Transcending the decades

My mom was pretty bored on Maundy Thursday, so she asked if I wanted to accompany her, driving around the Makati and Taguig areas to see what exactly was left open. Having nothing better to do, we got into my car and hit the road.

Much to our chagrin, Greenbelt and Glorietta were virtual ghost towns. Skipping Makati, we crossed EDSA and went to Bonifacio Global City. Pootling around, we noticed Bonifacio High Street was open. We parked, disembarked and spelunked for a closer look. It turned out much of High Street, Serendra and Market! Market! was also closed down, but there were a lot of people gathered round due to the massive, artistic Stations of the Cross exhibits littering the center garden of High Street. What remained open were some restaurants, hoping to capitalize on the visitors.

After walking around, my mom thought of having an afternoon snack at Pancake House. She had told me it used to be their hangout in the 1970s and 1980s, especially when the Magallanes locale of Makati was a much busier place than it is today. In those halcyon days when she worked there, there was a bowling alley, a cinema and a branch each of Magoo's Pizza, Dayrit's, the steak house Mingoy's and Pancake House.

A panorama shot of Pancake House Bonifacio High Street's interior.

The branch in Bonifacio High Street sure doesn't look like a typical Pancake House branch. They took more liberties with the decor, mixing a collection of movie posters with post-modern architecture in the franchise's trademark orange motif.

Bacon Waffles. The bacon is embedded :)

Mom had their Bacon Waffles (PhP160), while I had a three-piece order of Peach Pancakes (PhP175). Both of us had a cup of brewed coffee (PhP70; PhP78 with one refill) to go along with it.

That's some bad-ass coffee!

It has to be said, Pancake House's coffee is some of the strongest you'll ever find in a restaurant. Emptying one sachet of brown sugar into the glass, it still tastes wickedly black. It's a full-bodied brew that Starbucks mixed-drink aficionados might find overpowering. We actually ordered a refill, but as this was already 4pm in the afternoon and the brew was much more potent than expected, we requested the refill be canceled.

I didn't get to try the Bacon Waffles, so I'll talk about the Peach Pancakes, which were pretty interesting. You get a stack of three moderately thick pancakes, along with six peach slices and a small dollop of whipped cream on top. A small beaker accompanies the dish with what looks like peach-flavored syrup.

Peach Pancakes, quite obviously :) Check out the syrup beaker.

The pancakes themselves are fluffy and cake-like, and not very dense. Indeed, if your fork has a large piece of pancake skewered on it, chances are it will tear off and plop back onto your plate after some resistance. I grew up in a household that prefers dense pancakes, but I can appreciate Pancake House's recipe as it's not overly thin or floppy. The peach syrup is surprisingly not very sweet, imparting a just-right kind of taste to go along with the pancakes and peach slices.

Overall it's a good, filling, carbo-loaded breakfast or snack. And that potent coffee is just something else. I usually don't frequent Pancake House but I now might have reasons to go back more often.

Of Pad Thai, Sate and Thai Drinks

JM and I rarely go to SM Mall of Asia, maybe because it is too crowded for us. Though, last Saturday we made an exception because we wanted to watch the 2011 Pyromusical Fireworks display. After braving the traffic along Buendia and the unexpected re-routing of traffic near the World Trade Center, we finally reached our destination. After invading some of the racks in the boutiques with my sister tagging along we decided to have a mid-afternoon dinner. Since we are near the activity area, we saw Jatujak. We have seen this restaurant quiet a number of times but it was always that time that we have eaten already. So it was the best time to try it.

Jatujak (pronounced as Chatuchak) is the name of the largest weekend market in Bangkok, Thailand. I’m not a big fan of Thai food but it’s worth a try sometimes. The interior of the restaurant is far from the looks of a weekend market since it looks more modern and I liked it. It is small and cozy. Once you set foot inside, you’ll be welcomed by the smell of tanglad leaves (lemon grass).

For appetizer, we had the Vegetable Spring Rolls (P125 for 5pcs). I like the crispiness of the spring rolls. The sweet chili sauce was not even spicy at all and was more on the sweet side which I liked.

 

They even have different spices!

 We also had Pad Thai Chicken (P175), it looks small inside the plate but we managed to split it for 3 persons. It was my first time to try pad thai and I’m glad that I was not disappointed at all. I like how the nuts add crispiness to the noodles with every bite. Actually the chicken bits are just an added bonus for me because I’ll like the pad thai even without it.

Since we already had veggies and chicken, we decided to get some Pork Sate (P180 for 6 pcs). Sate (or Satay) actually originated in Indonesia and was even considered as their national dish. It was later made popular to other neighboring South East Asian countries. In simpler terms, it is popular in our country as Pork Barbeque (Surprised?).

Since it was burning hot outside, we decided to try the Thai Iced Coffee (Php75) and the Thai Iced Tea (Php85).

From the menu, the Thai Iced Tea looks really yummy. It looks more of a samalamig (Iced sweet drink). Thai Iced Tea is usually made by mixing Thai tea leaves, water, sugar and evaporated milk. Though, after taking my first sip the horror creeps in – it tasted like a leaf! Yep I know it is supposed to taste like that since it is made from TEA leaves and I should not be surprised but since I’m not fond of the taste of leaves I had to give it up. Could you blame me if I thought that the added milk looks yum?

So I had to exchange my Thai Iced Tea with the Thai Iced Coffee of JM. From what I’ve researched Thai coffee is made by mixing strong black coffee with sugar, heavy cream and cardamom. The coffee tasted better but I’m still not satisfied – maybe because it has a leaf in it and I can really taste it.

That was our little Thai food experience. Maybe we could visit Bangkok in the near future to taste some authentic cuisine. How about you, do you like any Thai food?

Starbucks VIA: A review - and some musings on the upscale coffee shop industry

Mabie and I decided to treat ourselves to Starbucks Coffee yesterday and we got something extra to go along with our two grande Cafe Mochas and slice of Mango Yogurt Cheesecake. The friendly baristas threw in a sample of the coffee giant's latest product, VIA Ready Brew. Essentially it's the closest Starbucks has ever had to instant coffee.

Does VIA have an uphill battle against frappuccinos?

Three steps to genuine brewed coffee

I decided to try it this morning. According to the sachet, you just empty the contents into a cup or mug, add 177 mL of boiling water, and drink. The barista gave me the Colombian variety, although there are at least three others to choose from for retail sale.

It's patently amazing how such a small, thin sachet, with barely a handful of "microground" coffee beans, can release such a strong, full-bodied mug of coffee. Drink VIA Colombian as black coffee, and it's as if you ordered a Cafe Americano (essentially, an espresso shot with added hot water) from the baristas themselves. It's that strong. 

Adding a teaspoon and a half of sugar cuts the bitterness more than it would in a Cafe Americano, though, purely because there's less water for the sugar to saturate. Still, given how much smaller the sachet is compared to most instant coffee out there, VIA is strong stuff, and great for real coffee enthusiasts.

There lies the rub, however...

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From my narrow point of observation, Starbucks and its competitors have split personalities. They have made coffee-blended cold drinks their bread and butter. They may offer exotic coffee variants from around the world, but I don't exactly see people my age enthused about the nuances and flavor notes of, say, Guatemala Casi Cielo beans vs. Ethiopia Sidamo beans. People my age, they're more likely to just order a Java Chip Frappuccino or a Caramel Macchiato - and maybe add more whipped cream or caramel syrup. Beans and brews comparisons, I'd usually hear about from my mom or my aunt Hedwig, because we're fond of tasting different kinds of wine, beer, or other similar-looking drinks and picking out how they differ from each other (e.g. "Carlo Rossi's red wine is very sweet, while a Napa Valley Racehorse Red is very very dry").

Mango Yogurt Cheesecake at Starbucks

VIA seems to fly in the face of the "blended drink" model that upscale coffee shops, Starbucks itself included, have made their millions from. I think it's more in the "exotic coffee" side of things, meant for enthusiasts who may be interested in saving a buck or thirty while still getting a variety of strong coffee to choose from. (A 12-pack of VIA is ultimately cheaper than buying a Cafe Americano every day.) The casual frappuccino-drinking Starbucks patron, on the other hand, may find it too bitter or "hardcore" and steer clear of it altogether. 

Which is a shame. I hope I'm wrong. I'm hoping there are more coffee enthusiasts my age than I think there are, who are open to tasting new roasts, brews, basically everything beyond the ubiquitous blended-coffee drink. Openness to new things is always good - especially in VIA's case, where you can have your premium coffee fix and save some money in the process :)

Coffee + gelato = love?

I had my curiosities and doubts about this new place that opened recently in Greenbelt 5 called "Caffe Ti-amo." It sure generated a buzz when it opened to lots of fanfare and featured local celebrities not too long ago...but is it any good? We decided to find out.

The draw of this place is its gelato, or Italian-style ice cream, supposedly sold with 90% less fat. How much less the fat content of its gelato is, we probably will never know unless nutrition facts are published, so we'll move on to other matters.

When you think about it, Caffe Ti-amo's strategy of selling gelato and coffee makes perfect sense. Many of the popular drinks of high-end coffee places like Starbucks or The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are actually the cold, blended ones, with dollops of whipped cream and other decadent, calorific toppings. Nutritionally speaking, they might as well be made out of ice cream...so why not offer the real thing? :p

The signature offering is something called "Affogato." Pictures of this exotic-sounding featured concoction are displayed all over. Essentially it's your choice of vanilla- or tiramisu-flavored gelato with a shot of piping hot espresso. Maybe next time. We'll try them separately for now.

I had ordered a regular mocha coffee, with a packet of brown sugar and some cinnamon, while Mabie had a regular-size gelato. At this size serving you have the option of two flavors, and she picked coffee and tiramisu.

Mabie's gelato: Tiramisu on top, coffee at the bottom

Their coffee is...surprisingly good. There are cafes that will sell you mocha that tastes like hot chocolate with just a hint of coffee in it. Caffe Ti-amo's is the other way 'round; it has a lot of brewed coffee's punch with just enough cocoa taste to remind you of its "mocha" moniker. Fans of full-bodied coffee, I think you have a new haunt to call your very own.

How about their gelato? It was also pretty good, actually. Previously we had tried tiramisu-flavored gelato from another shop. While it was good, this place's tiramisu gelato trumps it. Even the coffee-flavored variety was also pretty strong yet creamy.

The funny thing is, while technically we did not order the affogato, we had ordered a combination of coffee and gelato that, for all intents and purposes, might as well have been affogato anyway. Mabie was feeding me little spoonfuls of tiramisu gelato in between coffee sips, and I could already imagine how their signature creation must taste.

As I end this post, you might wonder where on earth Caffe Ti-amo came from. Judging from the name, is it from Italy? Spain? Looking at their stand of add-ons might provide a clue. The little table has, among other things, tall sachets of white sugar that indicate its origins from Korea.