smoothie – Jellybeans in the City

An Italian cafe experience at Goppion Caffe

Italy is known for its rich coffee culture, with many exacting implements and coffee preparations that correspond to treasured rituals.

For example, did you know that Italians usually drink milky coffees such as cappuccinos and lattes in the morning along with a pastry for breakfast? At any other time of the day, going out for coffee means getting a shot of strong black coffee, the espresso, as an afternoon pick-me-up or as a post-meal drink.

Walk by the streets of Italy and you will find quaint coffee shops called caffeteria. Aside from serving coffee in its various forms, these stores also serve as meeting places, where people can come together to enjoy their favorite brew. Hence the phrase “Prendiamo un caffe!” (“Let’s get a coffee!”) has become synonymous to taking a break from work to fully savor a cup of coffee (no, they don’t believe in drinking their coffee while working!)

Goppion Caffe was started by Luigi Goppion in the main square of the small Italian town of Lughignano in 1859. Luigi’s passion for good coffee was carried on by his sons and grandsons who sought ways to roast and brew the perfect cup of coffee.

Its first branch in the Philippines opened its doors along Westdrive in Glorietta 2 in Makati last December.

Here, coffee lovers can indulge in their favorite brews and blends, all made with authentic pre-packed coffee shipped all the way from Italy, such as:

Espresso Dopio (Php140). A double shot of espresso.

Cappuccino (Php140/Php190). Equal parts of espresso, steamed milk and foamed milk.

Goppioncino (Php180/Php140). Goppion Caffe’s signature blend made with espresso, chocolate, milk and whipped cream.

Ginseng Macchiato (Php200/Php240). Steamed milk “marked” with a splash of espresso flavored with ginseng root extract.

Iced Caramel Macchiato (Php190/Php230). A shakerato (coffee drink made with espresso and ice cubes) combined with milk, vanilla-flavored syrup and caramel sauce.

Cold Brew (Php180/Php220). A strong cold coffee drink that resulted from ground coffee beans steeped in cold water overnight.

Goppion Caffe also offers non-coffee beverages, all crafted with the same care and artistry as its coffee drinks, such as:

Ciocolata (Php160). Thick and creamy hot chocolate, made with cocoa, milk and sugar though not too sweet!

Ciocolata ala Nocciola (Php240). Dark chocoate with hazelnut.

Friutti di Bosco (Php240). A frullato di frutta (smoothie) made with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries blended with milk.

Arancia (Php220). Freshly squeezed orange juice.

Want to nibble on something while sipping on your drink of choice? Goppion Caffe’s got you covered there as well with its selection of cafe food which includes:

Pita Rolls with Pizza Dip (Php275).

Four Cheese Panini (Php225) and Smoked Ham and Cheese Panini (Php235).

Beef Lasagna (Php240).

Chicken Alfredo (Php260).

Tuna in Pesto Sauce (Php240).

So if you’re craving for a good cup of coffee or meticulously handcrafted drinks, drop by Goppion Caffe.

Better yet, grab a couple of your friends to catch up over your favorite brews (while practicing physical distancing, of course!).

Goppion Caffe is located at Ground Floor, Westdrive (beside Jade Garden), Glorietta Complex, Makati City. For inquiries and reservations, call +63 2 88431316, +63 2 79551728 and +63 2 79551808. Goppion Caffe also delivers via FoodPanda.

Disclosure: Together with fellow foodies, I attended a food and coffee tasting event at this restaurant. Food items were served to enable us to sample the fare and facilitate our honest reviews.

Check out my blog posts on breakfast/brunch joints around the metro:

Healthy choices and fresh flavors at Hillside Cafe & Juice Bar, Paligsahan

Making healthy food choices is important.

More than the amount of calories consumed, healthy eating is also all about the nutrients that fresh and wholesome ingredients bring.

Hillside Cafe & Juice Bar, located inside Cedarhills Garden Center along Mother Ignacia Avenue, is one of Quezon City’s prime destinations for healthy food.

Aside from its healthy food choices, visitors can also enjoy green space of the plant nursery beside the resto, and maybe even learn a thing or two about urban gardening.

My office friends and I recently visited Hillside Cafe & Juice Bar where we nourished ourselves with the resto’s deliciously prepared dishes made with organic and all-natural ingredients that demonstrate the gustatory possibilities of healthy food, such as:

Roasted Vegetable Salad (Php285 solo | Php475 to share). Roasted carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and squash tossed together and doused in a cauliflower-tomato-garlic dressing and topped with herbs.

Pesto Crusted Chicken Parmigiana (Php435). Large pieces of tender chicken cutlets, breaded with basil and deep-fried to a golden brown served on top of zucchini spaghetti aglio olio, accompanied by stewed chickpeas, edamame and sweet corn.

Squid Ink Pasta (Php265). Linguine pasta in tossed in rich, natural squid ink sauce along with sauteed shrimps, clams, mussels and squid. Here’s a warning, though: Get your selfies before you eat this dish because the squid ink is so rich and dark, your teeth will show the evidence of what you ate whenever you smile, hehehehe!

Citrus Crush (Php165). One of Hillside Cafe’s cold-pressed detox juices made with orange, lime and lemon to boost immunity, lower cholesterol levels and cleanse the skin.

Cacao Fudge (Php145 junior | Php185 regular). One of the classic flavors of Hillside Cafe’s Superfood Smoothies made with cacao, banana, cacao nibs and almond milk.

Choco Peanut Butter Nana (Php150 junior | Php195 regular). A Premium variant of Hillside Cafe’s Superfood Smoothies made with banana, dates, peanut butter, cacao, coconut sugar and cashew milk.

With restos like Hillside Cafe & Juice Bar, foodies can consider benefits food brings, not just to their palate, but to their overall health.

Hillside Cafe & Juice Bar is located inside Cedarhills Garden Center, 57 Mother Ignacia Street, Paligsahan, Quezon City. To order or inquire, call +63 2 77927475 or +63 915 6474706.

Check out my blog posts on other healthy eats in the metro:

Yummy and healthy eats at Nomi Cafe, BGC

Being a foodie, I find that when given a choice between what is flavorful and what is healthy, I would usually go for flavor. For me, eating is not just something I do to nourish my body; it is also something I do to calm my mind, soothe my soul or warm my heart.

The thing is: sometimes, there doesn’t have to be a line between flavor and health. At Nomi Cafe, for instance, Japanese food are prepared using fresh produce and premium ingredients to present diners with a meal that whets their appetite while helping them keep themselves healthy.

On our way to our staycation, I took my mom and my daughter to Nomi Cafe in Bonifacio Global City. (Yes, we’re three generations of women out for good food and good vibes!)

We liked the chill, casual and relaxing vibe of the place, from the use of pastel colors, the fun sayings on the walls, to the faux greens under the glass tables that give diners a feeling of nature and freshness.

One of Nomi’s founding partners, Take, was there to tell us more about the cafe’s origins. Take and his friends synergized what they like about their favorite modern Japanese cafes in Kyoto, Osaka and Kyoto, and brought about Nomi Cafe in Bonifacio Global City to a receptive Filipino dining public.

We were able to enjoy some of Nomi Cafe’s yummy and healthy offerings such as:

Beef Me Up (Php350). A balanced bowl of sauteed beef tenderloin, roasted garlic, broccoli, bell peppers, mixed greens, olives and soy garlic dressing on top of steamed Japanese rice, this is perfect for my mom who’s into getting more veggies in her meals. If she wanted to, she could have opted to replace the rice with brown rice or cauliflower rice.

My mom paired this rice bowl with a Berry Power Up (Php180), one of Nomi Cafe’s low-fat smoothies. This drink is made of strawberry, blueberry and acai shipped from Brazil which are then blended with coconut water and yoghurt. This, and the other drinks we ordered, also make use of earth-friendly bamboo straws which makes my environmentally aware daughter very happy.

Pork Katsu Curry Rice (Php330). My daughter has been craving for Japanese curry for some time now, so it’s fortunate that she chanced upon this dish. The katsu pieces were tender and tasty and well complemented by the potato, carrots and curry sauce.

My baby girl, who also happens to be a matcha connoisseur, opted for a Matcha Weight Loss Smoothie (Php190), a banana smoothie infused with organic match flown in from Japan, to enjoy with her rice meal.

Tantanmen (Php395). In yet another instance that proves my #RamenPhase is here to stay, I opted for this spicy and hearty ramen given the day’s sudden burst of rainfall (which, thanks to the inconstant weather deities, dried up by the end of our meal). Tantanmen gets its richness from the sesame seeds and paste incorporated in the soup flavored with ginger, spring onions and other aromatics. Together with the bits of ground pork and tamago, it presents a complex flavor that I just can’t resist.

I got myself a Mango Madness (Php180), made with fresh mangoes mixed with bananas, coconut water and cinnamon to cool and refresh my palate after the Tantanmen.

Nomi Style Cheesecake (Php250/slice). For dessert, we treated ourselves with this confection composed of matcha cheesecake on a graham cracker crust topped with a rich matcha-flavored mousse.

Thanks to the wonderful folks of Nomi Cafe for this fun foodie adventure with my favorite girls!

Nomi Cafe is located at Ground Floor, W City Center, 30th Street corner 7th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, open Mondays to Saturdays from 11am to 12 midnight and Sundays from 12 noon to 8pm.

Did you know that if you and a friend dined at Nomi Cafe, you can get some dishes free via Zomato Gold? Zomato Gold provides members with 1+1 (Buy 1 Get 1) deals on food or 2+2 (Buy 2 Get 2) deals on drinks. All you have to do is sign up for a Zomato Gold membership here. Use my code JELLYB to get 20% off the membership fee.

Disclosure: Our meal was sponsored by Nomi Cafe as a way for us to sample the fare in exchange for an honest review.

Check out my reviews of other Japanese restaurants:

Energizing smoothies at Jamba Juice, Greenbelt

My daughter #ExhibitA and I had a busy Saturday planned out exploring the Ayala Museum and the Greenbelt area in Makati so we decided to refuel ourselves at Jamba Juice.

From the time this fruit shake store had its beginnings in California in 1990 to the opening of its first store in the Philippines in 2011, it has established itself as the go-to place for food and drinks that are “better-for-you.”

The Greenbelt store is best-suited for take-outs as it has limited seating. It has a bright, colorful and cheery decor that call to mind the fresh fruits the store uses for its offerings. Despite the limited space, the Jamba Juice merchandise are well-displayed.

#ExhibitA ordered a Banana Berry Smoothie, a concoction of bananas, blueberries, frozen yoghurt, raspberry sherbet and apple-juice that has no gluten, artificial preservatives, artificial flavors, high fructose corn syrup nor trans fat.

On the other hand, I got myself a Banana Brew Blast Smoothie, a blend of cold brew coffee, vanilla, chocolate, frozen yoghurt and frozen banana. It’s a great source of calcium and protein.

By the way, in the interest of the environment, #ExhibitA suggests asking the barista to hold off on providing you with straws. You can just sip on your smoothie directly. Sure, your lippies might thin out or get smudged as you drink your smoothie but there would be less plastic stuff thrown in the trash and polluting the environment. Every little thing we can do counts. 🙂

Visit this Jamba Juice branch at Level 3, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Greenbelt, Makati City.

Other Jamba Juice outlets are located at:

- C2, Bonifacio High Street Central, 7th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
- Lower Ground Floor, SM Aura Premier, C5 Road Corner 26th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
- Fourth Floor, Uptown Place Mall, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
- Burgos Eats, Rizal Drive Corner 39th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
- Ground Floor, Robinsons Place Manila, Ermita, Manila
- Fourth Floor, Trinoma Mall, Bagong Pag-Asa, Quezon City
- Eastwood City Walk Corner Eastwood Avenue, Libis, Quezon City
- Tomas Morato Avenue Corner Scout Fuentebella Street, Laging Handa, Quezon City
- Ground Floor, UP Town Center, Katipunan Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
- Upper Ground Floor, Building A, SM Megamall, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
- Level 1, North Wing, Shangri-La Plaza, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City
- Ground Floor, Ayala Malls The 30th, Meralco Avenue, Ugong, Pasig City
- Ground Floor, Hanston Building, Emerald Avenue, Ortigas, Pasig City
- Third Floor, The Enterprise Center, Ayala Avenue, Legaspi Village, Makati City
- Eco Eats, Ground Floor, Ecoplaza Building, 2305 Chino Roces Avenue, Magallanes, Makati City
- Ground Floor, Main Mall, SM Mall of Asia, Mall of Asia Complex (MOA), Pasay City

This post contains affiliate links.

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The Max’s Group brings All You Can Wednesdays this June

Take your fill of all your favorite food this June with the Max’s Group’s All You Can Wednesdays promo.

The largest casual dining restaurant group in the Philippines, the Max’s Group will have eight of its well-known brands offer their best-selling products which you can eat all you want for only Php349 per brand, such as:

Fried Chicken at Max’s
Tacos at Pancake House
Pizza at Yellow Cab
Coffee and Doughnuts at Krispy Kreme
Beef Belly Strips at Sizzlin’ Steak
Ebi Tempura at Teriyaki Boy
Krispy Sisig at Dencio’s
Smoothies at Jamba Juice

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Wednesdays in June just got a little more filling with the Max’s Group’s All You Can Wednesdays Promo. From 2pm to closing time, enjoy unlimited chicken at @maxschicken, coffee and doughnuts at @krispykremeph, beef belly strips at @sizzlinsteak, ebi tempura at @teriyakiboy_ph, tacos at @pancakehouseph, crispy sisig at @denciosph or smoothies ar @jambajuiceph for only Php349! Which resto will you be visiting this Wednesday? #MaxsGroupAYCWednesdays #foodpromo #lamonfest #lamongalore #eatallyoucan #allyoucaneat #unlieating

A post shared by Jellybeans in the City (@beingjellybeans) on Jun 4, 2018 at 3:30pm PDT