七十三：Magnolia Flavor House

Another late post.

Magnolia is a very famous ice cream brand in the Philippines and at their factory along Aurora Boulevard in Quezon City, they have this Magnolia House where they serve ice cream concoctions like parfaits, splits and even ice cream cakes.

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, you must have noticed that I really like ice cream though I like sweets in general, I would be willing to eat any flavor of ice cream.

Buffalo wings and Cheeseburger with potato wedges

When I was young, my family would go to Magnolia House to eat delicious ice cream. They also set up something like a theme park in front of the factory during Christmas where they would put up a giant Christmas tree full of ice cream decors like popsicles, ice cream sticks, ice cream cups etc. 

Those were the best memories of my childhood. ^_^

The last time we went to the original Magnolia House was during the 90's before it was bought by Nestle. Now, the factory has been converted into a mall called Robinson's Magnolia and they also placed a Magnolia House outside which I think is the same location of the original one.

Anyway, a few years forward, I was celebrating my birthday with a friend and as we were both love ice cream, we decided to eat dinner at Magnolia Flavor House in SM North EDSA.

We were looking for a restaurant and we passed by Magnolia Flavor House and it didn't take a second for us to agree that we both wanted to eat there.

Cold Marble ice cream flavors

The restaurant's ambiance is bright and spacious with tall ceilings and lots of lighting fixtures.

It was dinner time, probably around 8pm but the place was quite empty. I guess not a lot of people miss Magnolia as there are other ice cream shops that have popped up.

Citrus Vanilla Mango

Magnolia Flavor House now serves food aside from ice cream. It kinda reminds me of another ice cream shop/restaurant called Icebergs. 

As it was dinner time, we decided to eat something heavy. We ordered buffalo chicken wings and a burger to share. 

The chicken wings were crispy and has a sweet and spicy taste almost like a Korean style chicken wing. The chicken pieces weren't huge to be considered buffalo wings but it's enough for one person. The burger on the other hand had lots of veggies which for me is nice. It tasted fresh but not really tasty. Both came with a side of potato wedges.

Of course you can't eat at Magnolia Flavor House without eating ice cream. We decided to order the Citrus Vanilla Mango flavor (because I love mangoes!) of their Cold Marble line which seems to be something like those served by Cold Stone Creamery.

TBH, I didn't enjoy much eating at Magnolia Flavor House. The food and ice cream was okay as it was also quite expensive. Their ice cream price ranges from an average of 150-300+ which I think would be better if you just buy a tub of ice Magnolia ice cream at the supermarket if you're craving for one.

In the end, the nostalgia that I was hoping to experience wasn't there during the whole time that we ate there. I was really disappointed.

七十二：Sharing the J.Co Way

This is a very late post!

J.Co's logo, a peacock.

When we think of donuts and coffee we would think of Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks which are American franchises and surprisingly, J.Co is actually from Indonesia and it has been putting up branches all over the world due to its popularity.

Instructions on how to reheat and serve your J.Co donuts,

I was aware of J.Co before as I went for a vacation in Singapore and Malaysia but I have never tasted one before because the branch that was built that time in Manila was far from my place. When I was touring Singapore, J.Co was almost in every mall and same goes in Malaysia.

I still did not dare taste one doughnut from them because I have this mentality that if we have it in Manila, I won't try it in other countries and so I opted for their rival Big Apple Donuts which I will be reviewing soon.

Back in Manila, J.Co put up a branch in Eastwood City which took months before it opened. 

On its first day my colleagues and I decided to buy a dozen for us to share.

Half dozen donuts.

When I was told of the price my first impression was that it's an expensive donut store just like Krispy Kreme which also has a store in Eastwood but I rarely eat there.

A donut costs around 40Php which can buy me 2 donuts from another donut shop. A dozen costs 350 and they actually have a promo where you need to buy 2 dozens for only 550 pesos so a donut costs about a little more than 20Php.

JCoccino / Coffee

Each donut has a quirky name like Berry Spears and Alcapone. It's a fun gimik but I find it hard to remember the names so I usually just describe the flavor like it's chocolate or it's strawberry.

Heaven Berry

The doughnut itself is similar to the texture and taste of Cello's Doughnuts but J.Co's is softer in my opinion. The frosting is also better but I still find it too sweet but definitely less sweet compared to Krispy Kreme. I think their frosting mostly uses chocolate especially white and milk chocolate.

Avocado di Caprio

Since it is an Asian owned doughnut company, most of it flavors are suited to the Asian taste and so they have unique flavors like avocado and lychee.

I just like the fact that their donuts are really soft like a pillow, almost melts in your mouth but I also find it a bit too soft that it's mostly just air.

Green Tease

I do have quite a couple of doughnuts that I like from them mainly because they aren't too sweet and because I like them, most of those doughnuts that I like, I remembered the names.

The doughnuts' flavors are: Berry Spears, Blueberry More, Cheese Me Up, Oreology, and Avocado Di Caprio.

Choco Loco

The doughnuts that I mentioned actually have a salty taste from the cheese in the filling or the topping because I find that the cheese greatly helps in cutting the sweetness and gives contrast to the taste of the doughnut.

My favorite among the flavors is the Cheese Me Up because it's a savory doughnut almost like a cheese pizza but they rarely make it.

Berry Spears

Unfortunately for these kind of doughnuts, like Cello's doughnuts, they don't stay fresh for long and I mean it literally.

Although the doughnuts are soft once you buy it, if it is left for a few hours or even when refrigerated, it starts to harden.

The soft, fluffy doughnuts can turn into rock hard bread unlike Krispy Kreme doughnuts where the doughnuts stay super soft even when refrigerated.  I guess it's the type of fat and bread flour that they use because Krispy Kreme uses cake flour and a lot of fat.

Flash forward to 2017, I have never eaten a J.Co donut for more than a year now. The last time I ate one was New Year of 2016 because I was waiting for a friend and J.Co was the only coffee shop open that time. And TBH, I don't think I'll buy another doughnut from them anytime soon.