Showing posts with label foodie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foodie. Show all posts
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Last week, my friends and I had breakfast at this really nice restaurant called Rustic Mornings.
Rustic Mornings is a garden restaurant by Isabelo's Garden. I have this running joke with my friends that this place is like a harlot: Rustic Mornings in the mornings to afternoon and becomes a reservations only place by night called Isabelo's Garden. But this place is anything but a harlot. It's one homey place that seems like a house converted into a restaurant place. The place looks really romantic, and though the restaurant seems to have a high seating capacity, couples can still get some privacy because of how the tables are set up separately from each other.
I really have nothing much to say about the place because I'd rather have the pics speak for the place. But one thing that I can say is that I highly recommend this place: very warm, homey but still romantic. And the food's great too!
Now on with the pics:
The entrance to the place and parking area:
The outdoor tables: as you can see the areas are separated from each other by some cleverly decorated partitions:
The indoor dining areas: I actually find the second room, with all the artwork and old photographs, a bit creepy.
The food: Delicioso! I like how the food were reasonable priced, considering the large servings. And they're sooooo good! The price range is around 200-400php but it's worth every cent. Trust me.
French toast, hash browns and bacon.
Longganisa meal with egg and herbed rice.
Bangus meal
Country omelette with homemade bread, herbed butter and jam
All meat omelette with homemade bread, herbed butter and jam
Red velvet cupcake - sooooooo goooooood!!!!
Accents that give the place its overall rustic vibe. Kudos to the designer of the place!
And being the camwhores that we were, here are the mandatory group shots:
I really really like my experience at Rustic Mornings and I'd love to eat there again... hopefully next time with someone real special. :)
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
I love red velvet cupcakes / cakes. I think that on this blog, red velvet would have the most number of entries because of the great love that I have for this dessert. I am constantly on the lookout for new reds that I can try out and love, so when I had the chance to go to SM North (I don't go here very often because of its proximity from where I live), I researched on the net if there are any cupcake places that I can check out while there.
Because of my research prior to going, I knew that there's a Sophie's Mom stall, as well as a Blushing Cupcakes shop. The Big Tummy stall was an added bonus. I felt like I hit the jackpot because it's not very often that I can simultaneously try out three kinds of reds from one mall.
So how do they compare with each other? Read on.
Because of my research prior to going, I knew that there's a Sophie's Mom stall, as well as a Blushing Cupcakes shop. The Big Tummy stall was an added bonus. I felt like I hit the jackpot because it's not very often that I can simultaneously try out three kinds of reds from one mall.
So how do they compare with each other? Read on.
Clockwise starting from the reddest cupcake: Blushing Cupcakes, Big Tummy (the one with the candy heart), Sophie's Mom
Cupcake Color:
Blushing Cupcakes: 5/5 - very clear winner as this is the reddest of them all. It's not just a simple red cupcake, it's a blazing scarlet cupcake. Very striking and very fine to look at.
Sophie's Mom: 4/5 - simply because it's not as red as Blushing Cupcakes'.
Big Tummy: 4/5 - similar color with Sophie's Mom so I guess it's only fair to give them the same grade.
Frosting Presentation:
Blushing Cupcakes: 4/5 - plus points for the artsy design, but I've seen better at Gigi's cupcakes.
Sophie's Mom: 3/5 - just one big dollop, no design whatsoever.
Big Tummy: 3.5/5 - same comment as Sophie's Mom but at least the candy heart is a nice whimsical touch.
Frosting Color and Appearance:
Blushing Cupcakes: 3/5 - Appearance just screams of sugar, rather than of cream cheese.
Sophie's Mom: 4/5 - Just one look and I know that this will be very cream cheesy based on its color, just the way I like it!
Big Tummy: 3.5/5 - Very similar to that of Sophie's mom, and the only reason it loses out to Sophie's mom is because of the size of the serving.
Frosting Taste:
Blushing Cupcakes: 3/5 - Tastes sugary rather than cream cheesy. I was looking for hints of cream cheese while eating but had a hard time doing so. It doesn't taste bad: far from it. But I guess it's a matter of preference.
Sophie's Mom: 3.5/5 - This tastes really good. The cream cheese taste is very evident with every bite. Like what I said in my previous entry, my nitpick would be that the frosting is too darn dense. But other than that, I loved this frosting.
Big Tummy: 4/5 - Wow, this cupcake has the best frosting of this lot. The taste is very similar to that of Sophie's Mom but somehow, this frosting tastes a bit better. Maybe it's because this has just the right consistency. I like the cream cheese taste of this frosting even better than that of Sophie's Mom.
Cupcake:
Blushing Cupcakes: 2.5/5 - The cupcake is dry. Actually, this is evident based on its appearance, but I was hoping to be proven wrong when I took a bite. I wasn't. The cupcake is so-so.
Blushing Cupcakes: 2.5/5 - The cupcake is dry. Actually, this is evident based on its appearance, but I was hoping to be proven wrong when I took a bite. I wasn't. The cupcake is so-so.
Sophie's Mom: 4/5 - I have said this before and I will say this again. This cupcake is sooooo good! Just the right sweetness and it's also moist, even after being refrigerated. The chocolate chips are also a nice touch.
Big Tummy: 3/5 - Like with Blushing Cupcakes, the cupcake looked dry. And true enough, when I took a bite, I think that it lacks a bit of moisture. It's not too sweet though and taste-wise, it was just ok. It was a shame though, since they already got the frosting right. Had they improved on the cupcake itself, this could have easily beat the other 2.
Packaging:
Blushing Cupcakes: 2.5/5 - Not as pretty as the others. For some reason, it reminds me of buco pie boxes.
Sophie's Mom: 4/5 - One of the prettiest boxes / packaging I've ever seen. I like the color combination of pink and blue. Very shabby chic!
Big Tummy: 3/5 - Pretty enough, with enough pinkness to please me. But not as pretty as the boxes I've seen from Sophie's Mom, J Cuppacakes, Gigi's, etc.
Overall Verdict:
Blushing Cupcakes - I liked this cupcake's color: it's not even a simple red anymore but bordering on scarlet. I liked how they presented the frosting. But like what I always say, appearance is not everything: this bakeshop would need to improve on the actual frosting and cupcake taste. The cupcake doesn't taste bad: it's just that there are a lot of red velvet cupcakes out there that taste better. Overall, this has great potential, just need to work on the actual taste versus aesthetics.
Sophie's Mom - The best of the three brands: I have said before that this is so far my favorite commercial cupcake brand so far and that has not changed. It got the frosting and the cupcake thing right. Not to mention that each cupcake is big so you get your money's worth. I highly recommend this.
Big Tummy - This has great potential as they already got half of what makes a great cupcake right, which is the frosting. I recommend working more on the actual cupcake. Given the chance to have this part improved, then I can seriously say that Sophie's Mom will have a rival for my affections.
Here are some more shots of the cuppies side by side:
Sunday, November 25, 2012
My family and I went to SM North Edsa today to take a look at the Christmas-themed Hello Kitty Village display at The Block Atrium (will have a separate post on that). After checking the display out and having tons of our pics taken, we went to check out the cupcake places I saw on the net that were open in SM North.
1. Sophie's Mom - Located at Level 3, The Block, right in front of Fully Booked and beside (?) Papa Beard.
1. Sophie's Mom - Located at Level 3, The Block, right in front of Fully Booked and beside (?) Papa Beard.
I love their boxes. Very well-designed and the colors are so feminine.
Only a few cuppies left by 6PM.
Cute little stall, though the one is Megamall is a lot prettier!
2. Big Tummy Cakes and Cupcakes - Located at the 2nd floor, near one of the Skygarden entrance, we were fortunate to catch a few cuppies that were already discounted to 50% because it was already past 7PM.
Cute signage, and the name tickled my fancy because I do have a big tummy (courtesy of my love of cupcakes!).
50% off sign... YAY!!!
I think that their cupcakes were only their secondary offering: their main offering might be their customized made to order cakes and dessert packages.
3. Blushing Cupcakes Cafe - Located at the Sky Garden. We actually got a bit lost looking for this. Quaint little shop but not as cute as the other 2 mentioned before.
Signage, visible outside the shop are their cake slices.
Menu for the day
Still a lot of cuppies left.
Contains the cheesecake cuppies, which are more expensive than their regular cupcakes.
After my trip through these cupcake places, I now have 16 cupcakes waiting to be consumed! Oh I can practically feel all the incoming calories!
Will post the reviews for the individual cupcakes / store as soon as I'm done eating all of them. :)
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Another Red Velvet Cupcake to add to my growing list. I do apologize if the frosting seemed to have smeared all over the cupcake. Blame it on the bumpy ride home from the mall!
J Cuppackaes is located in SM Megamall, Building B. It's beside the second floor department store entrance. Like with Sophie's Mom, this is a cute little stall. It's all decked out in vintage girly designs that I just love! Too bad I wasn't able to take pictures.
Anyway, this cupcake is ok. Not one of my favorites and did not make me go mmmmmm while I was eating it. In other words, though it was ok, it did not have the wow factor of the other cupcakes that I have already tasted.
The frosting was actually quite good and tastes kinda similar to Sophie's mom. It's the cupcake itself that was a bit off. Like what my sister said, it tasted like bibingka instead of red velvet. Lol.
Another issue that I had with it was the price: at 55php per cupcake, it was a tad too expensive compared to the others out there (I mean Gigi's was only 40php/cupcake!). The extra cost must have gone to the packaging. If you take a look at the last pic below, you'd see that their box was soooooooo cute! Definitely the best cupcake packaging that I've seen so far.
Well anyway, I rate this 3/5 stars.
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