Whenever I visit a new location, I always make it a point to try the local cafes before I go for the commercial ones when I yearn for coffee. It’s always interesting to see the local culture and flavor in small and homegrown cafes. I used to shift back and forth to Manggahan in Pasig since I rented a place there before. And just in the neighborhood, right across the street where I stay, is Bantai Coffee. A cozy little cafe at the 2nd floor of a building is filled with charm, nostalgia and good coffee.
9 Tacloban City Eats to Try | Cafes, Burgers, Patisseries and Hotpots
Post-Typhoon Yolanda has shaped a different Tacloban City. Businesses are booming and the presence of numerous foreign aid workers have prompted locals to open up not only more lodging but eating places too. People of Tacloban love to eat and its a delight to see some quality home-grown establishments popping-up to join old favorites. With the presence of foreigners though, prices have gone up but there are still some affordable options around. This list is not a ranking but the places I have personally tried during my stay. Tacloban City Eats has a nice mix of comfort food, cafes, dessert place and a hotpot. Check out Chew Love, Dream Cafe, Libros Atbp, Porbida Burger, K Patisserie, Miyara Patisserie, Sofa Cafe, Huhku Hotpot Express and Oppa’s Kitchen.
Angeles City Foodtripping: Kitsch and Cakes at Cioccolo
It’s off the usual route and takes a bit of traveling to get to but Cioccolo is an interesting place to go to at night. Right in the middle of a dark field it seems a place of enchantment has sprung up, magically lit up at night. There’s R2-D2 in one area, Elvis in another, among a host of other curiosities that catch the eye and piques one’s interest no matter how blasé he or she can be. There are even huge banquet halls spread out on the spacious lot that looked like settings for a medieval tale complete with trompe l’oeil ceilings, huge chandeliers, gilded walls and ornate furniture. It’s kitschy as kitschy can be but in a pleasant way, maybe strangely romantic even. Contrastingly, the coffee shop looks “normal” and “real world”, warmly lit and inviting for a nightcap. The whole place looks every bit interesting but we wonder if the food could be as “kitschy” good as well.
J. Co Donuts get the sweetness and softness just right
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.
Brownie points for Brownies Unlimited
Forrest Gump may have said that life is like a box of chocolates but he never had the dilemma of contemplating on what kind of chocolate brownie he’s going to get from an assorted boxful from Brownies Unlimited. That’s what Happyfoodies mulled upon when we got boxes of chocolate goodies from BU over the holidays. Not to complain though as we’re certified chocoholics.
Paris Delice: Now serving really flaky, really authentic French breads
There were bread crumbs on the table. Crumbs on the tray liner. And more crumbs on the saucers. A nuisance? If it were just ordinary bread, it would be. But we were having Paris Delice breads for breakfast and notwithstanding the proliferation of French bakeries in the metro, it really doesn’t take a cultured palate to know these breads are different from all that came before them.