I have Midge to thank for this topic. She’s a regular reader to my blog, and I to hers. I admire Midge’s uncanny ability to sniff out the most precious grocery finds, one of which I’m featuring today. Ritter Sport chocolate is nothing new to me – I’ve been eating these large 100-gram squares of chocolate sin for a few years now. Since each flavor has a corresponding packaging color, it’s easy to just grab one and go. I never paid attention to the fact that the pack is re-sealable; when I’m busy scarfing down my chocolate, there isn’t much that will divert my attention. Besides, once that pack is ripped open, the only time it gets closed again is when I ball up the (empty) wrapper to toss it in the trash. I also never knew that these chocolates were meant to recharge athletes, however I do recall thinking that ‘Sport’ was a strange word to append to chocolate. My favorite Ritter Sport variant is Hazelnut because I love hazelnut anything, especially if it’s with milk chocolate. I have to restrain myself from ...

I was tipped off by fellow food blogger Mitch on this place called Handlebar. For some reason, I kept thinking it was called ‘Headbanger,’ but thankfully, no. Apparently, my sister had heard about the post from Mitch’s husband, so off we hied into the deeper recesses of Polaris St. This bar-restaurant surprisingly, has been around for two and a half years, and is a joint partnership between a group of Australians and two Filipinos. Handlebar is one of those places that you’d never go to unless someone told you about it. It just isn’t all that impressive from that outside, and the word ‘seedy’ may even come to mind when you drive by. But as I’ve said in this blog, looks can be deceiving even when it comes to restaurants, so set aside your inhibitions. Handlebar is named as such because it’s a place where bikers congregate and where they are celebrated. I myself am a biker, but more of the pedal-along type and not the vroom-vroom type. Once inside, the place has “biker dive” written all over it: there are biker paraphernalia on the walls and ceilings (my favorite ...

ready to eat? Spelling it out When I think Thai food, I prefer that served at Thai Kitchen (Tomas Morato in QC). It’s truly authentic and more importantly, it’s affordable. Hotel Thai food doesn’t appeal to me, and the exorbitant price is only part of it. Because of the popularity of Thai cuisine, most people have this idea that it’d be a cinch to offer it, thus the proliferation of wanna-be Thai restaurants and even food stalls, both of which offer hosed down/'Filipinized' versions of the real thing. It has nothing to do with food snobbery, but when the tom yam kung starts to taste like sinigang (Filipino sour soup), and the chicken pandan has a flavor similar to inihaw na manok (grilled chicken), then we have a problem. Thai cooking is a treasure trove of subtlety and suggestion, a fine line between amounts and ingredients that spell the difference between good and great. Consider your favorite dish and where it’s served. Why do you prefer it there instead of another restaurant that serves the exact same thing? The restaurant A few days ago, I made the trip to Alabang to seek ...

I woke up grumpy as hell today. I was ravenous and someone in the household had eaten the last two buchis that I had reserved for myself the night before. I just hate it when my stomach is all geared up to eat something and it’s missing from the fridge. With my stomach growling – a reminder that it needed to be fed – I perused the contents of the fridge, but nothing appealed to me. With me getting more irate by the minute, soon even I would give Grumpy the dwarf serious competition. Might I be in the mood for French toast, perhaps? I didn’t want to make a coffeecake, and I just didn’t have the energy to get out of my pajamas and go out for some Danish pastries. I’m also not the type to have rice for breakfast, since I grew up on sugary cereals like Trix, Cap’n Crunch, and Frosted Flakes. Now, all the cereals I ever buy for myself are disgustingly fiber-dense things like Grape Nuts and bran flakes. Eck. So I made pancakes. When I was a kid, my mom used to make ...

Its sign reads: coffee·dessert. For a rabid dessert lover like myself, there isn’t a more enticing beacon. It’s called RaaN – yes, capitals on both ends sandwiching the two lower-case a’s. It’s one of the new establishments housed in the newest commercial building along Jupiter St., which includes Nullah, the Asian fashion and homeware store. Before I could even step foot into RaaN, there was the problem of parking, the bane of Manila motorists. The building where RaaN is located has a preposterous parking basement, a mini maze that’s monstrous in its smallness. Frankly, I don’t even know why they bothered to build the stupid thing, hopefully, not just for the sake of being able to say they offer basement parking. First, I had to slide my car down this ramp -- to say that it’s steep is putting it too mildly. Once inside the cramped space, there are four parking slots at sharp angles to one another. The only way to park a car here is through a series of highly calculated forwards and reverses. It ...

The earliest memory I have of mooncakes is my dad bringing them home in a beautiful red metal box with gold trim. I didn't particularly care what was inside the box -- I just knew that I wanted the box. Since then, most of the mooncakes I’ve received or bought for myself have been wrapped in a simple red paper box with Chinese characters on the front. I’ve never received mooncakes wrapped in swanky packaging. These days, I’m more interested in what’s inside the box. Originally a revolutionary tool used to incite rebellion, some mooncakes are now unrecognizable from the traditional bean paste. I’ve read articles describing how mooncakes are now crammed with every imaginable filler: kiwi, egg custard, and more popularly ice cream, ginseng, rose, green tea and brandy. This year’s trends in juice bars have given rise to both tomato and carrot paste flavors. Sounds delightful. I think. The mooncake pictured here is from Chinatown, given to me recently by my good friend, Kaie. It’s my favorite flavor -- lotus cream with double yolk. Given my shameless lust for eggs, ...

I almost always have my camera with me whenever I step out of the house. I never know when edible inspiration will hit, so it’s best to be prepared. These are foods that I’ve eaten and in most cases, didn’t expect to like. The mere fact that they are on this list proves otherwise. While these foods don’t merit an entire post, they deserve to be written about. Onion rings from Burgoo This has got to be number one on my “didn’t expect to like it, but now I love it” list. Before, onion rings were, to me, just onion rings. Personally, I preferred fries. My Bin has always preferred the former, and one day he ordered the ones at Burgoo. With edges about a half-inch thick and a crunch that reverberates in the mouth, these onion rings are a winner, especially when dipped in the wicked cocktail sauce they come with. These rings also make a mean topping on your burger, should you happen to order one. Burgoo locations Fried chicken at Chef d’ Angelo I’ve never met Chef d’ Angelo, ...

This past weekend was unlike any other: I did my first ever trail ride on Saturday (riding up the mountain!) and I ran my first ever 10k on Sunday. Read on for the write-up and some photos. Regular food programming resumes tomorrow.