I’m so happy I discovered a place to buy instax film for much cheaper. I was in Picture City the other day to get ID photos taken and noticed that they were selling Instax Film. Until this moment, the best place in Manila to get the film at a reasonable price is through online resellers. But now that it can be bought in stores for even cheaper then I don’t need to buy online. Just sharing the good news with all the instax lovers out there. 🙂
(Disclosure: Picture City did not pay me to say this. I paid for the below films.)
Mad Mark’s finally branched out to Makati!!! Am so happy!
Me and my buddy Aaron posing with the Mad Mark’s logo.
For those who are not familiar, Mad Mark’s began as a tiny, hole in the wall place in Kapitolyo that served up comfort food. Known for their delicious homemade ice creams, heart sandwiches and affordable steaks, it developed a cult following. On any given night, a trip to the Kapitolyo branch means fighting the crowds and putting up with their faulty AC just for their yummy food. I’m so glad I don’t have to go through that anymore because I can just go to their newly opened branch in Makati. As fate would have it, last Thursday my schedule freed up so I dropped by to check them out.
Located in the new Glorietta 5, Mad Mark’s is on the second floor giving a nice view of the rotonda. Diners can enjoy their meal alfresco.
I like the spacious, light and airy interior.
I ordered a steak. Their steaks and meats come in three portions. Healthy, Regular and Large. Once you’ve selected the portion, you can choose the sauce and the side. Since it’s just their soft opening, their Regular steaks only came with buttered rice and a salad. But in the future you can opt to choose your sides.
The steak was perfectly seasoned and cooked. The rice was a perfect complement because it wasn’t dry and seasoned just right to add flavor to each bite but not overpower the meat.
I didn’t even bother with the mushroom sauce because I was already happy with my meal. However, steak eaters who adore gravy, you will like this too.
My friend ordered a Healthy portion and this came with rice and potato salad.
No visit to Mad Mark’s is complete without their ice cream.
Luckily they have every flavor available in Makati.
They are best known for their Half-Baked Madagascar (HBM) which is Cookie Dough and Vanilla. My personal favorite though is Sumatra Strong Chips which is a nice robust creamy coffee ice cream with chocolate chips for texture. My only complaint is that I wish they had more chocolate chips because mine barely had any of the ‘crunch’ I was looking for.
Since they’re still in soft-opening mode, their menu contains only ice cream and steak. (I’m not complaining, these two items are awesome!) But in a few weeks, Mad Marks fans will be able to order fries, wings, sandwiches and other signature dishes.
Yesterday, I got a digiperm. My life is forever changed.
I was born with ultra straight, super fine, zero body hair. There’s no volume nor shape which I hate so I curl my hair with an iron to give it a nice bounce. However, this is only temporary because it never holds. So when the DigiPerm became popular, I was intrigued. I really wanted to get it done but I was afraid that it would look ugly. I’ve been agonizing over this for years!
Reviews on the Digiperm are mixed. Some really like it, some hate it. Contrary to what many think, it requires 100% maintenance and needs products to keep your hair in check. So it’s not a wash and wear sort of style. My old routine was shampoo, towel dry, comb, air dry. I didn’t put any products whatsoever. I wasn’t ready to commit to being permanently curly haired. However, on Friday afternoon I made a last-minute appointment at Beauty Brick. A quick search on “DigiPerm” Manila will tell you that Beauty Brick is one of the best places to go. On Saturday morning, I arrived right on time for my 10am appointment and sat nervously while I waited.
The Salon
Beauty Brick on a Saturday is like an all-day party to the soundtrack of blow dryers. It’s so busy and crowded, it is an energetic and efficient experience. On a busy day, they manage their clientele similar to a manufacturing line. Each customer hops from chair to chair, guided by their staff which is actually really smart because precious time does not go to waste. There are about 20 chairs and all of them are full, rotating with girls in various states of hair makeover. By the time I was done, I had sat in about 8 different chairs, not counting the ones I sat in twice. We were playing musical chairs. Told ya, it was a party.
Make sure your bag is compact because you will be moving around a lot. Though they give you stools for your stuff.
Digiperm Machines all lined up
Wall Art by Mr. Shin
Mr. Shin
The famous Mr. Shin intimidated me. He communicates through an interpreter because he speaks Japanese. (I suspect though that he actually does understand English, at the very least. After all the years he’s been doing this.) He speaks loudly and very emphatically in Japanese which sounded to me like he was yelling. I think that’s just the way he is but it definitely made me more agitated because I was nervous. Apart from that, he is clearly an expert. He knows right away what’s wrong with your hair and how it will respond to treatment. He’s very hands on and goes from girl to girl, giving consults, cutting hair, checking the curls, making the curls himself, teaching you how to maintain it, etc. etc.
The Process
1) Shampoo
2) Wet Hair Comb Out
3) Consult – You get to tell Mr. Shin what you want done. He gives his feedback. His standard feedback is to tell you how damaged your hair is. With me he said that I should do medium curls for the Digiperm. I said I wanted Big curls and showed him photos of what I wanted. He said that if I am going for style, big curls. If I am going for long term, he wants to use medium. I insisted on the big ones. He said okay but don’t complain afterwards. He then proceeds to trim my hair.
4) Explanation of treatment – Here are the products. I don’t remember specifics.
4) Treatment gets washed out
6) You wait.
7) Your hair gets put into the curlers.
8) You get attached to the Digiperm Machine.
9) The digiperm machine sucks your brains out. Or calls the mother ship to take you back into space. Or curls your hair. Something. It’s really heavy.
10) The curls are unraveled. I’m nervous.
11) Someone comes over to blowdry your hair and teach you the very important “twist and scrunch” move.
Twist – section your hair into parts like below. Twist. These twists must be dry before they are separated.
12) Mr. Shin comes over for a final consult and puts product in your hair. He does the finishing styling.
Time Duration: 10am to 1:30pm
Price Paid: Php3,500 + Php200 tip.
The Results
I AM SO HAPPY. It looks so good!!!!!
The Maintenance (as prescribed by Beauty Brick)
1) After digiperm, you can shower next-day but don’t use shampoo. Conditioner only. I don’t intend to wash my hair until after 48 hours to be safe.
2) You can shampoo on the 3rd day.
3) After showering, assuming there’s no more excess water, comb it with a wide tooth comb. Comb only when wet and never when dry.
4) Section your hair twice, left and right side. Then twist gently.
5) Start scrunching. This is a move wherein you cup the twists with your hand from the bottom and bounce them gently. Think of coiling a spring and releasing it.
6) Cup the scrunches and blow dry them while in your fist. A diffuser would make it easier. NEVER with an electric fan.
7) Once dry, separate the curls and apply a wax. They suggest any styling wax.
8) Scrunch throughout the day to maintain curls. No more twisting because it already has product in it. Only when wet.
2013 Holiday Schedule and Name Change
Beauty Brick will now be known as BLU-AF. I’m not sure why they would change it though since Beauty Brick is a perfectly good name. But see below, just in case you are thinking of visiting Beauty Brick / Blu-Af in the next few weeks.
Contrary to the date of this post, this food tour actually happened on August 10, 2013. I’m so behind.
Pampanga, to many, is the mecca of food. Many of our well-loved dishes are kapampangan so it only makes sense that professional food tours are offered for this culinary province. My kabarkada, Nic, was in town from the States so we decided that we would all get together and bond over this day of food. See below how our day of gluttony went. In bold are the itinerary items c/o our tour organizer, Travel Factor.
06:00 AM Meeting Time at McDonald’s El Pueblo (Ortigas Center)
06:30 AM Departure to Pampanga
We got up way early and met at McDo St. Francis Square. What was supposed to be a group tour turned into a private trip because the other participants backed out. We made full use of the van.
08:00 AM Breakfast at Everybody’s Cafe
We got there around 7:40am. We were their first customers. Exotic Food Sampling at the famous Everbody’s Cafe. Way too early to be playing Fear Factor if you ask me but we were game.
Of course we have to instagram it!
Our breakfast – frog, mercon (mystery meat), crickets, longganisa. Nothing special. Try it just to brag to your friends how brave you are. The crickets are actually good though, if you can wrap your mind around the fact that you’re eating crickets.
Does hot chocolate aka Batirol go well with frog?
10:00 AM Visit San Fernando Cathedral
We actually got to the Church around 9:30ish and stayed a only a few minutes.
10:30 AM Morning Snacks: Kabigting Halo-Halo
We drove all the way to this far place just to have this. Supposedly the best. Honestly though, there are SO MANY variations of Halo-Halo that it’s tough to really claim that any halo-halo is the best. All their ingredients may be commercially bought so it’s tough to differentiate.
Outside the halo-halo place. It’s just a small stall actually. But they are building a huge restaurant expansion beside it. Are they really that popular?
12:00 NN Buffet Lunch at Cucina ng Atching Lilia Borromeo, San Nicolas Cookies Cooking Demo
Since we were ahead of schedule, they had barely set up the buffet yet. Their staff was busy with a photoshoot with Chef Sau. Atching Lilia is the one in white. beside me.
By around 130pm we were ready for the next stop but we sat around just hanging out because we were so ahead of schedule.
Selfie
They were doing a shoot in this space so we didn’t eat here. We were glad because it looked dark and dusty.
This is where we ate instead. Her place badly needs a renovation.
Phone Charger Station
We were also expecting the Cooking Demo for the cookies that was in the itinerary but this didn’t happen. We are not sure what happened and why it didn’t push through. No one offered us any explanations.
Shown here: their pandan water and the San Nicolas Cookie. It was good. Tasted like Shortbread.
EJ Made a friend.
03:00 PM Visit Betis Church
It’s a beautiful church. I was in awe.
Are you talking to me? Said Jesus.
Killing time at the Church with Asian Peace Signs
Pasalubong Shopping at Susie’s
When you are pretty full, it’s difficult to buy pasalubong especially when most of it is food. I just picked up some tibok-tibok for my family.
03:30 PM Afternoon Snacks: Historic Camalig Restaurant
I had no idea what to expect here. I thought it would be more Filipino food but to our surprise, it was PIZZA. And really good PIZZA at that. By the way, the name of the restaurant is actually Armando’s Pizza & Pasta. The Camalig is the name of the building, which used to be a camalig back in the day.
This is the Armando’s Best
Menu full of Pizza
Our Guide, EJ checking out the creepy rocking chair in Historic Camalig
I liked these antique fans.
Exploring the restaurant. So dark.
The interior of the restaurant is creepy and dark. Not really the best setting for an Italian restaurant. Hardly a match for the yummy food it serves. I guess that adds to its appeal though?
I’m half expecting ghosts to appear in my photos. Here it’s just Nic. I think.
07:00 PM Dinner at Aling Lucing’s Sisig
We arrived there around 530pm. Our guide, EJ, was very nervous about because it’s actually an inuman place and people can get quite rowdy. He was worried that if a bunch of rowdy, drunk men tried to start trouble, being the lone guy, he wouldn’t be able to protect us. 
At 5:30PM it wasn’t so bad. There were a bunch of people drinking but it was still bright out.
Shortly after we’d ordered our food, there was a commotion. To our surprise, Bong Revilla & Lani Mercado came in with an entire posse of family and bodyguards. They created such a clamor that the restaurant had to be closed.
Taking a picture with the former action star and fellow pork (sisig) lover
He was sitting so near us that I had to take a selfie! Lani Mercado is in pink and Bong Revilla is in black.
Just having more fun with Revilla while he eats Pork…. sisig!
We got shut in with them. Our guide breathed a sigh of relief. With so many bodyguards there, he wouldn’t have to protect us anymore.
The commotion when we left
Around 7ish, we started our drive back to Manila.
If you are interested in doing this tour, please check out www.travelfactor.org
What you must know:
1) This is purely food. There is no cultural aspect to this tour, there is no explanation nor background about the food, restaurants or any other stops. So you literally hop from place to place just eating. My friends an I unanimously wished they injected some cultural stories or narrations to our meals as a way of explaining the food and its meaning in kapampangan culture. It would have made it so much more interesting.
2) No you will not be too full because they give you small portions of food just to try.
3) Bring an umbrella just in case it rains.
4) All the walking you will be doing is from the car to the restaurant and that’s basically a few steps. If you so choose, you can wear your favorite pair of Jimmy Choos.
The Cost: Php2,400 per person. Expensive. Considering all the sights (Churches) were free. The food places, am sure were not expensive at all. Everybody’s Cafe, I can’t be sure of.. but the Halo-Halo was only P60/per person. The Buffet couldn’t be more than P500 per person. The Pizza was P350ish for the entire pie, which we all shared. The Sisig was under Php1,000 for all 5 of us. I think the van charter and driver must have cost the most. I know a business has to make money but I think we definitely overpaid on this.
For the pancake lovers out there, this one’s for you. A DIY Pancake experience, sure to appeal to breakfast-lovers both young and old alike. Brother and I visited on Sunday to see what the fuss is about.
The restaurant is spacious and bright. They were playing some retro Elvis tunes which gave it a nice, relaxing Sunday vibe.
We selected the Buttermilk Batter. Later in the meal, we ran out of buttermilk batter so we tried the whole wheat. Those who are considering ordering this, please note that there will be a stark difference in texture. The whole wheat is way more dense and not fluffy like buttermilk. It will also have that somewhat rough texture which is common to anything whole wheat. It is also more filling. But each bottle of batter will properly feed two people.
Sides: Mango, Maple Syrup and Mango Syrup // Savory Sides: Cheddar Cheese, Bacon, Mushrooms and Green Onion Sour Cream
We got off to a funny start. We declined to have the server teach us how to make pancakes because we wanted to experience it on our own. Hence, we made some mistakes and made ugly pancakes but eventually we got into the groove and made more normal ones.
I was look for sharp contrasts in flavor. Earthy mushrooms versus decadent bacon. Salty sharp cheddar versus sweet buttermilk. I was sorely disappointed because none of my flavor combinations worked. Bacon, Sour Cream, Cheddar, Mushrooms. There was no taste. Everything had a mild sweetness to it and nothing stood up to the richness of the buttermilk. It was not savory at all. The bacon was soggy. The cheddar lacked any flavor. Even the sour cream was sweet. It tasted like whipped cream with green onions. The mushrooms were just…there. There was no distinction in flavor.
My brother had better luck because you can’t go wrong with maple syrup. Their batter was good but only with sweet sides, not savory ones. Take note.
We also got chicken wings. This was just okay.
My brother ordered (I don’t know why, takaw tingin) Pork Belly Eggs Benedict. He said the pork was good but the Hollandaise tasted like melted butter. Not a good thing.
This is our bill. Not cheap. Plus, am not sure why there is service charge when I did all the cooking.
My parents always say that you shouldn’t play with your food. But I couldn’t resist. Slappy Cakes encourages it! The bright side is we had a lot of fun experimenting with the food. It allowed me to unleash my creativity.
I was trying to make a sun.
I wrote out my name.
My brother dared me that I couldn’t flip it but I did anyway. Challenge accepted!
