Blogging Miles Around the Metro

And the doughnut invasion continues.

Krispy Kreme’s third store opens at 9 AM on June 28 at the Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan! It’s going to be the first free-standing store in the Philippines, as well as the first drive-thru outlet in Asia. Check out their exciting gimmicks for the grand opening day:

• First customers to ring the cash register for dine-in and drive-thru will each win a FREE ONE-YEAR SUPPLY of Original Glazed doughnuts, one dozen per week!
• For drive thru: SIX MONTHS SUPPLY of Original Glazed doughnuts for the second customer, and THREE MONTHS SUPPLY for the third customer, one dozen per week!
• First 300 customers get a FREE NOVELTY ITEM (I wonder what this is)!
• SURPRISE CELEBRITY GUESTS will man the drive-thru on opening day (yesss, imagine being served by…Piolo Pascual?!)!
• The KRISPY KREME OPENING DAY CAR STICK-ON sounds like an interesting gimmick. Customers who drive-thru ith the special sticker on their windshield are entitled to a free Signature Coffee on a dozen doughnut purchase. So…where do we get these stickers? Show up on opening day and find out.

Hmm. I’ve never tried their Signature Coffee.
But I have tried their Original Glazed doughnuts, and they’re pretty good, though I only have a maximum eating capacity of 2 doughnuts. Hehe. I’m sure they’d be great with coffee though. Yum.

Hop on over to Greenhills on the morning of the 28th. Who knows, you might be the lucky one to get a dozen doughnuts per week for a year (your officemates will love you).

Photo courtesy of www.pdphoto.org.

Popularity: 83% [?]

Ever since I got back from Japan, I’ve had this hankering for some okonomiyaki. Before I returned to Bangkok I made sure I got the intel on where to find the best okonomiyaki in Bangkok from a Japanese friend I met there. So last weekend I ended up gouging on some of the finest okonomiyaki at Kizahashi, a fine and medium range Japanese eatery.

Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き, Okonomiyaki^?) is the japanese version of the pancake cooked with various ingredients. Okonomi means “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki means “grilled” or “cooked” (cf. yakitori and yakisoba); thus, the name of this dish means “cook what you like, the way you like”.

If you’re ever in Bangkok, download the guide below for some okonomiyaki:

Download the guide to Kizahashi cafe-de-bangkok-okonomiyaki.tif

Popularity: 20% [?]

Not.  But when I did see an announcement on an email list I belong to, announcing a free breakfast for those who would like to blog about the experience, I responded immediately.  ☺

For those uninitiated to the ways of Philippine dining, Max’s Restaurant is a fixture on our country’s gastronomical landscape.  Famous for its fried chicken, they also serve a diverse sampling of traditional Philippine cuisine, from our lumpia (spring rolls), to pancit (noodles) to halo-halo (a cold desert of fruit preserves, beans, custard, milk and crushed ice).  The restaurant was born after the Second World War, beginning as a café that catered to American GIs.  From a simple menu, their offerings expanded as the restaurant’s popularity grew.  Today, Max’s Restaurant has branches all over the Philippines, and has gone as far as opening branches in California, USA.

Breakfast was a hearty affair.  Armed with gift certificates care of Blooey of Ang INK, Bern and I trooped to Max’s Katipunan and ordered their new breakfast meals.  For your information, Max’s now opens at 7 AM, and offers breakfast meals (apart from their all-day breakfast combos) until 10 AM.  Bern had the beef tapa (sliced beef marinated in a mixture of spices), which was served with slices of tomato, two eggs (sunnyside up), garlic rice, pickled papaya gratings (which we call atchara) and a cup of coffee.  I had tocino (cured pork), which was served with the same side dishes.  I couldn’t speak for Bern, but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy her meal.  The tocino was excellent, the sweetness just right, and the pork tender.  The price of each meal is around one hundred twenty to one hundred and fifty pesos (from a bit over two dollars to three dollars).

The waiters were attentive, though our orders did take time in reaching us.  Since Bern and I were mooching on a free meal, we patiently waited, as person after person walked into the restaurant, clutching gift certificates for free breakfasts.  I’m quite sure that for Max’s Katipunan, that must have been their busiest morning ever.

With good breakfast offerings for reasonable prices, it does look like Max’s can confidently open to busy mornings from now on.

Photo is of Yelle’s yummy tocino meal, shot with Bern’s photographer’s eye with Yelle’s mobile phone cam.  Thanks again to Blooey for the gift certificates.

Popularity: 22% [?]