vanilla – Jellybeans in the City

Japan’s taiyaki is now here at Taki Taki, Century City Mall

Do you know what a taiyaki is?

It is a Japanese yaki (baked) dessert which follows the shape of the tai (Japanese red seabream). A classic street vendor fare in Japan, it has now reached our shores when the first store of Taki Taki opened a few weeks ago at Century City Mall in Makati.

Walk around the mall’s Hole in the Wall food hall and you will find a quaint little shop decorated with fish images (the servers even wear cute fish hats), and anime-like drawings. The smell of baking taiyaki might even lead you there, hmm?

So how are taiyaki made?

Waffle batter is poured into hot fish-shaped molds (each side poured separately) with the filling placed in one side. Before the batter is cooked through, the molds are closed for up to three minutes until the batter is golden brown and the filling is sealed inside inside the taiyaki.

The taiyaki is a actually quite versatile in the sense that it can suit almost any filling, whether sweet (Php100) such as red bean, Nutelle/Peanutbutter, apple cinnamon and cream cheese with strawberries, or savory (Php120) such as cheese, tuna/corn/mayo, bacon egg and cheese and curry cheese.

Being a sweet tooth, my choices in taiyaki include one with the traditional filling of anko (sweet red bean paste) and another with cream cheese and strawberries. The red bean taiyaki has that sweet and light taste while the cream cheese taiyaki has a nice contrast of saltiness from the cheese and tart sweetness from the berries.

Taiyaki also make for tasty frozen treats. Soft-serve ice cream made with premium Hokkaido milk is twirled into open taiyaki cones then topped with candies, crunchies, fruits and drizzles.

I got myself an I Love Taki (Php200), made with Vanilla Milk ice cream topped with marshmallows and strawberry sprinkles and strawberry syrup syringe, and a Grizzly’s Chocolate Overload (Php200), made with Chocolate Milk ice cream topped with toast crunch, cinnamon, marshmallows and a milk chocolate lollipop.

Well, this is another case of sugar high for me.

These taiyaki treats are a welcome addition to the dessert and snack choices available in the metro. If you want a taste of this popular Japanese street food, head to Taki Taki today!

Taki Taki is located at the Hole in the Wall, Fourth Floor, Century City Mall, Kalayaan Avenue, Poblacion, Makati City, open Mondays to Thursdays from 11am to 9pm, Fridays to Saturdays from 10am to 10pm and Sundays from 10am to 9pm.

Disclosure: I was invited to visit Taki Taki where I was served food items mentioned here for free for me to sample the fare in exchange for an honest review.

Check out my reviews of other dessert places in the metro:

Gelato Treat at Morelli’s, Powerplant Mall

We Pinoys love sweets, and with a tropical climate such as ours, we won’t say no to frozen treats even in December.

While ice cream is more prevalent, gelato desserts are also growing in popularity in the country.

Gelato is a frozen dessert which originated in Italy. It has a much creamier and silkier texture than ice cream, given its increased use of milk rather than cream compared to ice cream. Gelato also does not make use of eggs, unlike ice cream, and is usually served using a small spade instead of a scoop.

That’s what I treated my family to over the holidays. After Christmas lunch at nearby Fireside by Kettle in Rockwell, we headed straight to Morelli’s Gelato for dessert. (Thanks to Jen of SandUnderMyFeet.com for sharing her GCs!)

The Morelli’s gelato brand started in Scotland in 1907 when father-and-son Giuseppe and Mario started selling the ice cream prevalent in their native Italy. The brand expanded to UK in 1932, and then went on to establish its presence in other countries, where its gelato offerings are made fresh everyday using natural ingredients.

My kids, mother-in-law and I enjoyed our scoops of truffle, chocolate, pistachio and vanilla gelato which served as a great cap to our Christmas lunch.

This Morelli’s Gelato branch is located at Second Floor, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati City. Another branch is located at Level 3, East Wing, Shangri-La Plaza, Ortigas, Mandaluyong City.

Check out my reviews of other dessert places:

Product Review: Sweet Scents from Perfume Dessert

Fresh from a happy lunch adventure at the vegetarian resto just below it, a friend and I came upon a store selling perfumes.

Most of its inventory consist of imported brands but what caught our attention were the unusually packaged scents whose display takes pride of place along one of the store’s walls.

Named Perfume Dessert, each variant is inspired by a luscious sweet confection. And you know for a known sweet tooth such as myself, that fact is enough to catch my interest.

Each 30ml crimped spray bottle which prevents leaks and scent diffusion is encased in a colorful cardboard tube, making the perfume quite handy and secure when inside one’s purse. This distinctive packaging also makes Dessert Perfume variants pretty and unusual gifts for the fashionistas who love scents.

Perfume Dessert is an eu de parfum brand that originated from London, UK. This version of perfumes has a lower concentration of fragrant essential oils than parfum, but higher than in eu de toilette. When applied, Perfume Dessert’s scent can last for four to eight hours.

I got three bottles of Perfume Dessert (I bought one while I received two as product samples). I usually choose the scent that suits my mood at the start of the day and I take it with me to the office or on my errands (which just shows how handy they are!).

I choose the Fruit Tart scent when I feel sweet and feminine. It’s great for dinners out with Hubby.

French Macaron‘s more floral scent suits me for afternoons spent outdoors with the kids.

The sweet vanilla scent of Cake Pops, on the other hand, gets me in the mood to face another busy day at the office.

At only Php250 per 30ml bottle, Dessert Perfume definitely fits the working mom’s budget.

(Methinks it would be so easy to get Hubby to buy me some more bottles, yeah? I’ll probably test this theory when my bottles are used up so wish me luck!)

Check out these sweet scents at these retail outlets: