There’s no doubt about it - this year’s Oktoberfest is going to be the longest, grandest, most exciting celebration of beer in the world. For one thing, it’s not just going to last during the month of October. The 2008 Oktoberfest is going to last 120 or four whole months. And to cap off the occasion, San Miguel is releasing a limited number of San Miguel Oktoberfest beer.
If Filipinos living abroad could make a list of things they miss most about the Philippines, I think food would be somewhere at the top of the list. When the craving for genuine Filipino food starts to kick in, I highly recommend that you head over to the outdoor food court at Market! Market! in Fort Bonifacio. There are countless stalls that serve authentic Filipino cuisine and street food - complete with the banana leaf lining your plate. But the best part is that there is also a seperate row of stalls that sell kakanin and other Filipino delicacies you can bring back to your kababayans as pasalubong.
In Manila, the word “bibingka” is associated with Ferino’s Bibingka. It is even said that Ferino’s Bibingka is the best-known version of the rice cake in Metro Manila, next to Via Mare. I have not tasted Ferino’s Bibingka till yesterday when my husband and I dropped by Market! Market! at the Global City, Taguig City. He was craving for dessert and thought bibingka would assuage his sweet cravings.
It is not often that I eat lunch in a coffee shop but my daughter was hungry and we still had tasks to do in Makati. “Let’s eat”, as she dragged me to Figaro, her favorite coffee shop. When I saw the steep prices of their meals, I wanted to leave the place but then again, we were hungry. I asked the waitress of their best-sellers. She pointed out “Pasta Carlo” so I got that.
I can’t remember the last time I bought something from a Starbucks. About a year ago I resolved to never buy anything from there because I don’t like how this big, multi-national coffee chain has become the standard that other smaller coffee shops have to measure up against. That and other political reasons that I won’t discuss at length. My friends understand and respect my decision, and I love that they go out of there way to meet up with me at other coffee shops like Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Bo’s Coffee, and most recently, a Filipino-owned chain called Figaro.
Well actually, I go to Figaro for an entirely different purpose: to study and do my papers. For some reason I am completely incapable of focusing and getting any work done in my room, which means I have to do my work either at school or at a coffee shop. Besides being the only coffee shop five minutes away from my house, Figaro has cozy interiors, an air-conditioned smoking area (well, the one that I go to has one), and best of all, affordable, great-tasting coffee.
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been working at Figaro at least once a week, and on a lark I asked the lady at the counter if my frequent trips made me eligible for any discounts. She then told me about the Figaro Coffee Club, which I can become a member of after having collecting 10 stamps (one stamp per ordered drink) and paying 150 pesos. But because I’m awesome they decided to skip the stamp-collecting process and went straight ahead to giving me my temporary card (after I paid the 150). I don’t have my real Figaro Coffee Club card yet but my temporary card allows me to enjoy the awesometastic freebies:
1) All new members get 5 free drinks!
2) For a minimum purchase of Php 200 on food and drinks, I get a 10% discount. And if I complete the membership gift card, I get a Figaro Coffee Club mug/tumbler for free.
3) Every time I buy a coffee drink, I get a FREE 8 oz cup of brewed coffee or 50% on my next drink. (Only one free cup per visit though!)
4) When I visit any Figaro Coffee shop during the month of my birthday, I get a premium cake of my choice.
5) Figaro Coffee Club members also get invited to out-of-town trips to their coffee farms, coffee seminars, and parties.
Don’t you just love it when the establishment you frequent loves you back? 
Visit the Figaro website for more information on the Figaro Coffee Club.
Whenever I go to restaurants, I usually order the same thing until I get sick of it or feel adventurous enough to try something new. Before I discovered the Chowking spicy chao fan (fried rice) and nai cha (milk tea), I used to always have their Hong Kong-style congee. My daughter, Lauren can never decide among meatballs, goto, and chicken flavors, so she’d get the King’s Congee because it has all three - pork balls, chicken balls, goto, salted egg, and century egg.
If you’re a Chowking congee lover like myself minus the pork or beef, you might want to join the Shot at a Laptop contest. Chowking is giving away Acer laptops to anyone who can take the most creative congee photo of them enjoying ANY chowking congee. Entries will be accepted between August 16 til September 21, 2008. Check out the Shot at a Laptop website to join and view the contest mechanics. A brand new Acer Aspire is up for grabs!
Deadline of submission is on September 21, 2008 at 5:00PM.
Pinoydon is a very casual, informal restaurant that gives a whole new twist to Japanese cuisine by cooking it Filipino style. Or is it the other way around? In this restaurant you’ll find an interesting combination of familiar Filipino food and the not so unfamiliar but not quite native Japanese food. On first glance you’ll see that the menu contains what you’d find in a typical Japanese restaurant - but look closely. Instead of California Maki they have Manila Maki, made up of tinapa and aligue, and their donburi has sisig.
I wish I was able to try out the more exotic dishes the first and only time I went there, but it was raining and I was in the mood for something hot. Upon a friend’s recommendation, I ordered a bowl of Batchoy Ramen, which I devoured instantly. Unlike other la paz batchoys from other restaurants, the soup wasn’t congealed with oil and the saltiness was just perfect. They didn’t scrimp on the ingredients either!
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