Vask

I'm back!  I was very busy the past 2 months.  But, I'm back!  Although, I don't think I'll be able to sustain this blogging thing (ang hirap maghanap ng time), but I'll try.

A few weeks back, we were in the BGC area and decided to try Vask.  We did not call for reservation (which is dumb of us since it was December, and Friday at that) but there was a vacant table for 7-8pm, so we grabbed it.  The interiors were nice and the toilet was well stocked (L' Occitane hand wash and white hand towels…nice).  As for the food, we tried their degustation menu.  It was pricey but we gave it a go since we don't know when we will be back in this restaurant (and in the area…being probinsyana and all…hehehe).

Degustation Menu

The menu composed of 3 kinds of appetizers, 4 main courses and 2 desserts.  Let me break it down for you…

The appetizers (from left to right): Foie Gras on Mango Toast, Txipiron Plancha, Mejillon Tigre)

These appetizers were all yummy.  The foie gras was soft and good (it was foie gras, need I say more?).  Txipiron Plancha is grilled baby calamari and caramelized.  I like that it was a bit salty and tasty and crunchy!  Mejillon Tigre was spicy crispy mussels…crispy on the outside but soft inside.  My ultimate favorite was the Mejillon Tigre.

Huevos, Hongos y Cebolla

This dish ultimately introduced us to the high-tech way the food was prepared in Vask.  The egg was cooked to 62 degrees. I tasted like egg but "sosyal" egg.  It had porcini mushroom, garlic, breadcrumbs, port wine sauce and onion foam.  This dish is refreshingly different and very good.

Pulpo a la Gallega

This is octopus with potato (I would say it was mashed potato but I couldn't because the potato was prepared to be so creamy…so I can probably say that this is potato cream), olive oil and paprika.  Again, another yummy dish.  The octopus is surprisingly not chewy.  It is probably because the octopus was cut in very small bite-sized portion.

Scallops and Blank Ink Risotto

Another very good dish, although the risotto was a bit salty.  This dish is composed of Carnaroli rice in squid ink with parmesan chips and green asparagus.

U.S Tenderloin with Mushroom Textures

And the very main course (I presume) was this beef creation.  I was pleasantly surprised that they used different types of mushrooms prepared in different ways (mash, foam, sautee and sauce).  Nice and yummy!  I can't say yummy enough in this post!

Chocolate and Cookies

Dark Valrhona chocolate cream, pink peppercorn, ginger hazelnut cookies, Nespresso Ristretto coffee ice cream…need I say more?  The multiple ingredients coming together in this nicely plated dessert was worth the traffic coming to this place.  Again, I was pleasantly surprised to see these ingredients in this setting.  And yes, you guessed it…yum yum yummy!

Extra Olive Chocolate Truffle

Lastly, this creation.  I was excited to eat it, so I wasn't able to take a proper picture.  Needless to say, this truffle was heavenly.

If you are in the BGC area and you have extra moolah (P1,950 that is), then I highly recommend for you to try Vask Restaurant.  Vask is located at 11th Ave corner 39th St. Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.  You can call (02) 2176563 for reservation.

That's it for now.  Thanks for reading!

French Baker

I had another macaron craving a few days back and I bought these...

Macarons from French Baker

From left to right: Orange with chocolate ganache, caramel, pistachio, raspberry, chocolate, mocha and orange with chocolate ganache

These guys are winners!  I paid less than Php 200 for these babies and they are worth every cent.  The macarons are on the small but big on flavor.  Definitely better than the over-priced, medicine-tasting Bizu macarons.

 

If ever you get a macaron craving, I recommend the French Baker macarons.  I hope they create more flavors.  More flavors, more choices.  Yummy!

 

Thanks for dropping by!

Bizu

Hi guys!  It's a sweets review today.  I know that Bizu has been around for more than 10 years.  I have tried a few of their offerings (mostly cakes and macarons), so I thought maybe it's time to blog about it.  I tried their macarons before and I liked them.  Let me tell you my current experience.  Since I was craving for macarons a few weeks back, I purcahsed some from Bizu.  Since I liked them before, I was expecting to still like them. 

The presentation

I was disappointed in the taste of the macarons. I had high expectations from Bizu since I knew it was one of those fancy shmancy French resto. The macarons tasted like medicine. The only saving grace is that the outside parts are crunchy with a soft center.



Roll call (clockwise): Lime curd (light green), dulce de leche (beige), passion fruit (light orange with brown specks), rose lychee (white with red specks), raspberry (pink), earl grey (aqua), coffee espresso (light brown), caramel (middle macaron)

I'm still looking for my perfect macaron.  I'll update you once I find "the one".

That's it for today.  Thank you very much for reading!

Spiral

I'm back with a restaurant review.  I spent a night at Sofitel Hotel a few weeks back and I had the chance to eat at their restaurant, Spiral for the buffet breakfast.  I was overwhelmed by the choices in the buffet!  There were different stations and a wide array of food selections.  They even have a room full of cheeses, a variety of wine and even champagne!  I just took random shots since I was too shy to do the whole "blogger taking nice pics".  Maybe next time when I feel like a true blogger and when I have a nice camera.  Anyways, suffice to say that there were lots of food and it tasted good.  Here are some of the shots I took.

The cheese room

Champagne

Coffee and tea

I have heard and read good reviews for Spiral restaurant.  If you are in the area (and have the moolah), then try the buffet at Spiral restaurant.  Happy eating!

Thank you for dropping by!  Talk to you soon.

Hermanos

Hi everyone!  Let me share with you my dining experience at Hermanos.  Hermanos is a Mexican restaurant chain in the Philippines.  It serves the usual Mexican fare of tacos, buritos, chilis, and quesadillas.

Interiors

This was what I ordered...

Left - soft taco, right - chili, middle - quesadilla

Soft taco

Chili con carne

Chicken quesadilla

There were 3 of us who ate that night.  We completely finished all our orders.  It was yummy and the price was just right.  It's a pay-as-you-order restaurant, so don't expect fine dining attention from the staff.

All in all, I had a pleasant experience at Hermanos.  I will come back in the future.

Thanks for dropping by!  Talk to you soon!

Vanilla Cupcake and Bakery

Hi!  I'm back.  Remember my first experience with a cupcake place from my previous post (read it here)?  Well, I tried another cupcake place.  I really liked the cupcakes from Larcy's that I had a craving for one a few weeks back.  I did not want to travel far, so I decided to try Vanilla Cupcake and Bakery at Alabang Town Center.  The interiors are very fun and welcoming.  The cupcakes look really nice.

 

However, the cupcakes are not really good.  The base cake is dry and the icing tastes like old butter or bad margarine.  I really did not like any of the cupcakes I bought.  I'm sorry but I forgot the names of the cupcakes I tasted.  However, I have put in a little description/caption.

Chocolate base with caramel frosting

Coffee base and chocolate frosting

 

Left - coffee base and caramel frosting; Right - pink vanilla cupcake, vanilla base and pink sugar frosting

All in all, I did not like the cupcakes I tasted.  I would not go back to this store.  If ever I have another cupcake craving, I would go back to Larcy's where the cupcakes are moist and their frostings are yummy.  That's just my opinion.  I think other people really like Vanilla Cupcake and Bakery since they have other braches in Metro Manila.

That's it for now.  Thanks for dropping by!

P.S. My heart and prayers go out to all those affected by the floods.

Larcy's Cupcakery

Hi guys!  Anyone here who has a sweet-tooth?  Both my hands are raised.  I'm really a sucker for sweets and desserts.  Last night, I had the chance to try Larcy's Cupcakery.  Larcy's is located along Aguirre Ave. BF Homes Paranaque.  The interiors are really nice.  Even though the motif is more on the pink side, the dark brown that is spread across the place makes the interior more appealing. I wasn't able to take pictures of the interiors because I was shy.  I haven't gotten into this blogger frame of mind yet.  Anyways, here are what we ordered...(try not to drool...Hihihi)

The one on the top is the Pineapple and Carrot cupcake, the middle one is Banana Crunch and the one on the foreground is Vanilla Speculous.  Let me tell you, they look really yummy and they really are.  They all tasted really good!  I didn't eat all of them though.  I had other companions with me so I just took a bite of each cupcake.  My order was the Vanilla Speculous and that I finished.

Now let me introduce you the Pink Velvet cupcake...

Oh, this one is divine.  It's perfect.

Lastly, this is the Valrhona Chocolate with Nutella...

Another delicious cupcake creation.

All the cupcakes were moist and soft.  The sizes were just right. If they had made bigger cupcakes then the richness and sweetness will be overwhelming.  At P 75-80 per piece, these cupcakes are a steal. They are worth their price.  Larcy's Cupcakery also offers main course entrees, hot and iced drinks, and cakes.

To all those from the South (or Northerners who would like to visit the south), I highly recommend dropping by Larcy's Cupcakery.  I would definitely return and try more of their other offerings.

Thanks for reading!

Kanin Club



Hi guys!  What's for dinner tonight?  Kanin Club!  I've always liked eating at Kanin Club.  This resto serves Filipino cuisine with a twist.  It's comfort food in a different presentation.  Take this for example... 

Sinigang Rice

The sinigang rice actually takes like sinigang soup with rice.  Look at that piece of meat (well, mostly fat though).  It's yummy!  The kangkong leaves and okra were reinvented to become fried beings (taking the form of tempura).

Ensaladang Talong

The ensaladang talong is okay but needs a little bit more flavor.

Spicy Tahong

This spicy tahong dish brings back memories of Thailand.  This dish actually tastes a bit like a cross between kare-kare and curry.  It's delicious!

I forgot to take a picture of Crispy Tenga (fried and crispy pig's ears).  I didn't like it that much since it was a little hard to eat.  It was not that crispy.

And for dessert...

Turon Kanin Club Ala Mode

We had Turon (banana fritters) with vanilla ice cream.  The turon was actually fully packed.  The usual turon just has bananas and jackfruit inside.  But these had young coconut, purple yam and red beans inside.  It's like halo-halo in turn.  This is also good.

All in all, I had a great and sumptuous dinner.  All the food were consumed by me and my companion. The total bill was P 989.28...which was not bad for the amount of food that was served.  I recommend Kanin Club restaurant if you are craving for Pinoy dishes.  It's good and bang-for-your-buck.

That's it for now.  I hope to keep on blogging despite my very busy schedule.  I'll tell you all about the project that has kept me busy next time.

Thanks for reading!

Agnes B and Black Burger

Hi guys!  Let me share with you 2 dining establishments that I ate in when I was on a recent trip to Hongkong.  I ate at Agnes B Le Pain Grille Cafe in World Trade Center, Causeway bay.  This was my first time to eat in this cafe although I've heard rave reviews from it from other bloggers.  This was what I ordered:

Delices - chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, chocolate sponge cake, raspberry feuilletine

Vanille - walnut, vanilla custard, puff pastry



Iced latte

All the mini patisserie looked delicious.  They just don't look delicious, they were also really yummy!  Both the delices and vanille were extremely good.  They were not very sweet and very very tasty.  As for the iced coffee, it was a little bland but a little sugar made it better.

I really liked my dining experience at Agnes B.  Maybe I need to save money for their leather goods.  Hihihi...

Now let's go to the other establishment...the beloved McDo.  I specifically wanted to eat at Mc Donald's just to try their Black Burger.  And here it is...

I liked this one too!  There were 2 beef patties, lettuce, a small amount of mashed potatoes and dressing that tasted like mayonnase with ketchup.  All in all, the taste was really good.  It was yummy!

 

If ever you are in Hongkong, I highly recommend the Black Burger from Mc Donald's and patisserie from Agnes B.

 

That's it for today.  Thank you so much for dropping by!

Yabu

What's for dinner tonight (well, a few nights ago)?  It's dinner at Yabu restaurant.  Yabu is the house of Katsu (their tag line).  The restaurant serves meals with breaded stuff.  You can have breaded pork, chicken, and seafoods.  They also have other yummy selections in their menu.

These where the condiments atop our table...

The 3 tall bottles were salad dressings (Wasabi, vinaigrette, and sesame dressing).  The 3 smaller containers were an assortment of condiments which I think were black pepper, red pepper and an oil-like thing that is also spicy.  Lastly, the content of the white jar is the katsu sauce (which tastes a bit like barbecue and terriyaki sauce combined).

Before they serve the katsu set, they give you a bowl with sesame seeds and a pestle.  You grind the sesame seeds with the pestle and put in your katsu sauce.


And this little guy looks like a pig head, it contains salt for seasoning.  So cute!

And here comes the order.  I ordered the Rosu - Porkloin set.  It's 3/4-inch thick juicy cutlet with fat.  You can also order porkloin set without the fat...but I prefer the taste of pork with fat.  I'm indulging for now while I'm not-that-old yet.  Hihihi.  It comes with rice (you can ask for more servings), salad made up of shredded cabbage (unlimited cabbage) and a small bowl of fruits.

The serving size of the pork was just right.  The servings for the rice and cabbage were a little bit small, so I had to ask for a second serving.  And the fruits?  Well, I filled myself with rice and cabbage, so I guess the size of the small fruit bowl was just right for me.

The taste of the food was good.  It wasn't really that great that you would crave for it, but definitely tasty.  I tried all the salad dressings and the one that I liked the most was the sesame dressing.  The wasabi dressing was not that spicy and the vinaigrette had the right sourness to it.  The rice was oh so soft and sticky and the pork was cooked right and the breading was just the way I want it (it was crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside).

All in all, I had a good time at Yabu.  I would definitely come back and try their other offerings.

That's it for now.  Thanks for reading!