Trung Nguyen Coffee

Have you ever tried vietnamese coffee? If not, you really should! In Manila, Highlands Coffee serves Cafe Da (Iced Coffee) and Cafe Sua Da (Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk). While I do enjoy those two drinks, Highlands Coffee is significantly more expensive here than in Vietnam. Fortunately, there are cheaper ways to enjoy Vietnamese coffee!

Caphe Tuoi by Trung Nguyen

Mr. Park's Bread & Cake

As someone who's always in a coffee shop, I like finding new places to try. In the newly constructed  ETON Emeral Loft building in Emerald Avenue is this bakery-coffee shop beside Highlands Coffee and Chatime. 

I did like how this place looked like, but I didn't take any pictures because I was distracted with my drink. And not in a really good way. But that's for later. What I liked: comfy chairs, many outlets.  While there were people studying, it's mostly a place to eat and socialize. Service was on the meh side and there was a time when there was no one manning the counter. I did not try their WiFi.

I ordered a mint choco frappuccino:

Mr. Park's Bread & Cake Mint Choco Frappuccino P170

First of all, they do not accept credit card payments, so that's a minor inconvenience. Second, there is no whipped cream on top :( While the drink itself was fine, pictures on their FB site led me to believe that there would be decent presentation at the very most, and whipped cream at the very least. I was very underwhelmed - which is a bummer. I like eating whipped cream.

This place is actually situated near Subspace, which may have fun latte art but fails in the presentation of cold beverages as well. While I probably won't buy any cold drinks from Mr. Park's, I am still interested in trying out some of their breads -maybe with hot coffee.

OKF Coffee

I've been trying out different types of coffee, since I'd like to leave some chilled in the fridge and those P99 Starbucks glass bottles really hurt the pocket. I recently spotted these in the grocery and bought one of each since they were P22.50 a pop

OKF COFFEE VARIANTS

Bought four variants:

1. Caffe Mocha
2. Cappuccino
3. Caffe Latte
4. Caramel Macchiato

I'm not quite sure which one I found totally unpalatable - either the caffe mocha or the cappuccino. There was something about it that tasted off - like alcohol - not the good kind... However, the last two were fine.... It's only the Caffe Latte that I think I'd like to buy again though. For some cheap coffee in a can, it ain't bad at all.

Nescafe (Instant) Cappuccino

Have you tried the new Nescafe Cappuccino drink? It's only P8!

Nescafe Cappuccino sachet

 One of the things I like about this product is that it has choco sprinkles attached!

Nescafe Cappuccino sachet (back view)

 Anyway, it says on the sachet that it's 25.5g, but according to the Nescafe Philippines Website, a serving is only around 18g (+200 ml water). I don't know if would taste as good when diluted into the recommended dose, since i used around 8 oz. (240 ml). At this dose, I do like the taste of the Nescafe Cappuccino.

Nescafe Cappuccino with Sprinkles

Yes, the product does froth, and the choco sprinkles added to my enjoyment of the drink. You could probably use this and serve it to guests in a nicer cup :)) It is a sweet drink, with 12.5 g CHO (9.7g sugars) in a serving (and the sachet is good for 1 1/2!) and contains a lot of coffee creamer.

While I wouldn't recommend drinking this regularly, I will buy this again as an occasional cheap treat. Because I love coffee.

Review: Sci-Fi Cafe + Mexicali Promo

Warning! Picture heavy

A new place in Robinsons Galleria, Sci-Fi Cafe Is a place for geeks and hipsters to hang out in.

 You can see a lot of collectibles outside, which is what drew us to the place.

Sci-Fi Cafe Menu

The menu boasts food with interesting names. Since it was a bit out of budget, my friends and I decided to try their drinks only. While waiting, these caught my eye:

Johnny Depp

The Golden Trio

Aliens vs Predators

Among other things. They have an extensive Star Wars collection, including these on the ceiling: 

Sci-Fi Cafe Ceiling

Too bad the lights are too bright to see the spacecraft, a Millenium Falcon and TIE Fighter, among other things.

Soup

There was some complimentary soup, which was nice. I have no idea what it was, but it's the first time I've received a soup for ordering a drink.

Cashier

Featuring a shield of the White Tree of Gondor, a hoverboard, Leggy's bow and Sulley! They were playing music from Pride and Prejudice, Romeo and Juliet and Titanic.

Bar

When you walk in, you see some wands, lightsabers and the Madhatter's hat. The cake looked delicious, but I'm saving up for Wildflour.

Sci-Fi Cafe Wall

Autograph wall, OMG.

MOAR STUFF

Numbered stuff from Pirates of the Carribean, Disney sets... and if you look closely, there's a Twilight Set. 

Now I realize that a lot of the stuff I've shown is more of fantasy than science fiction, but OMG! A place to admire all the stuff!

They also started showing Avengers on one TV screen and LotR in another.... I almost stayed forever....

Milk Blend: White Chocolate

Sulley wants my drink.

Now, while the food was excellent, the location great, and the service good, there is one thing I disliked: Since my friends and I KKB'd it, we all placed money when the bill came. I placed an extra P20 and was too lazy to count change. Our money was taken, but the P20 was gone. Now, I was going to leave it as a tip, but management should NOT assume that. They should have left the money inside... clearly, honesty isn't a policy.

I'll forgive it because of the uniqueness of the place, but I'll think twice about putting more money then I ought to, and count change very carefully!


Yays

• Service: we were given water and it was refilled without asking
• Free soup
• Ambience: one of a kind
• Yummy drink

Nays

• Not very honest

Okays

• Make sure you bring enough money

Go again?
Yes! With all my geeky friends.

The Sci-Fi Cafe is located in the top floor of Robinsons Galleria, Quezon City, Philippines.

Mexicali
After going around the mall, we got hungry and bought nachos at Mexicali. They have a promo: P100 for certain items with a free 12oz Coke (they gave us sarsi, but we didn't complain).

Mexicali Nachos

Highlands Coffee Eton

There's a new coffee shop in town! I've noticed that I've been caring more about food posts than beauty posts right now. Maybe because I don't have the funds for the latter? Also, I really have no Idea where my camera is so.... cellphone pictures all the way!

The first drink I've tried there is:

Cafe Sua Da

It costs P129 ($3) for a tall glass of vietnamese coffee with condensed milk. It takes a while for all the coffee to go down. Vietnamese coffee is a bit strong for me, so I wouldn't drink it without condensed milk.

Highlands Coffee

 The bar is well stocked with pastries, and some fresh fruits. They also have sandwiches. Unfortunately,  I doubt I'd be spending much on their food since they are a bit expensive.

Highlands Promo

I went on their soft opening so I was able to score some BOGO coupons and a loyalty card. You can only use one at a time. I'm hoping there's no expiration on each -there's no date stamped anywhere :)

Cafe Sua Da Done

This is how the drink looks after mixing! Their freezes are also yummy, but fattening.

A purchase comes with one hour free wifi. This makes me kind of sad since it doesn't encourage people loitering in the shop, and free wifi is one of the reasons I go to coffee shops in the first place. It also has few outlets, so charge before you enter. It does have some tablets on some tables, which I haven't used: maybe these have free wifi?

What's best about this place is that it's open 24/7 - one of the few places open in ortigas on Sundays!

Also, there's a Chatime opening beside it. Yay!

Noriter

Noriter

Address: 2F Estrada St.

Near Taft Avenue, close to DLSU 

Apparently, this cafe has been in business for a while, but it's the first time I was able to go. Fortunately, I was able to catch the place before either the morning/afternoon/evening rush hours, if ever there was. It's a really cute korean place that you reach by climbing up a flight of stairs direct from the ground floor - very different from the usual mall-located coffee spots.

Noriter Counter

 As you can see, there's only one man manning the place, not including the guard. A blackboard at the top contains the menu done in white, pink and blue. There are two sizes available with prices comparable to Starbucks. They also sell pastries. You get your own serving utensils and water glasses are reusable.

Noriter table and cups

 You can see a paper cup construction, and some alternative tables to use: they are elevated from the floor and require kneeling. If you look closely at the wood, you can see that people have written messages on them.

Noriter table and wall

 Some glass topped tables have pictures on them. There are a lot of cup decorations around the place and you can see the mish mash of chairs. And fire extinguishers! Good to know that they have them somewhere easily accessible ^^

Norriter tree and table

There is a tree, don't know if it's real or not, but it's a nice touch to an indor place. You can see that the tables also come in many varieties. If you like privacy, there is a 2 storey semi-enclosed "treehouse"? located in the back.

Noriter view

I decided to take one of the small kneeling table things. You can see cars below.

I forgot to take a picture of my drink! Finished it before I remembered. Anyway, I'd like to go back to this place again, though it's a bit out of my way. I understand that it's a hang out spot for DLSU students.

Art Circle Cafe

Have you guys tried Art Circle Cafe in the University of the Philippines, Diliman?

I had a few pictures but it seems my lappy and phone are incompatible (and I can't figure out how to send my files since the email is screwy). Anyway's it's a small cafe inside the Alumni Center in Magsaysay St. Quezon City.

Try their hazelnut coffee: P110 for 2 cups (comes in a french press or cafetiere). It's air conditioned inside so you can take a break from the heat (it's January and it still gets really hot here in the Philippines).

I tried their tablea cake as well but it did not really appeal to me.

A Quick Tip #3

Happy Holidays!

(Greetings to whatever type of celebration you guys are having)

It's a time for eating! I love eating, and I always end up gaining weight at this time. While there are some tips to lose weight out there, the tip I'm giving now is for bloating - how to avoid that excess water weight. Whenever you eat salty foods, drink water and coffee (or something high in caffeine) afterwards. Salty foods make you thirsty, which is why you drink water and therefore bloat. If you don't drink water, you'll end up taking it from places you shouldn't be getting it from. But adding coffee afterwards prevents your kidney from reabsorbing salt! It's also a diuretic  which means you end up excreting the water with the salt.

Hope this helps :)

Starbucks: Rekindle the Joy

For any of those interested, Starbucks is offering a raffle on its facebook page (Philippines) as an app*. I clicked the link and saw that it required some sensitive information, which disappointed me - which you would understand if you read my recent post on virtual identity.

One of the prizes was a starbucks planner. Since I already have the planner, I'm not too torn up about it. However, I really am disappointed at the way things are turning out.

*I'm not going to post the link because I'm not sure if it's proper for me to do so.