sliced into strips, deep-fried and served as French fries). Maybe, that’s because much of the potatoes that are served here are imported from the U.S. of A and saying “I’m a meat-and-potatoes person” sounds very colonial and un-Pinoy. But Spud Diner, an offshoot of the institution called Potato Corner, rises up to the challenge of giving potatoes its rightful place on the table by lending this staple some surprising twists.

Tags: French Fries, Lasagna, Potatoes, Spuds, Tuna

Cebu: Foodtripping Down South

One of the indelible impressions that going around Cebu City left me is that Cebuanos simply love to eat. I’ve visited this so-called Queen City of the South every year for the last four or so years and seeing new eating places coming up just amazes me. The last time around was for another work assignment when we went around and saw signages on lampposts advertising either lechon (roast pig) and pochero, a kind of beef soup.

Tags: Abaca, Cafe Georg, Cebu, Lechon, Sutukil

Dark Chocolate Orange and other tales at Haagen Dazs

It’s hard not to love Haagen Dazs. The texture is always creamy, smooth and velvety. The flavors are real and faithful to the fruits that inspired them. And what they say is true – the ice cream’s consistency is dense and full-bodied, not full of air, even when melted. True, the price is very premium but the quality you get is incomparable. We got invited to another Haagen Dazs event (always a welcome thought for any foodie) and got to try more flavors.

Tags: Desserts, Haagen Dazs, Ice Cream

Cooling off in Cabanatuan at Puno’s

While it was raining in the Metro over the weekend, your happyfoodies were following the hiking and food trail to the northeastern part of Luzon. One of our stops on the way home was Cabanatuan, and at the suggestion of a friend, we made a stopover at Puno’s Ice Cream and Sherbet to cool off the increasingly hot day. Our friend says it’s a must-visit place and we were just happy to oblige.

Tags: Cabanatuan, Desserts, Home Made, Ice Cream, Nueva Ecija

Chips go gourmet with Oishi

Our earliest recollection of Oishi was those pink prawn crackers. That was a time when local chips, most especially the potato chips, tasted differently from their foreign counterparts. Don’t brand us as colonial-minded but it was just that even blind-folded, we can tell if a potato chip came from a balikbayan box or the sari-sari store. It took awhile before the local chip makers caught up and boy, have they narrowed the gap. At the forefront of this is Oishi, now with a lot of other products apart from the still-growing strong prawn crackers.

For the next generation of chips eaters, Oishi goes a bold step forward with its gourmet series. And the flavors are not the usual variation of its existing lines. Your happyfoodies are just too happy to oblige to a taste testing and see what lies in every big bag.

Tags: Chips, Oishi

Want home-made tasting polvoron? Just HOP over

After years of hankering for food that bears the imprint of commercial kitchens, there really comes a time when one starts looking for home-made flavors. Such is the case for polvoron, one of the Philippines’ most popular sweets. This shortbread is relatively simple to make with the most basic of ingredients being flour, butter, powdered milk and nuts. But consistently getting the taste right is another thing. This is where House of Polvoron (or to be more hip, HOP in short) leverages itself, focusing on just this product and nothing but. We’ve tasted a lot of polvorons before so will this be another one of those commercial-tasting ones? That’s we’d like to find out.

Tags: Desserts, House of Polvoron, Polvoron

Simple, fresh eats at Unit 8 Café

It’s not uncommon for us to meet restaurant owners who venture into the food business because of one fact: the love of good food. For them, the restaurant becomes an extension of their home kitchen, with menus that include their favorites and reflect their preferences. Straying into Unit 8 café, we found this to be a fact. Tucked at the bayside of the Southeast Asia’s Mall, it promises unpretentious food with a simple philosophy: simplicity, elegance and freshness. Let’s see if the place lives up to that promise.

Tags: Dilis, Dory, Mall of Asia, Mango Torte, Pasay, Salad, Steak, Whitebait