DESAYUNO is Barcino’s tribute to the Spanish breakfast tradition in Manila featuring classic Spanish breakfast favorites and introducing Spanish-inspired Filipino breakfast creations. It’s a popular breakfast in the Barcino Santolan branch, recently introduced in Barcino Uptown Parade—a great place to have a morning meeting in the BGC/Uptown Bonifacio Area where you can enjoy cava for breakfast. 🙂
Eating late breakfasts, which is quite the norm in Spain, is becoming popular in Manila as well because of the intermittent fasting trend.
We had a brunch-out with the boys, and here are some tips on how to organize your own awesome Desayuno experience…
The Bistro Group, the umbrella company of much-loved restaurants such as Italianni’s and TGI Friday’s has partnered with Stone Valley, a gift card management framework to bring forth the newest Bistro Gift Card.
The Bistro Gift Card is totally different from the already-existing Bistro Card, which you may already have. Here’s what The Bistro Gift Card offers:
Motto Motto, meaning “more more” in Japanese, is a Japanese comfort food restaurant with an extensive menu to cater to both locals and Japanese ex-pats alike.
It’s another winning concept by the Raintree group after Friends & Family to replace the Chelsea concept in Serendra. They also partnered with a homegrown Tokyo bakery concept from Salcedo to provide Japanese pastries.
I like how it still gets that younger Chelsea ambiance conducive to conversation while offering more affordable or unique Japanese food options.
Motto Motto
Ground Floor, Serendra Piazza, Bonifacio Global City. Opening Hours: 8.00 am to 11.00 pm
Friends & Family is a tasty tribute to Filipino comfort food classics that we grew up with and a throwback to our Filipino Eateries by the Raintree group.
It’s very Filipino, comforting to our palate with a focus on Filipino BBQ & Pugon cooking.
This is the latest addition to our favorite Filipino Restaurants in Manila which include Abe, Kanin Club, Cafe Juanita, Aristocrat, Locavore, Sarsa and Manam.
I bet a lot of our balikbayans miss this kind of food. If you love Filipino food like we do, you’ll love this. Here are some tips on what to order…
Have you tried Steak the First on your recent trip to Japan? Did you know they recently opened in Manila?
Steak the First is a Japanese concept known for featuring good value steak with a casual ambiance. The Manila store is located in the posh Net Park building in BGC.
The lines are quite long when they do 50% off during lunch time, but, in contrast, the place is virtually empty during dinner time.
I wondered if the steaks were any good so we met with our blogger friend Cathy, who we met in TBEX Ostrava, to find out. Here’s what we think…
Steak the First Manila
Ground Floor, Net Park Building, 4th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City Telephone: +632 478-0846 perating Hours: 11.00 am – 11.00 pm Facebook: Steak the First Instagram: @steak_the_first Website: http://www.steakthefirst.jp/
The holidays are here, and it’s that time of the year again when you would always look for the best foodie gifts or the best food to bring to potluck celebrations.
We finally had a taste of Christian Mark Jacobs’ Naked Patisserie that specializes on bespoke cakes for celebrity weddings and celebrations and signature luxe gift sets. Christian is known as the Naked Foodie in hisfood and travel vlog and the partner of celebrity fashion designer Francis Libiran.
Why the Naked branding? They believe in being true and transparent and in using only the best natural ingredients to create good food.
Here are some suggestions on how to have Merry Naked Celebrations according to the Naked Foodie…
Hui Lau Shan 許留山 is a household brand name very famous in Hong Kong globally known for their 200+ innovative dessert creations and refreshments using Philippine carabao mangoes.
It first started as a traditional herbal tea shop in the early ’60s, selling herbal jelly and a variety of herbal teas, which are believed to provide Chinese medical health benefits. But with the desire for innovation, they made a product breakthrough by adding the mango sago in the ’90s that has catapulted Hui Lau Shan the title of Hong Kong’s Fresh Fruit Dessert Pioneer.
With over 300+ stores internationally – China, Malaysia, South Korea, Macau, Canada, Taiwan, Paris, Vietnam and, Melbourne. It only made sense that the Philippines will soon be part of the growing chain.
Find the first Hui Lau Shan store in the Philippines on its debut in February 2019 at SM Megamall, thanks to Josiah’s Catering through the Fat Daddy’s Group, in taking Pinoy pride back home as it seals the deal to bring Hui Lau Shan to the Philippines!
San Vicente is an almost untouched part of Palawan that is home to one of the longest beaches in all of Asia. A rather large municipality, San Vicente itself is divided into a handful of barangays, sleepy towns and villages.
Underdevelopment has seemingly preserved this part of Palawan with tourism in San Vicente being traditionally low compared to the rest of the island. But that will all be changing soon as the people of San Vicente prepare to open up their quaint and secluded part of Palawan to the rest of the world.
As tourism in the Philippines is expected to recover after a slight decline in 2017, the Department of Tourism (DOT) has implemented a series of aggressive and daring marketing schemes that appear to start revitalizing tourism in and to the country. With the Duterte administration’s controversial closing and reopening of one of the Philippines’ top tourist attractions, Boracay, the impacts from such an undertaking have yet to be quantified. But one can hope that the government can actually maintain its new regulations for tourism hotspots.
That’s why all eyes should be on San Vicente as it will be the testbed and ground zero for the DOT’s (newest branch) Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) and its bold new tourism initiatives. San Vicente is actually a chance for the Government of the Philippines to get tourism right.
New airports and air travel routes are popping up all over the country with hopes of easing congestion in busier airports and bringing in tourist traffic to newer locations.
With the opening of the new San Vicente Airport, the local government hopes to tap into the expected influx of tourists by developing local attractions and essentially building a new tourist destination from scratch.
It’s a daring plan that will take years of dedication from both the private and government sectors. So far, everything seems to be on track, and the locals seem more than eager to start this new beginning for San Vicente.
Chef Josh Boutwood’s Helm offers one of the best degustation experiences that’s certainly not to be missed in Manila. After the successful opening of Test Kitchen and Savage, Helm’s 10-seater theatre dining experience is his best one yet.
It’s like Chef Josh’s culinary playground where he unleashes his creativity after managing Bistro Group’s culinary empire. At Helm, he is in charge, and it’s awesome to see the chef having fun and to have a taste of it with every plate.
Ingredients. What I like about Chef Josh’s Culinary Philosophy is that he pays attention to the ingredients first, especially the local ones but not limited to these. All the ingredients used during the degustation are displayed and you can ask what’s the story behind each and every one of them.
Technique. After the ingredients, he would think about the best culinary technique—from using sous vide, Excalibur dehydrator, liquid nitrogen or using the Big Green Egg to unleash the flavors and the best textures.
Experience. With Helm’s live theatre dining experience, everyone has a front-row seat from which to watch the handsome chef create culinary magic and be hypnotized by his British accent. You don’t get full after the 14-course degustation because they don’t use carbs (except the bread), yet your mind, palate and heart are all satisfied.
Take note, you have to buy a ticket to dine here with two seating options. The Degustation Menu concept changes every quarter.
The blog feature below is a spoiler, so best not to read it.
HELM by Chef Josh Boutwood
G/F The Plaza, Arya Residences, Mckinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City
(Just below Savage also in Arya Residences) Facebook: helmmnl Telephone: +63 906 234 1900 Website: https://www.joshboutwood.com.ph/
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