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.

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

四十四：Best Pancit Malabon in the East

 

I like pancit Malabon very much. As the name implies, this type of pancit originated from Malabon where most of our seafoods sold in markets come from which explains why it is topped with lots of seafood such as shrimps, squid, and sometimes even clams.

Pancit Malabon is made from thick rice noodles and has sauce which is made from seafood broth and its color comes from atsuete extract. It's similar to pancit palabok but the difference would be the thickness of the noodles and the lack of tinapa topping. Both has chicharon and eggs for topping but pancit Malabon agains has lots of seafood.

I have tried different pancit Malabon like the Pancit ng Taga Malabon, Amber's and Mang Ado's Pancit in Pasig. All of those I said are equally delicious but when I tasted Dolora's Pancit Malabon, I was hooked. 

The noodles are firm and very tasty. The sauce sticks to the noodles but is not dry unlike in other restaurants. Their chicharon are also good because it is crunchy and has meat in it and not just plain popped pig skin. What Dolora's Pancit Malabon lacks is the other seafood ingredients like squid rings and clams. They only have shrimps but it's okay with me because it still tastes good. If you want more toppings, there is an additional fee. If I remember correctly, 20 pesos for extra chicharon or egg and 50 pesos for extra shrimps.

What I like best with Dolora's is the price. The cheapest would be 150 good for 3 persons and 850 good for 20-25 persons. They also have different branches but mostly in the East of Metro Manila but they do deliver for an additional fee of 70 pesos.