Best Halo Halo?

 

Hands down. This is the BEST halo halo I have ever had in my entire life (Razon's is now my ex favorite). I can not really eat lots of sweets. This tiny bit of cold desert is perfect! 

Php 65 / small halo (there are bigger versions)

Mixed ingredients:

1.fresh mint leaves - garnish on top

2.tiny leche flan

3. corn

4. nata

5. langka

6. ube

7. pinipig

8. milk and fine ice

I literally smiled after a very satisfying desert :)

So nice that I found this at Casa Rap, San Jose, Batangas.

I wasn't a fan of the Lomi that I ordered after but I absolutely would vouch for this halo halo.

So 3 days after I had this treat, I decided to take more people to Casa Rap - we ordered the halo-halo.

We patiently and happily waited. There are more people on a Saturday.
The waiter arrived and I was disappointed.
The halo-halo looked 30% smaller and melted. I didn't have my mint garnish and no more leche flan. Instead the topping was a little 1/2 teaspoon of oreo ice cream which I found weird.

I didn't appreciate being experimented on ... I talked to the lady that it changed. She didn't hear anything I guess so I had to repeat my comment. She walked away. I don't know if she ignored me or just couldn't understand.

We still ate it but felt really stuffed and dizzy after. We ordered the 'mini' version.
So I talked to the cashier ... I said it's not good that they are not consistent. We came there for the experience of the halo-halo... the cashier said - it depends on who makes it... So I guess we were just lucky last time.
The 2nd time we had this halo halo is a total waste of money.
Restaurant and Food Reviews Personal Health Investment Ebooks

Chowking Disaster

Last night, we visited SMBA (popularly known as Subic CBD), coming from Morong, Bataan. Morong is being 'sold' as a tourist destination. We had a look but didn't stay there. The place is quite full due to the holidays. Morong is a downmarket resort area - but that's another story.

The shocking experience I had last night was when we decided to eat at Chowking.

The last time I ate at Chowking was 2 years ago.

Our house help had a headache and requested for a hot soup while we were at the Nike Outlet Store. The Chowking branch at the gas station was an easy solution - buy some noodles.

Out of courtesy to our house help, she's been lovely help to us, I decided to order Chicken Noodle Soup (other flavors were beef and wanton). The chicken noodle was priced at Php 49. Yes you can buy a soup for a dollar in the Philippines.

I was happy to try the bargain.

Chowking was packed so we had to wait 15 minutes to taste the much anticipated chicken soup.

I immediately took a fork from the waiter and tasted the noodles...

I twisted the noodles using my fork... and had a taste. I lost all my apetite for the night.

I thought something was wrong...so I ate some of the chicken... still no difference.

Our house help noticed that I can't seem to take another sip of the soup. I was so embarrassed. I can't swallow it anymore.

I made an excuse that it seemed to quick to get cold so I gave it away to someone else for a 'try'.

Our househelp blurted, (in tagalog) "This noodles tastes exactly like what we buy from the palengke (wet market)". And yes it does.

Buy Php 12 noodle (maybe even cheaper) from the wet market in the Philippines and you can get the Chowking chicken noodles priced at Php 49. No wonder it's so cheap.

I didn't buy the bottle of coke in the photo btw, I bought that from the adjacent convenient store.

Do I recommend eating at Chowking - this is the question I always answer in every post in this blog.

NO.

There's so much more you can buy for Php 49.

I wouldn't eat that noodle again even if someone gives it to me for free.

I really feel sad about the quality of food in Chowking - just basing it from my chicken noodle experience.

I do hope Filipinos one day, would be able to eat quality food... not by being able to afford something more expensive but by being able to realize that they can cook something much more nutritious and tastier for a small amount of money.

Some people will say - well what do I expect for a $1 noodle? Just for the info of the readers of my blog, I can buy so much more for $1 in the Philippines. Just need to know how to cook it well.

Restaurant and Food Reviews Personal Health Investment Ebooks

The White Hat Mall of Asia

The White Had - it's a small stall in Mall of Asia selling 'Italian' frozen yogurt with toppings.
Plain yogurt is Php 90 plus 2 types of toppings = Php125 or $2.5 to $3.
This is cheap based on western standards but really overpriced for Filipino standard.
This is a little treat which is slightly healthier than ice cream but remember yogurt is dairy as well plus it's quite sour for some people's taste so this treat needs some sweets like cheese cake pieces, blueberry jellies and even marshmallows and chocolate syrups - that completely defeats 'health' purposes.

Would I recommend this treat? No... I just wanted to try it.
Again it is overpriced for Filipino standards. It's also not a true healthy treat unless you get P90 for plain yogurt in a small cup. The size is similar to a regular small coffee cup.

Note that yogurts in Australia and NZ are much cheaper... than $3 a cup... so if you have other local treats, choose them instead, you'd get more value for your money, more nutrition and less sugar and potentially more taste :-)


Restaurant and Food Reviews Personal Health Investment Ebooks

Free Wifi in Queenstown

This might not last but I just discovered that Vudu Cafe in central Queenstown is well-located to connect to free, public networks in the area :)

Restaurant and Food Reviews Personal Health Investment Ebooks

Balai Isabel, Talisay, Batangas

 

 This is one of the most decent places to visit in Southern Tagalog. The entire estate is carefully developed in comparison with other local estates.

The breakfast value is Php 275 per person, which is a buffet - eat all you can type. It's filipino breakfast and the food selection when I visited was (as I remember):

Drief Fish / Tuyo - which happened to be my favorite
Scrambled Egg
Champorado
Brewed Coffee
Sliced Onions and Tomatoes
Watermelon, Pineapple Slices
Pork Binagoongan

Garlic Rice

It's not exactly the healthy alternative especially with the very starchy type rice. So I would recommend that you have a nice breakfast here once a month if you are in the Philippines.

If offers a calming view of Taal Lake, which is nice.... but I stress, this is Philippines standard.

The lake is not very clean but clean enough if viewed from a distance.

Restaurant and Food Reviews Personal Health Investment Ebooks