MUNCHSTER BITES: Bagnet 8065

Vigan in Makati, this is how I would describe Bagnet.8065. One of my dream travel escapades is going to Vigan for the primary purpose of tasting authentic Ilocos Bagnet. Jai and I were planning to go to Vigan for our 5^th year anniversary this August, unfortunately we were short of cash. Next year, August 13, 2013 we will definitely go on this trip!

Instead of feeling depressed I channeled my energy into looking for other ways to celebrate and luckily I saw a Bagnet 8065 deal in Cash Cash Pinoy, P150 for P300 worth of food and drinks. I read great reviews about the restaurant and there's some hearsay that the owner is a relative of Kitchie Nadal who is a famous OPM singer.

I got excited and immediately took advantage of the deal to somehow have a Vigan inspired date. 

We decided to have our pre-anniversary dinner because of the voucher's validity and because our anniversary fell on a weekday.  

I was in charge of directions and as Bee expected, we got lost and missed the street so we had to go two blocks back. He teased me all the way back and told me that I made a mistake in drawing the map. I hate to admit it but he was right, we both laughed all the way to the restaurant.

Bagnet 8065 is a hole in the wall restaurant hidden within Estrella Street, Makati City. You have the option to walk or take a tricycle to the restaurant. If you’re going with someone we recommend that you just walk. It’s a 10 minute walk from Estrella Street arc.

The restaurant is divided into two areas, the al fresco/ smoking area and the air-conditioned/ non-smoking area. Upon entering, you’ll be greeted by Kermit the frog sitting on a rock in a small pond landscape.

Behind Jai is a graffitti wall filled with messages from celebrities and regular diners.

We were seated beside their mural wall where various artsy ornaments, drawings and books were displayed.

Bagnet 8065 offers different versions of Bagnet such as Binagoongan, Curry, Sinigang, Dinuguan etc., we chose Bagnet Kare-Kare with 3 orders of Bagoong Rice. Yes you heard it right, 3 orders!

The Bagnet had the crunch and flavor that we were looking for. A generous serving of thick Kare-Kare sauce and bagoong over the bagnet, it would have been better though if the bagoong was salty rather that sweet.

Bagnet 8065 is worth the trip and the money. Lip smacking bagnet for a reasonable price.

Happy 5^th year to us BEE!

Bite Cost: P110-P240/person

Munch Worthy: Yes. One of the best Bagnet we’ve tasted so far. 10/10 bites!

Walker repeat: Yes. Will try other varieties of Bagnet dishes.

Bee-day Series: The Iscreamist

The Iscreamist uses liquid nitrogen as a refrigerant. The main concept is directly pouring liquid nitrogen on their ice cream upon serving, so you get your ice cream extremely cold. Another twist is serving liquid nitrogen in a styro cup and dip stick snacks to freeze.

Liquid Nitrogen according to Wikipedia is nitrogen in a liquid state at an extremely low temperature. At atmospheric pressure, liquid nitrogen boils at −196 °C (77 K; −321 °F) and is a cryogenic fluid which can cause rapid freezing on contact with living tissue, which may lead to frostbite. CAUTION: Carelessly handling of liquid nitrogen may result to cold burns.

The BIG question is, why is this concept talked about and patronized by yuppies given the dangers of contact with LN? In our case, it felt like doing something illegal :D

Kindly click on the given links below :)
DRAGON'S BREATH part1
DRAGON'S BREATH part2


A unique and fun date without slashing your wallets :D

Bite cost: P50-P100/item
Munch worthy: Yes. Super fun!
Walker repeat: Best shared with friends

Bee-day Series: Moshi Moshi

Moshi Moshi in Japanese language means hello or if you want to get a person's attention and Moshi Moshi restaurant did just that. 

From Robinsons Galleria where we had our Masatami experience, we headed off to Moshi Moshi, Katipunan for lunch. I used the vouchers I bought from Deal Grocer  which entitled us to a Bestseller Bento Set consisting of Gyudon, Chicken Karaage, Takoyaki, Shrimp Rolll and a choice between unlimited ice cream with one regular drink or Unlimited drink with one serving of ice cream. Ice cream flavors vary per day while all drinks are available (milk tea, apple/lemon iced tea, soda, juices) excluding the green tea shake. 

Food Roll taste-o-meter: 
Gyudon (6/10 bites)- Yummy thin slices of beef, a bit dry and probably would taste better with egg and a dedicated sauce. We didn't like the rice, we were expecting sticky japanese rice. 
Chicken Kaarage (5/10 bites)- Yummy at first bite but again it couldve tasted better with sauce. You get that "umay" feeling after eating two chicken pieces. 
Takoyaki (8/10 bites)- Quite similar with Musashi,only with small octopus slices. Best if they added more nori and mayo. 
Shrimp Roll (10/10 bites)- This is my favorite dish of the bento set. I love that there were crunchy tempura bits on top of the maki roll. It was flavorful with generous fillings of shrimp and cabbage. 
Milk Tea (7/10)- Too sweet for me. One glass is enough, although Jai had 3 servings of this because of the unli drink promo. 
Ice cream (7/10)- Regular soft serve ice cream. Nothing spectacular but we prefer the vanilla flavor rather than the strawberry. The strawberry ice cream is a bit too creamy, we were expecting a mix of sour and sweet flavor. 
Apple Iced Tea (4/10)- Jai didn't like this at all. 

Over all it was a great dinning experience. It had a clean-feel ambiance with white painted walls and light green seats. The moshi moshi grass mural, hello kitty/small cute toys and kit kat boxes from japan made it fun and funky. We also enjoyed listening to anime music and reminisce about our kiddie days :D 

MENU

Total food cost: 2 Bestseller Bento with Unlimited drink/ice cream + one serving of drink/ice cream- P320 (dealgrocer vouchers), actual price would have been P640.


Visit Moshi Moshi
2nd floor Regis Center
#327 Katipunan Avenue Brgy Loyola Heights Quezon City, 1115 Quezon City, Philippines
Tel. No. 990-2272


Walker Map: From MRT Ortigas to Regis Center, Katipunan 
1. Ride MRT Ortigas to MRT Araneta Center Cubao. 
2. Enter Farmers Plaza Mall and go to Gateway mall to ride the LRT-2 to Katipunan. 
3. Choose the St. Joseph side exit. 
4. Walk towards the overpass, you'll see a jeepney terminal going to UP/Ateneo/Miriam. 
5. Ride the jeep and ask the driver to drop you off at Miriam College. 
6. Walk towards the overpass (going to Ateneo side). 
7. Use the overpass to go directly to Regis Center (2nd Flr.) and from there you'll see Moshi Moshi right beside Brothers Burger. 


Bite Cost: P200/person 
Munch Worthy: Yes. 6/10 bites overall score. 
Walker repeat: Yes, will come back for Takoyaki and Shrimp Roll. Yum!  



Next Stop: The Iscreamist 


Off to Magiting st. for a dose of LIQUID NITROGEN! curious? :D 

TEA's me: Cha Dao Tea Place

 Yesterday CDTP celebrated their 1 year anniversary and gave away one free drink for every purchase of one drink. Buy 1 Take 1 on all drinks (froth blends not included). 

Bee's pick: Sour Apple Yakult Blend with Nata sinkers. It was an adventure ordering this, clueless and curious how it tasted. His drink tasted like sour jelly ace, in a GOOD way. I'm happy that he liked his drink :D thumbs up on this one. 

While Bee is more of the "fruity" person, I'm more of the brewed tea girl. I ordered Wintermelon Creme with Nata, it was very creamy as expected. I like the creaminess and sweetness of this drink but I must say that Black Milk Tea (house blend) still tops my list. 


Thank you for this treat CDTP Kapitolyo Branch! :D Super nice staff! 




Total drink cost: XL Wintermelon Creme- P75 + Nata sinkers - P10 + free XL Sour Apple Yakult Blend with Nata sinkers = P85 
Bite cost: P45 ~ P95/drink 
Munch worthy: Yes. Affordable compared to other tea places + free wifi. 
Walker repeat: Anytime :D Best affordable tea place in Kapitolyo

MUNCHSTER BITES: Chubby's Rib Shack

A pre-birthday celebration for Bee :D

Yesterday, we used the Deal Grocer voucher I bought for Jai's Birthday Celebration, P250 for P500 worth of food and drinks at Chubby's Rib Shack, Solaris One Makati City. The voucher is valid on weekends only. 


We arrived past 7:30 pm yesterday and there were only a few people dinning that time. The waitress didn't assist us immediately upon arriving so we just decided to pick a seat. 

 Sorry for the low quality photos. Used my camera phone :P 

Jai ordered their Baby Back Ribs (P349) served with Texas Toast, Honky Tonk Rice and Coleslaw. Choose from Homestyle BBQ, Honey BBQ and Cayenne BBQ. Jai added a side dish of fries to his meal (P29). The Baby Back Ribs was flavorful, tender and lip smacking good but not "fall off the bone" quality. The Honky Tonk rice was okay, I prefer the BWNT dirty rice, the toast on the other hand was perfectly made, crunchy on the outside and soft as you bite through. 

I feasted on their half pound Honey BBQ wings (P134). I loved the sauce and the crisp chicken skin and tender chicken meat. 


The food was good but not spectacular. The price was reasonable but I wish they'd add more rice to their Baby Back Ribs meal. The service, err...not great. Chubby's Rib Shack is definitely a must try for the food alone, don't expect much on the quality of service (well based on our experience in Solaris branch). 


Visit their site:  
Facebook: Chubby's Rib Shack


Bite cost: P200/meal 
Munch worthy: Yes. 7/10 bites! 
Walker repeat: Will go back for the food.

MUNCHSTER BITES: Bagnet Boy

First, I got attracted to their logo. I'm a collector of pig stuff (from stuff toy, accesories etc.) so it was like looking at a pot of piggy gold. I decided to eat here and ordered their Bagnet with rice meal. Yummy! It has that crisp and crunch you're looking for in authentic bagnet. I haven't tried the original bagnet from Ilocos though but this is the closest I've gone. 

 The most affordable bagnet meal starts at P85.00- bagnet served with soup, rice and tomatoes w/cucumber as a side dish.

You can have it with your choice of veggies for P99.00 or be crazy over bagnet and order their 1/4kilo for P175.00. They also have other combo meals (w/o the bagnet) of Ilocos favorites such as sinanglaw and other specialties such as kare-kare, binagoongan, crispy dinuguan etc. for P65.00 only.

Watch for my next Bagnet adventure soon...Bagnet 8065! :D 


Visit Bagnet Boy at Shangri-la Food Court or Robinsons Galleria Food Court. 


Total food cost: P65.00 - P100.00/meal


Bite cost: P85.00/bagnet meal 
Munch worthy: Yes, worth the cholesterol 
Walker repeat: Yes. A quick bagnet crave escape. 


Disclaimer: Bagnet Boy did not pay me to write this review.

OUT OF TOWN: Nathaniel's Pampanga

Nathaniel's Bakeshop treats you to a gastronomical adventure with variety of merienda (desserts) favorites. Nathaniel's Bakeshop is famous among "Kapangpangans" because of its delectable food matched with affordable prices. 

For starters, Pork Siomai 

Yummy Pork Siomai filled with real meat. I didn't get that "umay" feeling after eating a few (ahem...a lot). 

The famous Buko Pandan Salad

Frozen Buko Pandan, as if your eating icecream. Has generous pandan and buko fillings. Definitely the best buko pandan I have ever tasted! 

Cheesy Pichy-Pichy

Tasted okay, nothing special about it. Has generous shreds of cheddar cheese. 

Puto

Same as the pichy pichy, was okay. Nothing spectacular about it. 

The good news is... you don't have to go all the way to Pampanga to sink your teeth into these yummy treats. Just hop over to Timog, QC and feast on affordable food, from their famous snacks to their ala carte offerings. 

Btw, Thank you to my sister Cho who bought all of these goodies :D 

Visit Nathaniel's at any of these branches:

Timog QC: Unit 3, ITC Commercial Complex, Timog Ave. Cor. Panay Ave., QC 

Pampanga: OG, Road Pampanga City Marquee Mall, Angeles City 

Total food cost: FREE, c/o my sister Ate Cho. 


Bite cost: Starts at P50/person 
Munch worthy: Yes. Definitely!
Walker repeat: Yes. Very affordable. 



Click on the link below to view their menu: 
Nathaniel's Timog Menu