Write Your Giving Journey w/ The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Giving Journal

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Giving Journal 2017 edition is out! And this year, the brand ups its charitable efforts by making its Giving Journal more than just a vehicle for helping the less fortunate, but a tool to help their customers get into their culture of sharing. Continue reading →

Apple Pie in a Glass

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) is celebrating the start of the holiday ‘BER‘ months with a new beverage that is sure to make you feel very warm and cozy. Get ready for the Honey Apple Chai Tea Latte!

Continue reading →

“Mondays Made Better” with CBTL

Mondays need not be dragging as Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) aims to make your week starter better with their Mondays Made Better promo!

Continue reading →

Overflow: The CBTL 2015 Giving Journal

The CBTL 2015 Giving Journal is more than just a set of premium paper held together up for collection. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf made sure it “overflows” with generosity – both for it’s customers and for the Real LIFE foundation.

Continue reading →

Beyond Ordinary @ the New 26th St. Bistro by CBTL

26th Bistro CBTL

26th Bistro CBT

More commonly known as ‘CBTL’, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf turns 50 this 2013 with an extraordinary celebration. Going beyond being the pioneer of the original ice blended drinks and the first to offer tea lattes, CBTL recently unveiled its latest unique dining concept by the name “26th St. Bistro by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf”.

Dipping its fingers into the full-service restaurant industry, CBTL intends to deliver ‘#everydayextraordinary’ dining experiences to its customers through its everyday meals that are of high quality while maintaining affordable prices.

Salmon Fishcake

Salmon Fishcake

The #EverydayExtraordinary Dinner

This is exactly what we experienced last week when NomNom Club was invited together with a long table full of food writers and bloggers. We got to try taste-sized servings of some of the best of what their menu has to offer, from soup to dessert.

Salmon Fishcakes with Greens

We started with a medium-sized salad plate of Salmon Fishcakes with Greens (P345). The basic mixed greens was complemented well with the balsamic vinaigrette while the pan-fried Norwegian salmon cakes with smoked paprika aioli beside it was cooked just right.

I started the meal right as it turned out later on that this was my favorite dish of the night.

Salmon Fishcakes with Greens

Salmon Fishcakes with Greens

Wild Mushroom Soup

The appetizer was followed by a good serving of Wild Mushroom soup (P225). I’m not so much a fan of mushroom soups but this one was good. It’s flavorful concoction was due to the fact that it was a combination of button, portobello, and shiitake mushrooms. The latter dominated the taste.

Wild Mushroom Soup

Wild Mushroom Soup

Tiger Prawn & Shiitake Mushroom Linguine

The entrees was started by the Tiger Prawn & Shiitake Mushroom Linguine (P395) which is a white sauce-based linguine pasta served with seared tiger prawns and shiitake mushrooms. I love prawns and needless to say, the dish was gone in a dash.

Hanging Tender Steak with Potato Gratin & Marsala

From light to heavy, the second dish – Hanging Tender Steak with Potato Gratin & Marsala (P475) – will fill your craving for meat as the pan-roasted steak was fork-tender. Completing the dish was potato gratin and marsala sauce on the side.

Hanging Tender Steak with Potato Gratin & Marsala

Hanging Tender Steak with Potato Gratin & Marsala

Chocolate Lava a la Mode

Chocolate Lava a la Mode

Chocolate Lava a la Mode

With the series of good food, my expectations for my well-anticipated dessert/s was high. Sadly, similar to another food blogger across the table, it fell short as we expected the Chocolate Lava a la Mode (P235) to be more moist with some actual ‘chocolate lava’ at the center.

Nonetheless, the chocolate cake was generally ‘ok,’ The others had the apple crumble a la mode.

Breakfast. Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks

The 26th St. Bistro by The CBTL caters to the whole day foodie from breakfast to lunch and dinner, including in between snacks and coffee. The restaurant is brimming with yuppies and executives from surrounding buildings and offices around Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

Pepper being added to the Tiger Prawn & Shiitake Mushroom Linguine

Pepper being added to the Tiger Prawn & Shiitake Mushroom Linguine

For breakfast, I’d like to try the following soon: Toblerone Pancakes with Salted Caramel and Peach Stuffed French Toast, savory Steak & Eggs and Smoked Salmon Florentine, and the Tapsilog-inspired Filipino breakfast served with U.S. Angus Beef Tapa and Baked Pesto Tomato.

The lunch and dinner menu has a selection of light and heavy salads, soups, pastas and entrees including Spinach and Blue Cheese Farfalle, Slow Roasted Braised Beef Short Ribs, and Lamb Chops with Ratatouille and Rosemary Marble Potatoes.

They also have an expanded range of sandwiches including the vegetarian option Portobello Mushroom Ciabatta.

For desserts, I look forward to trying the Pannacotta Sampler paired with a cup of hot African Sunrise tea, the decadent Turtle Pie, Apple Crumble ala mode, and any of the ChicagoBlueberryTobleroneTriple Decker family of cheesecakes in my next visit.

Of course they also serve the signature CBTL coffee and tea beverages plus imported wines and beers.

The 26th St. Bistro distinguishes itself from the usual Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf branches with its larger and more comfortable dining area, as expected from a full-service restaurant. The ambiance is also upscale while maintaining the relaxed atmosphere.

#EverydayExtraordinary @ 26th St. Bistro by The Coffee Bean & Tea

#EverydayExtraordinary @ 26th St. Bistro by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

26th St. Bistro by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
26th St. corner 5th Avenue
Bonifacio Global City
Twitter/Instagram: @CBTLph

Everyday Extraordinary Colors of the CBTL

Everyday Extraordinary Colors of the CBTL

Join their tagline and share your #everydayextraordinary experience in Facebook, Twitter or Instagram whenever you visit the 26th Street Bistro. They also have a branch for those in the Ortigas business district at the East Wing, 5th Level of the Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

Restaurants at the Ayala Triangle Gardens

The Ayala Triangle Gardens was then just a garden behind the business-heavy Makati Stock Exchange within the Makati Central Business District. But in the recent months, Ayala Land developed it further and now morphed into a leisure park complemented with a line of restaurants and dining places to enjoy – chat with a friend, nourish oneself after a healthy jog, or simply binge to your heart’s content. 🙂

Ayala Triangle Gardens

Ayala Triangle Gardens

And indeed, I got the chance to somewhat ‘binge‘ a few weeks ago with friends. This was actually my second time at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. My first was a dinner of authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice at the famous Wee Nam Kee from Singapore. And after that night, I swore to be back and try the other restaurants.

And so it was. This time, I made sure I came earlier, which was in the afternoon.

Banapple

Similar to a famous food blog, dessert comes first. We took it the other way around and first indulged in Banapple. Aside from the usual Banapple Pie, we also had their in-season cake – Banana Starry-berry Custard Cheesecake.

Banapple

Banapple

BonChon Original Chicken

Next stop was Bon Chon. We got a small order each of the Korean chicken wings in soy garlic (non-spicy) and of course, the ‘Hot & Spicy one. They took care of the latter while I feasted on the former.

BonChon Chicken

BonChon Chicken

A small order of 6pcs. cost P185 while a medium order (12pcs) is P365. They also have drumsticks, chicken combo and chicken chops. In any variant, you’ll love the different crunch of the interestingly-breaded chicken skin.

Pho 24

It’s Vietnamese food, and I am most delighted with the traditional Vietnamese Pho Noodle Soup served to us. Complete with condiments served on the side, it included beansprout (taw-ge) and lemon slices, among others. The soup was both filling and internally refreshing as common in most oriental soup.

PHO 24

PHO 24

If you want to make it more exciting to taste, you can also add some Sriracha Hot Chili sauce by the table side.

* Expect a dedicated blog post on what else we had on each of my Banapple, BonChon, and Pho24 experiences. 🙂

Almost all the restaurants offered an open al fresco dining experience facing the greens of Ayala Triangle Gardens.

MOMO Cafe & CBTL Soon!

MOMO Cafe & CBTL Soon!

Chef Laudico's BFast

Chef Laudico's BFast

Other restaurants include Amici, Cara Mia, Omakase, and Chef Laudico’s Bfast for an all-day breakfast menu. There were some shops which are stilll under construction though. But it won’t be long before we can try Momo Café, my darling Kanin Club, C.B.D., and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL).

Golden Spoon

Golden Spoon

Next on my restaurant list when I come back at the Ayala Triangle Gardens is Golden Spoon for their frozen yogurt delights. I’ll be bringing a ‘golden fork‘ to complete the pair. 🙂

3 Food Tours in 7 Days

It all started last Saturday, April 24 with the B.G.C Summer Passion Fest 2010 Food Tour at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig with renowned food and culture guide Ivan Man Dy lead the BGC food tour.

It was followed by a personal impromptu Tagaytay trip turned Tagaytay food tour three days later (April 27 & 28).

And now, I’m on the first day of the three-day Davao Food Appreciation Tour (DFAT) here in, where else – Davao City.

Yes, I didn’t realize it until today. In a span of seven days, I’ve been to three food tours across the Philippines while I’m now on the third one in Davao.

More details on NomNom‘s foodie adventures for the whole month of May from this three foodie escapades.

Good News

For now, check this out as the aforementioned Bonifacio High Street Food Tour has a part 2 tomorrow – May 1, 2010. Come and join tomorrow as it is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. Walk-in registrants start 1pm. Event proper starts 2pm.

Briefly, last week, we had desserts at Sonja’s Cupcakes and Miss Desserts. This was followed by the main course in Sao. We also went to Pasto, Yoh-gurt Frost, and The Establishment. This week’s line up would be different with new restaurant-participants and some of the spots repeating.

Be prepared for Polu Kai, Italianni’s, Stock Market, Ice Cream Bar, Trio and Amber.

The registration concierge B8 along Bonifacio High Street is located near the front of Coffee Bean Tea Leaf BHS Branch. Tell the reception you were invited through NomNomClub and Ivan Man Dy. Again do take note that slots are limited and is available on a first come first serve basis.

*Photo from http://www.ayalaland.ph/article/bgc_passionfest2010 used for event promotion purposes.

Have a fun and stomach-filling PassionFest BGC Food Tour.