lemonade – Jellybeans in the City

Holiday Epic Feast for the fam at Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar, Eastwood Mall

Hooray for the holidays!

We’re now at the final stretch of the year and it’s time to slow down and spend time with the people we love.

If we’ve been too busy hustlin’ and bustlin’ over the course of this year to catch up with our folks over a good meal, this period gives us the perfect opportunity to do so.

That’s exactly what I did with my extended fam at the Peri Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar branch at Eastwood Mall in Libis, Quezon City.

Here, my folks and I enjoyed a laid-back and comfy setting in which we can let loose and go on a fabulous flavor adventure together.

And with its Holiday Epic Feast Chicken & Riblet Grupo, a delicious curation of the restaurant’s best-selling specialties, there’s something for every family member to discover and love.

Of course, the star of this feast is the restaurant’s very own speciality: the Peri-Peri Chicken. This dish originates all the way from Africa, where peri-peri, the pepper which lends the dish its name is cultivated. Together with other spices and herbs, this pepper flavors the special mixture where a whole chicken is marinated overnight, then charcoal-grilled to a gloriously golden hue prior to serving, accompanied slices of lime.

The restaurant is also known as a sauce bar, and rightly so, given that it carries eight signature sauces, all made with natural ingredients, to add new dimensions of flavor to its signature chicken dish. Representing various international flavor profiles, the sauces range from mildly sweet, to medium spiciness and hot. Diners can choose any of these sauces (or mix and match them!) to tailor-fit their meal to their palate.

Well, the flavor adventure doesn’t stop there. The feast also features hefty hunks of BBQ Bourbon Riblets, tender and meaty barbecued ribs glazed in smokey bourbon infused sauce.

Being a lightly-spiced rice dish, Java Rice is the perfect companion to grilled and barbecued dishes. This feast brings eight cups of them, guaranteeing a filling meal for the whole fam!

Here’s a confession: half the pleasure of eating grilled meat is wolfing it down between bites of one’s favorite side dish. For the eight regular side dishes included in the Holiday Epic Feast, I opted to include the fam’s all-time go-to side dishes: Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese, Coleslaw, Fries and Mashed Potatoes.

Completing the meal are a liter each of the restaurant’s refreshing house-blend drinks: Iced Tea and Lemonade.

Would you believe that you too could treat the fam to such a deliciously filling Holiday Epic Feast for just Php1,999, saving you Php620? This meal is good for eight to ten persons, giving you the perfect opportunity to gather your nears-and-dears and enjoy a lovely meal.

Planning a more intimate get-together with the barkada? You can opt for the Holiday Epic Feast Chicken & Pasta Grupo, good for four to five persons for Php1,399 (which saves you Php255). This meal includes one whole chicken, one pasta to share, four cups of Java Rice, four regular side dishes and one liter of houseblend drink.

This Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar is located at the Second Floor, Eastwood Mall, 116 Eastwood Avenue, Eastwood City, Bagumbayan, Quezon City, open Mondays to Thursdays from 11am to 11pm, Fridays to Saturdays from 11am to 12am and Sundays from 10am to 11pm.

Other Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar outlets are located at:

Las Pinas: Evia Lifestyle Center
Makati: Ayala North Exchange, Greenbelt 3
Mandaluyong: SM Megamall
Manila: Robinsons Place Manila
Marikina: SM City Marikina, Gil Fernando Avenue
Muntinlupa: Alabang Town Center
Paranaque: Ayala Malls Manila Bay
Pasay: Resorts World Manila
Pasig: SM City East Ortigas, Ayala Malls Feliz, Capitol Commons, Robinsons Galleria
Quezon City: Gateway Mall, Robinsons Magnolia, UP Town Center, Trinoma Mall, Banawe, Brittany Square
San Juan: Promenade Greenhills
Taguig: Uptown Parade BGC, Market! Market BGC, Venice Grand Mall

To enjoy this feast at home, order from Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken’s delivery website or call +63 2 73747374 for Metro Manila orders and +63 917 7747374 for provincial orders.

To know more about Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, browse through its website , or follow it on Facebook and Instagram.

Check out my previous posts on Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken:

Peri Peri Chicken, SM East — Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, SM City East Ortigas

Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Tomas Morato

Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Capitol Commons

Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken & Sauce Bar, Gil Fernando Marikina

Delish family dine-in with Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken’s Hearty Flavor Feast

Fresh and healthy drinks at Jack’s Lemonade, Market! Market!

With the weather becoming more erratic lately, and a case of the sniffles (or something worse) is always around the corner, now is not the time to let up on your health.

As our work, family and community activities increase as everyone in the metro steps into the holiday season, you should make sure that you keep our body in prime condition.

And what better way to keep yourself in fine fighting form than to treat yourself to something fresh and healthy every day?

Well, with a Jack’s Lemonade stall nearby, you can easily grab a freshly made cup of citrusy drink that’s not just tasty, but is also quite good for you!

Each drink is made with juice from freshly squeezed lemon, giving you thirst-quenching refreshments packed with health benefits such as:

Vitamin C. This nutrient helps protect cells from free radicals, lower blood pressure and prevent colds.
Hydration. Its appealing flavor encourages us to top up on our liquid intake.
Antioxidants. These nutrients help our bodies battle illness, and even improves our skin!

The good news is that something so good for you need not be boring. With thirty flavors available at any Jack’s Lemonade outlet, you can go for a whole month without repeating a lemonade flavor. Thanks to its home-cooked sugar syrup, the use of plum salt (also known as kiamoy) and a host of add-ons and poppers, Jack’s Lemonade demonstrates the sheer versatility of this beverage.

Take its Lemon Cheesecake (Php105/Php130). With the addition of powdered milk, condensed milk and grated cheddar cheese, your Jack’s Lemonade is turned into a yummy dessert!

If you want something a bit more herby but still has that burst of fruity sweetness, you can go for a Cucumber Lemonade with Honey (Php75/Php105) topped with strawberry poppers.

You can also welcome the holiday season with the fresh and fruity flavors of a Peach Ginger Lemonade with Basil Seeds.

You can also take a liter of freshly made lemonade so you can craft your own lemonade variants at home. These are available in various flavors:

Classic (Php220 regular | Php270 sugar-free)
Cucumber (Php250 regular | Php300 sugar-free)
Ginger (Php250 regular | Php300 sugar-free)
Tamarind (Php250 regular | Php300 sugar-free)

So if you feel like treating yourself to a refreshing drink but don’t want to let up on your efforts to stay healthy, drop by the Jack’s Lemonade stall nearest you!

Plus, you and your pals can take advantage of Jack’s Party of 5 pack, which brings you five tasty lemonade drinks for just Php499:

Lemon Cheesecake with Coconut Jelly
Basil Rich Tamarind (Sugarfree)
Peach Ginger Lemonade with Basil Seeds
Cucumber Lemonade with Honey (Sugarfree)
Strawberry Lemonade with Poppers

This Jack’s Lemonade stall is located at the Fourth Floor, Market! Market!, 6th Street corner C5, Bonifacio Global City Taguig. Other branches are located at:

Activity Center, Glorietta 4
3rd level, Glorietta 1
Food Forum, Shangri-La Mall
Food Choices, Ayala Malls Feliz
Ground level, Phase 1, U.P. Town Center
Cloud Kitchen, Guadalupe, Makati

Call in your orders for delivery at +63 917 1587439 or +63 956 5184911. Jack’s Lemonade also delivers via GrabFood and FoodPanda.

Follow Jack’s Lemonade on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated on its products and offers.

Check out my previous posts on Jack’s Lemonade:

Refreshing lemon drinks at Jack’s Lemonade, UP Town Center

Summer all-year-round at Jack’s Lemonade, SM Megamall

Dessert drink at Jack’s Lemonade, Shangri-la Plaza

Jack’s Lemonade serves up fresh takes on a classic drink

With the onset of the rainy season, now is not the time to let up on our Vitamin C intake.

Fortunately, we can get this precious nutrient from many easily accessible sources.

How about lemonade? Being made with lemons, it is good source of Vitamin C. It’s also a wonderful drink to refresh and hydrate our bodies as well as give our immune system a boost.

Its most basic incarnation composed of lemon juice, water and sweetener has been a mainstay in many home and restaurant meals.

However, this seemingly rudimentary beverage actually offers a lot of new and exciting possibilities.

And where better to check out fresh takes on this drink than at Jack’s Lemonade?

Kiosks of this lemonade chain can be spotted in many malls across the metro where, through the creative use of add-ons (such as plum salt, honey, yogurt, basil seeds, coconut jelly, poppers and pudding) and freshly-squeezed lemon juice, they are able to produce drinks according to a family of flavor profiles:

For Jack: the basic lemonades and the Jack’s Specials
For Dad John: the tea lemonades
For Mom Jenny: the herb lemonades
For Sister Julia: the fruit lemonades
For Baby James: the candy lemonades

Being a sweet tooth, it is hardly surprising that I gravitated towards the candy lemonades during my previous visits to these stores prior to the pandemic. These include:

Strawberry Mint with fresh mint leaves and strawberry puree.

Lemon Square with crushed graham crackers.

Strawberry Cheesecake with poppers and yogurt.

You may be wondering: With the metro switching into ECQ once again, will access to these yummy and healthy drinks be limited?

Nope!

I’m happy to share that Jack’s Lemonade delivers so we can enjoy its drinks with our fam right in the safety and comfort of home.

These are delivered with the add-ons packed separately so that you can easily assemble your drinks and enjoy them freshly made!

I was able to enjoy some recently. Check them out:

Strawberry Lemonade with yogurt and basil seeds.

1-liter Lemon Cheesecake with plum salt. Great for sharing!

So load up on Vitamin C and enjoy a delish and refreshing drink while you’re at it!

To have your Jack’s Lemonade delivered where you are in the metro, call +63 917 1587439. You may also course your orders through GrabFood or FoodPanda.

Check out my previous posts about Jack’s Lemonade:

Jack’s Lemonade, Ayala Malls Feliz

I’ve been a been a believer in the health benefits of fresh lemonade for quite some time now.

However, I also used to think that it’s a one-dimensional drink: just lemon juice plus water and sugar… the end. It may be healthy but it’s, well, meh.

My eyes were opened to the drink’s myriad of possibilities when I was introduced to Jack’s Fresh Lemonade earlier this year.

During a foodie meetup at its kiosk in UP Town Center, my fellow foodie friends and I discovered many ways to enjoy lemonade. In fact, Jack’s Fresh Lemonade has thirty lemonade variants to choose from! Whether mixed with teas, herbs or fruits or made into a dessert, Jack’s Lemonade proved to be quite a versatile drink.

Aside from its homecooked sugar syrup, what sets Jack’s Lemonade apart from other lemonade iterations is the use of plum salt or kiamoy. It’s a salty dried plum in powdered form which adds another dimension of taste to the lemonade drinks. It’s readily available at the counter and can be sprinkled on any Jack’s Lemonade drink for free.

Recently, I attended another Jack’s Fresh Lemonade foodie meetup, this time at Food Choices in Ayala Malls Feliz.

There, along with my fellow foodies, I again had a taste of Jack’s Lemonade’s refreshingly tasty and zesty variants which included:

Basil Rich Tamarind (Php95 for regular | Php115 for large or hot). This lemonade incorporates a healthy blend of fresh tamarind puree and basil seeds.

Strawberry Mint (Php95 for regular | Php115 for large or hot). This lemonade combines the fruity sweetness of pureed strawberries and the cool freshness of mint leaves.

Lemon Cheesecake (Php95 for regular | Php115 for large or hot). If you ever wondered if lemonade can be turned into a dessert, well this drink is for you! This drink combines lemonade with powdered milk, condensed milk and grated cheddar cheese and a generous sprinkling of plum salt.

Strawberry Cheesecake with Poppers and Yogurt (Php150). One of the store’s newest drinks, it adds fresh strawberry puree and yogurt to the Lemon Cheesecake drink.

So if you want to experience lemonade in a variety of fresh ways, all you have to do is drop by your nearest Jack’s Fresh Lemonade kiosk!

Many thanks to Abby of Jack’s Fresh Lemonade for the drinks and to Apol of SaanSaPH for extending the invitation!

Wanna know how fresh lemonade is good for you? Well, this beverage helps in controlling blood pressure; detoxifying and cleansing the body; facilitating digestion, throat care, heart health and skin care; relieving heartburn; whitening teeth and treating arthritis and rheumatism.

This Jack’s Fresh Lemonade kiosk is located at Food Choices, Fourth Floor, Ayala Malls Feliz, Barangay Dela Paz, Pasig City.

Other kiosks in Metro Manila are located at:

Fifth Floor, Bridgeway, SM Megamall, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City
Lower Ground Level, Shangri-la Plaza, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Second Floor, Market! Market! Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Cinema Area, Third Floor, Phase 2, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
Upper Ground Floor, Trinoma Mall, Barangay Bagong Pagasa, Quezon City
Third Floor, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Makati City

Disclosure: Together with fellow food bloggers, I attended a foodie meetup held here. The drinks mentioned here were served to enable us to sample the fare and to facilitate honest reviews and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Check out my previous blog posts on other lemonade kiosks:

Summer all-year-round at Jack’s Lemonade, SM Megamall

Summertime in movies is synonymous with fresh lemonade enjoyed beside sparkling swimming pools, freshly mowed lawns or in picturesque patios.

An icy glass of lemonade has that refreshing quality: it quenches our thirst and cools our tempers so we can savor the hot days of summer.

Well, except for some occasional bouts of rain, it’s summertime all-year-round in Metro Manila.

And you know what this means: we have all year to enjoy lemonade!

If you think that we will grow tired of drinking the same old lemonade, day in and day out, think again.

Jack’s Lemonade offers a collection of drinks made from freshly squeezed lemon juice, and additional ingredients that make each drink a uniquely tasty treat.

These drinks are grouped according to a family of flavor profiles personified in Jack’s Lemonade characters:

For Jack: the basic lemonades and the Jack’s Specials
For Dad John: the tea lemonades
For Mom Jenny: the herb lemonades
For Sister Julia: the fruit lemonades
For Baby James: the candy lemonades

For my bit of refreshment one sunny weekend, I dropped by the newly opened Jack’s Lemonade kiosk at SM Megamall and got myself a Lemon Cheesecake (Php95 regular | Php115 large).

Freshly squeezed lemon juice is blended together with ice, condensed milk and powdered milk, then finished off with a few sprinkles of plum salt.

It’s a decadent dessert and a refreshing drink in one!

It also has the health benefits of lemon-based drinks which include supporting heart health, helping in weight control, preventing kidney stones, protecting against anemia, and improving digestive health.

So enjoy the taste of summer, no matter what time of the year it is, by getting yourself a tasty drink at Jack’s Lemonade!

This Jack’s Lemonade stall is located at Fifth Floor, Bridgeway, SM Megamall, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City.

Other stalls may be found at:

Ground Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City
Cinema Area, Third Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
Food Choices, Fourth Floor, Ayala Malls Feliz, Dela Paz, Pasig City

Food Forum, Lower Ground Level, Shangri-la Plaza, Ortigas Mandaluyong City

Third Floor, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Glorietta Complex, Makati City
Fourth Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Second Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Disclosure: This drink is sponsored by Jack’s Lemonade through gift certificates I received prior to the visit.

Check out my previous lemon-y experiences at Jack’s Lemonade:

Jack’s Lemonade, Shangri-la Plaza

Dessert drink at Jack’s Lemonade, Shangri-la Plaza

Last Monday was a surprisingly sunny day so I decided to window-shop at Shangri-la Plaza. All that walking sure worked up a thirst, though.

Thankfully, there’s a Jack’s Lemonade stall at the mall’s food court, offering more than thirty flavors of lemonade.

You wouldn’t think its possible to stretch the flavor possibilities of lemonade that far, but Jack’s Lemonade more than proves the versatility of the drink and its wide appeal.

Jack’s Lemonade offerings are grouped according to a family of flavor profiles:

For Jack: the basic lemonades and the Jack’s Specials
For Dad John: the tea lemonades
For Mom Jenny: the herb lemonades
For Sister Julia: the fruit lemonades
For Baby James: the candy lemonades

To these drinks may be added plum salt, honey, yogurt, basil seeds, coconut jelly, poppers and pudding.

For my drink that afternoon, I chose one of Jack’s Specials: the Lemon Squares (Php95 for regular | Php115 for large). It combines freshly made lemon water with powdered milk, condensed milk, grated cheddar cheese and a topping of crushed graham crackers which makes this a yummy dessert-like beverage.

So if you should feel the thirst while shopping, look for a Jack’s Lemonade stall. Here, you can find a lemony drink that suits your craving while enjoying lemon’s health benefits.

This Jack’s Lemonade stall is located at Food Forum, Lower Ground Level, Shangri-la Plaza, Ortigas Mandaluyong City.

Other stalls may be found at:

Ground Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City
Cinema Area, Third Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
Food Choices, Fourth Floor, Ayala Malls Feliz, Dela Paz, Pasig City
Fifth Floor, Bridgeway, SM Megamall, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Third Floor, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Glorietta Complex, Makati City
Fourth Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Second Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Disclosure: This drink is sponsored by Jack’s Lemonade through gift certificates I received prior to the visit.

Check out my previous lemon-y experiences at Jack’s Lemonade:

Take a sip of summer at Jack’s Lemonade, Ayala Malls Feliz

If the sweltering heat outside is any indication, then we are all caught in the claws of midsummer.

That’s no reason to let your body (and your temper) overheat, however.

Oh, what to do?

Cool your body and your spirit with the refreshing and invigorating drinks from Jack’s Lemonade. Fortunately, there’s a stall nearby at Ayala Malls Feliz which features the store’s newest Rose Blossom flavors which are based on rose tea.

Rose tea is brewed from dried whole rose blossoms or rose petals. This tea variant has Middle Eastern origins but has grown in popularity in many parts of the world. Its known health benefits include its use as a treatment for menstrual discomfort and sleep disorders, improving mood, digestion and respiration, as well as bolstering the immune system.

Add it to the freshly squeezed lemon juice at Jack’s Lemonade and you’ve got yourself a tasty and healthy drink!

I got myself a nice big cup of Creamy Rose Lemonade (Php150), whipped up by adding rose tea and lemon juice to condensed milk and powdered milk in a blender then pouring the mixture into ice with some fruit-flavored poppers. There are bursts of tangy fruitiness and rich sweetness in every refreshing sip!

So cool your jets and take time off for a well-deserved lemonade break by checking out your nearest Jack’s Lemonade branch.

This Jack’s Lemonade stall is located at Food Choices, Fourth Floor, Ayala Malls Feliz, Dela Paz, Pasig City.

Other branches may be found at:

Ground Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City
Cinema Area, Third Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
Level 6, Shangri-La Plaza, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Third Floor, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Glorietta Complex, Makati City
Fourth Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Second Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Disclosure: This drink is sponsored by Jack’s Lemonade through gift certificates I received prior to the visit.

Check out my previous posts about Jack’s Lemonade and its sister store Jelly G Milk Tea:

Refreshing lemon drinks at Jack’s Lemonade, UP Town Center Healthy Thai Milk Tea at Jelly G, UP Town Center

Refreshing lemon drinks at Jack’s Lemonade, UP Town Center

It’s actually an iconic image of summer: amidst the sweltering heat, you quench your thirst with an ice-cold glass of lemonade.

Aside from being a refreshing drink, lemonade is actually quite a good source of vitamin C. It aids in detoxification, skin care, hydration and weight loss, quite a lot of health benefits for such a basic drink.

But did you know that if you’re at Jack’s Lemonade, a lemonade is not just a lemonade?

With thirty lemonade variants available under an entire family of flavors, your refreshing cup becomes so much more than a basic lemon-flavored sweetened water. Together with other food bloggers of #SaanSaPH, I was invited to a foodie meetup at the UP Town Center branch of Jack’s Lemonade where owner Jolly dela Pena assisted us in exploring various options of lemonade’s tastes and textures. This just confirmed that Jack’s Lemonade is anything but basic.

Take the Basil Rich Tamarind (Php95 | Php115) for example. Incorporating both fresh basil leaves tamarind puree into the drink resulted to an herby yet thirst-quenching drink. Tamarind also helps in digestion, boosting the immune system, managing diabetes, improving nerve function and blood circulation, as well as in relieving gout and joint pain.

The Strawberry Mint (Php95 | Php115), on the other hand, adds the cool and fresh mouthfeel of fresh mint leaves and the fruity sweetness of strawberry puree to the lemonade.

For dessert-lovers out there, the Lemon Cheesecake (Php95 | Ph115) which combines lemonade with powdered milk, condensed milk, grated cheddar cheese and plum salt has an interesting combination of sweet and salty that complements the lemonade’s citrusy taste.

The Lemon Square (Php95 | Php115) further ups the ante when it comes to dessert flavors. Adding crushed graham crackers to the lemonade and milk mixture makes this a decadent delight.

Lastly, the Creamy Purple (Php95 | Php115) offers is a purple-tinged drink resulting from the reaction of the blue butterfly pea infusion with the acidic lemonade. Add-on some yogurt poppers for additional bursts of tangy sweetness with every sip.

All the drinks here use freshly squeezed imported lemons combined with locally sourced fresh fruits and brown sugar, making them extra healthy.

This Jack’s Lemonade branch is located at Cinema Area, Third Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.

Other branches may be found at:

Ground Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City
Food Choices, Fourth Floor, Ayala Malls Feliz, Dela Paz, Pasig City
Level 6, Shangri-La Plaza, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Third Floor, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Glorietta Complex, Makati City
Fourth Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
Second Floor, Market! Market!, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City

Disclosure: Together with other food bloggers of #SaanSaPH, I was invited to attend a foodie meetup held here wherein in drink items were served to allow us to sample the fare. These were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Holiday brunch get-together at Bluesmith Coffee & Kitchen, Greenbelt

There are some friendships that endure despite great distances and changes in circumstances. Such is my friendship with Fetina, formerly an officemate who has since spread her wings working in Singapore. She usually comes home to the Philippines to visit family two to three times a year, and when she does, we make it a point to meet up at a restaurant in either Greenbelt or Glorietta.

In our latest meetup after Christmas, we opted for Bluesmith Coffee & Kitchen located in Greenbelt. An offshoot of Equatorial Coffee in Katipunan, QC, Bluesmith combines homey yet Instagrammable interiors with comfort food and its sound foundation in coffee, making it an great venue for weekend brunches, friendly get-togethers and, dare I say it, #TitaConferences. (Hahaha!)

Our get-together repast consisted of:

Flat White (Php150). This coffee beverage is characterized by the thin layer of microfoam (hence the term “flat” in “flat white) as opposed to the thicker foam layer in traditional cappuccino. I sipped on this while waiting for Fetina to arrive.

Fresh Lemonade Soda (Php150). Freshly squeezed lemon juice made into a sweet fizzy drink.

Tenderloin Beef Salpicao (Php420). One of Bluesmith’s bestsellers, this dish consists of cubes of beef tenderloin, cooked to medium doneness, and marbled potatoes sauteed in Worcestershire oil and toasted garlic and served mixed vegetables and rice. I found the beef tender and flavorful but the sauce a bit too sweet for my taste.

Creamy Pasta Tartufo (Php360). Another of the resto’s bestselling dishes, this pasta dish is characterized by the earthy aroma of black truffle, mixed with a creamy mushroom sauce and served with baguette chips.

The servings were quite large such that we had trouble finishing the two dishes.

And since I unlocked my Zomato Gold privilege, we got the Creamy Pasta Tartufo for free!

Some friendships are nurtured by constant presence and attention but some, like Fetina’s and mine, are maintained by occasional meetups over good food and long conversations.

Our thanks to Bluesmith Coffee & Kitchen for being our venue for this memorable get-together.

This Bluesmith Coffee & Kitchen branch is located at Level 3, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Greenbelt, Makati City, open Sundays to Thursdays from 11am to 11pm and Fridays to Saturdays from 11am to 12midnight. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 917 7053526 or +63 2 7524183.

Other branches are located at:

Second Floor, Corte Area, Ayala Malls The 30th, Meralco Avenue, Ugong, Pasig City (open Sundays to Thursdays from 9am to 10pm and Fridays to Saturdays from 9am to 11pm; Tel. No: +63 917 7099814 or +63 2 7553092)
Ground Floor, MJ Corporate Plaza, 2310 Pasong Tamo Extension, Magallanes, Makati City (open weekdays from 7am to 8pm and weekends from 7am to 5pm; Tel. No: +63 917 7101605 or +63 2 7290284)

Want to score a similar discount? Zomato Gold provides members with 1+1 deals on food or 2+2 deals on drinks. All you have to do is sign up for a Zomato Gold membership here as soon as slots open. (They tend to get snatched up pretty quickly so be sure to sign up as soon as slots become available.) Use my code JELLYB to get 20% off the membership fee.