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    Seize the Moment with Camp Courage PH

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    Most of us went through that dreaded awkward teenage phase called puberty. Yes, a select few people from the population were blessed with good genes and were thus able to transition into adulthood smoothly. But for the rest of us, it’s a stage we’d all rather forget. Thankfully, I had my mom to give me the right information and tools to help me go on daily activities without any worries of experiencing any unfortunate “accidents”.

    Times have passed and I’m proud to say that I’ve successfully gone through that wretched time in my life. However, there are still a lot of Filipina teens today who feel helpless and insecure because of the bodily changes they go through. And these insecurities tend to hold them back from seizing opportunities in life.  But, I have good news for today’s modern day Filipina teens! Johnson and Johnson Philippines has launched a campaign to address the needs of Filipina teens called Camp Courage. 

    DSCF3404 With brands such Clean and & Clear, Carefree, and Modess on board the Camp Courage campaign, teenagers will be provided the right tools and information to face their fears, live in the moment and make a move. Camp Courage will go around the Philippines and visit 500 schools nationwide in order to spread the news to about 400,000 Filipina teens.

    They will also be launching a website, http://www.ourcampcourage.ph where teens can interact with each other and share stories and information to help them continue on making shining moments in their life, worry free!

    I personally think that this is a beautiful and empowering campaign. Aside from providing teens with the right tools to overcome their insecurities, Camp Courage will be bringing inspirational speakers to speak to Filipina teenagers nationwide. One of them is Mary Clare Prosperity Pineda, with whom I share the same alma mater. Another one of them is Isabel Maria Flores Garcia of http://www.everydayisa.worpress.com whose advocacy is geared towards teen empowerment. They are just some of the brave, beautiful and talented speakers that will be reaching out to Filipina teens all nationwide. Even if I had my mom to guide me through puberty, I wish I had the opportunity to listen to such inspiring women like them. xoxo,

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    Food, Lifestyle, Travel

    Hong Kong Food Trip Day 1

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    Some who follow me on my instagram (@maxieissuper) would know that I recently went to Hong Kong. Hong Kong used to be such a popular shopping destination for Filipinos because of brands such as H&M, Pull and Bear being unavailable in the country. But these brands have been setting up shops in Manila over the past few years which is why Hong Kong to me has ceased to be a shopping destination. But since Hong Kong was once a British colony, it has accumulated a wide mix of various cultures. I find that parts of it are so hard core Chinese while other parts are so beautifully influenced by Western culture. I say this because of the endless traditional/local and modern restaurants available all over Hong Kong. I really had a difficult time trying to balance Cantonese food and modern/fusion restaurants but I did my best, given the time constraint. Here’s a photo diary of everything we ate!

    Hing Fat

    This restaurant was actually located right outside our hotel! We had nowhere to eat because we had a very early flight so we went ahead and tried it out. To be honest, this wouldn’t be the best first meal to have in Hong Kong. Everything was just so-so.

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    Salted egg custard bun

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    This was interesting. The only thing I enjoyed.

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    My favorite dimsum in the world, Hakaw. This looks so pretty but it didn’t taste as good as it looked.

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    Asado Roll.. The roll was too thick.

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    Roast duck.. Wasn’t very tasty.. literally! It’s as boring as this description.

    Overall: I wouldn’t return. It was an edible meal but far from satisfying.

    Rating: 2/5

    Reservations: no need

    Adress: G/F, 8 Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

    How to get there: Exit L5, Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station

    Takomaru at City Super Food Court

    Having my favorite takoyaki as the first thing I eat in the City Super food court at Harbour Square has always been a tradition for me. This time, it would be the second thing I ate on my HK trip but it’s fine.

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    Overall: These pretty balls are the reason why the only takoyaki I can eat in MLA is from Hana at Little Tokyo. Because everything else fails in comparison. But, I haven’t actually had my taste of authentic takoyaki so I’ll have to wait for a few weeks ’til my trip to Japan and finally try authentic Takoyaki. My impression on these MIGHT (but hopefully not) change by then.

    Rating: 4/5

    Address: Shop 3001, 3/F, cookedDeli by city’super, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

    Godiva

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    This Godiva soft serve has graced my Instagram feed more than a million times already, it’s reached Iconic-Instagram-shot level on my books. I knew I had to try it. I can’t remember the exact price but I found it quite expensive for a soft serve. It’s a good thing that it tasted as good as it looked! I went for just dark chocolate soft serve vs the vanilla-dark chocolate soft serve because I wanted to get my money’s worth! Haha. It was very rich and I loved the chocolate on the edge of the cone. It was a delight to nibble on.

    Overall: It was worth the try but it didn’t also change my life so I probably won’t return because I know that there are still a million other places to try in HK! But I think everyone should try it once in their life.

    Rating: 3.5/5

    Address: Shop 3222, 3/F, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

    Spring Deer

    I discovered this restaurant from Leslie of Shoot First Eat Later but was convinced to go by my friend, Nats. I asked our hotel receptionist to help us get a reservation and he told me that he thought it would be impossible for us to eat there for dinner but he tried calling anyway. He called around 7:25pm. We were fortunate enough to have had a chance to dine at Spring Deer given that we arrive there before 7:45pm! It was a good thing that it’s only located a few minutes away from our hotel. I was so excited.

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    Some steamed white chicken soaked in Chinese wine served cold. The oldies liked it.

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    Super fresh veggies. Is the bok choi or pechai? I’m not sure…. I’m not the biggest fan of veggies. Hehe.

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    I was told that we absolutely had to order the pecking duck, and so we did!

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    The skin and meat were very succulent and tasty. I approve!!

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    But I did not like the very thick, homemade wrapper. My mom said that I was already used to the Filipino-Cantonese style of pecking duck which used thinner wrappers while Spring Deer uses authentic wrappers. Fine, I’ll take it. The oldies, again, enjoyed it a lot. We also had some lettuce for the minced duck. However, the minced duck had a lot of celery bits which I did not like so I only consumed one lettuce wrap.

    Overall: The dinner was satisfactory for me but the oldies (Mom, Dad, Grandma) all seemed to enjoy it. I would still go back though, to try the different dishes they offer. The place was packed and I was able to see different delicious-looking dishes!

    Rating: 3.5/5

    Address: 1/F, 42 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

    How to get there: 1-min walk from Exit P3, Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station

    Some random snaps 

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     Lab Made

    While doing research for my foodtinerary, I came across Lab Made a couple of times but did not get the impression that it was worth trying. But I chanced upon a small store located near The One Mall and I just knew that I had to try it. A lot of the flavors were sold out by the time we arrived (9:45-10:00pm). I tried the most interesting one that was available: Salted Caramel.

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    To be honest, I was already sick of salted caramel but Lab Made was defintely able to make it interesting because of the cinnamon-sugar (oops, I’m not so sure if it was just sugar or cinnamon sugar.. feel free to correct me if I’m mistaken) coated honey stars! The consistency was so silky and creamy. I was going home happy. :)

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    Overall: I was so glad to have tried it! They change flavors regularly so I’m definitely going to try it again, if given the chance!

    Rating: 4/5

    Address: Shop G42, G/F., Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

    How to get there: Exit B1/ N5, Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station

    That’s all for day 1!

    xoxo,

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    Food, Lifestyle

    Tales of a Hungry Maxie: Burgers and Brewskies

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    For those who follow with my Instagram account, a lot of you may notice how my account description says “Beauty blogger and sushi monster” but 70% of my posts contain food. My daily state of happiness is correlated to the yummy food I eat. My friends often push me to blog more about food but I have always felt like I’m not eloquent enough to describe my feels whenever I eat. So, I thought that it would be best to leave the food-reviewing to food bloggers since I already felt content with sharing about my food discoveries on my Instagram account.

    All of this changed when I got my first invite (Thanks, Aldous!) for a food tasting in Burgers & Brewskies located at Estancia Mall. I was very hesitant at first because of my insecurities as well my hesitations about having to compromise myself. But I decided to give it a shot because I’ve been a fan of Burgers & Brewskies ever since their branch at Burgos Circle.

    Our group of bloggers headed by Aldous Calubad was accompanied by one of the Owners of B&B, Marc Nocon during the entire night. He graciously described each dish that was served and happily answered any of our questions. He was also joined by his partners Mike Floro and Francis Balbarin who popped by once in a while.
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    First up on the tasting menu were the appetizers.

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    Avocado Fries (seasonal offer)

    I imagined the avocado fries to be stiff and was hesitant to try it. But I was wrong. The avocado fries were, in fact, soft enough to bite comfortably, but not at all mushy and I love how it was coated with breadcrumbs to elevate the texture of the avocado fries. It went perfectly with the garlic cheese dip. I really enjoyed these.

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    Fish Popper with Chipotle Aioli

    The fish poppers were battered nicely and fried to a soft crisp. But I think the chipotle aioili was the component that really brought this dish to life.

    B&B has a wide variety of wings and we were able to try three flavors: Angry Korean Wings, Salt and Pepper Wings, and Honey Garlic Wings.

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    Angry Korean Wings

    The most unique for me would be the Angry Korean wings because of its distinct Gochuchang flavor but it was caramelized well to add some sweet to the spicy. I honestly didn’t find it too spicy. It had just the right amount of  hotness. It definitely did not leave me wanting to have a gulp of milk but I did enjoy the mild kick it brought to my senses.


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    Honey Garlic Wings

    For those who don’t tolerate spicy food well, they also offer the classic honey garlic wings.

    I also have to mention that I enjoyed how their wings were cooked perfectly. They were soft enough to easily detach to the bone (unlike in its awful neighbor, which is supposedly dedicated to serving WINGS but unfortunately failed to deliver by OVERCOOKING the wings).

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                                                                                   Bacon Chicharon with sweet and spicy vinegar

    Wow, these are by far the best bacon chicharon in the Metro. I’ve tried a couple. One common denominator among the various versions of bacon chicharon that I’ve tried is the toughness of the bacon. I expected the same with these but W-O-W. These thin slices of bacon which were lightly coated with batter were SO crispy and so addicting. Apparently, they make their own bacon which I’m guessing contributes a lot to the quality of the bacon chicharon. I don’t know what kind of sorcery they have to perform to whip these babies up but wow, I’m so impressed! They were a tad bit oily, but HELLO, it’s bacon. The sweet and spicy vinegar was the perfect match to these bacon chicharon.

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    Buffalo Balls

    This was another one of the surprises of the night for me. I didn’t expect much from these balls but I was impressed with how they really taste like my favorite kind of tangy Buffalo wings in balls form. Marc explained how he wanted to create these balls to match with people who like to drink. It’s the perfect bar chow for those who don’t like the fuss of having to getting their hands dirty trying to bite into regular wings. I think the idea is quite genius. The balls were moist and juicy and you can really see the chicken meat when you bite into it. My only comment about this dish is that, some might miss the experience of biting into the the actual chicken bone. Either way, this is another dish I enjoyed.

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    Sausage Platter with Curry Ketchup and Spiced Mustard Aioli

    I had a few bites of this and enjoyed dipping the sausages into the unique dips it came with.

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    S.P.F (sweet potato fries) with secret secret spice mix

    These have been one of my favorite dishes ever since I tried it in the Burgos Circle branch. The perfect combination of sweet and salty.

    Now for the burgers:

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    Call the Nurse (spiced mustard aioli, B&B cheese sauce,seared mac and cheese, and candied bacon)

    Call the Nurse will always be my favorite B&B burger just because I think it really nails the spot with its sweet and salty tones. It’s the utimate burger worthy of the hashtag, #foodporn.

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    Seasonal* Holy Guacamole Burger (guacamole salsa, nacho chips)

    One interesting fact about B&B is that they regularly switch up their menu items according to the season to keep their customers at their feet with new offerings every time they visit. Just like now, avocados are in season and they conveniently created a guacamole burger.

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    Walk of Shame (egg potato hay, lemonaise)

    I think this is such an interesting dish because of all its components. It has a lot going on: poached egg, bacon, potato hay, lemonaise. But it all comes together nicely.

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    This is how it looks like after Chef Francis demonstrated how Walk of Shame should be eaten.

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                                    Don’t Have a Cow ( lentil and bulgar wheat patty, curry ketchup and garlic shitake mushrooms)

    As a person who has a lot of vegetarian friends, I really wanted to include this dish because I think it’s great how restaurants make an effort to cater to vegetarians because there aren’t a lot of vegetarian dishes, more so, vegetarian restaurants in the Metro. I’m not a huge fan of veggies, so I can’t properly judge this dish. I’ll have to bring one of my vegetarian friends here next time!

    We were treated with 3 desserts to cap of the incredibly filling meal we had:

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    Chef – Vanilla Ice Cream with Spiced Chocolate Powder and Candied Bacon Bits

    This was my favorite dessert. A bite of this creamy vanilla ice cream coated with bitter chocolate powder will treat your tongue to a sweet and bitter flavor and once you swallow, you feel the slight kick of the chili kicking in. Just enough to feel a tingle in your throat but not too much to send you coughing and gasping for air.

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    Cripy bacon slices coated in chocolate 

    These were the absolute bomb! Again, super crispy bacon slices covered in chocolate with a hint of spicy to further bring dimension to the dish. I couldn’t help but have 1, 2, 3, or 4 pieces of this!

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    Creamy Soy Panna Cotta with Spiced Candied Bacon

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    Chocolate pudding with Cinnamon Oatmeal Streusel.

    This was a nice flavor profile to break off all the grease on my tongue. Rich and creamy.

    Like I said, I was really hesistant to join this tasting event because I don’t want to have to compromise my standards but knowing that it was a B&B event helped me decide more easily because I’ve always enjoyed dining in this restaurant.

    I love how most of the B&B dishes keep me excited for more because of the incredible amount of creativity that comes into play into each of their dishes. B&B’s dishes are fun, exciting and executed very well. There are times when I like my burgers classic, in order to really taste the beef patty. But B&B has brought a whole new experience in my food-loving life. They definitely don’t serve your classic burgers and instead provide a refreshing take on burgers through different delicious components.

    That’s it for now for Tales of a Hungry Maxie!

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    Food, Lifestyle, Uncategorized

    Tales of a Hungry Maxie: Vieux Chalet

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    Like I said, Josh had to postpone his anniversary dinner surprise to the day after our anniversary because I had to man my panini stall at Mercato Central. We opted for a fun and simple lunch at The Girl + Bull  on the day of our actual anniversary. For Josh’s anniversary dinner surprise, he brought me to Vieux Chalet which is dubbed as one of Antipolo’s best kept secrets. Josh and I tend to lean toward restaurant choices that require long drives because it allows us to bond over the road vs fine dining restaurant in the city.

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    Vieux Chalet is a Swiss restaurant located in Antipolo. It is  a house converted into a restaurant and it also operates as a bed and breakfast. The restaurant itself has big windows to showcase the magical view of the Manila Skyline and is adorned with charming pieces of furniture. The place was very homey which went perfectly with the weather and the the view to create a blissful vibe for its guests.

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    Josh purposely picked me up early because he wanted to catch the sunset at Vieux Chalet. We arrived around 5:30 and the head waiter warmly welcomed us. While waiting for the sunset, we took the liberty to explore the place and take photos! :)

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     We ordered a salad and two orders of their home made iced tea as we watched the sunset. We had a cozy spot by the window and everything was perfect.

    Mango Shrimp Cocktail – 285

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    This salad is good for two persons. It has a light mango vinaigrette, fresh mango cubes, olives, regular tomato slices, cherry tomatoes, and a few pieces of fresh shrimp. Josh and I loved the salad.

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    <3

    Homemade Iced Tea

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    There were three kinfs of iced tea to choose from but the ther two were out of stock so we had to settle for the original iced tea. I’m so glad we did because OH MY GOSH this has got to be the best iced tea I’ve ever had. It doesn’t taste like a generic powdered iced tea at all and it was so so so refreshing. <3

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    josh and I making goofy faces with our iced tea because it was SO good talaga.

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    j’adore <3

    After watching the sunrise, we finally ordered for our dinner. We had soup, a pasta dish for me, and osso buco for J.

    Italian Farmer’s Soup

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    This has got to be the first time I’ve had a potato + pumpkin soup. It was sumptuous and perfect for the breezy antipolo weather. The chips and bacon complimented the soup well. I especially loved the texture of the potato chips soaked in thick and cream soup. It was fabulous.

    Pasta Padilla – 275

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    I’m such a pasta lover and I just HAD to order pasta. This originally comes in white sauce but I asked them to add some tomato sauce because I was scared that the white sauce might be too heavy for me. The dish is made with homemade fettuccine, homemade smoked ham, homemade ricotta cheese, and mushrooms. This was probably the dish that did not impress me the most. I can’t pin point what I did not like about it but the effort to have all the ingredients freshly made was nice.

    Osso Buco – 955

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    THE STAR OF THE NIGHT. This was Josh’s order and I swear this dish was glorious. The osso buco was cooked PERFECTLY. The fresh tomato sauce was also delicious. I loved the pairing of the lamb and the rosti. I would have ordered another piece of the rosti but I was already so full with everything that we ordered. This is a MUST-TRY! 

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    beautiful set-up :)

    Swiss Chocolate Ala Mode – 245 (compliments of the restaurant <3)
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    The head waiter was so sweet to give us this complimentary cake because he knew that it was our anniversary! The cake can be more moist but I loved the butternut ice cream on top of the cake. It was an interesting flavor because I haven’t tried anything like it! I also heard that their ice cream is homemade.

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    I seriously think Vieux Chalet offers one of the best views of the Manila Skyline. It’s one of the things that I think make the restaurant so unique.

    Overall Thoughts

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    I really enjoyed my dinner at Vieux Chalet. They offer amazing food, have excellent service, and offer one of the most unique dining experiences in Manila. Everything that we ordered was a hit except for the pasta (Josh like it though… I’m very critical about pasta dishes hehe). I’m so glad that we spent our first anniversary in Vieux Chalet.

    Don’t forget to make a reservation; they had to turn a group down because they were fully booked.

    xoxo,

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    Food, Lifestyle

    Tales of a Hungry Maxie: The Girl + The Bull

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    My boyfriend Josh and I recently celebrated our 1st year anniversary together last March 21, 2014. He was supposed to surprise me with a dinner date but I requested if we could celebrate it the next day instead because I had to man my panini stall at Mercato Central. He sweetly obliged and we decided to just have lunch on the day of our anniversary. After doing some last minute research, we decided to have lunch at The Girl + The Bull located at BF Homes, Paranaque. The restaurant is owned by a young adorable couple from Ateneo and UP. I only got to meet (i’m assuming) The Girl as The Bull was in the kitchen working his magic.

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    We arrived just a few minutes after their kitchen closed. Apparently, they are closed from 3:00-6:00 pm.  We were really hungry from the long drive across Manila and kind of half begged them to make an exception for us (we told them it was our anniversary)! Their kind waitress talked to the chef and owner and they let us in! YAY.

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    The restaurant is located in a beautiful rustic building in white. I believe the entire building is a bed and breakfast. The restaurant was equally stunning. The whole place was clad in black and white pieces, ghost chairs, vibrant photographs and beautiful art work. It was a feast for the eyes; every area was instagram worthy. <3

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    The owner (the girl) told me that these were prints that she gave her boyfriend (the bull) as presents. <3

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    we chose this pretty spot right near the window

    I read a few blogs reviews to kind of research on what to order but I found out that they changed their menu lineup recently. I really wanted to try the grilled cheese with tomato soup and the pasta but their absence from the menu didn’t dishearten me. Their staff was composed of college students. Our server’s from DLSU. They were all very nice, accommodating, and I loved that they were able to give us suggestions on what to order. My pet peeve is when servers answer me with “they’re all very good” when I asked for suggestions on what to order. Here’s what we ended up ordering:

    House Fries, Truffle Salt, Parmensan, Malt Vinegar 180

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    The fries were fried to a crisp. The parmesan was fresh and the truffle oil was legit! Haha, I’m a huge fan of truffle oil; some restaurant slap the word “truffle” on their dishes and there have been times when I wasn’t able to detect a drop of truffle in their dishes. This came with malt vinegar in a small bottle with a spritzer. It was an interesting experience but I would also have wanted to try their cumin mayonnaise which was on their old menu. </3

    Pork Belly Confit, Potato Puree, Roasted Garlic, Pear, Evoo, Balsami Glaze 395 – my order

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    This plate is a work of art! The interplay of the different elements of the dish was interesting. My only complaint is that I wish that the pork had a little bit less fat. I also think that the pork could be more juicy; it wasn’t tough though. It’s also not very filling (omg, i have a huge appetite.. I shall go hide now…).

    Hanging Tender, Quail Egg, Kimchi Fried Rice 495 – Josh’s order

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    The beef initially arrived medium rare and Josh found it a bit difficult to chew. We requested for it to be cooked to medium and they kindly obliged. The serving was reasonable and I was able to take a few bites from this (because I was still hungry from my order HEHE). The kimchi wasn’t too strong which is good because not everyone likes kimchi. The quail egg + kimchi rice + steak went perfectly together.

    House Iced Tea 

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    the housed iced tea was really refreshing!

    Homemade Twix Bar with sea salt 160

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    I think this dessert was really the star of the entire meal. It was SO YUMMY and beautifully plated I almost did not want to touch it. The price was also very reasonable because the serving was quite huge. I would have been fine with a piece of this but the order came in four pieces! It tasted like a homemade gourmet twix bar. AHHH. I would drive across town again just for this! :)

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    <3

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    the menu

    Overall

    Josh and  I enjoyed the twix dessert the most followed by the steak and kimchi fried rice. Their iced tea is also a must try! The restaurant was worth the long drive from Manila. The whole place and food really spoiled our senses. Do make a reservation because they can only accommodate a few people at a time.

    I’m glad this is the first restaurant that we tried in the BF homes area whole place is a melting pot of different cuisines!! I saw at least 5 korean restaurants, 3 thai restaurants, 3 Japanese restaurants and SO MUCH MORE! I can’t wait to go back!!! :)

    xoxo,

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    Food, Lifestyle

    Tales of a Hungry Maxie: Spatzle Euro Market

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    Hi everyone!

    A few weeks ago, I launched the newest series of my blog dedicated to food called, “maxie likes to eat”. The foodie boyfriend (uy foodie daw) quickly pointed out that is was similar to his favorite food blogger’s blog name, “Jin Loves To Eat”. Of course I did not want to look like I was intentionally copying Jin’s blog because I like to read her blog once in a while too! So, with careful consideration, I decided to change the name of my food review series to “Tales of a Hungry Maxie”. My friend Isa suggested “hungry maxie” because both words rhymed and I realized that it was something the boyfriend would often tell me: “Hungry Maxie na ba?” Thus, my new foodie series name is born! :)

    My family and I went out for dinner a few days ago. We wanted to try out the new restaurants at Shang-rila Plaza’s east wing. Our first choice was Green Pastures but the waiting line was so long. We decided to try our second choice, Spatzle Euro Market. Spatzle is a beautiful restaurant with a rustic vibe and brightly lit interiors. As its name suggests, they serve a variety of European dishes with a lot of German influences. According to our server, Spatzle is a type of pasta made of egg and is similar to gnocchi. Just like gnocchi, Spatzle comes in small dumpling-looking pieces and have a chewy texture.

    I found this utensil holder super quirky and creative! Each comes with special hand sanitizer. Neeat!

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    Although they specialize in spatzle dishes, they offer various other dishes to suit different taste buds. Here’s what we ordered:

    Truffle Pomme-Frites

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    This is just basic truffle fries topped with parmesan shavings and lemon. It’s a simple dish but I love anything truffle so I really enjoyed this. The fries were fried to perfection and the thickness of the fries were just right.

    Mozarella Sticks with tomato sauce and aoili

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    I know, it’s a bit of a boring dish but my little brother always orders this when he sees it on the menu. There wasn’t anything spectacular about this dish and it wasn’t as hot as I wanted it to be.

    Spatz Beef Stew

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    I don’t know how to describe this because the flavor of the beef stew was so different from what I’m used to. It’s a good kind of different! I have to say that the dish arrived with TWO MEDIUM SIZED PIECES of beef. If I remember correctly, this costs around 400-500. My mom got worked up because of the incredibly tiny serving. It’s a good thing their manager handled the situation like a pro and gave us extra two pieces of beef to appease my mom. hehe.

    Grilled Sausage Roesti


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    The first time I got to try roesti (a european potato pancake fried to a crisp) was in Chesa Bianca, Makati. It was so perfect that I still dream about it until today! Anyway, Spatzle’s version of the roesti is really well done. I love how the pancake if crisped to perfection and that it isn’t too oily.

    Spatz Beef Stroganoff

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    Those queer looking noodles are the spatzles I was talking about. The sauce was very yummy, the beef was tender, and the spatzles were cooked al dente. It was our group’s favorite dish of the night.

    Halibut with Spatzle 

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     My mom had apprehensions before ordering this dish because she was scared that they’d serve dory. We clarified with the waitress and she guaranteed that it was halibut indeed. The halibut was cooked perfectly and was not dry at all. It paired with the spatzle and tomato sauce fabulously. The salad on the side was refreshing too!

    All natural citrus cooler soda

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    yum! super refreshing! :)

    Overall

    My taste buds aren’t so used to this kind of cuisine so I can’t really rave about everything in general. I liked all the dishes except for the mozzarella sticks which could have been heated more. I love pasta and I’m really the long-noodle-type-of-girl so the spatzle dishes were just alright for me. The fries, halibut, roesti, and beef stew were ally yummy! Overall, their service deserves a two thumbs up, the food was different in a good way, the ambience of the whole place was lovely. I enjoyed my dining experience in the restaurant but I probably would not come back any time soon just because I want to try so many more restuarants! Spatzle would be a good choice for those who want to try out something new and different! :)

    what do you think? :)

    xoxo,

    maxie-300x166

     

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    Food, Lifestyle

    Maxie likes to eat: Breakfast at Antonio’s

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    My close friends know me for having two ultimate loves of my life (aside from my family, Josh, and my dog): makeup….. and food! I always get “bullied” by my friends for always posting photos of food on my instagram. I  have this habit of critiquing food as I eat and I sometimes go as far as writing mini reviews along with my food photographs on Instagram! This post shall commemorate my intent to diversify the content of my blog and more importantly, share my lalalalooove for delicious food! :) Thus a new series of blog posts dedicated to food is born and I shall call this section, “maxie likes to eat.”

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    First up on this foodie post is my experience at Breakfast at Antonio’s in Tagaytay. I have always wanted to try the food at Antonio’s (original fine dining restaurant and sister company of Breakfast at Antonio’s) but the price range of the food there is really off the charts! I still hope to be able to try out the constantly-raved food from Antonio’s but for now, I’ll “settle” with Breakfast at Antonio’s. My dad had a 60k marathon which started in Luneta and ended in Tagaytay. Thinking about having to run that far already makes me tired! I’m so glad that my mom LOVES food like me. I think it’s actually more appropriate to say that I love food like her because I think I really got this food-loving gene from her. Being the food lovers that we were, she invited me and my brother to drive to Tagaytay and pick my dad up at the finish line and eat at Breakfast at Antonio’s to celebrate my dad’s accomplishment.

    I really loved the whole look and feel that Breakfast at Antonio’s have. The place is not airconditioned but the Tagayaty breeze really reached every nook and cranny of the place. The place has beautiful white interiors and was illuminated with sunlight. I normally wouldn’t talk about this but even their staff had really nice uniforms which really suited the whole theme of the restaurant.

    Anyway, let’s go to the main attraction of this post: the FOOD. Their menu was so extensive, I swear I wanted to order everything! It took a lot of restraint but we were able to narrow down the items we ordered to six items for the four of us.

    Fresh Mushroom Soup

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    THIS WAS SO YUMMY!! You can really taste the freshness of the mushrooms and the creaminess of the soup was perfect!

    Beef Stroganoff

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    My close friends all know that I love all sorts of noodles! I know, I was at a breakfast place but I just really had to try one of their pasta dishes. It took all the restraint left in my body to not order the truffle pasta because I ALWAYS order pasta dishes with truffle oil in them. I was so glad that I ordered this! My mom was hesitating and was telling me to order something else because we were at a breakfast place and I’ve been always ordering pasta dishes whenever we went out. Anyway, my mom ended up saying that my dish was the best among all six dishes we tried. HA! :)) Everything about this pasta was just AHH YUM. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the consistency of the sauce was just right and coated the noodles perfectlyl. Lastly, the flavor was divine. It was the perfect mix of cream and whatever it is that stroganoff contains. I hate bell peppers but I think they added complexity to the flavor of the dish.

    Homemade Corned Beef

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    The corned beef was indeed homemade. It came with a small cup of rice and two eggs. I think the amount of rice is just right for normal people but my dad ran for around 8 hour straight so the rice was really not enough. The corned beef was yummy, definitely not the run-of-the-mill corned beef from the can.

    Roesti Pastrami

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    This was just okay. The concept was interesting, though. It’s basically a piece of roesti (shredded potatoes that are formed into a flat circle and deep fried) with pastrami directly on it, and 2 medium cooked sunny-side up eggs to top everything off.  The eggs were perfectly cooked  but the 2 eggs overpowered the whole dish which is why the flavor of the pastrami didn’t really come out.

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    when sliced 

    Tapa

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    Good old classic tapa. The beef was tender and flavorful. The eggs were nicely cooked. Overall, a delicious dish but there wasn’t really anything worth remembering about it. (I might be biased though because I really loved my pasta dish!!! <3 )

    French Toast Using Turkish Bread with Cinnamon Egg and Apple Compote

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    This was the only dish that disappointed. The break wasn’t easy to chew and the apple compote didn’t do much to make the dish yummy. It also came with burnt syrup which was interesting but it tasted too weird for my taste. I wouldn’t recommend this.

    Mini Salted Caramel Cheesecake

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    We were already so full which is why we decided to just share this tiny cup of goodness. This was so scrumptious. The cheesecake was so rich and fine, and the thin layer of slated caramel perfectly balanced out off the sweetness of the cheesecake.


    Overall

    This restaurant serves really GOOD FOOD. The servers were very courteous and attentive. Almost all the dishes we ordered did not disappoint. The wide range of dishes to choose from ensures that everyone in your family (from you grandma, grandpa, dad, mom, aunt, uncle to your little sister) will find something they’ll like here. The place is perfect for friends, family, and even a romantic breakfast date with your other half. I declare Breakfast at Antonio’s my favorite breakfast place as of the moment and going back to what I said earlier, I can’t just “settle” on Breakfast at Antonio’s. It’s a really good restaurant on its own and is really worth trying.

    How was you experience at Breakfast at Antonio’s? What’s your favorite Tagaytay restaurant? and.. What do you think about my first “maxie likes to eat” post. hihi <3

    xoxo,


    maxie-300x166

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