Moshi Moshi!

Last week, we decided to lunch at Moshi Moshi, a relatively new Japanese restaurant found in Katipunan. Of course, I’m using the term “restaurant” pretty loosely here — Moshi Moshi is a bit of a cafeteria-style place where you pay as you order, then you’re given a number and wait for your food.

The three of us were joined by one of our interns, Lauren! She’s an incoming Information Design senior at Ateneo. (:

We ordered a bunch of things, and our bill was surprisingly not that expensive! Being easily accessible to students in the Katipunan area (especially Ateneo, since there’s a bridge that connects the building to the campus), the food is priced perfectly for a student’s budget.

The food was gooood! But of course, the food was better when paired with great company. (: Their menu is still expanding, so we’re looking forward to trying out what they’ll have to offer soon — we hear they’ll be having ramen on the menu by June!

A really cute and recent addition to the store were these tiny(!) Disney food play sets! These are typically found in toy stores, but it was such a delight finding them at Moshi Moshi! They sell the small sets for P300 each, which we’ll probably buy later on, haha!

When the place opened last year, one of the things people remember about it was that they sold KitKat in flavors other than chocolate! Moshi Moshi imports them straight from Japan, along with their other desserts like different flavored pudding, and the tiny toys pictured above.

Moshi Moshi is situated on the second floor of Regis Center (the building that houses CBTL and Fully Booked, next to KFC). If you’re looking for affordable and delicious Japanese food, try it out!

Ha Yuan Signatures grand opening

Last Monday, we had the lovely privilege to attend the grand opening of Ha Yuan Signatures at Madison Square Granada!

Ha Yuan Signatures takes off from their main branch, Ha Yuan - The Kitchen (along Mother Ignacia Street), presenting their signature dishes that have been well loved over three generations.

We joined in the blessing of the restaurant, applauded as the ribbons were cut, and picked up coins thrown all over the premises for luck!

We actually had nothing to do with Ha Yuan Signatures in terms of our work. We were graciously invited by one of our clients, Suzy (the wonderful lady in the red flowery dress), and her mother Vangie. We’re currently working on materials for Suzy, but we won’t say anything about that yet, just to keep you excited! We’ll be able to post about it soon, worry not!

While majority of the attendees were family and friends of the owners, we were still very much welcomed to join in the festivities. The staff at Ha Yuan Signatures were very friendly and always came to us with a smile, whether to ask what we would like to drink or to serve us delicious pancit. We were given these really cute pink speckled buns (Tender Blender colors!) for good luck and as a give away! Suzy also gave us these fantastic spicy red fortune cookies that she made herself! We forgot to take a photo of them, as we were all a bit too excited to try them and find out our fortunes, and gobbled them up immediately.

Should you find yourself in the area (and craving for some Chinese food), do drop in and try out what Ha Yuan Signatures has to offer! We promise you won’t be disappointed. (:

Old Oven Art Café

We went on another dinner escapade last Friday and found this place called the Old Oven Art Café also along Katipunan Ext., in the St. Ignatius area.

In the evening, the front door seemed to be hidden in the shadows and I started thinking how we were to get up to the restaurant, but once we found it and pulled the door open, we were greeted by warm light and a pretty staircase.

The neutral colors and the earthy textures gave the place a nice and cozy ambiance. As the owners want to promote art appreciation, the walls were decked with various works of art that customers are welcome to purchase.

The tables are provided with little puzzles that you can play with while waiting for your food! (:

Kiks & I were surprised with complimentary nachos, which we quite enjoyed. I especially like the cheese sauce, which had a slightly tangy twist. (:

Kiks ordered the Chili German Sausage, which he found very filling, and very delicious! (How could you not, with all that drippy cheese on top?) He notes that the sausage had some of kind of “snap” to it, making all the more delectable.

The fries were also something else! I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the taste is definitely different from other fries! There was this sort of tangy twist to it or something. Well, that’ll be sure to get us coming back!

After our dinner, we were able to chat with the owner, Kaye Torres and we found out that the restaurant only opened last Tuesday! More to our surprise and delight, she told us how in the span of only a few days of being open, she had quite a number of customers coming in, mostly from Ateneo.

So if you’ve got a craving for gourmet sandwiches, be sure to check out Old Oven Art Café! Tasty and affordable, all in a cozy little restaurant — how could you go wrong with that?

Food Camp - Tracy’s first burger

Last Saturday, Kiks, some friends, and I went to have dinner at Food Camp. Food camp is a small burger joint located along Katipunan Extension, right beside (the first) Banapple.

We were able to talk to the owner, Binbong, and ask him about his restaurant. We found out that while this was his only branch at the time, he’s gotten customers who come to his little burger restaurant all the way from Laguna! Talk about good word of mouth!

To start, we ordered their Mozzarella Bombs (because I absolutely looove mozzarella), and a chocolate milkshake, and we weren’t disappointed. Not only were they both delicious, but the affordable price (just P99 for an order of the Mozzarella Bombs, and around P70 for the milkshake) made it all the more worth it.

Before I talk about my main meal, let me first stress that I am not a burger person — I have never eaten a burger in my life. By burger, I mean a beef patty in between two slices of bread, with cheese, lettuce, sauce, and whatever else that comes with a burger.

Okay. So that day, I decided to try a burger for the very first time in my life. I ordered the Charlie with a single patty (you are free to order a burger with more patties — one guy even ordered a 10-patty burger! INTENSE) — up until now, I cannot understand how they manage it, but there’s mozzarella inside the patty! That was kind of what got me to order the Charlie. This is served with potato wedges on the side making it your classic “burgers & fries”.

To be frank, it was really tasty! Pretty good for my first burger experience. They were very generous with the barbecue sauce and cheese, and the burger was enooormous, at least for a tiny girl like me. We also told that the buns are always fresh, lasting not more than 3 days on the shelf. The bread appears pretty heavy, but it’s actually very light and fluffy, making the taste in your mouth more of burger than bread.

To top everything off, the boys had a small order of nachos. Mr. Binbong told us about how he found out that his nachos were among the Top 10 nachos in Manila on Spot.ph from a customer who had randomly congratulated him on ranking number 4 on the list. :D

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For those who enjoy great burgers and sandwiches, we highly recommend Food Camp! Tasty and affordable, how can you ever go wrong with that? Food Camp is also opening their new branch in Pasig tomorrow, October 22, 2011! Like them on Facebook!

And as their tagline says, It’s all goood!

Crazy Katsu

Hallo, Tender loves! Kiks & I had dinner with our friend Teptep at this tiny new Japanese place called Crazy Katsu along Maginhawa, and I have to say that I adore the place. (:

Check out that weird albeit eccentric wooden wall decor! It really caught my attention and I just had to take a photo. Since, you know, it’s pretty weird but kind of cool.

I also love all the wooden tables and seats. (: Notice that menu on the table. See how very few items there are on it? It’s actually one of the things we liked about the place. It made picking out what we wanted to have for dinner quicker and easier.

I like the shiny silverware, especially the tiny dessert spoon.

I ordered the Tonkatsu, Kiks had the Katsudon, and we all shared the pudding, which is basically leche flan that’s slightly less sweet.

The service was quick, the staff was friendly, the place was nice, and the food was very affordable! If you’re looking for a nice, homey and relaxed atmosphere, or a change from all the other big-time Japanese restaurants, try out Crazy Katsu. (: