"the sweet life"

i've learned about the sweet life by ange last year. during the time when frozen brazos were a hit. up until now i have never had the time and enough craving to make my way to san lo to get one...not until today.

j is addicted to cupcakes and i told her there's a baker's dozen in rockwell. she updated me with her finds and i found out that sweet life is still there. i talked to j yesterday and she said she will be dropping by rockwell today. yahoooooo! i'm gonna get myself some pastries.

my ultimate goal of course is the sweet surrender which is the frozen brazo. i'm a brazo lover so i knew i was gonna like this dessert no matter what. it's made up of layers of graham cracker crust with vanilla ice cream, custard/yema filling and finally the meringue on top. yummy!!! but best when frozen, i tried it when i got home and because of the 2 hr traffic delayed ride home it was a bit melted na. hopefully it firms up in the freezer again.



j raved about their cupcakes so i got myself some cupcakes too. i got the red velvet (ferragamo/satine), marilyn monroe (lemon), sugar daddy (chocolate cupcake with bailey's buttercream) and marie antoinette (vanilla cupcake). i'm a sucker for red velvet so i tried it first. i was so pleased...it's more spongy and less cream cheesy compared to sonja's but it was perfect for me. dunno why actually.

moulin rouge (cake) and the satine (cupcake)


marilyn monroe

sugar daddy

marie antoinette

credits: photos taken from the sweet life
for more info visit their site:
thesweetlife.multiply.com

oh tokyo!

been hearing a lot about tokyo cafe. it's run by the same group that owns pancake house and teriyaki boy, which are two of my fave restos when it comes to comfort/reliable food. my brother (again not my real sibling) was selling it to me yesterday that i decided to get my brunch there when i had a quick errand at sm north this morning.

we didn't start off well because the freaking hostess? (was that the right term? the person who finds seats for you) has not advised me to sit on my table yet. good thing i asked her again how long it will take then she suddenly realized she made a huge booboo. but i will not let that ruin my meal because i was pretty much excited to try the place. i actually want to order a lot but since i am dining alone i settled for the two dishes my bro raved about. so here's my meal.


the milk tea lover in me got lured by the royal milk tea which is served with sugar syrup. i like it because it's more milky unlike your thai iced tea or even mineshine of which my palate has just gotten accustomed with.

the chicken cheese roll was one item that i was very sure of getting. himu recommended it but i said it was too plain for me. then i saw this at anton's blog so i decided i ought to try it.



my guts were right. it falls short of expectations - nothing unique about it. it reminded me of the ham and cheese rolls that g-sel gets from a caterer. this one is way too overated and at almost 200 PHP a pop...definitely not worth it.



for my second dish, i was torn between the mango chicken salad, the teriyaki chicken sandwich and the clubhouse which again my bro insisted on. hmmm...clubhouse? another usual fair but what the heck it's only 129 PHP unlike the chicken cheesy rolls.



the verdict? two thumbs up. i have been exposed to the clubhouse eversince i could remember because my dad loves this sandwich. i used to think that tropical hut's was the best considering the value you get out of your money. but this one is a winner. i know that my dad will rave about this when he get to try it (i brought home my leftovers hehe). the ingredients were of good quality, the bread is something to rave about.

overall, my dining experience at tokyo cafe was pleasurable. the service within the resto itself is great. they have a lot of servers which ensures that you will not be waiting for too long whenever you request something. the food is good though i have yet to try out the other food items especially the burgers which look so succulent and really smells like pure beef. i definitely recommend this place.

tokyo cafe
the block
mall of asia

zong...zong...zong

zong sounds like gong that it reverberates in my head all the time. my friend d introduced me to zong, the one at the fort strip. good chinese food that is affordable. i always describe it as a posh north park hehe.

last night my dad wanted us to bring home wonton noodle soup so i told my mom that we ought to dine at a chinese resto. so off we went to zong. weird thing is, i was starving but can't really think of what to eat. so finally we got, roasted duck with steamed peanuts (my fave, no picture of course because i immediately digged into it). the skin is crunchy and there is enough fat which makes it yummy. this is where i get my duck fix since duck duck closed already. we also got crispy noodles with fish fillet.



zong offers a wide array of crispy noodles so you are not stuck with just a generic crispy noodle dish. the dish was quite salty for our taste but nonetheless worth a try.

and of course, my mom's favorite - hakaw/hakao. their hakaw is very round and packed with shrimps.



also, they claim that they don't put msg, which seems like it. we didn't get dizzy afterwards unlike in other restos hehe.

zong
the fort strip
trinoma

yummy puffy

i love cream puffs. m told me about her latest pastry discovery. puff mommy, is an online seller of cream puffs. i was a bit hesitant in ordering because she only sells chocolate topped puffs and i'm a sucker for the classic caramel topped. but curiosity got the best of me and good thing i succumbed to it. super yummy! the choco topping fits perfectly with the pastry and the flavorful cream filling. it comes in a lovely box too.


few pieces left...nakaassign na yan sa mga tao sa office...only got to eat 2 pieces =(


lovely box too...it's like designer cream puffs talaga

puff mommy
puffmommy.multiply.com

my shabu fix

shabu shabu has been here for quite sometime now. the only place i know where i could get it is tong yang. only tried it once and never got addicted. my bro's (he's not my real brother) mother's shabu is the best. homecooked shabu shabu which has already been seasoned.

then one time, m mentioned that she came to eat at healthy shabu shabu and was surprised to find out how affordable it was. you can get an individual set for 200++ and it could feed two people already. when i got a spa treatment and was so cold i thought of what better meal to get than a piping hot shabu shabu. we ordered a pork tenderloin individual set which comes with a platter of veggies, noodles, squid and chicken balls, 1 fresh egg, tofu, and fish cakes and a plate of thinly sliced pork. but i thought that was boring so we ordered a small platter of mixed tempura. we didn't order drinks because i had my sparkling water with me which is great btw and g simply wanted water. the damage was just 530 PHP. imagine that! and we were both satisfied.


our half empty shabu shabu pot. was too excited that i forgot to take pictures of the ingredients we got.


the mixed platter was primarily seafood, only 3 of pieces of veggies i think. it's heavily breaded but i don't mind because i love breading and the meat inside is still substantive.

i have yet to try gloria maris and zhu for their shabu shabu offerings. till then i would have to simply be happy with my healthy shabu shabu fix.

healthy shabu-shabu
the block
the podium

pho24 express

i've known about this other vietnamese franchise for quite sometime now but haven't really tried it. last weekend i asked my mom to treat me to lunch hehe. we tried out the one at the block. at first, i was not impressed with the menu, since they have very few food items. but when my mom tasted her noodles, she was quite pleased. she said it was flavorful. the seafood salad was a winner too. we simply loved it. i think that this one tips the scale against pho hoa.


our fave. super yummy. ingredients are fresh - the fried onions made the difference


vermicelli bowl - same with pho hoa nothing extra ordinary hehe

cuptails and dreams

i was craving for cupcakes. i don't like the famous one that much. wanted to try yumi's but it came at a bad timing. then i read about cuptails and dreams. i contacted them and found myself ordering a dozen cupcakes. they look so pretty when you check out the clickthecity feature. you get to order 3 of a kind per dozen. on the day i was supposed to get my cupcakes there was some confusion. i got a sampler instead. it's special, i asked reena about it and she said she doesn't really make them. so i was thinking that the customer was probably gonna order for a tower and so they gave her a sampler. the sampler consists of 6 flavors...two of each. here they are.


the mojito - i like the soft and moist lime cake with the minty frosting


the margarita - similar to the mojito except that you can taste the alcohol in the frosting and doesn't have that minty flavor of course


the cosmopolitan - i love this one simply because it looks enticing and because i love lemon cakes which is the base for this creation


screaming o - for chocolovers which is not me...


the pinacolada - my mom's fave. not much of a pineapple lover. this is less sweet.

not with a pic is the bj which is vanilla cake with caramel and bailey's frosting i think. it had a major accident which forced me to eat it while in the car hehehe. it's the one on the top of the picture below.







the cupcakes are said to be frosted with buttercream but it's really not the buttercream you find in goldilock's birthday cakes. more of a sugar based rather than butter based frosting. it was a bit sweet for me too. i guess eating at room temperature made a difference. it's probably best eaten a bit cold so that you can taste the flavors and the sweetness is not much highlighted. but i actually enjoyed these cupcakes. they were so pretty and flavors are unique. let's just say that i'll have seconds of these compared to the other one wink wink.

cuptails and dream
cuptailsanddreams@hotmail.com

round and round at circles

finally! the holy grail of buffets for me. circles @ makati shang. been talking to friends recently and they said we ought to dine out and what perfect timing is the month end payday. luckily i have a friend who has a discount card at the shang and at long last i was able to borrow it. the buffet comes with free coffee or tea but all other drinks are exclusive.

i don't have anything much to say. it was worth it! it was superb. great food. some food items might not fancy you but i guess it all boils down to preferences already. too bad wasn't able to capture the first round of our battle with the buffet floor.

for the first round, we headed to the asian dishes section which was at the rightmost part of the buffet. our favorite in this section is the shrimp with noodles. humongous shrimp cooked with egg noodles. sarap!!!! i also had some tempura, keema and another sauteed shrimp dish. my plate was not full since i was gonna pace myself.

second round - bert couldn't help himself for some dimsum after i told him not to get one. but when i saw his plate i said i ought to get some dimsum. my second plate was filled with mini food items shown below.

i'll try to describe all the items on my plate. here they are.

simple japanese dimsum

steamed seabass - delighful...simply melts in your mouth

something like a cheese souffle of some sort...so so

shrimp shooters with mango salsa - refreshing!

my main meal...uhmmm speechless. hahaha i so love my lamb! salad with 2 lamb chops...i could have had a third but had to make room for these...

shrimp, mussels and octopus with red wine vinegar...jol this was a bad pic..come on!

but of course, we could not end it there. we had to have dessert. here's a collection of dessert items we got.


rain's plate - churros, cheesecake and a minicake with custard (the churros and cheesecake were good...unforunately wasn't able to try them)



jol's dessert plate with some leche flan, a mousse of some sort, cheesecake and something dipped in the choco fountain


a strawberry compote of some sort...very tart...a good way to cut the sweetness of the other desserts

banana with whipped something...basically baked banana

creme brulee - i love custards and this one has a crunchy skin on top because of the sugar yumyum

some tart with blueberry sauce

honeydew from the choco fountain

rain's sugarless choco mousse

jol's humongous halo-halo with 3 scoops of ice cream

leche flan...my ultimate fave pinoy dessert

raspberry with cheese blah blah blah

it was a great experience. dining with foodie friends made it so much fun. a great way to spend 3 hours at a posh eatery with langaw hehee not kidding there were flies at our table and at some buffet tables as well. hopefully, they didn't get on the food. i guess the discount helped a lot as well because you really get much more out of your money.anyway i was so pleased and i'm sure my friends were too. you might wanna try it yourselves =). just a tip, make reservations so you can get seated at a table with some great outdoor view.

circles
makati shangrila