This is a Throwback Food Trip to Chewy Junior.

Chewy Junior serves different types of creampuffs. They had really sweet and tasty creampuffs with a variety of toppings.

I reeaaally liked this nut and chocolate topped creampuff! I don't have pics of us eating the creampuffs tho. :P

We went here right after our dinner at Outback Steakhouse back in 2013. We had a voucher for 2 boxes at only half the price. :)

We're just chillin in front of the store waiting for the creampuffs to be prepared. They had to be filled with cream upon order. :)

Chewy Junior was previously located on the 3rd floor of Greenbelt 3. It's now closed.

Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan
Visited: August 17, 2013

For this Weekend Adventure, the Food Explorers visit Outback Steakhouse in Glorietta 4, Makati. We're gonna try out their Baby Back Ribs!

This was the first time we tried to eat at Outback Steakhouse. And basically we didn't know what to expect. The place was filled with quite a lot of people when we got there, a birthday party for a one year old just finished and but the people were already clearing out. :P

I didn't know you can celebrate kiddie parties here! Most of the customers I noticed are drinking huge mugs of beer. XD Coooooooool.

I like their free appetizer. A small loaf of brown bread and some butter. Very uhmm Murica. XD

Moar photos! Nothing else to do while waiting for the food to arrive.

Hmmm, what dessert should I get?

We used a voucher from Deal Grocer and got a discount here. The voucher was worth P1000 and I only paid 600 for it. :D

We got to order a couple of items:

Iced Tea at P105 each

Chicken Caesar Salad P199

Baby Back Ribs Half order P669

We also ordered 2 cups of rice at P79 each

Alright, so we just got to order two things really. The Baby back ribs and the caesar salad. The caesar salad was okay, the lettuce was fresh and cool, the dressing wasn't too heavy. And the chicken tasted good. But dem ribs tho. They were awesome, the meat was jucy and it really absorbed the flavor of the barbeque sauce. It's just reaally satisfying to chow down on. We ate everything with some rice. And it was gone in 60 seconds! or realistically 15 minutes but what the heck.

Overall, the ambiance was great, the food was awesome and the service was quick. The food is a bit expensive but well worth to try even once in a while. XD Although for me, it's still better to get a voucher no matter what!

Outback Steakhouse
Glorietta 4
G/F Glorietta 4, Ayala Ave cor Pasay Rd
Ayala Center, Makati
(02) 729-8458 to 59

Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan
Visited: August 17, 2013

For this Weekend Adventure, the Food Explorers visit the quaint resto of Gelatone in Greenbelt 3.

Gelatone is located on the 2nd floor of Greenbelt three right in front of Cotton On. For the record, I consider gelato and frozen yoghurt ice cream. They all fall in the same category to me. :P
I think it has one of the best possible spots for an ice cream place coz everyone who enters GB3 passes by their display.

They have a lot of flavors to choose from. They even have ones with liqour. Like a whiskey flavored gelato and an Appletini gelato. :P

You can sample just a little bit of the gelato before you order. I tried the appletini one and it was reaaaally sour. XD

After checking out the flavors, we went inside the resto to order some food. The voucher I got is from +ADeals. PH and it was worth 500 pesos.

 In a booth, selfie!

Panino Alla Milanese P300

We got a chicken panini and two gelato flavors, two scoops each.

Gelato 2 scoops P99 each cup

I'm guessing we got a Pistaccio and the one I will not forget is the Straciatella. The name is beautiful. It just means vanilla ice cream with chocolate in Italian. Cool, right?

Quick! Take a selfie so I can eat the ice cream!!!

The chicken panini was okay. The tomato inside was refreshing. But you really come here for the ice cream, I mean gelato. I loved the pistaccio but the stracciatella was my favorite of the two.

And that's it! A nice snack in the afternoon for 2 at just P500 at Gelatone.

Gelatone
2nd F Greenbelt 3,
Esperanza St Ayala Center,
Makati (02) 729-6377

Visited: February 1, 2014
Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan

For this Weekend Adventure, the explorers try out the infamous Charlie's Grind and Grill at their branch in Greenbelt Radissons.

Charlie's isn't new to me. I've heard of my officemates going to the Charlie's time and time again and they have nothing but praise for the food. This time, I can taste it for myself. :)

I got a discount voucher from +Deal Grocer for Charlie's in their lesser known branch I guess. I've always heard of Charlie's in Kapitolyo but not in Greenbelt. I've been going to Greenbelt for years and I never heard of a Charlie's Grind and Grill there. Apparently, the Charlie's we were looking for was not in the Greenbelt Mall. It was in a different location just named similar to Greenbelt, which is Greenbelt Radissons Condominium.

Gus, My sister Elissa and Me! :D

You can sort of watch them prepare the food from here, otherwise just watch the movie :)

Aaaahh! A King Kong Burger!

Once we got there, the place was empty. save for 2 people who were just leaving. I thought this place was the bomb when it came to burgers so why was it empty? Anyway, we ordered the following items from their menu. The voucher is P600 for P1000 worth of food.

Sticky Buffalo Wings - Half dozen P265

Chilli and Cheese Fries P165

The Wagyu Sliders P280

Black Angus with Shrooms P415

The food costs P1125 in total, so I just paid for the amount in excess, P125 :D

The sticky wings was awesome. It's sweet, sticky and garlicky and I love garlic! The wagyu sliders were also awesome. I always add a bit more ketchup because I love ketchup. But it has to be tomato ketchup. The chili fries were the best! Thick cut potato fries smothered with melted cheese and chili! It was so spicy my nose was running all over the place.

Look at that Chilli!

The bestest best part ever of the meal was the angus burger with portobello mushroom. To be honest, I didn't even know how to start eating the thing. It was so thick that they needed to insert skewers to keep the burger's form. Anyway, I disassembled it and tried the breaded and cheese stuffed mushroom first, it was amazing! The cheese perfectly compliments the taste of the mushroom. And the burger along with all the fix'ins was also uhmaeizing. Gosh. That meal was soo worth it. :)

The staff were really friendly too. We went there around 9pm, and they close by 10pm. So we were the only customers left. They give you everything you need. Water, tissue, utensils, bottle of ketchup, mayo and mustard. They even overheard us talking about Clash of Clans and offered some tips in game. So nice of them. :)

After eating, we walked back towards Greenbelt (the mall) where I set the location for our Uber pickup. I was thinking that it should be easier for the driver to find us if we're in front of the mall. The location isn't really at the mall, but more like the mall is just across the street from us. While we were waiting there, a bunch of street children started asking us for money/food or selling us flowers. It was so friggin scary. There were only three of them but I was afraid they'd grab our phones and run off. We still had to wait maybe 5 minutes for the Uber car to arrive and the kids were berating us for money/food the entire time. This is one major con in my opinion, if Charlie's was inside the mall where there's security we didn't need to be bothered by street children. But hey, at least they didn't steal anything from us right?

Pros:
Delicious burgers and fries and chicken!
Nobody else is there, staff can cater to your every whim, sortof
Reasonable price
Minimal wait time
Hefty servings, good for sharing

Cons:
Location is out of way, no security at night

Overall: Great
I'm definitely gonna go back here.
I'm just gonna change a few things like, go there at an earlier time and get a different burger. :)

Charlie's Grind and Grill
Greenbelt Radissons, 107 Aguirre St
Legazpi Village, Makati
(02) 831-5112

Explorers: +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan
Visited January 17, 2015

Nanbantei of Tokyo was a pretty cozy Japanese restaurant in Greenbelt 3. Since I went there by myself, I sat next to the area where the "Sushi chef" makes the sushi so I could watch. I visited the resto on a sunny Saturday solo. My fellow Explorer, +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan had a prior thingy and I can't reschedule. :P

Thanks to +Deal Grocer I got to eat here at a discount.

I ordered 3 items from their menu:

I tried their California Maki, Kani Salad and Pork Garlic Yakitori.

A photo posted by Ana Carla Pagulayan (@carurachan1) on Mar 3, 2014 at 1:24am PST

Also got a brewed coffee just to wake myself up. :D

Pros:
The servers were really friendly.
I loved the free appetizer: sticks of cucumber, carrot, and singkamas with a special bean curd dip.
I didn't get to take a photo of the appetizer coz I ate it immediately.
Kani salad and Cali maki were awesome.

Cons:
It was really cold in my spot, and they can't change the temp of the air con.
The pork garlic yakitori was reaaally salty.
A little bit expensive Japanese food.

Overall: Okay
The price for the food is good enough to cover for the cozy space and the delicious food, save for the pork yakitori. They should hold the salt a bit. Total bill was 614 including service charge. Only paid 114 for the excess value of the voucher. Also something to note, I couldn't finish everything. I had to take out the rest of the maki and the yakitori. :D

Visited March 1, 2014

3/F Greenbelt 3, Esperanza St
Ayala Center, Makati
(02) 757-4130

For this Weekend Adventure, our food trip destination is the Dulcinea Restaurant in Greenbelt 1. Joining me and my sister is our friend and adopted sibling kuno, Gus.

Dulcinea has always been my go to restaurant just to buy cute cream puffs and chocolate covered Negritos. But this is the first time we actually dined in.

Entering the restaurant

Thanks to +Ensogo Philippines, we got to eat there at a discount.

The voucher we used is for a Set Meal for 4 which includes the following:
Choice of Paella (Valenciana, Negra, Marinera)
Choice of Fish & Chips OR Chicken Fingers OR Alitas de Pollo (Chicken Wings
Soup of the Day
Churros con Chocolate
Houseblend Iced Tea Carafe

Soup of the day: Pumpkin Soup

You know what? I didn't notice this even when we were there at the resto, but the pumpkin soup still had bits of flour in it. It wasn't mixed well enough. Still doesn't change how much I liked it but the texture of the soup could be improved

Iced Tea

Chicken Fingers

Paella Valenciana

Churros con Chocolate

Mwah

Gus and Elissa

I just paid 910 Php for 1889 Php worth of food.

Best thing in this restaurant is the decorations and lighting.  haha

Their paella was okay. It was filling but it was bland. The seafood on top wasn't fresh. The shrimp was obviously frozen as it has the consistency of mush. I was expecting something that tasted better. SMH...  I tasted better paella from Skye Lounge, blog post of that trip coming up soon.

The Chicken Fingers were the bomb, crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
Another menu item I liked was the Pumpkin Soup, it was buttery and rich and warm and delicious.

I'm just a bit torn on the Churros. The churros itself was too oily for me. But the saving grace was the dark chocolate dip. So what I did was cover the churros with the chocolate. That's when it went from bad to sort of okay. :)

Chocolate covered churros

Lastly, I hate how the servers seem to blatantly ignore us. I rarely go anywhere without having a voucher with me and most restaurants are okay with the service even with vouchers. But you just notice that the servers respond better to the other tables compared to our table because we have a voucher. Boooo!

Pros:
Great ambiance
Delicious starter and appetizer
Delicious Chocolate dip for the churros

Cons:
Service could be improved
Oily Churros
Seafood for Paella Valenciana wasn't fresh

Overall: Nope.
Not going back to dine in. But will still buy baked goods.

For me, I'm not really planning on coming back to this place to eat. There are usually two things that get me to come back to a restaurant, one is the taste of the food and two is the serving size. None of these two were met by Dulcinea.

Visited November 12, 2014
Adventurers: +Ma.Elissa Pagulayan +Ana Carla Pagulayan +Gus Ramirez

Dulcinea
G/F Greenbelt 1, Greenbelt Drive
Ayala Center, Makati
(02) 817-7074