五十三：Gigi Coffee and Cupcakes

I'm not fond of cupcakes because I don't see it as cake baked in a cup so I would rather eat a slice from a whole cake but I don't mind trying some once in a blue moon.

I think it was around 2010 that we had the cupcake fad. Most home bakers would make cupcakes and sell them online and though I also bake at home, I did not join the fad.

I've never heard of a cupcake store in Eastwood City until a colleague told me about Gigi's cupcakes. She said it was delicious and not as pricey as other stores that sell cupcakes.

Since it was payday, I thought of trying some of Gigi's cupcakes and I bought their box of 6. Unfortunately only three flavors were left and lucky for me, they still had Red Velvet cupcake which was the flavor that I really wanted to try.

I got Butter Cream which is tinted blue, Red Velvet and Peanut Butter flavors. A box of 6 cupcakes is 235Php. A cupcake is 40Php so you save 5Php.

Butter Cream

Besides cupcakes they also sell coffee but I did not try it because I was about to go home already.

 Looking at the frosting, I knew it was made of American buttercream frosting which is made from powdered sugar and butter and it's too sweet for my taste because it is just powdered sugar mixed with a little butter. I prefer Swiss butter cream frosting like the ones put in cake rolls which is literally butter that is creamed though the American butter cream is very easy to make.

Red Velvet

When I got home I did not eat it right away because I was already sleepy so I placed it inside the fridge first and ate it the next day. 

The cupcakes were still moist even if it was cold. When I tasted the frosting, it was too sweet especially the butter cream flavor but the cake itself was good. It was moist and soft.

The peanut butter really tasted like peanut butter and was less sweet than the butter cream one but I liked the Red Velvet flavor the most because the cream cheese in the frosting made it a lot less sweet and the cake itself is delicious.

Peanut butter

Again I am not a fan of cupcakes but I am willing to try the other flavors of Gigi's cupcakes and their coffee because it's a lot less cheaper compared to other cupcake stores that sell their cupcakes at 60Php per piece.

Price Range (40Php - 100Php)

Location:
Felina Corporate Plaza Lobby, Eastwood City, 1110 Quezon City, Philippines
Contact No.:
+63 2 234 2842

五十二：Swensen's Ice Cream

I really like ice cream and ever since I was a kid, I had fond memories while eating ice cream. 

Before Swensen's came in the Philippines, we had Magnolia House and my parents would always bring me there on special occasions to eat sundaes. Unfortunately the original Magnolia House is gone and has been relocated inside the mall that was built there which is Robinson's Magnolia.

A few years ago, a Singaporean friend told me about Swensen's. We were talking about restaurants and she said that one famous restaurant in Singapore is Swensen's and they offer delicious cakes and ice creams.

I made a research and found out that it's an ice cream parlor from U.S. and its franchise has been really popular in Thailand they even made a Rice Ice Cream.

A few years forward, Swensen's opened their first branch in the Philippines at SM MOA. It's very far from where I live so I did not get to try it until their branch in Eastwood City in Quezon City opened.

Cute doodles

A close friend who also likes ice cream a lot came with me to try it out. 

We had a hard time choosing which ice cream creation to order. I think it took us about 30 minutes to decide until their waitress helped us by explaining to us that we can choose whatever ice cream flavor we like for the ice cream creation or sundae that we choose.

Pick your choice of ice cream flavor and toppings.

And so we decided to order one Oreo Brownie Basket (265Php) and Strawberry Stripes Parfait (255Php). Both have 3 scoops of ice cream each.

Oreo Chunky Basket

For the Oreo Chunky we got the Midnight Brownies, Rocky Road and Cookies and Cream flavors and for the Strawberry Stripes we got Bluberry Cobbler, Reversible Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake flavors.

Close view of Oreo Chunky

All of the flavors are delicious and very creamy but among all the flavors that we chose we liked the Reversible Chocolate and Blueberry Cobbler the most. 

Strawberry Stripes and Chewy Chocky Fancy at the foreground.

It's a bit expensive for ice cream but it's worth a try especially because the quality of the ice cream is superb and the flavors are quite unique.

Price Range (100Php - 400Php)
Location:
2/F Eastwood Mall Veranda E. Rodriguez Avenue
Bagumbayan, Quezon City

五十一：Kogi Bulgogi Korean Cuisine

My friend and I decided to have dinner first before going to Mass at the Padre Pio Shrine. She wanted noodles and so I suggested we try at Kogi Bulgogi Korean Cuisine restaurant since I haven't tried eating there yet. 

 Kogi Bulgogi Korean Cuisine is located in Eastwood City at the second floor of Eastwood Mall along the veranda. It's near the entrance and Italianni's restaurant.

I think their waiter was excited to have had customers and I believe we were the only customers that time so he was kind of ecstatic answering all of our questions regarding the menu.

 Since it's the Lenten season, we try to refrain from eating meat and we wanted to eat just seafood. Good thing the famous spicy Korean noodles Jjamppong only has seafood mixed in it.

We also chose an appetizer which was the soft shell crab sushi. We got intrigued by its name and the waiter said its serving is quite large and it's delicious and so we followed his suggestion.

Appetizer

Like any other Korean restaurants, they will serve you some appetizers first. I really liked their sauteed bananas and the sweet chili dried anchovies. I also kind of liked the salad though I think it would have tasted better if it was served cold.

Soft Shell Crab Sushi

The soft shell crab sushi came first and the waiter was correct, it was huge! It looked like a caterpillar with hair. LOL!

It was very intriguing because of what was on top of the sushi. I thought it was something mushy and soft but when my friend tasted it it was crispy and has mayo but it was really delicious! I think it's something like the batter in a tempura that has been fried and then mixed with mayo. It was really really good.

The sushi is sliced into 8 large pieces. I tried putting one inside my mouth whole and it would not fit I thought I'd choke but it was still delicious! You can taste the crab and shrimp. The lettuce also balances the flavor. It's a mix of sweet, sour, salty and a bit spicy.

Jjamppong

Then our main dish arrived, the Jjamppong. It was orangey red maybe due to the chili. We tasted the soup and it was delicious but not as spicy as I expected. 

The waiter said we can choose the level of spiciness and since we both like spicy we wanted it hot. The level starts at 5 up to a maximum of 10. Level 5 was not spicy at all for us so we chose 7 next. It was a bit spicy but still not spicy for us but we settled for it.

You can taste the seafood broth and it also contains clams, shrimps and squid rings. It was good but then again I was kind of disappointed with the level of spiciness. Next time i will try level 10! 

Peach iced tea 85Php comes with one free refill.

To match my meal I also ordered their iced tea and it was delicious. It tasted like peach iced tea and I think it's actually brewed, very delicious. It also comes with one free refill.

And.. you know if the restaurant is authentic if their locals eat there and before we left, a large group pf Korean came in to eat as well.

One more thing I liked with the restaurant is that there is NO service charge! ^_^

Price Range ( 200PHP - 400PHP per meal)

Address:

Eastwood Mall

2nd Level, Eastwood Mall

Orchard Road, Bagumbayan, Libis

Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines 

Phone Number

(+63 2) 470-6884 - 85

五十：Magnifico Hong Kong Egg Waffles

While strolling in Robinson's Metro East, my friend and I noticed this stall. I got a bit ecstatic upon approaching it because I knew it was something familiar to me. It was a stall selling Egg Waffles or Eggettes as some would call it. It's a famous snack in Hong Kong and finding out that someone sells it here made me reminisce the days when I was in Hong Kong.

I talked about Egg Waffles in my other post: Hong Kong Street Foods. Egg Waffles or Eggettes are waffles similar to the sundae waffle cones but they are circular in shape or look like little eggs hence the name.

In Hong Kong it is sold as a street food and almost all street food stall sells it. The price is about 10HKD or 1USD. 

There is nothing really special with the egg waffle except for its shape and maybe the variety of flavors. I was able to taste the regular one, chocolate and black sesame in Hong Kong and those that I have tasted are hollow inside. Magnifico made a twist and they have egg waffles with filling.

Magnifico have eight varieties and four of those are filled with either chocolate, cheese, mango or strawberry. They also sell fruit teas with bubbles or what we call sago.

L-Hong Kong premium iced tea and  R- Raspberry iced tea

My friend ordered the premium Hong Kong iced tea and cheese filled waffles and I ordered the raspberry iced tea and chocolate filled waffles.

I liked the tea because it was not too sweet and I like the tartness of raspberry. I also liked the cheese filled waffles because of the salty sweet flavor and I liked it better than the chocolate one but both tasted good. My friend said the premium iced tea  had a citrusy flavor if I remember it correctly. 

cheese filled waffles

What I did not like about the waffles is that, since it was filled with some liquid, it became soggy and the ones I tasted in Hong Kong were crispy though maybe if I bought the plain ones they will stay crispy.

chocolate filled waffles looked like frog eggs

It was a nostalgic and fun experience especially because my friend jokingly said that the mascot is cute but kind of looks like a poop so it was like a cute poop in her opinion and for those with trypophobia (Google search if you do not know what it means), you might feel very awkward or itchy looking at the waffles. LOL!