Finally, a week  after the Top 6 Christmas Wishlist entry came out, we will now know who will be NomNom Club’s 2009 Best Christmas Wishlist Bl0g.

From among the 25 entries last December 2009, “My Shrubbish Nomnomlicious Wishlist“ wins as NomNom Club’s 2009 Best Christmas Wishlist Blog!

Congratulations to John Paul Vergoni of Kompyuter Sayantist for his entry “My Shrubbish Nomnomlicious Wishlist“.

First (1st) Runner-up is ‘”My Christmas 2009 Wishlist” by Edelweiza Mabalay from  “The Life of a Breadwinner.”

Second (2nd) Runner up is “My Grownup Christmas List” by Ria Tirazona from”Daydream Believer“.

Thanks you to Ia Lucero who helped us in the very hard judging process. Ia is a fellow writer, blogger, and a respected web designer in the online community. See more details of her work at Stellify.net

The grand winner brings home the limited edition Starbucks USB flash drive. The second and third placer each gets an authentic Starbucks cap and lace (instead of the earlier announced gift certificates). Wait for the confirmation email in your inbox within this week where your valid Philippine address will be requested for shipping purposes.

Again, congratulations to all winners and participants. I hope you would join our succeeding contests in the future.

Stay tuned to Nomnom Club‘s food adventures and contests by subscribing to our email feed and Facebook Fanpage.

Hopefully we could have another Christmas Wishlist contest for 2010 come December. 🙂

Via Mare Restaurant

When I refer to something as ‘expensive‘, it does not necessarily pertain to the high price alone.

When it comes to food, I consider the value through the balance of  quantity, quality, and preparation involved. Simply said, ‘is it worth your buck‘?

As a supposed branch specialty, I decided to try out Via Mare‘s Bulalo from their SM Mall of Asia branch.

Via Mare Interiors, SM Mall of Asia

Bulalo is one of my favorite stew dish so I was anticipating  to try Via Mare’s version. The menu says P400 ($9). It’s not cheap, but I assumed it’s a big bowl enough for at least two.

Come serving time, it was indeed a big bowl with some vegetables and 2 corn cub slices. I excitedly got the meat part first but it wasn’t as soft as a bulalo should. The soup is just so-so and almost half of the meat serving is ‘litid‘ (ligament).

Bulalo @ P400

I’d just like to clarify though that the bulalo was not that bad, it was average. It juat wasn’t at par with my expectations – which was the problem because I expected more from Via Mare who prepares good Bibingka Galapong and is one of the established restaurant brands in the Philippines.

I guess it was just a bad night for the bulalo. 🙂