restaurant review – Page 54 – Jellybeans in the City

Comfort food elevated at ALTA by Relik, San Juan

Weekend brunches have grown popular lately, with many establishments offering hearty comfort dishes that can be leisurely enjoyed by diners.

At ALTA by Relik at Santolan Town Plaza, families can enjoy the flavorful comfort food amidst vibrant and colorful surroundings.

The restaurant is an offshoot of the popular BGC restaurant Relik. Restaurant owner Gen Mortel and Chef Jam Laboriente collaborated on a Filipino-Spanish menu to provide an elevated dining experience to San Juan’s foodies.

Last weekend I had brunch together with my fellow foodies from #WeLoveToEatPH and #SaanSaPH at ALTA by Relik where we had a taste of its comfort food elevated with fresh twists such as:

Relik’s Nachos (Php350). Homemade tortilla chips topped with meat sauce, crisp lettuce, tomato and cucumber relish, cheddar cheese and sour cream.

Chilean Mussels Croquettes (Php495). Chilean mussels topped with thick bechamel sauce and bread crumbs and served a with a lemon slice.

Pulled Pork Quesadilla (Php235). Tender pulled pork, cheddar, mozzarella, corn kernels, lettuce and source cream encased in homemade flour tortillas.

Watermelon and Kesong Puti Salad (Php265). Mixed greens, arugula, watermelon cubes, bits of kesong puti and candied walnuts tossed with balsamic reduction.

Longanisa Flatbread with Salted Egg Cream (Php375). Crisp flatbread topped with sweet pork longganisa, tomato salsa and salted egg dressing.

Seafood Chowder (Php295). Shrimp, squid and herbs incorporated in a flavorful cream soup and garnished with croutons and parsley.

Bagnet Sinigang (Php395). The classic sinigang dish deconstructed into pieces of bagnet and vegetables served with a broth made of fresh sampaloc dialed up to its asim-est level.

Lamb Pares (Php355). Slow-cooked shoulders of grass-fed New Zealand lambs in garlic soy sauce served with garlic rice.

Sizzling Bulalo Steak (Php489). Tender beef shank with its decadent bone marrow served sizzling in a garlic bulalo gravy together with fried potatoes, green beans and garlic bits.

Seafood Paella (Php995). Rich saffron-infused medium-grain rice with white shrimp, squid, Chilean mussels and roasted bell peppers served in a special paellera pan that helps it develop a nice toasty crust at the bottom. (Fun fact: that flavorful toasty crust is called socarrat in Catalan. Paella connoisseurs consider this the key to paella’s fabulous flavor).

Mango Tapioca Trifle (Php215). Fresh sliced mangoes, caramel,sauce and tapioca pearls top a layer of lady fingers.

Milo Dinosaur Cheesecake (Php195). A chocolatey frozen cheesecake flavored with Milo and garnished with sprinkled with Milo powder.

So if you feel like enjoying an elevated brunch experience or dine on an excellent selection of Filipino-Spanish fusion dishes, drop by at Santolan Town Plaza to experience ALTA by Relik!

Many thanks to Gen, Jam and the staff of ALTA by Relik for the warm welcome and the fabulous food!

ALTA by Relik is located at Santolan Town Plaza, Col. Bonny Serrano Avenue, Little Baguio, San Juan City, open Sundays to Thursdays from 8am to 12 midnight and Fridays to Saturdays from 8am to 2am. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 917 3172582.

Here are more reasons to head to ALTA by Relik:

DJ Nights every Thursday night at 8pm.
Live music every Friday and Saturday at 8pm.
All-You-Can-Eat buffet breakfast every Sunday from 8am to 11.30am.

Disclosure: Together with my fellow foodies, I attended a foodie meetup held here. Food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Unli Korean BBQ at YumEaTeh!, Marikina

Korean barbecue fans, you definitely have something new to be happy about.

Marikina, already home to a vibrant and varied food scene, now has another place that offers all the meats, seafood and side dishes you can eat at super affordable prices.

Located at the Wood Park Food Hub along E. Santos Street, YumEaTeh! has been serving up exciting Korean barbecue packages (named after Japanese icons, of all things!) to Marikina denizens since it began operations early this year.

As explained by the co-owners, Eric Tan and JM Alcantara, “YumEaTeh” has the same sound as the Japanese word for “stop.” They conceptualized their offers to be so filling that diners will eat their fill until they just want to stop.

Well, let’s take a look at its much-vaunted unli meal sets, shall we?

All of these already come with soup, plain rice, chao fan (Chinese fried rice), an assortment of banchan (side dishes) like tahong (steamed mussels), lettuce, quail egg bombs, potato salad, cheesy corn, apple slaw and kimchi, not to mention an array of sauces for the meats that include cheese, gravy, chili oil, wasabi mayo, gochujang (Korean red chili paste), ponzu (Japanese sauce) and honey mustard as well as Aice ice cream treats to cap the meal.

Ninja (Php198) gives you four delicious pork flavors such as salt and pepper barbecue, gochujang marinated pork slices, tonkatsu and sisig.

With Sempai (regularly priced at Php299 | available to YumEaTeh! Loyalty Card Holders for Php249), you can enjoy four different meat flavors that include the pork flavors included in Ninja, as well as chicken, which include salt and pepper, teriyaki and yangyeom (sweet, sour and spicy); squid, which include salt and pepper and yangyeom: and beef, which include salt and pepper, bulgogi and sukiyaki.

Hokage (Php399), on the other hand, gives you twelve different meat flavors that include the pork, beef, chicken and squid flavors included in Sempai, as well as five-spiced boiled crab, salt and pepper shrimp and ginger garlic mussels.

Lastly, with Hokage Supreme (Php499), you can enjoy twelve different meat flavors that include the pork, beef, chicken and squid, crab, shrimp and mussels flavors included in Hokage as well as deep-fried and butter garlic crab, butter garlic shrimp and tempura, hotpots of laksa, tantanmen and tomyum/sinigang, deep-fried squid and chicken poppers. This set also comes with a free liter of iced tea for every four people.

All these sets are guaranteed to satisfy your K-BBQ cravings!

Celebrating your birthday soon? Take advantage of YumEaTeh!’s Bigger, Better Birthday Promo which give you discounts on your Sempai (Php249) and Hokage Supreme (Php499) meals within ten days of your birthday depending on the number of companions you bring to YumEaTeh!:

One full paying adult: 20%
Two full paying adults: 30%
Three full paying adults: 50%
Four full paying adults: 80%
Five full paying adults: FREE

Thank you to Hungry Byaheros for extending the invitation, and to Eric Tan, JM Alcantara and the staff of YumEaTeh! for having us.

YumEatEh! Is located at The Wood Park, E. Santos Street, Concepcion Uno, Marikina City, open Sundays to Thursdays from 11.30am to 11pm and Fridays to Saturdays from 11.30am to 11.30pm. For inquiries, call +63 966 4664907.

Disclosure: Together with my fellow foodies, I was invited to join a foodie meetup held here. Food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Brunchin’ at the Beach at Saltitude, Anilao

Anilao in Batangas is home to all sorts of fun beach activities: swimming, diving, snorkeling and windsurfing, just to name a few.

Aside from their proximity to the clear sparkling sea, those activities have another thing in common: they do work up quite an appetite.

Fortunately, Saltitude Dive & Beach Resort recently launched “Brunchin’ at the Beach,” a brunch buffet experience that takes place every Saturday, from 6am to 12.30pm at its Mingle restaurant.

For only Php699/person, diners can enjoy a sumptuous and well-curated spread of dishes in line with a weekly theme cuisine, all while enjoying the cool and relaxing vibe of the Saltitude’s beach and premises.

Together with my fellow bloggers, I was able to experience Saltitude’s first brunch buffet available to resort guests and walk-in diners.

Inside, diners and guests can relax in the resto’s sprawling and well-appointed dining area furnished with custom-made pieces. And yes, should they be so inclined, they can take advantage of these Instagrammable surroundings to snap a photo or two.

The menu theme for the launch is intercontinental which features samplings from Pinoy, Asian, American and Mediterranean cuisines, all personally chosen by the resort’s co-owner Malou Esparrago, and whipped up in the kitchen using local ingredients by Saltitude’s in-house chef.

These dishes are beautifully presented in a lavish buffet spread with a few touches of coastal chic bric-a-bracs, also conceptualized by Malou.

The tasty items in the sumptuous buffet spread include:

Filipino. Steamed freshly caught fish, pork adobo, clam soup, pancit canton, champorado with crispy dilis, puto and kutsinta.

Mixed Asian. Sushi rolls, steamed potstickers and Chinese fried rice.

Mediterranean. Lasagna, Pasta Aglio Olio, Tomato Basil Bruscheta and Salmon Bruscheta.

American. Bacon, hotdogs, scrambled eggs, pancakes and bread with various cheeses and jams.

Dessert. Buko pandan and leche flan.

My faves among these are pancit canton, lasagna, salmon bruscheta and the leche flan. I found the varied selection of dishes quite appetizing. I would also imagine the kids would love the hotdogs, bacon and pancakes.

I look forward to Brunchin’ at the Beach’s the next themed menu. Which one’s your bet: Spanish, Mexican or Indonesian?

Plus, I’d also love to join one of Saltitude’s Beach Barbecues held Saturday nights during the summer.

View this post on Instagram

Picture perfect beach BBQ destination here in Anilao, Batangas 💙 #anilao #dive&chill #beachBBQ

A post shared by Saltitude Dive & Beach Resort (@saltitude_dive) on May 30, 2019 at 7:19am PDT

So the next time you’re in Anilao, drop by Saltitude for some brunch. Or better yet, book your stay in one of its quirkily themed rooms (read more about them here) for the weekend, and then head straight to brunch on Saturday morning.

Saltitude Dive & Beach Resort is located along Manini Road in Mabini, Batangas. To book your stay or reserve a table at the restaurant, call +63 43 4101857, +63 927 4220428 or +63 939 9088843, or email info@saltitude-anilao.com. For more details, check out its website.

Want to know what activities you can enjoy at Saltitude? Check out my previous post.

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

Tsokolate Ah and more at Tsoko.Nut Batirol, Tomas Morato

Dessert cafes abound in the metro, but how many of them do you see touting our very own tsokolate – the Pinoy version of hot chocolate?

Would you believe I first heard of this delicacy back in high school while studying Noli Me Tangere? Jose Rizal’s literary masterpiece features a scene wherein the characters assign social status to the thickness of the hot chocolate served.

During a social gathering, Padre Salvi (one of the more nefarious characters in the novel), serves tsokolate eh (from espresso, meaning thick, due to the richness of the hot chocolate served) for Spanish visitors and dignitaries, while tsokolate ah (from aguado, meaning watered down) was served to the locals, which is probably why this is sometimes referred to as the native hot chocolate.

(Aside: being a racist and a snob are the least of Padre Salvi’s character flaws.)

The latter variant is available at Tsoko.Nut Batirol, a small cafe located in Quezon City’s Tomas Morato Area. The batirol in the cafe’s name refers to the implement used in mixing the hot chocolate to make sure that the tablea (chocolate tablets) are dissolved and well-incorporated into the drink.

The cafe has an Old World feel to it, with furniture and interiors that harken back to ancestral homes in the provinces. It also makes use of its own signature mug for its hot beverages which adds to its quaint appeal.

Together with my office buddies, I went here for some dessert which included:

Tsokolate Ah Batirol (Php88 regular | Php98 large). The aforementioned native hot chocolate is no longer a comment on one’s station. Instead, this is an indulgent treat for any chocolate lover. Made in the traditional way: using chocolate tablea, milk and ground peanuts, this drink will take you back in time.

Mini Chocolate Cake (Php110). A rich and chocolatey confection of moist cake and thick chocolate icing.

Mango Torte (Php99). A frozen cheesecake topped with artfully arranged mango slices on on a crust of graham cracker crumbs. It’s so pretty, we almost didn’t want to eat it. Well, almost. 🤪

I’d love to spend a more leisurely afternoon here, just enjoying my sweets and my cup of native hot choco. I wonder when that would be…

This Tsoko.Nut Batirol branch is located near the corner of Scout Reyes Street and Mother Ignacia Avenue, Bgy. Laging Handa, Quezon City, open daily from 7am to 9pm. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 3979939.

Other branches are located at:

Food Court, Third Floor, Eastwood Cybermall, Libis, Quezon City
Upper Ground Floor, Worldwide Corporate Center, Shaw Boulevard, Highway Hills, Mandaluyong City
Ground Floor, Telus Building, Araneta Center, Cubao, Quezon City
Third Floor, RCBC Plaza, Ayala Avenue, Salcedo Village, Makati City
Northgate Cyberzone, Filinvest City, Muntinlupa

Milk tea adventure at Make Your Own Cafe, Tomas Morato

Fresh from a recent visit to Make Your Own Cafe’s Maginhawa branch, I was absolutely delighted to discover that it will open a branch along Mother Ignacia Avenue, right across the street from my office!

I counted the days until it opened, and at last, in the last weeks of July, it finally did!

Even though I was exhausted from an entire day of meetings, I just knew I had to have a taste of MYO milk teas as soon as they become available in my turf.

MYO was the first milk tea store in the country to offer unli sinkers: for only an additional Php20, you can add as many original boba, nata de coco, oreo, brown sugar jelly, grass jelly, coffee jelly, honey boba, espresso boba, egg pudding and assorted jelly as you want to your drink.

Really, with the way you can customize your drink with you unli sinker choices, each cup is an adventure!

This stall offers all the drinks that the other branches do, and armed with some GCs I received, I lost no time in going on my milk tea adventure.

Oreo Overload (Php140 for regular | Php150 for large). I absolutely love cheese foam on milk tea and together with oreo crumbs, it makes this drink akin to a cookies ‘n cream cheesecake in a cup.

Original Milk Tea (Php90 for regular| Php100 for large). This drink variant was on Buy 1 Take 1 during the weekend of the store’s opening. I took advantage of this promo to bring home drinks to enjoy with my daughter #ExhibitA at home.

Today, I got another chance to visit the stall and give in to my milk tea craving.

Okinawa Cheese (Php130 for regular | Php140 for large). This milk tea variant incorporates roasted brown sugar instead of regular syrup, giving the drink a more complex flavor which is further enhanced by the salty-sweet cheese foam.

Well, now I know where to go whenever I have a hankering for a milk tea adventure!

This Make Your Own Cafe branch is located at The Grandia Place, 143 Mother Ignacia Ave, South Triangle, Quezon City.

Other branches are located at:

Ground Floor, 140 Maginhawa Street, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City
114 Mayon Street, Banawe, Quezon City

Check out my reviews of other milk tea joints:

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:

Sweet temptation at Miguelito’s Hyped Mangoes, Tomas Morato

The metro seems to be in the midst of a mango mania with mango desserts and drinks (at last!) taking center stage.

And why shouldn’t they?

The unofficial national fruit is known for its succulent and juicy sweetness, and our homegrown mangoes are among the best globally.

It’s therefore no surprise, that after lunch at Il Terrazzo with my friends, I veered away from my original quest to get myself a cup of healthy lemon juice from a nearby stall and instead ran down to the Miguelito’s Hyped Mangoes stall.

For one thing, Papa Piolo (or at least, a tarpaulin-mounted likeness of him) was there beckoning me with his limpid eyes and his sweet smile, promising me the health benefits of mangoes, which are a source of:

Vitamin C to boost the immune system
Vitamin A to improve vision
Healthy probiotic fiber
Potassium and Magnesium

Also, these mango offerings are also quite affordable. My chosen dessert, a Mango Supreme, is 16 ounces of soft-serve mango ice cream, topped with chopped mango and mango syrup, all for only Php65!

Needless to say, I gave in to this sweet temptation. And giving in to temptation has never been so rewarding!

This Miguelito’s Hyped Mangoes stall is located at Il Terrazzo – 305 Tomas Morato Ave. cor. Scout Madriñan St., South Triangle, Quezon City.

Other branches are located in:

Mandaluyong: Starmall EDSA-Shaw Boulevard, SM Hupermarket Bagong Silang,
Taguig: Market! Market!, SM Hypermarket FTI
Marikina: Ayala Malls Marikina
Makati: Alphaland Southgate Mall, SM Hypermarket Makati
Manila: University Mall, Harrison Plaza, SM City San Lazaro, Manila Ocean Park
Quezon City: Fisher Mall, SM Hypermarket Quirino Highway, Robinsons Novaliches
Paranaque: SM City Bicutan, SM City Sucat

Morning sweets at Cupcakes by Sonja, BGC

A friend and I suddenly found ourselves with some time on our hands while in Serendra yesterday morning, so we decided to break our fast at Cupcakes by Sonja.

This store was Manila’s first ever cupcake store, opened by Sonja Ocampo to bring the cupcake experiences she had in New York to our shores.

The store has the charm of a corner bakery: from its colorful storefront, the quaint bric-a-bracs inside to the lovely display of goodies available.

Cupcakes by Sonja features whimsical pastries baked fresh daily, using premium ingredients and no preservatives. Expanding its repertoire beyond the classic cupcakes flavors, its menu now includes hybrid cupcakes, full-sized cakes and pies.

Today, the shop offers these goodies paired with house-made hot beverages such as in Hey Hot Stuff Combo 1 which gives the diners a slice of cake and a choice among latte, cappuccino and hot chocolate for only Php179.

I got myself a Reverse Salted Caramel + Latte. The Valrhona chocolate cake base is richly flavored and moist, wrapped in layers of salted caramel buttercream. The latte I had with it is not too sweet, a good complement to such a decadent dessert.

My friend got the Rainbow Fiesta + Hot Chocolate. The cake is made of six layers of fluffy vanilla chiffon cake in different rainbow colors finished with marahmallow frosting and garnished candy sprinkles.

I also got myself a Red Velvet Vixen Cupcake (Php95). Did you know that Cupcakes by Sonja was the first store to offer this classic Southern American cupcake flavor in the Philippines? I remember having my first taste of this confection in this very store more thab a decade ago, and this cupcake still holds its appeal to me. With a decadent Belgian chocolate cupcake base, colored with that deep red hue, and topped with a luscious cream cheese frosting, it has become quite a local favorite.

I had a lovely return to this wonderful store for my morning sweets.

This Cupcakes by Sonja branch is located at Ground Floor, Serendra, Bonifacio Global City, open Sundays to Thursdays from 8am to 11am and Fridays to Saturdays from 8am to 12 midnight.

Other branches are located at:

Ground Floor, Mega Fashion Hall, SM Mega Mall, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
Second Floor, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Makati

Steak time at Big Daddy’s Steak House, Tomas Morato

One particularly busy day at the office, a coworker and I decided to have lunch at the steak house nearby.

Big Daddy’s Steak House is a low-key eatery located along Mother Ignacia Avenue. Dimly lit, even at noon, it’s where busy office workers can have some peace and quiet during the lunch hour.

It is also where said office workers can enjoy hefty pieces of Porterhouse Steak at Php450. Grilled to medium doneness per our request, and accompanied by gravy that sizzled satisfyingly upon being poured on the cast-iron plate.

Yep, it was a satisfying lunch for two carnivores.

This Big Daddy’s Steak House branch is located at Timog corner Mother Ignacia Avenue, South Triangle, South Triangle, Quezon City, open daily from 10am to 6am. For inquiries and reservation, call +63 3748495.

Other branches are located at:

Ortigas Park Lane, Sapphire Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig
121 Kalayaan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
JB Tan Street, BF Resort, Talon, Las Pinas