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

四十六：Mochi Ice Cream by Mochi Creme

To continue with the Chinese New Year celebration, I will be reviewing another mochi establishment but this time it's mochi ice cream.

Flavors of Mochi Creme: Red bean, Green Tea, Black Sesame, Blue Vanilla, Chocolate, Mango, Strawberry and Purple Yam.

I was searching for mochi on the web when I stumbled upon a picture of Mochi Creme. I have actually tried making my own mochi ice cream before and was planning to turn it into a business but unfortunate events with my supposed to be business partner came unforeseen.

Mochi is usually filled with anko or sweetened red beans turned into paste and then rolled into a ball. A mochi ice cream is mochi filled with ice cream instead of anko and is served frozen.

A rainbow of mochi ice cream.

 My friend and I were strolling along SM Megamall when we saw this establishment just in front of the Cinema Theaters. It will really catch your attention due to its colorful stall painted in pink and lime green.

A box is provided for those buying lots of mochi.

A mochi ice cream is 60Php and is small enough to fit in your palm. Currently they only have 8 flavors in total and the best sellers are Blue Vanilla, Black Sesame and Purple Yam. I chose Black Sesame and my friend chose Blue Vanilla.

Each mochi is placed in a plastic with their very cute logo and the mochi can be seen through the plastic bag with a cute mochi face. 

We waited for a few minutes before biting into the mochi to thaw it a little because it was given to us frozen. My Black Sesame mochi was good. The skin was not too thick nor too thin and the black sesame gave it a crunch which I liked. It somehow looked like cookies and cream.

My friend said her Blue Vanilla tasted good too though there was no added flavoring, just the color and besides it looked really cute.

Overall we liked Mochi Creme's mochi ice cream but it's a bit too expensive. I really liked their packaging and how they present their mochi in glass freezers which will really draw you onto their stall as if you're being hypnotized into buying one. 

Mochi Creme is at SM Megamall's 3/F Just in front of SM Cinemas.

四十三：Life is Bene, Review of Caffe Benne

Caffe Bene

Caffe Bene opened in Eastwood City just a few months ago. It's a huge coffee chain in South Korea with hundreds of branches nationwide and even in foreign countries.

I like coffee and pastries so I had to try Caffe Bene. During our lunch break, I asked my friend if she would like to join me for lunch there.

So many pastries to choose from.

Their staff were friendly and upon entering, we immediately went to the glass shelves filled with their pastries and Korean drinks. They had Belgian waffles, honey toasts, cheesecakes, tortes and cakes. There were so many to choose from and since it was lunch time, we decided to order a savory dish first and some drinks.

We ordered the Garlic and Cheese toast (165Php), Misugaru latte (155Php) and Choco Chip Frappe (165Php).

Just beside the pastry shelves was the gelato section. A scoop is 95Php.

While searching for seats, we saw this display shelf of coffee cups, and other Caffe Bene souveneirs.

We also noticed this clock decor unfortunately it is not a real clock.

Here's our lunch. The misugaru latte is for my friend, the choco chip frappe was for me and we shared the toast.

Garlic and Cheese Toast

The garlic and cheese toast is a very thick slice of white bread cut into 9 squares and is covered with cheese and garlic then baked in the oven until the cheese melted. The bread was soft and the combination of garlic and cheese was good. It tasted nice though I did not find it special. It was like cheese spread on a thick slice of bread.

Our drinks.

Choco chip frappe

The choco chip frappe was also okay. It had bits of chocolates and it tasted like hot chocolate that was frozen unfortunately I found it to be too sweet for my taste.

Misugaru Latte

The misugaru latte was very intriguing. It was said to have some health benefits. It's made of roasted beans but not coffee beans. I tasted some crushed beans in the drink. It actually reminded me of the boiled monggo beans mixed with milk that we drink when I was young. 

Caffe Bene's mascot, Befy.

My first experience with Caffe Bene was not that special but I would love to try their Belgian waffles next time. My friend and I did not try it during our visit because our lunch break was almost over. 

I am not sure if their promo is still on going but we were given free upgrades on our drinks when we checked in at Caffe Bene through Facebook.

Caffe Bene is located at Eastwood City's Citywalk near the sports outlets such as Nike, Puma and Converse.