snack – Kain Pinoy

Crepes & Cream

Crepes and cream is a modern and trendy cafe that serves a wide choice of savory and sweet crepe creations, ranging from Asian to Western flavors. There are over 30 types of crepe creations to choose from– all prepared fresh upon order.

The savory crepe menu includes the Pork floss Chessy Omellette, Smoked Salmon, the classic Mushroom ham with Mozarella, and the Japanese cuisine inspired Kani Mango. There’s also a BLT– bacon, lettuce and tomato- crepe, which is what I ordered since I’m a BLT sandwhich lover. This take on the classic sandwich is a rerfreshing and novel approach which I liked so much.

Kani Mango
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Discovering Amazing Cones

“Let’s try that pizza in cone place,” Rey said.

“The what?” I asked. Did I hear him right? Pizza in a cone?

“I heard there’s this place in New Manila that sells pizza in a cone.”

A quick Google search later, I discover that there is indeed a store that sells pizza in a cone: Amazing Cones. Currently, they only have two branches, one along Doña Hemady in New Manila, and the other at the V-Mall in the Greenhills Shopping Center. With a determination to try something new (and having nothing else better to do), Rey and I headed to Greenhills to find out what the fuss is all about.

My Feisty Fajita and Rey’s Supremo Italiano

Basically, Amazing Cones’ specialty are their pizzas, which is served in a pita-esque bread, shaped like a cone. The pizza toppings are put inside the cone and topped with mozzarella cheese. The pizza cones come straight from the oven, served in a cone holder to keep it upright. The cones were hot, and because its shape, the heat is retained longer. You’d have to nibble through the gooey mozzarella to help the pizza toppings cool.

Amazing Ice

Amazing Cones offer a variety of pizza flavors ranging from the familiar to combinations you’d only find in specialty pizza places. I had the Feisty Fajita, which was a refreshing change from the traditional pizza topping with its combination of chicken, bell pepper, onions, cilantro, cheese sauce and mozzarella. Priced between Php 70 – 80 for each cone, it’s decently priced. The cones aren’t too big though, equivalent to one slice of pizza.

We each had Black Gulaman Amazing Ice to go with our pizza cones, and an Amazing Swirl Kool Twist & Amazing Swirl Crunchi Creme for dessert. Priced at Php 60, I didn’t find the Amazing Ice a good value, specially since the large cup wasn’t large at all and I didn’t like its taste (and mind you, I LOVE gulaman). My Kool Twist in its regular cone costs Php 65, while Rey’s Crunchi Creme was priced at Php 80 and comes in a Belgian Waffle cone. As you can see in the picture, they were very generous with the ice cream. The ice cream was creamy indeed, and each order can be shared.

Amazing Swirl

The concept is cute and intriguing. I loved the Feisty Fajita and the ice cream cone (though I doubt I’d be eating ice cream again anytime soon). I’m definitely going back to try the other flavors.

Amazing Cones
#11 Doña Hemady Street
New Manila, Quezon City
Phone: (632) 4165299 / 7241402
Fax: (632) 7227904
Website: http://www.amazingcones.com

Unit V118 G/F V-Mall Building
Greeenhills Shopping Center, San Juan

Halo Halo Season

Summer in the Philippines is both an anticipated and dreaded season. Holidays, out of town trips and beach escapades are among the first thing that comes to mind when summer is mentioned, coupled with a surge of excitement of what’s to come. On the otherhand summer also means one thing: swealtering heat.

How do you like your halo halo?

People living in this part of the world do whatever they can to cope with the heat. One of the more popular options is to indulge in snacks or desserts made with shaved ice. Japan has its Kakigori, Korea has it Bingsu, and China has Baobing or Chhoah-peng. Our South East Asian neighbors likewise have their own shaved ice snack: Singapore and Malaysia’s Ice kachang, and Thailand’s Nam Kang Sai. We in the Philippines, of course, have our Halo-halo.

Mmmm, pinipig

Halo-halo gets its name from the mix of ingredients that make up this cool snack. Each halo-halo is different; it can have as little as three ingredients, or as much as 12. Ingredients for a halo-halo can either be one (or all!) of the following: minatamis na saging (sweetened bananas), kamote (sweet potatoes), mais (corn), kaong, nata de coco, macapuno, beans, pinipig, sago (tapioca), gulaman (jelly), ube, leche flan, sugar, evaporated milk, ice cream, and of course, shaved ice.

Personally, I’m happy with just the bananas, gulaman, sago, pinipig, ube and leche flan. Oh, and with two scoops of sugar, please. How do you like your halo-halo?

Halo-halo is available in most Filipino restaurants. Halo-halo stalls usually pop up in the neighborhood during summer. A glass of halo-halo can range from Php15 to Php80, depending on where you’re buying.