FIC Belgian Chocolate Frozen Dessert : A Luscious, Guilt Free Indulgence

With the scorching heat we’re already experiencing the past weeks, there’s nothing better to beat the heat than a tub of ice cream. For the health-conscious, it may not be one of their options to chill, but we’ve got a delightful news for you – Fruits in Ice Cream’s Belgian Chocolate Frozen Dessert.

FIC Belgian Chocolate Frozen Dessert is 95 percent fat-free and no sugar added - CertifiedFoodies.com

We have loved FIC’s ice cream because of the unmistakable fact that they use only high quality ingredients, resulting to a creamy, luscious ice cream experience. So, when we found out they had a Belgian Chocolate Frozen Dessert that’s 95% fat-free, we couldn’t wait to get a taste of it.

Two tubs of FIC Belgian Chocolate frozen desserts - CertifiedFoodies.com

Continue reading FIC Belgian Chocolate Frozen Dessert : A Luscious, Guilt Free Indulgence

Beat the Heat with Jollibee Sundae Mix-ins MILO Blast

One of the many reasons why we love food is because of how it can bring back memories from as far as we can remember. I know a lot of you can relate to this. I still get surprised by what memories food trigger, no matter how simple the preparation was. Flavor combinations, old and new, can bring you back to as far as your early childhood, just like how the new Jollibee Sundae Mix-ins MILO Blast reminded me of how I used to drizzle Milo powder on my ice cream during hot summer days like today.

Our cups of Jollibee Sundae Mix-ins Milo Blast - CertifiedFoodies.com

Yes, our dear fellow foodies. Jollibee has come up with a new sundae flavor for you. The combination of their creamy and sweet vanilla softserve, mixed in with Milo cereal balls and flavor, just kicks it up a notch for me. I’m sure kids and adults alike would love this, like we did! 🙂

Jollibee Sundae Mix-ins MILO Blast will surely be a hit amongst kids and adults alike - CertfiiedFoodies.com

Continue reading Beat the Heat with Jollibee Sundae Mix-ins MILO Blast

Jollibee Tuna Pie is Back (Limited Time only!)

For most of us, come Lenten season, we take it to heart to fast or go on a meatless diet. We are certified meat lovers and I believe that those of you who share the same love for anything with generous amounts of beef, pork or chicken understand how hard it is to give up meat during this time. Well, guess what. Avoiding meat don’t have to be boring or bland ’cause Jollibee Tuna Pie is back and it’s just so timely.

Jollibee Tuna Pie, no need to go on a boring meatless diet

I am a big fan of Jollibee’s Tuna Pie. Back when I was still working somewhere in Ortigas, I remember taking a cab on my way to work, asking the driver to go to the nearest Jollibee drive-thru and ordering this to start my day as I work nights and didn’t want to eat rice. It’s good enough to get me through hours of work before I needed to get a complete meal in the morning, before my shift ends (breakfast time).

Jollibee Tuna Pie filling

I love Jollibee Tuna Pie’s generous filling of chunky tuna flakes, the creamy peppery sauce and vegetables that accompany it, and the crispy crust wrapper. I can gobble up one of these in a few minutes! And I know a lot of of you already have an idea how delicious they are.

Continue reading Jollibee Tuna Pie is Back (Limited Time only!)

J.Pops : J.CO Donuts Adorable Bite-Sized Yummy Treats

We have posted a few weeks ago about J.CO Donuts and Coffee finally opening a store here in the Philippines. Their opening day was moved to March 15th and their first store will be at The Strip at SM Megamall. I know you’re all excited about this and you’re dying to finally taste these goodies, but wait ’til you see what’s inside these boxes:

J.CO baby donuts named J.Pops - Love it - CertifiedFoodies.com

Okay, you can actually see what’s inside from the photo above :D, but here’s a better look:

Closer look at these J.Pops by J.CO Donuts and Coffee - CertifiedFoodies.com

They’re J.Pops, bite-sized versions of the J.CO donuts we featured weeks back. They’re so cute!! 😀

Continue reading J.Pops : J.CO Donuts Adorable Bite-Sized Yummy Treats

A Sweet, Sweet Ending at Parvati (Take 2)

After a VERY disappointing dinner at a diner somewhere, we quickly decided that we needed something to make up for the lousy meal we just had. Since my BFF Tina and our nanay haven’t been to Parvati yet, there we went.

My BFF Tina and our nanay at Parvati

We posted about Parvati before. It’s indeed a one stop dessert shop and they help home-based bakers market their products without worrying about opening their own stores. When we went there the first time, the place only had a few tables. When we returned, more seats are available to diners.

They also had a few additional items on their menu, particularly their beverages. We were excited to try different goodies so we ended up with four (4) dessert variations.

Let’s start off with what we had for drinks. Ken ordered the Hot White Chocolate (Php 100). It’s made of Belgian white chocolate buttons and is very rich. Not really suitable with desserts, but we still enjoyed this.

Hot White Chocolate from Parvati

My nanay and I both ordered their Honey Apple Iced Tea (Php 90). Nothing really surprising. It was refreshing and subtly sweet nonetheless (I ended up with 2 photos to use up the full width of our content space – nag-explain?! 😉 ).

Our Honey Apple Iced Teas

Tina ordered the mouth-watering Cafe Mocha with Caramel Candied Cashews (Php 100). It had vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, whipped cream and candied cashews – a killer combination! Ken regretted not ordering this instead of his hot cup of white choco. 😀

Cafe Mocha with Caramel Candied Cashews from Parvati

Continue reading A Sweet, Sweet Ending at Parvati (Take 2)

4 Fingers Crispy Chicken, Philippines

When I was in Singapore last year, my housemates, Rey and Cindy, took me out for dinner at 4 Fingers, which is a small food joint in ION Orchard that they said serves the best crispy chicken in the city.

4 Fingers Crispy Chicken is now in the Philippines, at SM North Edsa!

My friends were right. The crispy fried chickens were so delicious and crispy that I just had to come back for more. And I honestly felt sad when it was time for me to return to the Philippines, thinking I’ll never have those scrumptious chickens ever again.

4 Fingers Bonchon Crispy Chicken in Singapore

But after almost a year since having my last piece of 4 Fingers’ Crispy Chicken, imagine my surprise when my sister, Mhel, and I found a newly opened 4 Fingers store by accident in SM City North EDSA, Quezon City. We quickly found ourselves a table, settled down, and ordered our food.

4 Fingers Crispy Chicken store in SM North Edsa

Continue reading 4 Fingers Crispy Chicken, Philippines

Straightforwardly Filipino : A Satisfying Lunch at Chef Tatung Garden Cafe

“Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
-Harriet Van Horne

If you’re a regular follower of our blog, you may know now that I have exchanged a career in nursing for an unknown future in the culinary industry. I’ll be honest; there were times when I had doubts if I’ve made the right decision of switching careers, but I always find inspiration from people who have experienced the same things that I’ve been through and have become successful. One of them is Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou of Tatung’s Garden Cafe, who decided to brush aside writing and production work to put on a chef’s garb and start a restaurant business.

Chef Myke 'Tatung' Sarthou telling us more about his style of cooking at his garden cafe

Hidden along the residential community of Sikatuna Village in Quezon City, a home-turned-restaurant stands with a luscious menu offering a modern take on Filipino Cuisine.

It’s a rainy Saturday morning when we were invited for a lunch at Tatung’s Garden Café. The façade gives little clue that there’s actually a restaurant inside.

Outside Chef Tatung's Garden Cafe

Chef Tatung truly understands Filipino cuisine. He shared that Filipinos eat with flavors that are close to nature, and that our cooking is greatly influenced by our environment. That is the reason why in creating his dishes, he made sure that his food tastes like what they really are. A chicken dish should taste like it’s made of chicken. It’s as simple as that.

Continue reading Straightforwardly Filipino : A Satisfying Lunch at Chef Tatung Garden Cafe

Parvati : Your One Stop Desserts Shop

When Ken and I thought of coming up with a monthly theme for our blog, the first thing that came to mind is desserts month. And the first store we wanted to visit was, of course, Parvati in Trinoma, a one-stop desserts shop.

Parvati a pastry shop in Trinoma

With the growing number of home bakers in the country today (oh we can’t be thankful enough! :D), getting their products out there can be a challenge considering the logistics of opening their own store. This is where Parvati comes in, providing a venue for talented pastry makers to showcase their homemade creations in one roof.

It was August last year when we first went to Parvati at the Mindanao lobby of Trinoma (I know, this is a very late post that has been sitting in the drafts folder for months). Upon walking in, we were welcomed with a smile and were directed to check their selections of pastries posted on this line of chillers / refrigerators located at one corner of the store. We were in dessert heaven! 😀

Chillers at Parvati in Trinoma

Based on the information on their Facebook page, Parvati features 40 best-selling desserts from 27 different home bakers. They have various cakes, cookies, cheesecakes (love, love, love), revel bars, pudding, cupcakes, pies, brownies, etc. If you’ve got a sweet tooth like we do, I tell yah, you’d probably spend a long time choosing what to order. We wanted to try everything, but we know we HAD to limit ourselves to just three. 😀

Continue reading Parvati : Your One Stop Desserts Shop

J.CO Donuts and Coffee Philippines

A few days before Christmas, we were surprised with these three boxes of delights from J.CO Donuts and Coffee. This popular donuts and coffee brand that has satisfied the tastebuds of foodies in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and China is finally here in the Philippines! And I can’t wait to show you what’s inside these boxes.

Boxes of J.CO Donuts - Woot!

To give you a brief background on J.CO Donuts and Coffee, they opened their first store in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2005. Since then, they have opened over 100 branches across Malaysia, Singapore and just recently, in Shanghai, China. Our fellow Pinoy foodies who have travelled to these countries and got to taste of their premium donuts are for sure happy about this exciting news.

You might be thinking, oh, it’s another donut shop and cafe. We thought so too, not having the slightest idea of how good their donuts were. So, we were pleasantly surprised with what was revealed to us when we opened these boxes.

First are these almond-covered donuts they call Al Capone. These are J.CO’s best seller and their signature flavor.

J.CO Donuts Alcapone donuts - their signature product

The donut is covered with white Belgian chocolate and then topped quite generously with almond slivers. I’m not a fan of nuts on my food, but I’m starting to really get used to it. I mean, how can I not enjoy these donuts?

The donut itself is soft to the bite (all of them were!) and the crunch from the almonds gave them a very interesting texture. It was my first time to taste such a delectable piece of donut so I looked forward to trying out the rest of their flavors.

Continue reading J.CO Donuts and Coffee Philippines

F Restaurant : A Flavorful Feast at BGC

It was the first day of December last year (sounded like a really long time ago eh?), we were headed to Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. It was a very familiar place to me since I used to work there at ePLDT Ventus so now, I always look forward to any opportunity that brings me to this same place where I spent two years working. This time though, the whole BGC is populated with more establishments everywhere you look and it’ll take some time before we can try all the restaurants here.

Best Western Premier F1 Hotel at The Fort, Taguig

The reason why we were at BGC : we were invited to dine at F Restaurant on the fifth floor of Best Western Premier F1 Hotel, the first hotel in the area and is located (strategically perhaps) in front of St. Luke’s Medical Center. Just by the sound of the name of the hotel where the resto is located, you’d know our expectations were set high. 🙂

As soon as we entered, we were welcomed with a very festive scene – beside two tall Christmas trees is this house made of candies, marshmallows, and other goodies. I began to understand Hansel and Gretel. 😉

House made up of candies, marshmallows and other goodies

Continue reading F Restaurant : A Flavorful Feast at BGC