Sweet Bella Cafe used to be my oasis in Burgos Circle. Whenever I would run errands in The Fort, I would come here for comfort food because it’s quiet, relaxing and the service is good. They recently celebrated their 1-year anniversary and I haven’t been in a while so I dragged my brother to join me for lunch.
The menu:
I was in the mood to try their pancakes so I ordered a fresh strawberry pancake for Php160. It was okay. The pancake was not fluffy and it was kind of pasty. The taste was good, the texture was too heavy. It didn’t help that the strawberry syrup weighed down the pancake and made it more “sticky.” I had to scrape it off the plate to get a few bites.
The French Onion Soup my brother ordered was not French Onion Soup. They put soy sauce in the broth because we could taste it and it overpowered everything else. Also, some onions were not cooked all the way. It didn’t taste like French Onion Soup. We were sad about this because brother and I love French Onion Soup. This was really disappointing.
Brother also ordered a Five Cheese Pizza. Please do not order this. The cheese quality and combination they use isn’t good at all. There’s no contrast in the flavor and it does not taste like anything. There’s some sort of white cream on the base. This might be another unidentified type of cheese but it made it nakakasuya.The texture is creamy and it gets lodged in your throat which is not good. It is difficult to finish a slice. I’d rather them put one kind of cheese and have the pizza actually taste good than have 5 cheeses and taste gross.
I usually order the Farfalle Aglio Olio . The pasta, my good old reliable, was still the best part of our meal. While it was oilier than usual and the pasta overcooked, these are misdemeanors compared to our other orders. I like this dish because I think the pesto, chicken and sundried tomatoes complement each other and make for wonderful flavor.
Price – Not cheap. You’re paying for the ambiance and location.
Other dishes I’ve tried in the past:
- Salpicao with steak rice. It was good but hardly worth it for Php450.
- Ham and Cheese Omelette – nothing spectacular.
Overall, I was really disappointed by our experience. I was hoping that my brother would also fall in love with the place but I don’t expect him to. After the quality of our meal, I’m not sure why I like it there now either. I know that Sweet Bella is primarily a desserts place. But still, that shouldn’t excuse them from the responsibility of serving good and quality food. The place and menu has a lot of potential. I hope that in time, things improve.
Sweet Bella Cafe
Burgos Circle, The Fort
http://www.sweetbelladesserts.com/
As part of my Lenten Sacrifice, I gave up Milk Tea in all of its forms. Those who know me are aware of how much I love milk tea so this was certainly a challenge! But I did it, 40 days without a single drop of Chatime, Serenitea, Gong Cha, Share Tea, Bubble Tea, Teatap, Sip or any of my other regular tea haunts.
I broke the streak with Saint’s Alp! Brother and I have vouchers courtesy of Deal Grocer so we decided to check it out. I’ve been to the one in New York so I was looking forward to trying their first Manila location. Our vouchers dictated that we choose from a set menu.
The interior:
My brother had the Pork Chop and the Green Tea with White Moustache. My brother said they don’t give you enough porkchop considering they give you lots of rice. He ran out of meat and had rice left over. The porkchop is standard of Taiwanese fare, deep fried and sprinkled with “Chinese seasoning.” I don’t know if this is what it’s officially called but that’s how I call it. Maybe it’s just regular old black pepper. But the porkchop has a distinct taste which leads me to believe that it’s five-spice powder.
I had the Beef Tapa and Black Milk Tea. with Pearl Okay it doesn’t look that appetizing in the photo, it tastes better than it looks. The rice was super garlicky which I loved. The beef was a little tough but the taste was exactly that, beef tapa. Nothing spectacularly different, not that I was expecting something extraordinary.
We tried the Tempura Cheese Balls. They tasted like squidballs filled with cheese. We barely tasted the cheese because it oozed out and onto the plate leaving us with a hollow squidball. This was okay.
Omg the glasses were enormous. I was drowning in tea. I like their tea actually. The pearls were not as chewy soft as I ordinarily like but the tea itself was good. My brother’s green tea was alright but I might be biased because I’m not a big fan of this green tea with cheese stuff, or in this case, salted whipped cream.
Here is the menu. They need to make it more readable, imho. But as far as the menu goes, they have a little bit of everything in the tea department. In the food department, they have snacks and meals which sets them apart from other purely tea places.
Tea Lovers, definitely go check it out.
Saint’s Alp Tea House
(The Fort) G/F Forbeswood Parklane, Rizal Drive, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Tel: 478-7135
I have a love hate relationship with cupcakes. Everyone around me loves them so for years now I have tried my best to go along with this trend because any resistance is met with “what the hell is wrong with you, how can you not love cupcakes” comments. (Cupcake fans can be a bit die hard and aggressive.) Believe me, I’ve tried my fair share, all from the finest bakeries in New York and lately, Manila. They’re all the same to me— overpriced, overly sweet and overrated. They look better than they taste. I’ve been let down oh so many times.
I will come clean now, I was never a cupcake fan. I honestly think cupcakes are wannabe cakes. Big deal, they’re cakes in a itty bitty cup. I never understood why people pay so much money for sad excuses for cakes.
This is me: prior to eating, I cringe inwardly and steel myself for a strong wave of sugar and artificial flavor. During eating (usually nibbles), I’ll resist the urge to crinkle my nose in dislike and try not to glare at the offending cupcake. I seriously have yet to meet a cupcake that doesn’t invoke such an averse reaction. In short, I haven’t met a cupcake that I liked.
Before you cupcake fanatics hunt me down with pitchforks, let me explain. Many blog entries share how much they adore something (cupcakes/pastries/desserts) so it’s hard to be objective when they adore cupcakes. So, in my case, I prefaced my entry with my dislike to give my readers perspective and to realize the value of what I’m about to write here.. I have found The One. The one cupcake that I actually enjoyed and will crave in the future. The one cupcake that is so special I must blog about it.
It’s not just any cupcake, it is a BLEU CHEESE AND HONEY Cupcake from Bella Cupcakes.
I’ll admit the first bite is confusing. The bleu cheese flavor comes on strong and is followed by a subtle sweetness that balances out the bleu cheese. The frosting is soft (not buttercream nor fondant), which I liked and I was lucky to find chunks of bleu cheese in mine. The cake part also has bleu cheese baked in to guarantee awesomeness in every bite. Yes it is sweet and somewhat rich but by no means artificial. The flavors are there and the ingredients are quality. Hindi tipid. I relished every bite. I was in food heaven. I would recommend this cupcake to everyone who likes Bleu Cheese. It is incredible.
*Disclaimer! For those that may not be familiar with Bleu Cheese, this may be an acquired taste. You will probably not have the same mind blowing, “straight to food heaven” experience I had.
The story behind this is, I needed a gift for my friend Golda’s birthday. She loves red velvet. A quick Google search led me to Bella Cupcakes by Vannee San Juan. I ordered Golda a dozen cupcakes consisting of 6 Red Velvet (Php 60), 3 Tequila Rose(Php 70) and 3 Kahlua Brownie (Php 70). Vannee was really sweet and accommodating since she agreed to make a small batch of the liquor flavored ones for me. Surfing her Facebook page led me to her latest creation, the Bleu Cheese Cupcake. I love Bleu Cheese so I was instantly intrigued. I ordered one for myself. It was the most pricey cupcake at Php85. This further proves I have expensive taste, even when it comes to cupcakes.
Here I am getting a foot spa while enjoying my cupcake.
I didn’t get to try the other flavors because I gave those away as a birthday present. But the Bleu Cheese cupcake is a game changer. It makes me want to give cupcakes another chance.
I will start with Bella’s Cupcakes because she has some unique and interesting flavors. If they’re anything like the Bleu Cheese, they’re bound to be good. One of these days I will order an assorted batch. (I have an idea forming for my cupcake adventure.) Vannee seems to be one of the more thoughtful cupcake creators, putting careful thought and consideration into her food. This makes all the difference. Other cupcake places out there just churn out product that looks good but quite frankly tastes like sugary crap in cute packaging. That’s not good, obviously.
Thank you Vannee and Bella Cupcakes for my first real positive experience with cupcakes.
Stay tuned, readers. I will be venturing into cupcake tasting soon and of course I’ll give you my no BS thoughts.
Bella Cupcakes Manila
178 Kaimitoville, Kaimito Street, Valle Verde 2
Tel: 2151800
Look for Vannee San Juan
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VanneeOcampo
A business meeting led me to the discovery of Aomori Cafe Boutique. Tucked away in Northeast Square along Connecticut street is this little bakeshop/store/restaurant/coffee shop. I’m not sure what it is either.
I’m not sure if Aomori knows what exactly it is. I think its concept needs a little focus, cuz it tries to be a little of everything which blurs its identity. I will attempt to blog about it with photos so you see what I’m talking about. When I first walked in, all the shelves of Japanese goodies caught my eye. The shelf in the far back houses what looks like fine china. On one side, there’s a display counter for bread, pastries and macarons. You see the kitchen all the way in the back and there are plush velvet seats in the center. I was confused. I thought I was in the wrong place until I asked the girl if it was a restaurant. She clarified and said they served food and showed me a menu which convinced me to sit down.
After I got over my initial confusion. I began to appreciate where I was. When you learn to ignore the row of shelves, it feels less like a convenience store and more like a restaurant. The atmosphere at Aomori is quaint, ambient-lit, and quiet. The seats are comfortable and the laid back atmosphere makes for a relaxed dining experience. Their menu is not so large that it overwhelms, which is great. There’s a little bit of something for everyone.
I ordered a Lychee Iced Tea with Nata sinkers. Refreshing and perfect for the summer. Asked them to mix this for me with less the amount of sugar.
The bread is good. The spread that came with it, I wasn’t a fan. It was sweet and fruity.
Herbed Chicken – Recommended by the waitstaff as one of the popular items on the menu, my dining companion ordered this. He said he the taste was good but he wasn’t that big of a fan of the cream which made it rich and heavy. He also said it was a wee bit on the salty side. He liked the chicken itself and the rice pilaf. I didn’t get to try it so I can’t confirm or contradict his opinion. Although I will say he finished the dish so that means it couldn’t have been too salty/creamy.
Beef Salpicao – I love Salpicao and the minute I see it offered at a restaurant, 9/10 times I will order it. It’s to the point that my family teases me about it. Needless to say, I’ve had good and bad Salpicao countless times at different restaurants and I consider myself an authority on it. Haha. (yeah right) This one isn’t bad. The portion is generous, the beef is tender and they aren’t shy with the garlic (big plus). The one thing I didn’t like about this is that the distinct taste of Knorr seasoning was quite evident in the dish. I don’t know if it was Knorr or soy sauce but something to that equivalent. After the first few bites, I got used to it and ate it all with gusto but still. The initial wave of Knorr did not sit well with my taste buds.
The rice is another thing I have to mention, it’s 18-grain or whatever that means. I was hesitant at first, but upon trying it, it didn’t taste any different from regular rice, at least to me. Though of course the texture and look is nowhere like regular rice. They said it was healthy so what the heck, I ate it all. 🙂
For dessert, I treated myself to a Coffee Jelly. All you coffee jelly lovers (I am one of them), this is really good. Better than Starbucks, obviously. A bit sweet at first sip so make sure you mix properly prior to drinking because all the sweetness is concentrated at the bottom.
I was treated to lunch so I don’t know our exact bill but I think it was around Php700++ for all of this food. Not bad at all cuz the portions are large. I want to go back and take my mom with me. I think she’d like it.
Aomori Cafe Boutique
Northeast Square, Connecticut Street, Greenhills
(Go downstairs, I think this would be considered Lower Ground Floor)
7241952
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aomori-Cafe-Boutique/267274266626201
Last year, I got to be a part of a shoot for David’s Salon. They treated, cut and colored my hair to make it picture perfect. I was told they were going to display the photos in their salon. It’s been 8 months and still no photos all the David’s locations near me. I gave up hope of seeing them.
Yesterday, someone tweeted me to say they saw the poster in David’s Salon in SM City Calamba. I’m happy! Finally! 🙂 Now I have to go to Calamba to see it for myself.
Dear Friends and Readers, if you spot this poster at any David’s Salon branch near you please let me know. If you could snap a photo and send it to me at [email protected] I would be forever grateful!
