My Favorite Pastries at Cafe Mary Grace

I love Cafe Mary Grace for its consistency and good service. You can check out my earlier posts here, here, and here. 

I first heard about the resto from my friend Teeny, who was raving about the ensayamada of the soft dough and the right medley of sweet and salty. You can request to have it grilled to intensify the flavors. 

Many of my friends were also mad about the mango bene, which reminds me of a very good tiramisu. The lightly sweetened cream tied all the elements together.

If you ask me I love the strawberry shortcake the most. It had just the right mix of sweet and tart and was generous with slivers of candied strawberry. The sponge was moist and the cream not too cloying. It was also Instagram-worthy: very pretty. I used to hate sponge cakes, but this is different from the sorry dry sponge cakes I had. 

'Til my next post. :)


Cafe Mary Grace
Robinson Place Manila
Midtown Ermita

Ms. Polly's Award-Winning Chocolate Cake

Last December we were gifted with one amazing chocolate cake: it was moist, slightly bitter, no too sweet, very chocolatey. I'm not a fan of chocolate cakes but this is an exception: the icing is slightly sweeter than the body, driving one not to waste even a smidge.

Ms. Polly's Specialty Cakes and Desserts
16 Milan Street Merville Park Subdivision
Paranaque
(+63) 02 824 7612

Burger Bar's Double Cheese Burger and Salted Caramel Milkshake

Disclosure: I'm not a burger fan. My taste in burgers is very pedestrian: Jollibee's Amazing Aloha and Wendy's Bacon Cheeseburger hit the spot for me. But, who knows? Perhaps it's just a question of not having met the the burger that would win me over.

A couple of months ago I met up with some classmates in Makati's Burger Bar. I ordered the double cheese burger. The patty was moist, juicy, ginormous, and beefy. For this burger it's all about the meat. This is best for those with hefty appetites. juicy, 

Good thing I paired my order with the generous salted caramel shake. The shake was sinful, creamy, and rich, and you could really taste the the salted caramel--reason enough to smile. Oh, and did I mention it has generous swirls of salted caramel? Am I a convert? Almost. 

Burger Bar
Greeenbelt 2, Makati
(+63) 02 625 2792

White Marlin Sashimi, Durian Shake, Cracking Cakes, and Boiling Shrimps and Crabs of Davao

This is my second post on Davao for this year. For the earlier post, click here.

Went to D'Farmer's and had my fill of D24

During this visit, I sampled Marco Polo Hotel's Malasugui Sashimi. There are two things I'm crazy about Japanese cuisine: ramen and sashimi. This is the first time I tried malasugui. The waiter told us it was white marlin. It looked like washed out tuna, but tasted like a more delicate smoked salmon. Yum!

Marco Polo Davao
Claro M. Recto Street
Davao City

(+63) 082 221 0888

We also visited durian delicacies purveyor, Apo ni Lola. Truth to tell I'm partial to Lola Abon's (yes, the owners are related), but they won me over with their durian shake, using the native and Puyat durian variants. 

Just look at how generous they were with the fruit pulp.

Then they added evap. The shake was so good and it was not cloying.

Apo ni Lola Durian Delicacies
San Miguel Street, Talomo District
Davao City
(+63) 082 298 5099

If Bacolod has Calea, Davao has Osvaldo's Cakes. I flipped over the caramel cheesecake.

Osvaldo's does not stint on ingredients. The cheesecakes were brimming with the flavor of cheese. Plus, they held back on the sugar.

Try the blue cheese cheesecake as well. The stinky stuff, if you are into that like me, was very pronounced.

Osvaldo's Cakes 
Ground Floor, Paseo de Legaspi
Legaspi Street, 3-A Poblacion, Davao City
(+63) 082 221 2695

Another new experience was dining at Blue Posts Boiling Crabs and Shrimps, located near SM Lanang. I didn't know what to expect but some city-based acquaintances were raving about it. 

For starters we tried the pork riblets. You have to try this--buttery soft, moist, and garlicky. Two thumbs up!

We also ordered crabs, shrimps, and tuna belly (no pictures, gasp!) with the spice level on mild. 

The sauce was so tasty and good we poured it over the rice. The heat was just right, although I don't mind dialing it up a notch. 

Eating with your hands and wearing a bib are all part of the experience. 

For this dinner I gave up thoughts of dieting. It was impossible to enjoy fully all this tasty food without rice.

Also try the stellar kinilaw--spicy and sweet.

Blue Posts Boiling Crabs and Shrimp
Lanang, Davao City
(+63) 082 221 8360

That's about it. I'm looking forward to returning to Davao next year.

What I Ate in Bacolod and Iloilo

Next to Bicol, my favorite regional cuisine is Ilonggo. My introduction to this cuisine is via Ilonggo Grill, and right away I fell in love with the pork stew KBL aka kadyos (pigeon peas), baboy ( hocks), and langka (jackfuit), and the French-inspired pasty Napoleones. Later I would fall hard for the irresistible chicken inasal. There was no KBL during my last visit to Iloilo and Bacolod, but I had my fill of inasal, napoleones, and more. How do I differentiate Bacolod from Iloilo foodwise? Iloilo is batchoy and molo soup, while Bacolod is chicken inasal, napoleones, and Calea cakes. 

Bacolod City 

Bacolod City is the capital of Negros Occidental and is known as the City of Smiles. This is also ground zero for chicken inasal, stalls of which are clustered in the aptly named Manukan Country. For more on chicken inasal, click here.

1. Nena's Rose Inasal

I've been to Manukan Country before, and I swear by Aida's. For this trip, upon the recommendation of my officemate, we tried Nena's Rose. I was impressed with the generous sprinkling of garlic bits on the rice--the better to cut through the rich taste of the chicken barbecue. 

I also fell in love with the skewered chicken butts (isol)--juicy and soft, and presented in a novel way. Chicken inasal is not complete without the sinamak and the garlicky rice that cut through rich smoky taste.

Nena's Rose
Manukan Country
Fr. M. Ferrero Street, Bacolod

2. Calea

For my earlier entry on Calea's cakes, click here.

For this visit we went to the bigger branch located across the street. These are what we ordered:  

Choco Mousse Bombe--my favorite 

Pecan Pie a la Mode

Blueberry Cheesecake

I love all the cakes we ordered--except for one on the dry side--because they are not too sweet. There were still many we haven't tried--reason enough to fly to Bacolod in the future. 

Calea
Balay Quince Commercial Bldg.
15th Lacson St., Bacolod City
+63 (034) 435 8413

3. Roli's Napoleones

Napoleones is a custard-filled dessert topped with sugar glaze. Its origins can be traced to the French pastry mille-feuille. Two locals swear by Roli's, and I must agree: it was moist, the crust was flaky, and the custard was not too sweet.

Roli's Bakeshop
Roli's Arcade, La salle Avenue
Bacolo
(+63) 034 433-3257

4. Aboy's Restaurant

Aboy's is a must-visit whenever in Bacolod for good food and fast service. Never mind the distance from the city center. I love the free mint tarragon they served after the meal. Another plus for me was the lovely bangus inasal, pictured above. For more on a previous visit to Aboy's, click here. 

Aboy's Restaurant
Liroville Subdivision, Singcang
Bacolod City
(+63) 034 435 0760

Iloilo

Iloilo forms part of Panay province. Its capital, Iloilo City, can be reached from Bacolod via a two-hour ferry ride. Aside from the food, one should take time to visit Miag-ao Church, one of the few barioque churches in the country.  

1. Roberto's 

Roberto's is popular for its ginormous siopao, pictured below. With siopao this tasty and big, who can refuse?

I also fell in love with the lomi - tasty warm soup, firm noodles, crisp greens. Lomi is made of thick egg noodles, thin pieces of meat, garlic, and shallots.

Roberto's
JM Basa St, Iloilo City

2. Tatoy's 

Tatoy's is an Iloilo institution located along the beach. We always order the chicken inasal--tasty native chicken full of the aroma of tanglad.

Tatoy's Manokan Seafood Restaurant
Baluarte-Calumpang-Villa-Oton Blvd
Villa Arevalo Dist., Iloilo
(+63) 33 337 4276

3. Pacencia Cookies

I now have a new favorite snack: pacencia cookies. These are hard to resist mini-eggnog cookies. Pictured below is one I bought from one of the ubiquitous pasalubong shops for the blog, but the humble stalls offer better versions, with just the right amount of crunch and heft.

4. Molo Soup

When In Iloilo, having molo soup is a must. This cup was served to us during a work-related function--flavorful, rich in porcine goodness, warms your heart. Molo soup is made of pork dumplings, shredded chicken, and chicken stock. 

Buffet Love from Marco Polo Plaza Cebu

I look forward to the amazing food at Cafe Marco whenever I stay at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel in Cebu. There appears to be new items everytime we visit, and many of the offerings were top-notch. 

On the savory side, the standouts for me were the Hainanese chicken (the chili sauce is off-the-charts hot), the Cebu lechon (always tasty, no need for sauce), and oysters (fresh, sweetish). It was my first time to try radish kimchi, and I love it. I was always on the lookout for the pork ribs siomai wrapped in cabbage--moist, delicate, and filled with so much umami flavor. 

For dessert I was partial to the decadent chocolate truffle cake, while my companions were raving about the excellent cheesecakes. 

There were jars of cookies just by the entrance of Cafe Marco, and we look forward to one kind: the aptly named malicious cookies. Since they did not scrimp with the nuts and choco chips, these cookies will surely wreck havoc on your waistline. .

Marco Polo Cebu also does ensaymada right. The thought of eating again their ube variant makes me drool. Their ensaymada was not cloyingly sweet. and the dough soft and springy. Again, they did not stint on the ingredients, including ube.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Marco Polo Plaza Hotel
Nivel Hills, Cebu Veterans Drive
Cebu City
(+63) 032 253 1111