Certified Foodies Ultimate Taste Test 7 Experience and Top Picks

November 17, 2011 â€“ It was that time again for foodies to come together and discover new offerings from various home-based food suppliers at the Ultimate Taste Test 7.0. This time, the venue was in Mercato Centrale in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The food showcase was scheduled for 3 hours only so we were hoping to be there on time. But, unfortunately, we arrived almost an hour late. Thankfully, we were able to have a taste of all except 3 out of all the purveyors who were there to present their products.

When we got there, a lot of fellow foodies were still coming in and there was a long queue outside the tent area in Mercato Centrale. We were glad to see that there were a lot of tables set up inside and outside the air-conditioned area where people can sit and relax while they enjoy the food.

Since we needed to take photos of the food for our feature here, we had a hard time squeezing in. Of course, we didnâ€™t want to cut the line as thatâ€™ll be unfair so we opted to stay in line. It was a long wait and it did test the patience of most people. But, hey, we were excited to taste all the food there â€˜cause they were all new to us, except for one dessert purveyor â€“ meaning they werenâ€™t at the Ultimate Taste Test 6 in Rockwell or we havenâ€™t had the chance to taste their products yet. So, we waited for our turn.

We thought UTT 6.0 was better though in the sense that there were more room for people to move around, going from one booth to another. We didnâ€™t get to sit at the tables â€˜til the very end when we were rating the food because we wanted to, as much as possible, go through all the 30+ booths.

Now, on to our top picks. Weâ€™re not unanimous with our favorites so weâ€™re not going to rank them again, just like in our UTT 6 Top Picks. Here we go! 🙂

Note: Pardon the quality of the photos. We had to take quick shots â€˜cause there was a long queue of people behind us. We didnâ€™t want to irritate them. 😉

Sweet Favorites

MERRY MOO

(Food for the Gods and Queso de Bola with Fiesta Ham)

Between the two, we LOVED the Queso de Bola with Fiesta Ham. The bits of meat made this so delectable, mixing in with the sweet-salty flavors of the cheesy ice cream. We wanted to have seconds! Definitely, weâ€™re coming back for this! 🙂

Merry Moo Ice Creamery
Email: merrymoo@ymail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Merrymoo.icecream
Contact #: 0917-528-9590

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T.G.I. Friday’s in Eastwood City

Most of us look forward to Friday. Itâ€™s the end of a busy week and, at the same time, the start of a well-deserved weekend for all those who hustle and bustle at school or at work. Itâ€™s the ultimate day for relaxation and enjoyment. But, guess what, we donâ€™t really need to wait for Friday just to have fun. With T.G.I. Fridayâ€™s infectious energy and with their excellent food and customer service, everyone would feel like itâ€™s Friday every single day of the week!

After more than 15 years since setting up their first in 1994, T.G.I. Fridayâ€™s opens a new branch in Eastwood City, Libis. This is their 13th and now considered as their new flagship branch since itâ€™s the location where the brand has decided to implement major changes in architectural and interior design. It is the first free-standing Fridayâ€™s branch. All of the other branches, as we all have known, are located in major shopping malls around the Metro.

From outside, the facade looks bright and very inviting. They have replaced the old canopies and awnings with movie theater-like sheds, giving the place a more modern feel. Almost everyone who comes to Fridayâ€™s has their own camera, and surely they wouldnâ€™t be able to resist having their pictures taken with these life-size models of Superman; the king of rock and roll, Elvis Presley; and the iconic, Marilyn Monroe.

Fridayâ€™s is known for having an â€œartistic clutterâ€ of memorabilia from decades as early as the â€˜30s. Now they have decided to move forward in time by including pieces from later decades like the â€˜80s, â€˜90s, and even from the new millennium.

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Our Top Picks in the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 in Rockwell

We know, this is an uber late post. But, we still think itâ€™s worth posting about our top picks for UTT 6. Itâ€™s better late than never, I guess. Stay tuned for our faves the last UTT 7 at Mercato. 🙂

We first told you about our experience at the Ultimate Taste Test in Rockwell. Now, let us share with you all the yummy food we had that day.

It took us a couple of days to finalize our top picks for the Ultimate Taste Test because we couldnâ€™t agree on all of our choices. Thatâ€™s what you get when you have 2 people (and siblings) with different tolerance to flavor intensities and with varying preferences. 😀 So, we agreed to not rank anything and just feature the ones we absolutely loved and those that were worth mentioning. 🙂

But, before we continue, please take note that we only got to taste what 38 out of 55 food suppliers have to offer.

Without further ado, in no particular order, here are our Top Picks for the Ultimate Taste Test 6.0 in Rockwell, starting with the sweet stuffâ€¦

Sweet Delights

Carmenâ€™s Best and Hollyâ€™s Milk

Paco Magsaysay, the owner of Carmenâ€™s Best Ice Cream and Hollyâ€™s Milk, was the very first food supplier who approached us. Even before we got to taste his products, we were totally convinced!

We first got to try the Salted Caramel and Coffee flavored ice cream (sorry, we didnâ€™t get to take a photo of the actual product :D). And let us tell yah it was the creamiest ice cream weâ€™ve ever had! We both nodded at each other in total agreement. 😀

Paco proudly continued on to tell us that their ice cream and milk are all fresh, even using this very catchy tagline â€œFrom Cow to Coneâ€. And you can truly taste the freshness from the milk and the ice cream. The flavors and creaminess of the spoonfuls of frozen delights served to us lingered in our mouths. 🙂

They donâ€™t have this available in supermarkets yet so if you want to have a taste of their products, contact them to order:

Carmenâ€™s Best
Contact info: 809-2042 or cb_icecream@yahoo.com
Carmenâ€™s Best on Facebook

Hollyâ€™s Milk
Contact info: 813-1385 / Website: http://www.hollysmilk.com/ Hollyâ€™s Milk on Facebook

Update: They were the #1 pick by the UTT 6.0 foodies! 🙂 Congrats!

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Chocolate Lover : A Baking and Confectionery Store

There are many things Iâ€™m currently enjoying about Ken being in culinary school. First, of course, is everything he bakes or cooks at home so he can practice or prepare for an upcoming test or lab activity in school. I especially loved these cream puffs and Ã©clairs he made for our birthday celebration weeks ago. Everyone loved them! 🙂

Secondly is shopping with him for ingredients and tools heâ€™ll need at home. One of our favorite stores now is Chocolate Lover in P. Tuazon in Cubao, Quezon City.

If youâ€™ve passed through their area in QC, we bet you saw the eye-catching design of their building. I mean, seriously. How can you miss this castle?

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Something Interesting and Sweet about Chocolates

I never met a chocolate I didn’t like.

– Deanna Troi, Star Trek: The Next Generation

Who doesnâ€™t love chocolates? I mean, seriously, we see anything with the word CHOCOLATE and we start drooling. Come on admit it! 😀

Do you remember those days when a chocnut is just what you need to cheer you up? Nowadays, however, we are bombarded with a variety of chocolates. How, then, do you know youâ€™re getting the good stuff?

First off, we need to know that there are two general classification of chocolates, couverture and compound.

(Image credit)

Compound Chocolates

Letâ€™s start with compound chocolates. These chocolates are the supermarket variety – cheap and mass-produced. These products may or may not contain cocoa butter. Those that do not have cocoa butter are made with shortening and/or substitute fats.

The percentage that you see on the bar of chocolate indicates the percentage of cocoa solids, meaning the amount of cocoa mass and cocoa butter.

Couverture Chococlates

Now this is the real deal. Couverture chocolates must have a minimum of 32% cocoa butter in order to be considered as such. Some brands use only cocoa butter while others mix in a bit of shortening for stability. Some of the well-known brand of chocolates we normally find in the grocery have a bit of shortening mixed into it to increase their tolerance for warmer temperatures. Ideal storage for pure chocolates is 20ÂºC.

Chocolates, much like wine, have different subtle flavor notes. These flavors notes are best savored when the chocolates are at room temperature.

Different chocolate makers use different blends of beans to create their own flavor profile.

The 3 main kinds of cacao trees are

Criollo
Forastero
Trinitario

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Only the Finest Decadence from Van Houten Chocolates

Chocolates. I’ve always loved them ever since I was a little kid. I mean, who didn’t enjoy the sweet flavors of chocolates when they were children? Back then, I only knew how to chomp them all up ’til my nanay would tell me I’ve had enough. It was after over 2 decades when I learned how to enjoy chocolates the "right" way. And a few weeks ago, at Society Lounge in Makati, Van Houten reminded me of how I can truly savour the decadent goodness only quality chocolates can offer.

Van Houten has been around for 180 years. I remember having my first taste of it when a family friend who came from the US brought us a canister of their chocolates back when I was in my teens. I can still recall thinking that they were indeed imported, high quality ones because I haven’t tasted anything that good from any loot my nanay brought home whenever she goes on her bi-monthly sweets shopping for us.

Van Houten is widely available here in the Philippines and they now offer varying flavor combinations that would surely please the cocoaphile in you.

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Celebrating 10 Years of Heartwarming Goodness from Bizu Patisserie

Last week, Ken and I, along with fellow foodies, were invited to Bizu Patisserie and Bisroâ€™s Bloggers Party over at their Greenbelt branch. Having been there during the Cadbury Chocoholic night, we were both looking forward to having a taste of more dishes from this pastry shop / restaurant.

I took this photo using my new Nikon D3100. Woot! Stay tuned for better photos soon 🙂

The dinner was graced with the presence of Aaron and Annie Tanco who started it all. They shared with us how their pastry shop was conceptualized, including how they came up with the name of their restaurant. It was all very interesting, especially the part where Aaron told us that Bizu came about after her mom Annie dreamt of people kissing each other on the cheeks (beso-beso) at a restaurant. They decided to use the French word for â€œkissâ€, which is “bisousâ€, but added a twist by spelling it the way itâ€™s pronounced.

I just want to mention this – I enjoyed how Aaron and Annie spoke to us about their restaurant. You can really feel theyâ€™re truly passionate about their food and the service they offer to their diners. They were all very accommodating, even laughing and sharing stories with us throughout the night. Even Chrissy, the lovely lady in the middle of the photo above, was very cheery. 🙂

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Cadbury Chocoholic Night + Joy Shots Promo for a Trip to Boracay

A few weeks ago, we were invited by Cadbury Philippines to a chocoholic night at Bizu Patisserie and Bistro in Greenbelt 2 in Makati. Our family LOVES Cadbury chocolates because of its creamy, milky goodness so it was an event we wonâ€™t ever pass up.

We invited a fellow chocoholic friend Geejay of Mga Luto ni Lola to join the Certified Foodies team for the night. Hereâ€™s a shot of us at the photo booth. It was so fun that I think we took home 3-4 photos each! 😀

The event was graced by the lovely Georgina Wilson, Cadbury Philippinesâ€™ brand ambassador. She shared with us how much she loves Cadbury and how relishing these milky chocolates brings back memories of bonding times with her family, particularly her dad. And I feel her. We all did. Food and the enjoyment of it can really bring back memories and fun times we had with people we hold dear.

FYI: Each chocolate bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk contains a glass and a half of milk. No wonder itâ€™s the richest and milkiest chocolate bar Iâ€™ve ever tasted! 🙂 I love the plain milk chocolate; my bro and parents are into their Fruits and Nuts variants.

Anyway, the chocoholic bloggers night was intended to announce the launch of their latest promo, Cadbury Dairy Milk Joy Shots where a barkada of four can win a 4-day, 3-night round trip to Boracay inclusive of hotel accommodations and transfers. How exciting is that?!

How to join the Joy Shots promo? All you have to do is take a photo of you with 3 of your friends while you enjoy Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar/s (at least one 75g bar OR two 40g bars). The photo should be of you sharing a joyful moment with your friends.

Send in your photo, along with a brief caption (maximum of 60 words) about why you and your barkada deserve to win that Boracay trip. Email it to cadburyphilippines@gmail.com.

Photos will be judged based on the following criteria:

– Depiction of Sharing the Joy with Cadbury Dairy Milk (40%)
– Originality of depicting bonding (30%)
– Creativity (20%)
– Caption (10%)

The best photo based on the above criteria will win the trip. 5 consolation prize winners will also get Cadbury gift bags. Promo runs until September 16, 2011 only so HURRY! 🙂

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Baking Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Cookie Jar Mix

Over a week ago, I mentioned about Rae of The Cookie Jar sending us 3 of their products to try â€“ their French macarons, Triple Chocolate Cookies and this â€“ their Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie mix.

We postponed baking using the mix for a pick-me-up get-together with my best friend, Tina. I know baking will cheer her up. 🙂

As soon as she saw the jar with the ingredients stacked up as pictured below, she got excited and even reminded us we should start baking already. 😀

The Cookie Jar Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie mix includes semi-sweet choco chips, oats, flour, brown and white sugar. Like what is mentioned at the back of the gift tag thatâ€™s included with the package, you only need to add butter, eggs and vanilla.

Let me share with you some photos taken during our baking session. If you havenâ€™t tried baking yet, then, these photos might help. You see, itâ€™s so easy, you wonâ€™t need any complicated kitchen tools like utility knives or heavy kitchen machines. 🙂

I had to stop myself from eating the chocolate chips when we finally opened the jar.

Then, we used 2 sticks of butter and softened them through our microwave. Yes, we were busy chattering away that we forgot that we were only supposed to use 1 1/2 stick of butter. So, using a little Mathâ€¦

1 stick of butter = 100 g

1 1/2 stick of butter = 150 g

Since Ken, as Iâ€™ve mentioned before, is into baking. So, we have this weighing scale available at home. How convenient. You should know that precise measurements are very important when baking. Otherwise, youâ€™d get undesirable results. Thatâ€™s why, if youâ€™re really planning on starting baking at home, then, you should have this weighing scale available tooâ€¦ just in case. (I forgot how much this costs, will get back to you with the price)

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Vosges Chocolates – New Chocolatey Sensations

It was back in December last year when I won a set of Vosges chocolates from Trip or Treats. I had Ken pick them up for me a few days after the announcement.

I know, I shouldâ€™ve posted about it earlier. But, donâ€™t worry. I can still remember exactly how each of them tasted. And pardon if I donâ€™t have any photos of the actual chocolate bars while we were enjoying it. I accidentally deleted the whole album on our cameraâ€™s memory when we were in Pagudpud. Silly me. 😀

I was pretty excited to try them out. Too bad though that when my bro came home, he already devoured that small box of Vosges Barcelona Bar. Lucky him â€˜cause I was in a slightly good mood that night. Otherwise, he would need ankle braces after Iâ€™m done with him after not letting me taste that chocolate bar. 😀 Of course, Iâ€™m just kidding. Hahaha.

Trip or Treats (ToT) actually included a box with instructions on how you can savor each chocolate flavor. And I followed them to a teeâ€¦ well, for my first 2 bites. 😀

See… first, there should be a glossy shine to the chocolate bar, this shows a good temper; rather, a tight bond between the cocoa butter and the cocoa mass.
Smell… rub your thumb on the chocolate to help release the aromas. Inhale the chocolate and ingredient notes deeply through your nose. Can you feel it?
Snap… quality chocolate should always be dry to the touch. Break the bar into two pieces. Hear a crisp, ringing snap, which indicates a well-tempered bar of chocolate.
Taste… place the chocolate on your tongue and press it to the roof of your mouth. Within thirty seconds, the chocolate should slowly begin to melt around your tongue. The taste should not be evanescent; it should have a long, lingering finish.
Feel… recognize the life in your body as youâ€¦ benefit from the anti-oxidants in chocolate, ride the natural high of chillies, boost your immune system with some of the natural ingredients. Each bar brings its own sensations and benefits. Notice how spicy bars donâ€™t hit you until after you have swallowed.

(quoted from ToTâ€™s blog)

There were actually 4 small boxes of Vosges chocolates, but I canâ€™t remember where I placed the Oaxaca Bar.

Anyway, let me tell you about the Oaxaca Bar. The description on the box says itâ€™s made of Oaxaca Guajillo, Pasilla Chillies, Tanzanian bittersweet chocolate at 75% cacao. Yes, there are chillies mixed in the chocolates.

Photo from Trip or Treats

The first time I took a bite, I didnâ€™t immediately taste the chili in there. But, when I let that bit linger in my mouth and the bittersweet chocolate started melting, I began feeling something weird in my mouth. It was my first time to get a taste of chocolate with chillies so I was surprisedâ€¦ delightfully so that I wanted everyone at home to get a taste of it. Definitely something memorable.

The only one that I didnâ€™t get to try from the set I won was the Barcelona Bar. As the description says, itâ€™s made of Hickory Smoked Almonds, Grey Sea Salt and deep milk chocolate, with 45% cacao. My bro said it was salty and sweet, which is a combination I wouldâ€™ve loved from a chocolate flavor thatâ€™s new to me, if only my bro didnâ€™t gobble up the whole bar all by himself. Argh! 😀

Next, my second favorite is Moâ€™s Dark Bacon Bar. It has Applewood Smoked Bacon, Alderwood Smoked Salt, and Dark Chocolate. This had me at bacon. 😀

At 62% cacao, the saltiness the bacon and the salt bring in with the bitterness of the dark chocolate is just so addicting! I also enjoyed the crispiness of the bacon bits mixed into the choco bar. Something every chocolate lover should definitely try!

Lastly, my favorite of all four (okay, technically, I only got to taste 3 soâ€¦ :D), the Matcha Bar. Why? I super loved the combination of the Japanese Matcha Green Tea and creaminess of the milk chocolate. I loved this so much that my bro was the only other person who tried it and I only gave him a very small bit to taste. Hahaha! 😀

As soon as I got the taste of these chocolate bars, I went to Vosges Chocolateâ€™s website to find out more about their products. I wanted to see what other flavors they have available. Too bad though â€˜cause I donâ€™t think we have them available here in the Philippines.

Iâ€™d like to thank Trip or Treats again for this new experience. My apologies for the late posting. But, every bite of these Vosges chocolates was truly memorable.

To you, my dear foodie friends, what unique chocolate flavors have you already enjoyed in this lifetime? Kindly share them at the comments section. 🙂

For the Love of Chocolates…