#FoodStarsBreakfastPlaces: Cafe Mabini, A. Mabini, San Juan, Philippines

 When your everyday routine includes bringing kids to school; you know that you’ll be needing quite a few of good breakfast places in your belt.

Priority goes to places that opens at 8 in the mornig; offers coffee; has ample parking and is within the vicinity of San Juan. 

Let’s start the list off with Cafe Mabini. 

This is a 22-seater space with ample parking and internet access.

The best spots are the booths at the back, where the indoor garden adds to the view. Call buttons are also made available on the tables.

Table shot of our first visit. 

Hubby went with their Grilled US Beef Tapa (Php 425) while I got their Beef and Tendon Mami (Php 395). 

This sticky jelly-like beef broth truly hits the spot. All the meat pieces were cooked ‘til tender, making every mouthful a delight. Squeezing in some calamansi & mixing in the chili garlic bring in the sour & spicy notes into the dish. Serving the wanton chips on the side rather than on top of the soup made for a very nice added crunch to the dish. 

Yum Cha Unlimited at Shanghai Saloon, The Podium, Philippines

     We have always been game with trying out anything unlimited, but we also find ourselves less than satisfied with the experience more often than not (low quality of the meat, slow service, etc). Another thing that you should know about us is that Makati City is our comfort zone meaning, each drive out of the city limits ups the ante for our expectations for the restaurant. Simply put, it had better be worth the drive.

    Enter Shanghai Saloon at The Podium. 

This particular restaurant ticks both of our boxes above, placing it in a much higher standard than usual. 

We made reservations for their 2nd seating of the day (1:30-3:30pm). We arrived at exactly 1:30 just to be told that our tables were not available due to several differing reasons (the previous seating was not yet done; the table was given to another party). 

To remedy the situation, the manager had us order from the Yum Cha list so that they could start preparing our dishes while waiting.

We were soon led to our seats at around 1:45pm. I had only a few minutes to look around when our orders started pouring in, clearly they were making up for the earlier mishap. 

Burgers, Fries and Shakes at Shake Shack, BGC, Philippines

Here’s how our first visit to Shake Shack went.

Since Hubby volunteered to stay with our newborn, my toddler & I quickly got dressed and head on out to Central Square. The lines were taking up almost half of the ground floor. They hand you their menu while you wait. Good thing, we had priority so it didn’t take that long before we got to the order counter. 

Shake Shack Counter

We decided to get 3 burgers, 2 cheesy fries and 2 ube shakes to go. They hand you this rectangular buzzer that lights up & vibrates when it's time to pick up your food. It didn't take long (about 15 mins) when I felt the burgers "calling".

Love the Star Wars reference

They pack everything in a brown paper bag for easy handling. Maybe providing a cover or at least sealing it a bit (especially since I will be walking outside to the car) would be better so that the food would be safe from the elements (such as smoke & dirt). The burgers and fries were too exposed for my liking. 

When we arrived home, we basically skipped up the stairs and excitedly handed one of the paper bags to my husband (luckily our baby girl was still sleeping). We each unwrapped one of the burgers, while our toddler happily waited to see which ones we will be letting him try.

Brown Sugar Milk Tea Fix at Tiger Sugar, Bonifacio High Street

It's been awhile since I've had Milk Tea on my mind and in my belly. In my former life (aka Fatty Days), I can chug cups of Milk Tea in a week with no remorse whatsoever. Fast forward to the last 2 years wherein I've managed to cut down my milk tea intake to once a month to almost none at all (*pats back*). But I'm afraid because of new circumstances, I am now back to my milk tea habit and it certainly did not help that new tea places have cropped up. 

After having lunch at Bonifacio High Street, it seemed as good time as any to visit this newly opened Milk Tea place. First thought that came into mind? "Ang haba ng pila!" ("The line's too long!") See picture below.

Panoramic View

The line was snaking around the stall up until almost to the doors of Fully Booked; and it was already 2 in the afternoon. It seemed like drinking Tiger Sugar's Brown Sugar With Cream Mousse was in everybody's agenda for the day. 

Persian Recovery Massage at Aramesh Spa and Wellness, Salcedo Village, Makati City, Philippines

In line with our #RoadToGoodHealth journey (peppered with weekly runs and a healthy diet); I would like to take this time to emphasize the need for a good recovery regimen. Aside from resting and eating the designated post-workout food, I believe getting massages or at least foot spas are a must for any runner. You can choose to have a session after every run or once a month, it's really up to you; but nothing comes close to the feeling of relief after having your tight and overworked muscles kneaded by professionals especially after hitting your PR (personal best).

For this particular massage recovery session, we decided to try the Aramesh Spa & Wellness. Tagged as the 1st one to offer Persian massage in the Philippines and ranking top 1 in TripAdvisor, these were reasons enough for us to try them out.

Notice the Fashion Smile Dental Clinic signage? Yeah, we did too. It is a bit unconventional and unnerving to see a spa place right beside a dental clinic.

But they do their best in alleviating your apprehensions by showcasing their awards and trophies all lined up in a row for all to see.

To fully immerse your sense to the relaxation to come, they serve you this hot delicious tea served in a pot and cup adorned with intricate details. Then they give you a questionnaire wherein you check your choice of either soft or hard massage and which part of the body you wish your therapist concentrates on. This is an efficient way to communicate your massage expectations without the need of speaking later on during the actual session; they want you to fully enjoy the service in tranquil silence.

The Persian theme continued all throughout the place. Lights were dimmed as well to further relax your senses.

Business Set Lunch Offerings at Vask Tapas Room, Bonifacio Global City, Philippines

Lunch menus are all the rage nowadays. Restaurants offer "tasting menus" or set lunches which are smaller servings of their ala carte dishes, so you don't actually get to save money since you get what you pay for (they cut back on the serving sizes) and sometimes even less. We fell into that same trap when we saw Vask Tapas Room offering a 3-course business lunch set. Thinking that perhaps this place would be a bit different and it would be nice to try out a new place; we decided to schedule our lunch here.

At the lobby, we found some interesting sculptures.

Vask is located at the 5th floor of the Clipp Center which is easily accessible by elevator.

We made reservations for 12:30pm but seeing the place almost empty even during lunch time when we arrived, it was apparent that there was no need to. One advantage of that is I get to take better looking pictures of the place.

The walls were covered with interesting fixtures and the ceiling too was eye catching.

Here's a shot of their lunch menu*.

My Birthday Lunch 2016 at Foo'd by Davide Oldani, Shangrila The Fort, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Philippines

The main reason why Foo'd by Davide Oldani came into our sights was because they offer a 3-course meal by a chef, that owns a Michelin-starred restaurant, at only Php 800*.  Yes, that's an appetizer, main course & dessert. Hubby was game to try and timely too since it was my birthday. 

Located at the outside part of Shangrila The Fort, it takes a bit of walking but once you see Toby's Estate and Pink's Hotdogs, then you're on the right track.  From the outside, the huge black doors looked uninviting but Davide's smiling face (printed on a standee) welcomes you in. We made reservations 2 days before to avoid unnecessary hassles.

The receptionist was busy talking on the phone & took several minutes before ushering us in. A bit of a let-down since there were no other guests but I'm trying not to let that dampen our spirits. Chalking it up to their "soft opening blues".

As you enter, you'll notice that they divided the place into several areas. You can choose to sit by the open kitchen; by the side which looked like a big nook with decorative grills or in the middle part like we did.

Tables by the open kitchen 

The Nook

The middle part

As you sit, they hand you their one-page menu. At Foo'd, they make ordering easy; either you get their 3-course or 4-course and from there, you can begin to customize your meal. I got the 4-course (Php 1200*) while Hubby got the 3-course (Php 800*). Yes, since it was my birthday, I get to eat more! :)

While waiting, they give you these thick slices of bread that comes with an olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip. It actually reminded me of a certain Italian restaurant which serves the same dip but with parmesan cheese. 

We each took a bite, placed the bread down and pushed the plates as far away from us as possible. It just wasn't good.

Thin salty bread sticks

Then we turned our attention to these thin bread sticks.  Now this we absolutely liked.  Crunchy and with a bit of saltiness, it was like you were nibbling on a pretzel.  We happily munched on these the whole meal.

Latin American Vibe at Empingao, Poblacion Makati City, Philippines

When talking about Latin American cuisine, the dish I'm most familiar with is tacos. Imagine my surprise when we went to Empingao, which boasts Latin American wares, and find out that tacos takes a bit of a backseat in this place.

With the walls covered with colorful busy artwork, it never felt lonely even though we were the only ones there during dinner time.

The first item on the menu that jumped at me was the dish called Mofongo (which I first heard from Guy Fieri). I was really excited to try it out but at the same time scared to do so. After much deliberation, we decided to save that dish for next time and chose some safer/ more familiar options.

To start us off, we ordered from their Churrasco (grilled/barbecued meats) section.

We ordered a stick each of their Lamb Chops (Php 95/stick). They serve it on a skull plate which was definitely unique. They top each stick with salsa and sour cream. The brown sauce on the side looks weird but works really well with the game-y taste of lamb; so go ahead and dip.