It
was an overcast Saturday last October 11 and it drizzled every now and
then but these didn't dampen the spirit of foodies from all over the
metro who eagerly trooped to Maginhawa St. in Quezon City for the first
ever Food Festival here. The event was part of the celebration of Quezon
City's 75th founding anniversary this month. Indeed, what better place
to hold a food fest than Maginhawa St. which stretch has metamorphosed
from a quiet community into a food mecca over the years. Many of
the residences opened up their garage or ground floor to serve food to
the hungry, mostly students from the neighboring University of the
Philippines. I've eaten twice in this area but it was only last Saturday
that I got to walk the long stretch
(it was so tiring!) and see the many restaurants there.
It was amazing how many
foodie places you could see in one street offering all kinds of food like Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Persian, Italian and others. There are various Filipino
restaurants, categorized according to regional or provincial
cuisine. I saw two that specialize in dishes that trace their roots to
Quezon Province, for instance - Cafe Quezon and Bowl & Brew - which got me so
excited as I hail from this beautiful place in Southern Tagalog. If
you're planning to go on a food trip to Maginhawa St., you'd go crazy
trying to decide where to eat! There's just too many choices!
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Anyway,
I was invited to the QC Food Festival by one my friends and together with some
others from media outfits, we gathered at Hillcrest Wellness Cafe, which
for me is a very interesting place because one, it is owned by a
Baptist pastor (I'm a born-again Christian and we consider Baptists and
Methodists as siblings in the faith) and two, it offers healthy food
which appeals to me because I am now trying my best to eat healthy,
being recently diagnosed with diabetes (sigh..sigh). Anyway, food (and
drinks!) was really good here at Hillcrest. I especially liked the
Chicken Pesto Pasta and Herbed Chicken Sandwich plus the Banana Oat
Smoothie. The pesto was oh-so-flavorful without overwhelming the taste
buds. If you'd consider, it was really a bit (just a wee-bit!) bland,
allowing you to adjust the taste as they put small jars of salt, pepper
and parmesan cheese on your table. I didn't have to add salt, though,
because the taste was just right for me. It was in fact, perfect!.
And it wasn't just the food that I liked at Hillcrest Wellness Cafe,
even the ambiance was relaxing and cool, considering the subdued colors of the walls enlivened only by some hanged artworks. However, it could be a bit cramped when many customers are
inside. Also, it could help if the service could be a little faster.
Anyway, thanks much for our lunch/snacks. Mwaah!
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| Beef and tomato pasta |
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| Chicken pesto pasta |
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| Herbed chicken sandwich |
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| Banana Oat smoothie |
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| Mountain blend coffee |
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| Iced tea (I failed to ask what made this green) |
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| Bible verses and wise sayings dominate this part of the interior |
After
Hillcrest, we decided to check out Gayuma ni Maria but after a long and
tiring walk, we didn't like that we were inside a jam-packed place and would have to wait to be seated so out we go and proceeded
to The Sweet Spot where we had cakes for dessert - Chocolate, Red
Velvet and Carrot. All these were lip-smackin' good. Not that I ate a
whole slice, of course. I only ate one spoon of each cake.(sigh..sigh) The place is pretty cool, too, perfect for
friendly and romantic dates.
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| Carrot cake. Love, love, love! |
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| Red Velvet Cake |
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| Chocolate cake |
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| Inside The Sweet Shop |
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|
As it was
already dinnertime when we finished at The Sweet Spot, we headed to
Jek's Ku--Bo where I had hoped and imagined to finish a steaming bowl of
beef bulalo but alas, there was a looong line of customers and we were
running out of patience so we walked and walked again, searching for another
place to eat. After some time, we stopped by Pan de
Manila for some of our favorite pandesal (for the next day's brekkie), and then ended up at the eatery at the end of the loong street - Rodic's. All
restaurants were full of people and as Rodic's was the last one on that
street, we had no choice but to wait for a table because even it was
jam-packed! Not bad, though, because I had wanted to try Rodic's, too,
which tapsilog is a byword among UP students. Finally, we got to try it
ourselves. It was good and the serving was huge. In fact, my daughter (who, together with the bunso, I tagged along, I failed to mention)
and I just shared an order. Diabetics can't eat a lot anymore, you see.. sigh..sigh
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| Pork barbecue and rice |
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| Longsilog |
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| Rodic's famous Tapsilog |
Anyway,
by the looks of it, the QC Food Festival was a huge success, with
restaurants putting up tables out on the street and throngs of
people ogling at and eating those delectable-looking food that I imagined to be yummy
and filling as they were eye candies. The overall mood was very festive and indeed it was a lot of fun seeing all those peeps searching for new foodie places to try or going back for their favorites. I am so looking forward to the 2nd QC Food Festival
in 2015. Cheers!
