I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

Let's face it: It is HOT this summer. Baking hot. Sometimes, given the choice, we would rather just stay at home and laze out in bed for another hour or three instead of heading out and enjoying all that solar radiation. Besides, even if you do enjoy prolonged doses of solar radiation, you'll probably want to find something to cool down with after a while...which is why we're featuring a gustatory treat most relevant this season. I mean, just look at the title. :)

Haagen-Dazs meets Starbucks meets Blue Bunny

After our jaunt to Pancake House, my mom and I proceeded to S&R for a bit of shopping. Amid the folding tables and frame walkers we bought, we also brought home a few pints of ice cream from S&R's admittedly varied lineup.

 

For this visit, I decided to try a new flavor and an old favorite. I've heard raves about Starbucks Coffee's eponymous line of ice cream, so I grabbed a pint of Caramel Macchiato to see if it tastes anywhere near that infamous sweet blended coffee drink. I also got a tub of Blue Bunny's Double Strawberry premium ice cream. To the best of my knowledge, both of these are only available at S&R. My mom got a pint of Haagen-Dazs' Strawberry ice cream as well.

When they mean Starbucks ice cream...

...they mean it

Caramel Macchiato ice cream. Doesn't look like much, but wait till you taste it

Pleasantly surprising was how Starbucks' ice cream mimicked the nuances of flavor of its namesake blended coffee drink. I thought it was a bad imitation at first, but upon subsequent spoonfuls of the stuff it definitely felt really familiar, as I was a big Caramel Macchiato fan in years past. The coffee flavor of the ice cream melds well with the caramel drizzle taste-wise that despite appearing like separate entities it's very hard to distinguish them apart on your tongue. Deelish. Whatever trickery they've done here, it works quite well.

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

On we go to the tussle of the strawberry scoops. Blue Bunny and Haagen-Dazs are both premium but they go about it in slightly different ways. Haagen-Dazs is all about the density and richness of the ice cream, evident from just the darker color of the stuff and how heavy it sits on your spoon. Blue Bunny's ice cream on the other hand is much lighter and fluffier - easier to roll into a scoop and jam into a cone. "Double strawberry" refers to the embedded pieces of strawberry (which Haagen-Dazs also has), and the strawberry sauce lacing the tub (which Haagen-Dazs doesn't).

Between these two, my palate prefers Blue Bunny, although Haagen-Dazs isn't very far behind. The latter is more easily purchased, however...

Lots of Blue Bunny ice cream tubs on sale only at S&R. They have sugar-free and frozen yogurt tubs too

Yummy :)

Finally, Mabie and I got to sample another of Merry Moo's creations from our last visit to Mercato Centrale. They name it "Aztec Chocolate" and we were curious to see how different it was from your usual chocolate ice cream.

Appropriately enough, the Aztecs invented chocolate

The interesting thing was, when we asked for "Aztec Chocolate," Arvy the friendly scoop man gave us a little explanation of what this flavor was and what we should be expecting out of it. It's a combination of chili and chocolate, basically. You may remember that Empire's macaroons also promised a similar-tasting product from a previous visit.

Arvy doing his thing

Now, for those uninitiated with matters of the pepper, milk and dairy products are a common and effective remedy for washing away the burning, stinging bite of capsaicin - the stuff that makes chili peppers so spicy. Ergo, it initially doesn't make any sense having ice cream that brings on the heat; it should be implausible right?

The proverbial calm before the storm...

When Mabie and I dug into the PhP70 scoop, we were surprised. Sure, the initial taste is of pretty good,  chocolate ice cream that's slightly on the rich side, but gulping it down releases a flame of heat that can only come from a chili pepper. That said, if you can stomach the spice, the whole experience is delectably smooth and the sensation is akin to drinking shots of a given hard drink. You'll definitely feel it burn evenly down your throat. Mabie had to give up halfway due to the strength of the chili flavor, so I experimented with taking frequent scoops if there would be any difference or "relief" - no such luck. Let's just say this ice cream flavor is a treat for chili lovers; capsaicin-intolerant folk need not apply.

All four of the ice cream flavors we tested here are variations on old trusty favorites which you might want to check out before scoping out more exotic combinations. :)

So hot, it melts on its own :p

Tailor-made milk tea

The last time we tried out milk tea at Jatujak in SM Mall of Asia, Mabie wasn't particularly impressed. That hasn't stopped us from having another go at it though, which is what we did with Tea.ology in Bonifacio Global City's Mercato Centrale.

Unlike Jatujak's more, um, "purist" version of milk tea (which I imagine is what it would've been like, had we actually been to Thailand), Tea.ology's brews are flavored. I think someone saw the appeal for Pinoys hiding in this cold concoction and simply decided to tailor its taste to our palates. Some of the more outlandish flavors include Blueberry Green Tea and the non-alcoholic Mojitea. Hmmm. I'm a fan of mojitos myself. Maybe I should try that next time.

Sticking to the safe side for now, we got their Dark Chocolate blend, coming in a regular 12oz size for about PhP75. The nice bit with Tea.ology is that they allow you to further tweak your tea, notably with the sweetness level and add-ons. The range of sweetness levels is from 25-100%, in 25% intervals, and add-ons include the ubiquitous pearls. 

For the Dark Chocolate brew we ordered, we had it at 75% and with pearls. The ladies preparing our drink mixed it in a cocktail shaker; I guess that's where the control of the sweetness comes in.

So how did it taste? Well...for something that was purportedly dark chocolate, it didn't taste very dark at all. It reminded me of the chocolate soy milk that Fruit Magic sells in bottles, only a tiny bit stronger. In pure cocoa content, then, it was a disappointment, but everything else was pretty good. It was not too sweet (hurrah!), the consistency of the ice was quite fine, and those like Mabie who aren't fond of the strong, leafy "this is authentic tea" taste will find that it's sufficiently toned down to be enjoyable. We finished off the cup as we walked away from Mercato Centrale and back to Bonifacio High Street in the heat of the 10am sun.

That said, I wonder how much better the "dark chocolate" would have tasted had we ordered it at 50% sweetness. Or maybe I should just have had the Mojitea? Tea.ology has a myriad flavors to choose from and numerous tweaks for each.

____________________

Tea.ology

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Teaology/148711248481135

http://www.mercatocentrale.ph/tea-ology/

0933-9428691

Candied bacon...ice cream?!

Chalk another surprise up from Mercato Centrale. We just blogged about steamed burgers, which is a left-field idea in itself, but check out what we had for dessert!

A little stall called Merry Moo sells ice cream by the scoop. Now that doesn't seem so strange in itself, but a closer glance at their store fridge reveals a rather daft-looking flavor:

That's right, they sell candied bacon ice cream. Ever the curious ones, we were given sample spoons and took a little bit to taste. Eventually we bought a whole scoop for about PhP35.

If you were expecting the potentially ill-tasting mashup of ice cream and salty pork strips, well, you'd be disappointed. As it turns out, Candied Bacon is a pretty good flavor for ice cream. The operative word is "candied," which means it's been sweetened and caramelized. The taste of the whole ice cream concoction itself is actually rather mellow, somewhat but not entirely like sweetened vanilla, with the candied bacon bits adding a bit of texture. Try it before you knock it, we suggest.

Traditionalists will probably gravitate to their more conventional flavors, like their Sea Salt Caramel or their  best-selling Coffee Kahlua. We had a sample spoon of the latter too and concluded the Candied Bacon was actually better.

____________________
Merry Moo Ice Cream
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Merry-Moo-Ice-Cream/162781003769344
merrymoo@ymail.com

Johnny goes all steamy

Ever since my mom got me to tag along on her weekly visits at the Salcedo Market in Makati, I've appreciated perusing the alternative foodie offerings of such weekend marketplaces. Often, these are foods that you would normally not see in the malls or major grocery stores, such as specialty bagels, flavored milk teas and steamed burgers.

Wait a tick. Steamed burgers?!

That's exactly what Mabie and I had for lunch on our Sunday morning visit to Bonifacio Global City's Mercato Centrale. A place called Johnny Steams sells burgers with patties that aren't fried or grilled, as goes conventional practice, but steamed instead. Hmmm. Interesting...

The first thing I spotted on the menu was a riot. The basic PhP95 burger is called "JM's Burger." It isn't every day you come across a food item named after you...or someone who's got the same nickname as yours. Frankly, I would've tried this for kicks had I not noticed the item below it. I'm a sucker for spicy things, and the PhP115 Chili Cheese Burger seemed to fit the bill.

Mabie meanwhile ordered something further down the menu, the PhP115 "Opa! Burger," the name an obvious reference to Greek food. One of the headline features is yogurt sauce, and what seems like quite a bit more cheese than usual. 

Just as I had requested our order, the prioprietor, a kind Chinoy guy named John Mark Ongsiaco (so that's what the "JM" stood for) asked us if we wanted each of our burgers as a combo meal for PhP165. The extra dosh gets you a funnel cone full of potato wedges and some lemonade. I had my burger a la carte, while Mabie had hers as a combo.

Warming up the buns...

The burgers are prepared right before your eyes on a large electric hot plate. The special steamed patties, meanwhile, are fished out of a little rectangular tray, full of meat juices - and I was too slow to snap photos of these. Sorry 'bout that. They're thick and rectangular and pretty dense packed.

Adding the veggie trappings

Check out that patty!

So how do these burgers taste? My burger was pretty solid and filling. The patty itself is a little less flavorful than an equivalent grilled or fried one, but as a healthy option it's much better than I was expecting, and is very good value for what you get. The burger had a lot of hot sauce, which is a little disappointing, but redeemed itself with jalapeño slices all over. Mabie's Opa! Burger was a similar story, but with less heat and a cheesier, milkier taste - almost a large-sized hybrid between a cheeseburger and a doner kebab or shawarma. The potato wedges, while deep-fried, were very filling and I preferred these to run-of-the-mill french fries.

My Chili Cheese Burger...minus a few bites

Mabie's Opa! Burger, halfway through

Potato wedges - a very filling alternative to French fries

That said, I'm a little surprised that Johnny Steams doesn't ballyhoo the potentially healthful benefits of steaming its burger patties rather than grilling or frying them. Its wares are simply presented as cooked in an alternative, left-field manner, which is refreshing in an age where people are saturated with ads and signage invariably screaming "try this healthy option!" 

An interesting, flavorful alternative to Brothers Burger at a lower price. Pound-for-pound, we think they've got a winner here.

____________________
Johnny Steams
John Mark O. Ongsiaco, proprietor
+639178311156
johnnysteams@yahoo.com

Take a bite, it's all right: World Macaron Day Manila 2011

Sunday morning, we dropped by Mercato Centrale at its new  location in Bonifacio Global City, close to the Lexus dealership and MC Home Depot - or, for petrolheads out there, the former location of the Manila Speedzone karting racetrack that bade goodbye in 2007. 

Who are we to say no to freebies?

Apparently we lucked out on our visit. Comedian and writer RJ Ledesma had microphone in hand, announcing that Empire Macaroons was giving away free "macarons" for all the visitors and even the store tenants of Mercato Centrale. This was part of the World Macaron Day 2011 celebration. Off-mike, RJ was chatting away and gamely inviting visitors, asking if they had already tried the macaroons.

RJ Ledesma was around to invite visitors...

...to these. So many little bites of heaven :)

Everybody was entitled to one freebie, but with a charity donation to the Real Life Foundation, the ladies at Empire gave away two. Knowing how Mabie is such a huge fan of French macaroons, and driven to scratch a gastronomic curious itch, we gave two separate donations to sample four different flavors of the little pastry sandwiches. We tried the Mocha Kahlua, Rose Petals, Chili Chocolate and Citrus.

Now it would've been easy to cynically dismiss all this as a stunt to push mediocre wares, but they were genuinely good, with surprising variety and delicacy in the different flavors and even textures. The Citrus one was the softest, with a moister filling compared to the others. The Chili Chocolate, while nice, didn't have the kind of Aztec-style spicy chocolate kick I was expecting - what happened to the chili I wonder?

Citrus and Chili Chocolate

Positively left-field was the Rose Petals flavor, an interesting curio that really did taste like my idea of eating flowers (and no, not the cauliflower or broccoli kind).

Rose Petals.

Out of the macaroons, our favorite was the Mocha Kahlua, hands-down. The coffee and chocolate blend was just exquisite, tasting like something much larger than the itty-bitty confection held in Mabie's hand. It was that flavorful.

The insides of the Mocha Kahlua macaroon. Yummy!

A bit of searching the Internet reveals that Empire Macaroons is based in Rockwell. You might want to drop by and sample their stuff, or take home a box of your own little bites of heaven.

-jm