Top 10 List of Breakfast Food Joints South of the Metro for 2010

After a year of going around restos, cafes and fastfood joints south of Metro Manila, here are my top 10 personal favorites for the BREAKFAST CATEGORY and why:

No. 10: McDonalds Petron in Sta. Rosa, SLEX

This one's an easy choice for me. As I would hie away with my family to Tagaytay City, travel via the South Luzon expressway (SLEX) in the early hours of the morning, we would choose the last gas station which is the Sta. Rosa exit's Petron station. The farthermost restaurant in the station would be McDonalds. The place is so clean and not crowded -- including the restrooms, which are situated conveniently near the station's main store. A bonus is the Petron's stock-filled convenience store wherein you can buy stuff you need for the trip, most of which are junk foods.

No. 9: McDonalds Philam, Las Pinas

Okay, so it's another McDonalds outlet. C'mon, I love McDonalds' coffee and it's Big Breakfast meal. But what makes this outlet a bit special is it's crowd mix and cozy atmosphere brought about by the McCafe. A value meal upgrade of 50 pesos gives me a Capuccino. Go there on a Saturday morning and you'd see that that McDonalds is some kind of a melting pot. Well, never mind if they charge you 10 pesos extra for strawberry jam for your pancake.

No. 8 Pancake House, Starmall Las Pinas

If you have gone to McDonalds Philam one Saturday morning, try going to the nearby Pancake House in Starmall. Besides the yummy signature Tapsilog, their coffee is superb as well. The place is a bit small though as compared to other Pancake House branches I've been too but they have the same ambiance as that of McDonalds Philam. Breakfast on weekdays also delivers the same ambiance due to the mixed crowd of middle class and middle agers. :)

No. 7: Starbucks, SM Sucat

If you're in for a late breakfast and looking for a healthier alternative plus a gigantic coffee kick, this Starbucks outlet in SM Sucat is the place to be. They open at 8:30 am. Getting there is easy plus parking is definitely not a problem as the mall still opens at 10am. My sweetie and I love their Tuna Dill Sandwhich and Forest Ham Sandwhich. Partner them with hot tea or simply brewed coffee and you're off.

No. 6: Jollibee, Macapagal Avenue

This place is too cool and cozy for a Jollibee outlet for me. Yes, I indeed love their Corned Beef and Longanisa meals! The coffee is so-so but the ambiance is as if you're on a long-trip's stop-over and you're in a mini I-Hop or Denny's Diner.This Jollibee is located right in the Shell Gas Station so there's gas and a convenience store. Really cool if you're on your way to Makati or Manila from Cavite or simply waiting for SM MOA to open.

No. 5: McDonalds, Kabihasnan (Ninoy Aquino Avenue)

Either you're coming from Sucat going to Makati or coming from the NAIA going to the south, this McDonalds outlet is where you should have breakfast. Besides it's central location, you can have a double round egg in place of scrambled egg (others just give you one round egg) and strawberry jam is free with your pancakes.


No. 4: Pancake House Bluewave, Macapagal Avenue corner EDSA

This Pancake House is one of the coldest outlets. Yes, not coolest but really --- it's pretty cold in there! It has the same atmosphere as that of Jollibee in Macapagal Avenue, but the food is definitely much better. For some reason, everything there tastes better.

No. 3: McDonalds Southville (Aguilar Avenue/CAA Road, Las Pinas)

With an International School clientele, this outlet is world-class indeed. Cozy atmosphere, great mix of sophisticated people (young and old alike), plus again -- you can have a double round egg in place of scrambled egg and strawberry jam is free with your pancakes! This outlet is at the back of our village and is opposite my way to work buy hey, it's a cool McDonalds outlet! The service crew are so friendly and the restrooms are always clean and spacious.

No. 2: Pancake House, BF Paranaque

What else can I say about a Pancake House? Simply, this place is much bigger and cozier than the others. The staff are more friendly, and the parking is no problem. A bonus is the area where it's located as it's in the middle of practically everything in BF Homes. Besides, there's a barber shop beside it and 10 steps to a Starbucks for a bigger coffee rush. A plus is the deaf-and-dumb parking attendant who is so friendly.

No. 1: Tropical Hut, BF Paranaque

This one's a no-brainer for me and my sweetie. For those who are all too familiar with Tropical Hut, everything there is so good! I love the burger meal with 2 sunny-side up eggs, buttered toast and the oh-so-good brewed coffee. Gosh, it's almost 12 midnight as I write this piece, and I'm raring to there already. Well, why not? It's open 24 hours! Have breakfast from midnight till 10:30am! For only 200 pesos, you can have 2 breakfasts and a bonus of pandesal from the Fortune bakeshop in front. There, that's coffee and pandesal for you.

So the next time you're in the area, drop by these outlets and maybe we can have coffee for breakfast. :)

======================================================
HOMER NIEVERA Business Development. Social Media. Digital Marketing.
http://homernievera.net

"Maligno" @ Puregold Jr.

It's Halloween alright!

Puregold Jr. at BF Homes Paranaque celebrated Halloween by having a brief program for kids and letting loose some "maligno" characters into the grocery section.

The dark characters moved around the grocery aisles and greeted shoppers with their growls and howls, scaring little kids with their smiles:

Tahanan Village Residents need P66M for Maynilad Services?

Public service time.

I chanced upon an open letter addressed to P-Noy published in The Philippine Catholic Herald. The letter was written by senior citizens with an appeal for Maynilad services. Water is essential to everyone. If basic utilities such as this is still unreachable to middle class families, then there's still a long way to go for this country. I have reprinted the letter in this space to help the older generation use electronic media to seek help and support.

I shall also be sending a copy of this directly to a friend who can hopefully give our senior citizens the proper reply needed.

Here's the letter:

An open letter to our beloved president Noy

We, concerned residents, mostly retirees are appealing for your kind intervention to solve our water problem.

The Maynilad Water Services, Inc. has informed our subdivision that the financing needed is about Sixty Six Million Pesos (P66M) to install water system and to enable them to install individual water connection.

It is worth making "sumbong"to His Excellency that our present water bills are comparably higher than our neighboring subdivisions like BF Homes, Teoville, etc. Perhaps there is a "straight method" or "paraang matuwid"which can provide us an affordable contract for our water needs through your assistance.

We, the old generation, will treat this us your legacy to our heirs who belong to new generations.


Thank you.
-Concerned Residents of Tahanan Village
Paranaque City

Yummy Yogurt @ Yogie Island

Yogurt ice cream everywhere!

I bet you have noticed the surge in Yogurt joints since White Hat came to town, eh? And I bet you've also noticed my family has been touring the BF Paranaque area and sampling their foodie places? Well, that's right. Both yogurt ice cream (everywhere) and restos in BF Homes are on the upswing. It's almost impossible not to notice.

It's as if every restaurant or coffee shop is carrying a variant of yogurt ice cream. There's Kenny Rogers, Teriyaki Boy, Pancake House and even Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf!

So what makes Yogie Island special?

Located beside the newly opened Starbucks along Aguirre Avenue across the Presentation Church, Yogie Island has a full range of toppings available. Though I only order the plain yogurt everywhere I go, Yogie's yogurt isn't that sour. They also have smoothies available.

Since I brought my family along, I found it cool for Yogie's Island to have board games available to play with. We chose the 3D version of Snakes & Ladders.

Yogie Island, still on its soft opening, is well lighted with a backdrop design of a cartoon beach which gives the place a fun and family ambiance. Despite it being a relatively small place, they have their own restroom.

If you're craving for some dessert or something to go with a Starbucks Coffee in BF, you know where to go. :)

The Best Gourmet Lugaw @ Lugawan Republic

Is there such a thing as Gourmet Lugaw?

I thought there wasn't until I tasted one at Lugawan Republic. It's not branded as gourmet though, but it sure tasted like one to me.

The place is attached to Iago's, another cool joint for al fresco dining and drinking. Both located in BF Homes Paranaque just near the guard house along Aguirre Avenue.

Let's talk about their Lugaw (rice porridge). We got the halo-halo instead of the basic lugaw. It was thick enough and yellowish in color. It had quail and chicken eggs, ox tripe, pork meat, and another thickening ingredient (i think it was sotanghon). Eat it with an order of tokwa, then you'll have a completely filling meal. Oh, so yummy indeed!

Since the airconditioned Lugawan Republic is attached to Iago's, you can order their other specialties such as: calamares, barbeque chicken fillet, lumpiang togue, fish & chips, green mango with bagoong and laing. Their service water is pandan-flavored. :)

The service is very good while the ambiance with its yellowish lights is just right. The only downside is the exhaust system is not that efficient that the smell of fried food somehow sticks to your shirt. :)

The next time you're in the south and looking for "safe" and delicious lugaw, visit Lugawan Republic. You'd be glad you did.

Classic Burger Heaven @ Tropical Hut

Oh so classic!

For me, Tropical Hut's classic all-beef hamburger has been an all-time favorite. I remember one of the first Tropical Hut restaurants near Don Bosco Makati at the corner of Pasong Tamo and (then) Pasay Road in Makati City. I bet today's generation don't have a clue where that was, huh? My parents treated us boys to the place whenever we received medals every graduation day. My favorite variant then was the Rancho Ranchero -- classic hamburger with sunny-side-up egg.

Today, Tropical Hut Hamburger has maintained its smallness with the coming of giants McDonalds and mighty Jollibee. Still, nothing beats the taste of Tropical Hut Hamburger. I haven't encountered any hamburger like that of Tropical's.

I frequent the Tropical Hut outlet at corner of Aguirre and President's Avenue in BF Paranaque. Coffee there is one of the best, if not, THE best! Congressman Roilo Golez frequents that branch where he conducts some of his small meetings. Yeah, he doesn't have an entourage.

Over lunch today, I sampled their Double Double Burger (2 patties of Classic Hamburger with veggies) together with french fries. Heaven! I dipped the piping hot fries in my special sauce of catsup and mustard and had some macaroni salad. After downing a cup of their classic brewed coffee, I could have died right there. haha. So there, I had to take Lesofat (Orlistat) after to rid myself of all that fat. haha.

Total bill for my heavenly meal: 150 pesos.

To all my readers and friends in the U.S. and elsewhere, is there a Tropical Hut Hamburger in your area?

Baliwag Lechon and KTV: Perfect at Cafe Havana!

Baliwag is lechon manok. Period. Wrong.

There are three Baliwags in in BF Homes Village in Parañaque City. Two sell lechon manok and the other pata. Three are along Aguirre Avenue. One of these is a Baliwag restaurant where besides serving the best lechon manok ever (!), they also run a full-service restaurant. What's more, they have a family KTV called Cafe Havana. I bet many of you didn't know that huh? :)

We have been regular customers of the restaurant for about three years now. But we haven't been to the family KTV until recently when after attending a Friendster rock concert at Festival Supermall in Alabang, the kids and their cousins decided to do some singing themselves.

So there we went to Cafe Havana. The place is like your usual family KTV excpet that it's more cozy and doesn't smell like a "pugon" due to cigarette smoke. I guess the ventilation was really quite good. On weekends, you have to come a bit early since many frequent the place on Fridays and Saturdays. You'd think that the lots of cars parked just go to Baliwag Restaurant to eat. But many would move to Cafe Havana (just right beside the resto) and stay till 2am.

There were 7 of us. We were charged 50 pesos per head per hour, non-consumable. We spent a total of PhP 1,500 for food, drinks (including a pitcher tequila and 2 beers) and tips for a two-hour session. Not bad eh?

So the next time you're thinking of doing some videoke in the area of Parañaque, Las Piñas, or Alabang, try visiting Cafe Havana. Go for a cheap fiesta-type of a dinner at the Baliwag resto first, then belt your heart out after. It's worth the experience.

Cafe Boheme: A melting pot in the south metro

Do you speak Korean?

I asked because right here in Cafe Boheme, that's the "unofficial" langauge. Hey, I'm not in Korea. I'm in the upper middle class village of BF Homes in Paranaque City (the Philippines). Cafe Boheme is the Korean "coffee shop-tambayan." For some reason, Koreans like the place even though a new Starbucks has sprouted a few blocks away.

The younger set populate Cafe Boheme. It's probably the big lounge chairs and music that attracts them here. Food and coffee are withinnbudget range. Coffee which is the equivalent of a grande in Starbucks is only 65 pesos.

But Sweetie and I love this place, too. It's quieter than Starbucks, for one. The coffee may be so-so but the pastas and sandwiches are delicious. So what's a coffee shop without good coffee? Wi-fi is free, buddy! We all know that wi-fi isn't free in Starbucks (at least in the Philippines!).

For the not-so-young, newspapers are free and up-to-date. There's Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star and Inquirer.

The Koreans? Well, they're pretty cool here. They "tambay"just like we do. Sweetie is immersed in her book while I'm hammering away at my netbook. Oh, my netbook's LG -- Korean-made. So I guess I'm an honorary Korean, too, for today. :)

If you're in the BF Paranaque area, Cafe Boheme is across the Tides, and is past the Presentation Church. Drop by the place and come back to this blog to comment if you're not satisfied.

For now, I'm enjoying my coffee and raisin oatmeal cookie. Chow! (how do you say that in Korean?)