Have a merry, yummy Christmas!

I know you are all in the thick of preparations for Christmas lunch and dinner, busy cooking your family's traditional Yuletide dishes. I could almost smell the lechon, ham and queso de bola, fruit salad, chicken relleno and other special food being prepared in your kitchens! In my family, it's morcon that's the star of the holiday spread because my mom slays it! And she makes morcon only once a year which makes it doubly special. Us siblings really look forward to having our mom's very special dish either 
on our Christmas or New Year's Day table.

But on the days leading to Christmas, I enjoy taking pictures of those cute Yuletide desserts in restaurants. They're not just too lovely to eat, 
they are also yummy! 

Clockwise from left: Christmas cupcake at Amor Bakery; Chocolate cake at Urban Cafe; Chocolate cake at Costa Coffee

Merry Christmas, folks! I hope you're all having a wonderful celebration with your families, partaking of special and sumptuous food. But don't get too excited with eating and opening gifts! Remember Him whose birthday we're celebrating: Jesus! Praise and thank Him today for the gift of eternal life and all the blessings He is showering us with. 
Happy eating!

Costa Coffee at Robinsons Place Manila

In the middle of 2015, another coffee industry player from abroad arrived in the Philippines, much to the excitement of ardent Pinoy coffee aficionados. It's Costa Coffee, which is said to be the No. 1 coffee chain in the United Kingdom. Is was founded in London in 1971, and according to an article I read, it offers cheaper coffee that's better in quality than Starbucks'. Costa Coffee now has 2,900 stores in 30 different countries. The Gokongweis of the Robinsons group of companies brought it to the Philippines. By this time, they could have opened five branches 
in Metro Manila and Antipolo City as they have planned. 
On the Saturday after Christmas, my two girls and I went to Costa Coffee at Robinson's Place-Manila for dessert and yes, coffee, right after our whole family had lunch in Wok Inn - that iconic Chinese restaurant near Malate Church. Inside Costa, I literally saw red - it's the dominant color. But even before coming inside, the color red is what strikes you, with their signature telephone booth that's present, I think in all of their stores in the Philippines. The interiors have a very homey and relaxing feel, it made me want to linger, which I did, just to think and clear my head of the many stuff concerning work that I had to finish before my three-week vacation from work started. The cappuccino that I ordered helped me do some pondering..
Our orders:

Cappuccino, P120. (primo size)

Strawberry Pavlova Frostino, P175. (medio size)

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cream Frostino, P175. (medio)

Christmas Ube Flan cupcake, P95.

Original London Cheesecake, P150. 

Counter

An array of cakes and sandwiches

This Red Velvet Cupcake must be so good Santa couldn't help but bury himself in it.

Preparing the stencil art for my cappuccino

Menu

Interiors

Costa Coffee at Robinsons Place Manila

My cappuccino was bold and delicious. Costa indeed serves good coffee! The girls likes loved their Frostino. The London cheesecake was not too sweet, thankfully, and firm though still soft and moist. Yummy! We didn't like the Christmas Ube Flan cupcake, although it was such an eye candy. If it was indeed ube, the flavor didn't make itself distinct. All in all, it was a delicious, relaxing first visit to Costa Coffee. I'm looking forward to more visits this year to try their sandwiches and other sweets, and hopefully see more items on the menu. Meet you there, folks! 

Happy eating!

Christmas for the palate

It's that much-awaited time of the year again - Christmas! I bet everyone's now busy preparing the Noche Buena spread. I know what families are having - it's kinda easy 'coz it has become traditional for Filipino families to have lechon, morcon, pancit or spaghetti, ham and queso de bola, fruit salad, leche flan and ube halaya - on their table at Christmas. In our family, we try to prepare something different each year with my grown up kids now doing the planning and cooking. Hehe.. Come New Year's Eve, however, it's my mom who prepares the yearly star of the Media Noche spread - beef morcon! My mom's the best, I promise! 

In some restaurants, "limited edition" Christmas-themed food and drinks are offered to make diners feel the cheer of the Yuletide Season. Regretfully, I only started to scout for them a few days ago due to the busyness of December (you know, gift-shopping, preparing the home, attending Christmas parties plus working on year-end reports in the office!) Some of those Christmas food and drink offers, I've had and taken a shot of. 
Here they are:

Christmas Ube Flan Cupcake at Costa Coffee

I fell in love with this cupcake the moment I set my eyes upon it at Costa Coffee in Robinsons Place Manila. Isn't it captivatingly lovely? Sadly, I was disappointed at its non-distinct ube flavor and dry texture. It failed to awaken my taste buds though it indeed was a pleasure to look at. With that beautiful Christmas tree top, this cupcake is a sight to behold!

Bumbong Smoothie at Ka Tunying's Cafe

This smoothie truly carries the Pinoy stamp as it has Puto Bumbong, which is the traditional kakanin for Filipinos at Christmastime. The elongated, purple, sticky native cake is a favorite snack among those attending the "Simbang Gabi",  which are actually dawn, not evening masses in Catholic churches. Stalls selling puto bumbong as well as bibingka (also a native cake) are a familiar sight in the vicinity of churches in the Philippines starting 
the 16th of December until the 24th.
At Ka Tunying's Cafe in Quezon City, you can drink instead of eat your puto bumbong. And it has the authentic taste of the kakanin, much like you're eating it, only you can slurp it with your straw. This festive drink has "krema" powder, muscovado sugar, coconut and of course, puto bumbong. I loved it as it was deliciously creamy and just mildly sweet. Yummy!

Santa Mocha Cupcake and Snowman Strawberry Cupcake at Amor Bakery

Amor Bakery is that lovely, rustic bakeshop on Espana Blvd. near UST in Manila that offers so many kinds of bread and cake plus coffee and milk tea. For the holidays, they came up with Christmas-themed cupcakes topped with round chocolate drawn with familiar Yuletide characters. I loved the one with mocha icing. The cake, which is actually Japanese cheesecake, is soft, moist and fluffy and the icing is yummy although it's just a bit sweet, thankfully. 

Christmas Sundae at Dairy Queen

It was love at first sight for me for DQ's Christmas Sundae. How lovely -- an edible, cold and sweet Christmas tree! Below the green frost are three layers of treat - strawberry ice cream, crushed Oreo cookies and chocolate ice cream. It's the perfect in-between shopping indulgence!

Santa Claus donut at Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme offers six Christmas doughnuts and the Santa is my favorite -- lovely to have with a cup of brewed coffee to warm up 
on a cold December day.

Salted Caramel Chiller also at Krispy Kreme 

Krispy Kreme also offers this Yuletide Season the Salted Caramel Chiller. 

I ordered this for my daughter and she loved it, 

though it's too sweet for me.

Well, it won't be very long before Noche Buena as I write this post. 

Merry Christmas, folks and happy eating!