cream cheese – Jellybeans in the City

Enjoy Thai milk tea at home with Jelly G

Despite the increasing frequency of rain showers in the metro, the times when the sunshine peeks through the clouds are the instances when we need something sweet and refreshing to quench our thirst, right?

Have you ever tried Thai milk tea? Unlike the more prevalent boba milk teas, Thai milk teas have actually been around a lot longer, have a myriad of health benefits and are also available in wondrous variety.

Local chain Jelly G, which has been operating since 2000, specializes in Thai milk tea, making its signature drinks from strongly brewed black tea spiced with anise and tamarind seeds and sweetened with condensed milk.

Together with fillers such as grass jelly, cassava pearls, yogurt, basil seeds, coconut jelly, egg pudding, cream cheese and poppers, the resulting drinks showcase the distinct exotic taste of Thai milk tea as well as introduce new ways to enjoy this traditional Southeast Asian drink that will appeal to Pinoy taste buds.

Over the years, Jelly G’s presence in malls have made this Thai delicacy more easily to Filipinos, and now, with heightened restrictions on dining out due to the pandemic, it can now be delivered to your home for you to enjoy with your family.

Really, now would be a great time to expand the family’s flavor horizons and say “Sa wa dee ka!” to new drink experiences by trying out some of Jelly G’s unique drinks such as:

Blueberry Milk with Coco Jelly and Cream Cheese. A sweet and tangy fruity drink with slivers of chewy coco jelly and topped with cream cheese.

Black Forest with Poppers. A rich chocolatey drink with tiny globes of fruity poppers.

Red Velvet Thai Milk Tea with Grass Jelly and Cream Cheese. A creamy dessert-like take on Thai milk tea made more nutritious with addition of grass jelly and richer with the addition of cream cheese.

Want to expand your Thai food adventure even more? Pair your Thai milk tea with traditional Thai dishes, also available from Jelly G.

Place your orders now by messaging +63 925 7816237 on Viber or via GrabFood or FoodPanda.

To know its latest promos and offers, follow Jelly G on Facebook or Instagram.

Check out my previous posts on Jelly G:

Disclosure: Product samples were provided to facilitate this feature article.

Dessert drinks from Black Scoop, Tomas Morato

I admit: I do have a sweet tooth.

This is why I’m always on the lookout for ways to sate my craving for sweets.

Then one day, while I was running errands near my office, I came across this cafe along Tomas Morato called Black Scoop Cafe.

Founded on love for coffee, tea and ice cream, Black Scoop Cafe combines the choicest ingredients, technology and know-how to come up with fresh takes on drinks and desserts.

It’s no wonder, then, that I found myself returning to this cafe to get my sugar fix with:

Brown Sugar Latte (Php140 medium | Php150 large) with Cream Cheese. Chewy boba pearls cooked in brown sugar syrup that also lines the cup of this milky drink topped with a layer of frothy cream cheese.

Hershey’s Cream Cheese (Php140 medium | Php155 large). A chocolatey concoction made even more decadent by the cream cheese topping.

Being a dessert lover, I have a strong affinity for cream cheese, which made these drinks extra rich and indulgent.

What’s your drink indulgence?

This Black Scoop Cafe branch is located at CKB Centre, Tomas Morato Avenue corner Scout Rallos Street, Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City.

If you’re craving for a bit of sweet refreshment but can’t go out due to the enhanced community quarantine, order your Black Scoop drinks from these branches which are still open for pickup and delivery:

Rey-lor Building, Felix Avenue, Cainta (+63 966 7747853)
L&Y Plaza, 120 E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue corner Ortigas Avenue Extension, Barangay Ugong, Pasig City (+63 920 8251234)
561 Shaw Boulevard corner Princeton Street, Barangay Wack Wack, Greenhills East, Mandaluyong (+63 905 2114424)
42 Esteban Abada Street, Loyola Heights 3, Quezon City
625 NS Amoranto Sr. Avenue, Banawe, Quezon City (+63 917 8888328)
939 Banawe Street, Barangay Manresa, Quezon City (+63 2 82813596)
One Raffles Place, Congressional Avenue, Project 8, Quezon City (+63 915 7047837)
1630 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Hill, Taguig (+63 917 3289266)
Ground Floor, Villa Building, Jupiter corner Makati Avenue, Barangay Bel-Air, Makati (+63 916 6068749)
1229 Navarra Street corner UST Dapitan, Sampaloc, Manila (+63 932 5833666)
One Archers Place, 2311 Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila (+63 2 77283118)
2436 Leon Guinto corner Kapitan Tikong Streets, Malate, Manila (+63 917 3242436)
Unit 345 RLV Building, Aguirre Avenue, BF Homes, Paranaque (+63 916 6550636)
BF Resort Drive, JB Tan Street, BF Resort Village, Las Pinas (+63 2 89005689)

Check out my reviews of other milk tea joints:

Milk tea indulgence at Gong Cha, L&Y Plaza

While stuck at home due to the quarantine, don’t you sometimes long for the little indulgences you used to enjoy when you can freely move around?

My own little indulgence is the pearl milk tea.

Ever since it became a trending food item nearly a decade ago, pearl milk tea has been an easy and relatively affordable treat for my sweet tooth. It also has the added benefit of being a cold drink that can counter the uncomfortable heat in the metro.

Really, what’s not to love?

The silky feel of the milk tea as it flows from the straw into your mouth and the sweet and chewy surprise of the tapioca pearls… yep, these are among the humble rewards I can gift to myself at the end of a stressful day.

And since I love the interplay of sweet and salty flavors, I usually order Gong Cha’s Milk Tea with Pearl Jelly (Php85 regular | Php95 large) with Gong Cha Milk Cream Cheese (additional Php50). The milk cream cheese adds a bit of frothy richness to the drink. Yum!

Staying home during the ECQ may be a sacrifice, but thankfully, you can still indulge yourself with your favorite drinks from Gong Cha with three of its branches – Il Terrazzo Mall in Tomas Morato, L&Y Plaza in Pasig and Araneta Shopwise in Cubao – still open for take out and delivery via GrabFood, LalaFood and FoodPanda.

Download the Grab App on the App Store or Google Play. Get a discount on your first food order when you use my code: GRABJELLYBEANS.

Use this link to download the FoodPanda app and get Php100 off your first order.

Download the LalaFood App and get a free delivery coupon when you use my code: BEINGJMR53.

This Gong Cha branch is located at L&Y Plaza, 120 E. Rodriguez Jr. Corner Ortigas Avenue Extension, Ugong, Pasig City.

Other branches are located at:

Quezon City: Il Terrazzo Mall, Eastwood Mall, Robinsons Galleria, Cyberpark Tower 1, Shopwise Araneta, Robinsons Magnolia, UP Town Center, SM Sta. Mesa, Fisher Mall, Trinoma Mall, SKY Garden and Main Building SM North EDSA, SM Sun Mall, Amoranto Street – Banawe, Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, SM City Fairview, Ayala Fairview Terraces
Pasig: Ortigas Technopoint, Ayala Feliz
Marikina: SM City Marikina
San Juan: Theater Mall Greenhills Shopping Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Santolan Town Plaza
Mandaluyong: Greenfield District, SM Light Mall, Forum Robinsons
Taguig: Uptown Place Mall, SM Aura Premier, Vista Mall Taguig, Fort Victoria Building, Venice Grand Canal Mall
Makati: Powerplant Mall, Glorietta 1, Glorietta 4, SM Jazz Mall, SM Makati, Landmark, Greenbelt Hamilton Tower, San Lorenzo Place Condominium, Shell Magallanes
Pasay: Newport City, Met Live Mall, MOA Arena, Entertainment Mall MOA, SM by the Bay
Manila: 2 Torre Lorenzo, The One Grand Centre, SM City Manila, Robinsons Place Manila, SM City San Lazaro, G-2 Avenue of the Arts, Lucky Chinatown
Caloocan: SM City Sangandaan
Paranaque: SM City BF, SM City Sucat
Valenzuela: SM City Valenzuela
Las Pinas: The Village Square Alabang, SM Southmall, Vista Mall Las Pinas, Evia Lifestyle Center
Muntinlupa: Alabang Town Center, Festival Mall

Check out my reviews of other milk tea joints:

Recipe: Cheesy Baked Salmon

I was going through my recipe books, trying to decide on what to prepare for our Noche Buena meal, when I came across the recipe for Cheese Baked Salmon.

I had my first taste of Baked Salmon at Conti’s a few years ago and I developed quite a liking for it.

Wanting to prepare something similar for my family, I scoured the internet for a recipe which I tweaked, considering available ingredients.

It’s quite easy to make but the ingredients are a bit costly so I only make this dish during special occasions like Noche Buena.

Ingredients:

2 pieces of salmon fillets, at least half a kilo each
9 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (use 2/3 of this for the marinade and 1/3 for the cheese topping)
Juice of half a lemon
1 box (250 grams) Emborg Cream Cheese
5 tbsp Lady’s Choice Mayonnaise
Marca Pina Parmesan Cheese
1 pack of frozen peas, corn and carrots
2 tbsp butter

Procedure:

To marinate the salmon, season it with salt, pepper and garlic then sprinkle it with lemon juice. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.
Using a hand-held mixer, whip the cream cheese until softened and fluffy then add the mayonnaise, garlic and parmesan cheese to taste
Pat the marinated salmon dry and place it in an oven pan. Generously spread the cheese topping over the fish and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.
Bake at 170 degrees C for 35 to 40 minutes or until the topping turns golden brown.
Serve with vegetable sauteed in butter.

This recipe serves 6 persons at 270 calories per serving.

Check out my other recipes:

Mother-Daughter Milk Tea Break at Macao Imperial Tea, SM Manila

After attending a KIX channel event at SM Manila Activity Center, my daughter #ExhibitA and I looked for somewhere to rest and relax before braving the traffic going back home.

We spotted this branch of Macao Imperial Tea after going up a couple of floors. There was a long queue at the counter but we saw some hope of getting some seats at the back. (Which we did, thank heavens!)

#ExhibitA ordered a Grass Jelly Milk Tea (Php110) and while I got a Cheesecake and Pearl Milk Tea (Php120).

My daughter’s Grass Jelly Milk Tea had a slightly bitter and herby aftertaste while my Cheesecake and Pearl Milk Tea, on the other hand, had a subtle sweetness with some rich frothiness from the cream cheese (which is actually one of my favorite things).

Despite the crowd, we were able to enjoy our drinks in relative comfort, and in a trice, we were ready to journey on home.

This Macao Imperial Tea branch is located at Fourth Floor, SM City Manila, Ermita, Manila. Other branches may be found at:

RTT Building, Tomas Morato Corner Timog Avenue, South Triangle, Quezon City (read my review here)
Ground Floor, Unimart Supermarket, Oranbo, Pasig City
Ground Floor, Circuit Makati, Olympia, Makati City
Calle Bistro, Ground Floor, Ever Gotesco Mall, Commonwealth Avenue, Old Balara, Quezon City
Fisher Mall, Quezon Avenue, Del Monte, Quezon City
780 Banawe Street, Banawe, Quezon City
Second Floor, Lucky Chinatown Mall, Binondo, Manila
Third Floor, Main Mall, SM Mall of Asia, Mall of Asia Complex (MOA), Pasay City
308 Aguirre Avenue, BF Homes, Parañaque City

A fortunate mistake at Auntie Anne’s, SM Hypermarket Pasig

So let me set the scene: there I was at SM Hypermarket with my daughter (#ExhibitA) all set to do some grocery shopping when we decided to have dessert at Auntie Anne’s. She ordered an Original Pretzel (Php65) because she all about the basic but still good kind of pastry, whatever that means, and a Chocolate Dip (Php25). I on the other hand was supposed to order my usual: an Almond Pretzel (Php80) and a Caramel Dip (Php25). However, I caught sight of these almond crunch-covered pretzel sticks so I ordered those instead, thinking they would just be cut-up versions of the pretzel that I love. It turned out, what I actually ordered was a pouch of Almond Cream Cheese Stix (Php90)!

Imagine my surprise when I bit into the warm and chewy, baked-from-scratch, almond-crunch covered and caramel-dipped pretzel and I got a taste of the mildy sweet and slightly tangy melted cream cheese inside the pretzel sticks! The experience combined three of my favorite things: almonds, caramel and cream cheese.

Plus, since I presented my BDO Rewards Card, I got 10% off on the total bill!

This is one mistake I don’t regret making.