It’s been roughly over a month since Hapadog opened in SM North. Thanks to my cousin, I was lucky enough to be one of the first to check out their shop. In commemoration, I got a fabulous shirt that says “My Weiner is bigger than yours.” It’s awesome, I’ve been wearing it proudly all summer. Haha.
The place is quaint and there’s not a lot of places to sit but if you do snag a chair, it’s a good place to relax and people watch (which is what we did while we enjoyed our hotdogs).
The Temp-Tation Dog is also known as the “Tempura Dog” – It’s coated with tempura flakes, fried and topped with daikon, tempura sauce and spring onions. I loved the crunchiness and the texture. There’s not too many toppings so I still get that delicious taste of hotdog.
The Hapadog is their classic. It is topped with seaweed, caramelized onions, japanese or wasabi mayo (I was lucky enough to get both). The caramelized onions gives it a nice sweetness and the wasabi mayo gives it spice. It’s a fully-loaded dog for sure. I was lucky enough to get to try a hybrid version of this dog. They gave it the crunchiness of the Tempura Dog with the toppings of the Hapadog, that made it better because it added texture to the Hapadog classic.
They also have good sides which we didn’t get to take photos of. Our favorites was Gomaae, this really delicious super addicting salad!! We also had Furaidopotato which is the Hapadog way of saying french fries and Korokke which are croquettes. They were okay. We were there for the hotdogs! 🙂 Make sure you try their Japanese Sodas. Have fun with that marble. I know we did.
Can’t wait to go back and try their other hotdogs! I think I’ll be checking them out at the Mercato Midnight Market since the SM North location is quite far from me. See you there!
Hapadog
SM North Edsa Sky Garden
The last couple of days, I’ve been on a Sandy’s Pizza binge. I’ve ordered from this place thrice in the past week and a half. I can’t get enough! I knew it was bad when my brother and I inhaled a Super Family(18″) all by ourselves. Take note this is a pie good for 3-4 people. He and I split it, four slices (9″ per slice) each. Not one of my proudest moments (all that food! omg) but I happily succumbed to a Sandy’s Pizza-induced food coma afterward. Crap… don’t judge me. Haha.
What is Sandy’s Pizza you ask? It’s New York style Pizza (large slices, thin and perfectly balanced crisp/soft crust) but with creative flavors. They offer the classic pizza toppings in addition to some interesting Filipino-themed flavors. Love the texture of their crust, it’s close to the pizza I used to get in New York. I think it’s also reasonably priced considering the generosity of the toppings. A 14″ will cost you P480 and a 18″ is P590. The best part is you can combine any two flavors!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the best.
I am addicted to their Garlic Tuyo with Olive oil. I can eat this stuff all day. Shown here with the Garlic Chorizo(top half of the pizza) which is my brother’s favorite.
Their Honey Glazed Chicken Wings (P220) are good to pair with your pizza. I found them a little sweet (honey! duh!) but my brother adores them!
The speed with which they deliver is quick. It takes them less than 45 minutes to get me my pizza but also I live quite close to the Katipunan branch so I have that advantage. The only issue I have with them is the consistency of the pizza temperature. Sometimes it’s arrived piping hot and another time it arrived barely warm. I guess it depends on whether I’m last or first on the delivery route. Lastly, clarify the delivery charge when you call. Once they charged me by accident and I had to get a refund (which is okay) but it caused some initial confusion.
Other flavors we’ve tried but not pictured:
- White Pizza – a little too cheesy for me.
- Pepperoni – okay. Pepperoni. Not much to discuss. (If you’re gonna order Sandy’s, go for the special flavors, the ones you can’t get elsewhere!)
- Filipino Adobo with Kesong Puti – The flavor of this is good. Like the adobo but the kesong puti makes it a little too.. rich (in texture and taste). Difficult to eat more than one slice at a time.
Heat is a hair-moisture vampire. Blow-drying on high heat basically sucks the moisture out of your hair leaving it all frizzy and sometimes static-ey. Curling irons and straighteners also work the same way. Not good for me because I love curling my hair. I used to use a straightener (the clamp and rotate trick) but now I switched to a clamp-less curling iron. All that heat is tough on my hair. I could feel the changes, frizziness and hair breakage. Thankfully there is Heat Protection Spray which reduces the risk for serious hair and heat damage!
I use Tresemme Vitamin-Enriched Heat Tamer Spray which both styles and protects. This is my main product. My Tresemme is running out so I needed a replacement. So I picked up a Boots Hat Protection Spray from the Boots Pharmacy in the Thailand airport. I’m still looking for a good alternative in Manila. If anyone is familiar with any other brands that are more accessible here, please let me know!
How it works: Spray on damp/semi-dry hair prior to styling or blow-drying. I spray mostly on the ends than the roots because that’s where I curl the most.
Does it work? – I personally feel that it does. My hair doesn’t get as frizzy (or crunchy) and the curls come out soft and healthy-looking. The best part is the next day, when I wash it out, my hair doesn’t feel dry. I also couple this with a Moisture Shampoo which aids in restoring moisture.
If you can’t get access to heat-protection spray, it’s okay. But here are some hair moisture-preserving tips:
- If you must blow-dry, avoid the heat setting as much as possible. Most dryers have a “cool” setting, use this instead. Use the heat sparsely and hold it a bit further away from your hair.
- If you are heat-styling, don’t expose your hair to the straightener/curler longer than necessary. As in, when it starts to burn, please stop. (I’m not kidding, some people style until they smell the “funny” smell) That’s your hair burning, ladies.
- If you can adjust the temperature of your styling gadget, lower it. Resist the urge to max it out.
- Find a good shampoo for dry/damaged hair.
There’s a new donut place in town. Actually, I don’t know if they’re really “new” but they just opened in my neighborhood so to me they are. I’ve always been curious so I caved in a bought a box of 6. A single doughnut is P25. A box of 6 is P144. (savings of P1/doughnut)
The flavors that were highly recommended were Cream Cheese and Oreo. These are their best sellers. However I added some of the ones I was interested in, a classic glazed (not pictured), strawberry and coffee glazed.
Left: (2) Cream Cheese Center: Coffee Glazed (top), Strawberry (bottom) Right: (2) Oreo.
Comments:
- The Glazed I had was okay. The dough to me had a dense consistency. It was very “bread-like” which made it heavier than a typical doughnut. Not all the doughnuts were like this but this particular glazed one was. Maybe it depends on the batch? I guess in my mind, they’re supposed to be light and fluffy. The glaze itself was okay.
- Cream Cheese, this was good! It wasn’t overly sweet and the cream cheese isn’t nakakasawa. This is my second favorite!
- The Strawberry reminded us of the Cello’s Doughnuts and Dips version of strawberry glazed. If you’ve ever had that, it looks and tastes similar. It tastes like real strawberry. Yum!
- Oreo.. can’t go wrong with this! It’s crushed oreo cookies and has a little bit of oreo cream in the center. It’s yummy but for me, I can’t have too much of this at a time. One in a sitting is enough.
- Coffee (see below) – MY FAVORITE!!! In contrast to the texture of the Glazed doughnut, this was light and fluffy. The texture was good and the glaze wasn’t overpowering with coffee flavor. It had just a hint of coffee which was terrific. I loveeeed this. I could devour an entire box. If you microwave it, it gets even better.
Tel: 215-6805 // (0922) 848-7808
I love Mexican food! I have a special place in my heart for TaquerÃas, cuz I used to live right by one in New York and good tacos bring back great memories. It’s difficult to find authentic Mexican food here in Manila so when someone told me about Hermano’s Taco Shop, I knew I had to try it.
Here’s the Shop from the outside. It’s pretty well lit and quite colorful.
When I first walked in, they were blasting latin music. This definitely set the ambiance haha.I just felt the need to mention it because it reminds me so much of the Taquerias and other Mex places I used to go to when I still lived in New York.
The Menu Board (sorry for the blurriness). Just in case you’re curious, the tacos range from 140-150 pesos.
They had posters describing various ingredients and flavors in Mexican Cuisine. Informative!
All Meat Carne Asada Burrito (P350) – They weren’t kidding when they said all meat. With the exception of some pico de gallo and three pieces of tortilla chips on the side, it doesn’t have any other fillers (ie. rice/veggies/beans) to unnecessarily fill you up. If you’re a meat lover, this one is for you. The meat is tender and well seasoned. This is what my dad ordered and he was full afterwards but he did say that while eating it, you tend to look for a “carb” to balance out all that meat. So if you want that carb fixin alongside this particular burrito, make sure you get one of their sides.
Guacamole (P45, side order) – Also pictured here is that pot of Guacamole. I’m a fan of this. I wish I could generously spread it on everything we ordered except they don’t give you a lot. Avocados are kind of expensive so paying that much for a small portion is to be expected.
Chicken Quesadilla (P230) – This was my mom’s order but it’s a good sized portion to share so I tried it also. Classic, comforting, and cheesy. It’s not soggy or oily and is generously filled. Yum!
Fish Taco (P150) – This was my favorite. I like how the fish was flaky and tender in the middle yet kinda crunchy around the edges. Love the batter they used, didn’t overpower the flavor of the fish and it was so tasty. Best of all, it wasn’t oily!
Churros (P95) – SUPER LOVE THESE! They are served fresh, crunchy and hot! They’re supposed to drizzle the caramel sauce all over the churros but I had them put it on the side instead. I didn’t need to dip it much cuz I liked the churros by themselves. They are dusted with cinnamon powder and sugar so they are sweet but not overly so. The dipping sauce gives it a little extra sweetness though. It’s good too. (( Dear Hermanos, please offer a chocolate dipping sauce also. That would be divine!! 😀 Thanks! – J ))
Other notes:
- Their ingredients (lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, etc) were all so fresh! This was a comment we kept making throughout our meal. You can really taste the difference, it was a big plus for us.
- Yep they have a vegetarian burrito.
- We wish they gave you more chips on the side with your dish. They only gave us exactly three tortilla chips each. If you want more, you have to order Chips & Salsa for P55.
- They don’t deliver.. but let’s keep our fingers crossed.
- Their prices weren’t as cheap as I had initially thought.
- There’s lots of street children in the area. While you’re eating, they come right up to the big glass windows and stare at you from the outside. The minute you walk out, they all crowd around you, urging you to buy Sampaguita or rags. While this isn’t Hermano’s fault, I feel I should mention this cuz this may certainly affect your dining experience. We felt weird being watched while we ate. Haha. They might guilt trip you also into buying them food or giving them what you eat, which they did with some other diners there. If this doesn’t bug you then you should be okay.
- Cash only!
Our Receipt:
I’m officially a fan of Hermanos! I will definitely be back 😀
HERMANOS TACO SHOP 27 Granada Ave cor. Jose O. Vera Street(Coming from Edsa, take Ortigas, it’s on the same lot as a Petron Gas Station which you should see on your left, shortly after you pass Santolan)
