This Made my Day! Thank you Coffee Bean and Geiser Maclang!

First of all, let me apologize for the absence in blogging. I've been struggling at juggling studying for masters, work, blogging, and my so-called life hahaha! I promise I will make time to finish my Cebu trip blog. I'm so sorry!

Anyway, this totally made my day today. I opened my e-mail and the subject said: "Someone left a drink for you at The Coffee Bean". So I opened the mail and saw this:

I was thrilled to the bones. I SUPER LOVE COFFEE!! I have about 4-5 cups of it every freaking day! It was a huge sacrifice for me to give it up for Lent. Every time my friends and I would hang out, it'll almost always be in a coffee shop.

When we get sick and tired of the usual Starbucks, we go to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. BFF Trency has a swirl card already, so we go there frequently and use free wi-fi!

I love Coffee Bean's Vanilla Iced Blended and Cafe Latte. The latte is super good with any of their pastries, especially their cakes. I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this but I think Coffee Bean has one of the BEST CAKES compared to some coffee shops! I particularly love their New York Cheesecake! Paired with a Cafe Latte, it's simply heaven!! YUMMY!!!

Hope you guys get to receive one of these! It was a huge surprise for me. I'm claiming mine in my usual branch - Four Seasons Condominium here in Salcedo Village. Thank you so much Coffee Bean and thank you Geiser-Maclang! :))

My (Chocolate) Fire Just Got Extinguished

"Di ko na ma-take!" (I can't take it anymore!) - Gonzalez, 2011

Let's just say that sums up our Chocolate Fire experience last Friday. Put up in Melbourne, Australia in 2006, the Philippine franchise opened last year to the delight of chocolate fanatics!

I was so psyched to eat here because I've been passing by this restaurant every day since our office is just 2 blocks down. So the curious foodie in me just had to let me try this restaurant, and together with the BFFs, it was time for a new foodie adventure.

Sticking true to its name the restaurant is indeed CHOCOLATE HEAVEN! Trency and I got there first and while in line to order (it implements a self-service rule) we were tempted by this huge cooler purveyor of all things chocolate-y!




Just look at those pretty things! This is every chocolate lovers wet dream! From mini, pop-in-your-mouth sizes, to slabs, to liquid, and to CAKES! It's chocolate in every form you could imagine!

But then again, I skipped the dinner part! Which unfortunately didn't meet our standards - the taste was just so-so, really small food portions, thus making it EXPENSIVE. Which also lead to Amanda blurt out that quote above. Here's what we ordered:

Trency ordered Turkey Sandwich.

It was actually good but it was small, and not much turkey in it. I'm amazed she only ordered this, it wouldn't even reach MY GUT! Super bitin!!

I had Penne in Bolognese sauce.

First bite, I already got disappointed. The penne noodles were TOUGH. Although it was a bit heavy and really filling, the sauce was on the umay side. Nothing special too, I've had better and cheaper bolognese!! Case in point, for lunch I ordered penne in bolognese and cheese sauce at Friss Point (a small carinderia at the building right beside Chocolate Fire) and it was sooo much better. It was so good I influenced my friend Elaine to have it for lunch. And I only paid P75 (USD2) for it! Annoying when a cheaper version gets to be much better than the expensive one!

When Mike and Amanda arrived they ordered this salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce. I do not remember them finishing this.

Mike had Tortellini.

Asked for some dibs and it tasted like paper. The noodles looked like shells, but the cuteness factor didn’t amount to anything. It was just so blah!

I am saving Amanda’s meal for last. She ordered pasta in pesto sauce.
I tried it and it didn’t even taste like pesto, actually it didn’t taste anything at all. It was bland, and just way too plain. I remember Amanda asking the guys for salt to give it a bit of taste. And this is when she exclaimed the quote above. It was THAT BAD, she couldn’t take it anymore!

Since we had a meal that was really easy to forget, we decided to order something Chocolate Fire was actually known for – CHOCOLATE. And so we got the fondue.

With a P400 price tag (roughly around USD9), it was pretty good. It had strawberries and bananas, wafers, marshmallows, and nuts. We also had a choice of dark and milk chocolate. But it was just weird that it wasn’t continuously heated. Fondues usually have a candle at the bottom of the chocolates to keep them warm so they wouldn’t harden. But anyway, brushing that aside, we enjoyed this one!

With the fondue, I ordered their Café Latte. It was really good! Being a caffeine addict, I would be including Chocolate Fire’s Café Latte in my list of really good coffee. A must try for the coffee addicts out there!


Oh well, every eating session is a like learning a valuable life lesson. You have to get burned first before you think of doing it again. Chocolate Fire has been around since last year, but they still got A LOT OF UNAVAILABE STUFF. And those were the chocolate stuff, things that are supposed to make the restaurant click. It’s like they’re still on soft opening about a year later.

Plus they have really posh interiors, and from the outside Chocolate Fire looks like some snooty place, but then you have to fall in line and order. Can’t they make up their minds? Do they wanna be snooty or not?

Good thing their staff (although the girl at the counter was a bit slow hence holding up the line) was really cool! They actually saved our short and disappointing stay at Chocolate Fire.

Chocolate Fire
G/F PDCP Building Leviste cor. Rufino Streets,
Salcedo Village, Makati City
Tel. No. 840-3473
Mobile No. (0920) 605-8692
Website: http://www.chocolatefire.com

Ilocos Tour Part 6: Foodie Finds

No trip will ever be complete without me finding the usual food fare. I knew I was in really good company during this trip up north, because these 2 girls sure knew how to eat and EAT WELL! :) Perfect foodie buddies, Kim and Milds are!

So if in Vigan, Ilocos Norte, besides the let's-go-back-in-time tour, one MUST go on a food trip in this historic city. I didn't realize Vigan had so much food haunts. Here are some recommended places to go.

LOS MAJITOS STREET DINING

Owned by Sheila Medina, this caught our attention as we made our way to the Vigan Cathedral to hear Mass. The street dining concept was really cool, since it was really cold out while we were there, plus you get to dine within the old walls of the stone houses. It also had a really cozy feel to it, and I think that's what attracted not only local tourists, but foreigners as well.


And what a meal we had in this place! Since we knew nothing in the restaurant, we were supposed to order Ilocano delicacies by the plate. But the really servers tipped us on getting this HUGE PLATTER (think BOODLE FEAST) of everything Ilocano - bagnet, Vigan longganisa,pinakbet, and KBL (kamatis, bagoong and lasuna). Lasuna is a kind of onion found in Ilocos. THIS WAS HEAVEN!!! MUST EAT WHEN IN VIGAN FOLKS!!


We also drank in this spot, the cool winds made it perfect for binge drinking. But as we were drinking, the peaceful Vigan night was shattered by a small riot. It was so cool to watch the whole scene unfold right in front of your eyes! It was like a movie scene where the bad guys wreak havoc and the police come to break it up. If only we understood Ilocano, it would've been so much better.


I'd also like to thank the staff of Los Majitos. They were very accommodating and when the riot broke up they asked us if we wanted to transfer inside the restaurant. Great food with great service warrants a really good blog entry! :) Sheila, if you get to read this, congrats! Great restaurant, I miss it already!!

LILONG AND LILANG'S COFFEE SHOP

We got to here during our calesa trip, and our driver Kuya Richard brought us to the Hidden Garden to have a look around and to eat.

The restaurant had very simple set-up but was prettified by the wood ornaments, the Christmas lights and of course the plants all around it. It made the place really cool even if it was right smack in the middle of the day.



Here, we got to try their Sisig and Pork Sinigang. It was good, but let me tell yoou one thing, we were starving. They say when you're starving everything tastes good. But really, it was good. I just wish that their Sinigang had more meat in it.



LEILA'S CAFE

Found right beside Los Majitos is this quaint coffee shop called Leila's Cafe. Being a caffeine I just had to have my daily dose of caffeine.

The interiors were very comfortable, way MORE comfortable than Starbucks or Coffee Bean. It looked like a house's living room.

I decided to take a seat outside, and have my Caffe Latte which was only P50 (a little over USD1). Amazing! It was strong just the way I like my coffee. Although I would've liked it in a much bigger cup.


They also serve tea, just take a look at the board for other stuff you might like. It's a perfect place to unwind after a long, tiring tour of Vigan.

Just to let everyone know: Everything that we ate in our trip was BELOW P600 (more or less USD15). We didn't scrimp on our food alright, it's just that food in Vigan is cheap. CHEAP BUT REALLY GOOD! Your historical tour could also be a foodie tour!

This was one remarkable trip. Since this was my first MAJOR trip this 2011 I think it will become a benchmark for all my upcoming trips. So I know deep down in my gut, it'll keep getting better and better! :D

Other links to our Vigan tour:
Part 1: Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte
Part 2: Cordillera Inn, Night Shots and Empanada
Part 3: Crisologo and SyQuia Museums
Part 4: Bantay Bell Tower and St. Augustine Parish Church
Part 5: Baluarte and Hidden Garden