Pastry Run 8: Ally’s All Day Breakfast

Welcome to the 8^th episode of Pasty Run. All Day Breakfast is something we are all guilty of. There are just days that we crave to eat breakfast food even during lunch, dinner or even as a midnight snack. We went here because my friend was craving for some salty meat and rice while I was craving for pancakes.

I was actually looking at the Smores one but since they labeled the Toffee Banana Pancake as the specialty, we decided to go for that one.

Visual: A wild wild blooming flower that is quite similar to a Rafflesia. Don’t cross it for it is extremely wild.

Taste: Wild and difficult on the stomach. By just eating the bananas and ice cream, I can already feel my stomach getting full. The pancake is really thick and each layer is like 2 pancakes merged into one. It really satisfied my hunger and craving as the pancake is piping hot with smoke even arising from it as you eat it layer by layer, with the insides not stale and not dry despite the thickness. I manage to finish two but I really have no room for the third one so I had it take out. Initially, I am not too keen on ordering pancakes at restaurants as I believe that all of them tastes the same with the slight variation and I would rather make my own at home. But, my friend insisted that this place really serves good pancakes at very reasonable price.

My friend ordered the corned beef and I applaud that the eggs were made really well. My definition of good fried eggs is when the yolk in the middle retains its fluidity with the whites cooked to crispiness and not burned. The corned beef is good but a little oily but come on, real breakfast meals are supposed to be heavy and slightly sinful. No wonder they should be eaten in the mornings.

Lovely All Day at Ally’s All Day Breakfast! Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions. A show of hands please to those who are into Breakfast meals.

Pastry Run 7.5: Scarsdale Donuts

Oreos? Cheesecake? Anyone? Why not have it all together in Scarsdale’s Oreo Cheesecake Donut.

Taste is as expected from a donut with good filling but lacking in cheesecake. The only time you will get to taste the cheesecake is when you reach the white swirl located on top of the donut. The donut lacks the qualities of a freshly made one which is soft, easy to tear breading.

Thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comment box below. 

Sweet Run 4: Slushhh

A new fun drink has just arrived in town! The name is so telling.
                                 

If you are a fan of Slurpee from 7-11, then this will definitely excite you! It offers not just one, two, three but eight flavors in total making your drink a fun and colorful one.

You can even opt to buy their tumbler but I suggest you to choose a lighter color for you to really see the synthesis of the different colors. If you decided to purchase a tumbler, bring it to your next visit and have it refilled and save up to P5.

Slushhh your way in and Slushhh your way out. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

Sweet Run 3: Bing’s Fong Café Part 2

Welcome to Sweet Run 3 which is the continuation of the Sweet Run 2’s featured Bingsu selections. For the benefit of those who have not seen SweetRun 2, bingsu is a Korean style dessert made of shaved ice and sweet toppings ranging from fruits, red beans, and mocha (rice cake) balls. Hence, bingsu is one of those desserts that is very flexible as you can literally add anything sweet under the sun and it would still taste good.

The selection does not stop with the classic milk red bean and the bean powder which is quite unique in itself but also extends to chocolates and fruits. Like I said, anything sweet under the sun;)

Bingsu Number 1: Chocolate Bingsu/ Snowflakes

Visual: Similar to the first two, this one is also based on soft served vanilla flavored ice topped mainly with white flakes, cookie bits and chocolate chips. 

Taste: I was not really expecting much given that I am not fond of chocolate drinks or any chocolate desserts with liquid base, given that most of them do not mix well with the syrup, cream or whatever it is they decide to incorporate. However, this one really surprised me. Turn out to be good and for some reason the shaved ice blended well with the cookie bits. Usually, combining chocolate and ice do not produce the best results given that the ice cancels out the taste of the cookie bits plus leaving it all soggy but for this one, the cookie bits was able to enhance the taste of the shaved ice.

It got me curious and I think it is the almonds that did the trick. Remember the white flakes, those are apparently, crushed almonds, not white chocolate as I initially thought. The natural sweet and unique taste of the almond neutralized the ice’s power of diminishing the taste of the chocolate as almonds do not get soggy when placed in a liquid mixture. In short, there are like two forces of sweetness surrounding the ice --- one from the almond and the other from the chocolate. Talk about sugar overload ^_^

Bingsu Number 2: Mango Bingsu / Snowflakes

Visual: Attractively Bright amidst the white expanse and you can really see the smoothness of the ice. I almost want to lie down and sway my arms and legs up and down.

Taste: As expected, classic mango bingsu. Nothing really special but still at the very least, they should have gotten the mangoes right. I kind of dislike the fact that most establishments would rely on the sweetness of the dessert to make up for the sourness of the mangoes. I mean we are in a tropical country that is well-known for its mango production.

While the taste is already perfect. It has all the qualities that one can expect from a bingsu. Bing's Fong should find a way to differentiate itself not just with other bingsu cafes but also with other oriental desserts with the same concept. It could do better when it comes to ambiance and service. There is lack of individual tables with most of them having to share with someone else. The café sells grocery products and snacks that do not match its ambiance. Service is good at times but inconsistent. You would encounter really pleasant servers and some on the snappy side.

Store when viewed from outside. Magical isn't it?

Bing! Drop Everything, it's time for Bingsu. Comments? Suggestions? Don't hesitate to share them in the comment box below.

Mary Grace’s Experience @ SM City Manila

Yes, it is like my 4^th time writing about this café and who can blame me. I am simply a die hard fan who believes that we should share our joyful discoveries for others to try and enjoy them as well. However, unlike before, this entry will not merely be centered around cakes but the food experience in general that this wonderful café has to offer.

Ambiance: Cozy and Homely. While I have already eaten their cakes numerous times in the past, this is actually just my second or third time dining at this café. I would really want to go back as the place reminds me of a secret garden in the middle of bustling city as I take a break from the stresses and distractions from life and take a moment to reflect.

Food: At a glance, the menu seems to offer ordinary selections that you frequently see on the usual restaurants but wait until you taste it.

Seafood Pasta

I was craving for some olives so I went for this one. Yes I was expecting it to taste good for no one could go wrong with seafood pastas especially since seafood are very juicy and flavorful. What I was not expecting was to be surprised at how appetizing it would look when it was served in front of me. I knew at a glance that I would be eating a quality, healthy and flavorful lunch. 

Even the pasta is juicy! It is soft and almost almost melts in your mouth. Can pasta be this juicy? Yes, Mary Grace does it!  As for the seafood, the shrimp is big and juicy, the squid rings are easy to chew, and the clams are nothing but flavorful. The pesto is just an added bonus to the taste. While most seafood pastas would rely on the pesto half of the time for the flavor, I honestly believe that this one does not need pesto for it to be this tasty. It has the right ingredients and went the extra mile to really squeeze out the potential of each ingredient to make it the perfect embodiment of a seafood pasta.

                                             

I just cannot get over the experience that the next time I dine it at this café, I ordered the same. However, it took me quite some time choosing because I was torn between my principle of always try something new and the taste of my previous experience.

While I was under pressure reviewing their menu one by one, I read that a certain pasta uses Fusilli for its noodles and I suddenly had an idea. Good thing, the chef agreed to my request so here comes the seafood pasta that uses the Fusilli type instead of the classic one. Thank you Chef!

Seafood Fusilli Pasta

 We also ordered other flavors of their pastas, all with the same high quality flavorful ingredients accompanied by that melting ohh so juicy pasta. Ohh before I forget, the bread is of superb quality. It is not simply toasted with garlic butter on it. It is wheat bread which is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Dory and Saffron Pasta

Classic Carbonara

It was quite funny when for the first time, I was not able to determine what this pasta is due to the really good quality of the ingredients. While most carbonaras would just rely on the white sauce and bacon, making it look extremely creamy and unhealthy, this one has again, successfully, mind boggled me. For one, it is not white and drenched in that unhealthy sauce, second, the bacon is plenty when usually you only find one or two in the usual carbonara, three, the mushrooms are visible and four, it has TOMATOES. At first, I thought it was a mushroom truffle pasta but it looks lighter and ham and bacons do not usually enter the picture when one is making a mushroom pasta.

Thanks to Mary Grace’s, the art of making and tasting pastas have entered a whole new level.

Dessert Time: Cakes! As an avid lover of cakes, God only knows how extremely difficult it was for me to choose which cakes to try as I would have tried them all if only my body does not get fat and my wallet is bottomless. Sad to say with the limited choices, I have to make a really tough one and stick to three choices.

Mango Benne

Sansrival

Chocolate Mousse

The mango benne was the least of my choices at first but my colleague was really into it so we ordered that one. The sansrival was recommended and the chocolate mousse was to satisfy my chocolate craving that time.

Hands down, all are good and I cannot say which among the three is my favorite. Please don’t ask me to rank it for it would be torture. The mango benne does not have a single sour mango on it and the cream is of high quality and does not have an aftertaste which probably means that Mary Grace makes her own cream. From experience, creams with an aftertaste are the instant ones that are packaged and bought from groceries.

I adore the creativeness of the sansrival. The cashews really stood out, reminding us that ohh yeah, sansrivals are partially made of nuts. Ordinary sansrivals are just topped with cream with the nuts not visibly seen or hidden somewhere in the layers.

The chocolate mousse is not too sweet and not too heavy as your spoon easily slices through the layers. As per my encounter with most chocolate mousse, while most of them are good, is that they are quite thick, heavy and really sweet. This one, you can eat it even after eating a plateful of pasta;)

Have a Mary-ful Day and a Graceful Life! Feel free to share your thoughts and comments. If you have been to Mary Grace, please do share your experience as well. 

Also, feel free to visit the following links which focuses on Mary Grace's specialty cakes and pastries, making this place a heavenly treat for cake lovers like you and me. 

Cake Run 5: Mary Grace Café “Unboxing Black Velvet”, the White Twin

Cake Run 6: Mary Grace Café “Unboxing Chocolate Truffle”, the Black Twin

Pastry Run 1: Mary Grace Cafe: Ensaymadas and Cheese Rolls

Cake Run 24.5: Goldilocks Chocolate Rocky Road

Another cake that really worm its way into the heart of my palate is the chocolate rocky road.

Visual: It looks like a normal chocolate sponge cake that is just light to the taste given its nude creamy appearance
                                      

Taste: Appearances are deceiving. It is actually thick but not because of the cream or the bread but due to the layered cream which is made up of 3 different ingredients: marshmallows, chocolate chips and chocolate frosting. Wow, it is one of those rare moments wherein my expectation was exceeded and I just have to share this cake. The frosting which is usually overlooked is actually highlighted in this one given the presence of the chocolate chips. It presents the illusion that you are chewing onto the chocolate cream when it is the chips that are actually doing the trick. Couple it with the marshmallows; it gives off a feeling of smooth melting on your tongue.

Actually, if it were not for these three ingredients, I highly doubt that this cake would differentiate itself from an ordinary chocolate roll. It really spelled the difference. For more of Goldilocks' fantastic product features, simply click on this link: Cake Run 24. 

Cake Run 24: Unboxing Goldilocks Triple Delight

Welcome to the episode number of Cake Run. Naming the bakeshop after a famous fairy tale character is a brilliant move on the part of the creators as it elicits fond childhood memories. True enough, this was the intent of the 3 sisters who named the business making it easier for the brand to warm up to mothers and children alike. 

Why did it took me after 23 cake entries for me to start raving about this brand? As we all know, it takes more than just a dreamy name for a shop to be successful. For a bakeshop, taste and presentation of the cakes and its pastries play a huge role in generating loyalists. As a child, I am no stranger to Goldilocks' cakes; however, I was not really impressed with their selection even as a young adult with a more diversified taste. 

It was not only up to now that I was able to have a taste of Goldilocks through their Triple Delight which was given to one of my colleagues as a surprise for his birthday.

                           

Visual: As one would expect from a mocha cake --- creamy looking and filled with icing. I wonder why it is called triple then if it looks like a regular mocha cake? Perhaps let's start eating and take a look at its insides.

                           
Taste: Surprisingly good and the cream used is soft, smooth and tasty. The breading is composed of three different layers or "delights" as the makers call it, namely chocolate, vanilla and mocha chiffon. I was already happy with the cream and not expecting much from the chiffon layers but I was impressed that all three layers were able to successfully bring out the taste that they represent. Usually, one of the most common pitfalls in most chiffon cakes is that the bread lacks taste given the overpowering flavor of the icing. This, however, was able to overcome that pitfall and is actually a far cry from the cakes that they usually make. It makes one want to try on their other cake selections. 

After that surprisingly amazing experience, I decided to give their other pastries a shot namely the Choco Cake Slice and the Golden Butter Slice.

The Chocolate Cake Slice uses the similar texture and formula as the one used in their regular cakes, less the icing and the overly decorative designs which is indicative of a cake. So, if you are up for some chocolate cake but without all that jazz, then this is the perfect selection for you.

The Golden Butter Slice is a triple wow and garnered a triple star in my books. It is not just soft but it breaks under pressure of my teaspoon which is a high indication of it not being hard and dry. Don’t you just hate cakes that are dry enough to suck the moisture inside your mouth?

Moreover, it is very light until the last bite with the skin that simply melts in your mouth. I mean wow, for a bread slice, this is an absolute delight.

Have a Golden filled day with Luck! Your thoughts on birthday cakes? Feel free to share and suggest.