Off To Singapore Lah!

Hubby and I flew to Singapore last Friday for a short belated anniversary weekend trip. We’ve been loyal to Singapore Airlines but since their airfare rates went insanely expensive about two weeks before our flight, we had to look for another airline and we were fortunately saved by Airphil Express, a budget airline from Philippine Airlines. What’s good about it is that it arrives in Terminal 2 of Singapore’s Changi Airport, not in the Budget Terminal.

For those of you who are wondering about the common airlines that fly from Manila to Singapore, here’s a quick list for you:

Lia’s Cakes

If Max’s is the house that chicken built, then Lia’s Cakes is the house that avocado built Man, that’s avocado right there! In a cake!!!

I don’t have enough words to describe it. It probably isn’t the best cake anyone would ever try but the cake itself is moist and flavorful and will sure make any avocado lover scream for joy. And for the non-avocado lovers, don’t worry. The best time to change your mind is now. The avocado flavor isn’t too strong, it won’t scare you away. I promise, it’s really good and there’s no better way to lose your avocado-virginity than to this sexy cake, baby!

And what about purple yam? The last ube dessert I tried was my ube-wan-kenobi cupcake topped with coco-cream cheese frosting. Now, this one from Lia’s is another dessert that would make me jump up and down. It’s their ube cheesecake with, guess what, polvoron crust and topping! How I really wish I’m free to eat one whole slice. Nope, make that two slices So good, I can have it with black coffee everyday.

They have other desserts too but our next targets would probably be their mango cheesecake and calamansi cake. And the best part is, all cakes are 30% off from 8PM onwards daily. Can’t get any better than that, ‘ey! Lia’s Cakes is just beside Mad Mark’s in Kapitolyo. Lezgow!

Mad Mark’s Man Sandwich & Frozen D

A week ago, hubby and I decided to drop by Mad Mark’s in Kapitolyo to try their famous The Man sandwich. While I know that I can’t fully enjoy any of their delicious sandwiches, I still decided to bring hubby there because I know that their sandwiches are his kind of thing. And true enough, Mad Mark’s didn’t fail to deliver.

As with most of the Kapitolyo neighborhood restos, the space is really small and Mad Mark’s can easily get crowded anytime. When we went there, we noticed that they only have a handful of wait staff, maybe three including the cashier. I can just imagine how toxic it is for them to attend to everyone as quickly as they can. And that’s also one thing that we liked there, their service is quick.

First thing we ordered was their Zing Wings with French fries. I tried the sauce and it’s the sour kind. My husband liked it but it would have been better if they served it with blue cheese or some kind of dip. I, on the other hand, like my wings on the sweet and spicy side so I didn’t enjoy the wings that much.

I was torn between the Mariner (fish)  and Lumberjack (beef) but I went with the latter. I got the half serving which was perfect for me even without the bun. I loved the Angus beef with the mushrooms, mozzarella and lettuce. Lip-smackin’ good.

And of course, we also got their famous sandwich called “The Man.” Not the half-serving, darlings, but the full one just for my husband. You know why? Coz he’s da man! Anyhoo, he loved the sandwich all the way down to the last bite. Everything he wanted in a sandwich was there. It had chicken, beef, mushrooms, mozzarella and caramelized onions.

We loved the food in Mad Mark’s and we’re definitely coming back. Hopefully by then, I can enjoy a whole sandwich as well as their frozen desserts. I heard the Madagascar Vanilla Bean ice cream is insanely good

Jeju Island Chocolates

My friend Hyunchung and her sister Su, both from Seoul, are here in Manila for a short vacation. What’s cool is that prior to their visit, I have been in constant communication with Hyunchung because I am going to Seoul in March this year and I will stay at their guesthouse. I haven’t been there but based on the comments of people, I’m convinced that their guesthouse is the best choice for me. It’s a pretty house located in the heart of Seoul and is just about a 5-10min walking distance to most of the historical places any tourist would wanna visit. If ever you are going to Seoul and you’re looking for a great place to stay in with warm, hospitable and friendly hosts who can speak English and are super nice enough to tell you where to go and how to enjoy Seoul like a local, may I suggest that you please stay in 126 Mansion. Go to their website and find out why, even if I haven’t been there, I am already raving about it

Hyunchung and Su are so sweet and thoughtful that they even brought me a present when we first met last Monday. They gave me a box full of tangerine-filled chocolates from Jeju Island. I’ll be posting some more pics of Hyunchung and Su and our dinner last night but for now, let me leave you with the photos of the chocolates they gave me.

감사합니다 Kamsahamnida, Hyunchung and Su! See you in March!

Milky & Sunny… Evening Brekky, Why Not?

Last night, hubby and I went out to grab a copy of the November-December issue of Look Magazine where a friend and fellow foodie/blogger, Tangled Noodle, wrote an article about the new diet plans out there. She interviewed me about the Cohen diet and she included snippets of our convo in her article. And on this note [apologies for this plug], I’d like to invite you to grab a copy of Look Magazine if you can

Anyhow… the nearest bookstore to our place is just along Pioneer St. in Mandaluyong and since we’re already in the hood, we decided to drive around Brgy. Kapitolyo in Pasig to look for a place to have dinner. Then we saw this little resto called Milky & Sunny. From the name itself, I already knew they’d be serving breakfast food.

The place is really small. It can probably sit around 16-20 persons comfortably. Anything more than and it will start to feel like you’re sardines in a shoebox. But there are little details in the store that are quite pretty to look at even if I feel that the design is more suitable for a laundromat-cafe concept in that it got me to imagine myself entering into a laundry room and feeling fuzzy about that sweet, fresh, powdery scent of clean clothes. Then again, as I said, the details are cute… laundromat or not

They have paintings for sale too.

Let’s check out the food.

We ordered their BLT Soup (Php80). It was okay. I got nothing much to say.

Then we also got the breakfast big plate (Php250). Nuninuninu.

Eh, this is really worth two hundred fifty pey-sos?

Ayt. I love meals like this one. Even if it’s mediocre in flavors or taste, I would still eat it. But I don’t feel like we should get ripped off like that. This underwhelming breakfast plate doesn’t taste like P250. Corned beef didn’t taste like it’s premium. Sausage was so-so and it was too dry. The bacon, well, it could have been the best part of the dish but with just two tiny pieces? Uhm, not convinced. The bread slices weren’t even toasted and the frozen butter wouldn’t and couldn’t melt on the bread. The hash potatoes were okay but it’s so supermarket-frozen foods-section material.

This meal right there which I prepared for hubby, sans the corned beef and sausage which I can just easily take out of the fridge and pop into a pan, tasted a lot better. My photo might not justify the taste but it is a meal prepared with effort and may even be sold for P250 for the effort put into preparing French toasts, creamy scrambled eggs, and homemade pancake syrup.

In short, we felt that the breakfast plate from Milky & Sunny wasn’t priced right. Quality-wise it’s not even good. I hope they would re-review their prices. This wouldn’t even match Pancake House’s Bacon and Cheese Medley (2 pieces cheese pancakes with sunny side up egg, crispy bacon strips, and coffee or juice) which only costs about P220. And that’s already a Pancake House meal!

We also got brewed coffee, P80. I don’t think I’m supposed to say anything about it coz it’s just brewed coffee, right? But just to say something about it, fine, the coffee’s okay.

And fresh orange juice, P100. No further comment.

The wait staff told me that they’ve been there for barely three months. On a side comment, kudos to the wait staff because they were friendly, attentive and very courteous. As for the food though, there’s a lot of room for improvement especially about the pricing strategy. It’s a neighborhood restaurant and they don’t really have a specialty that they can call their own. What they serve is just a mix-up of everyone’s favorite breakfast made available all day. It’s not like it’s something we can’t do at home. I hope they could improve on the quality of their food or at least price them in such a way that the customers can feel that they’re getting their money’s worth.

I agree with a friend who said that to be underwhelmed with something that has been so hyped-up by celebrities and bloggers is not a good thing. But I guess that’s just the way it is. I may rave over something that some of you might not like, in the same way that they are raving about Milky & Sunny while I wasn’t impressed. It still boils down to the palate of each and every customer. But if you ever drop by their resto, please let me know what you think