Entries Tagged 'Affairs' ↓

The rainy season really hampers the mood specially for a travel and food blogger like me. With the Philippines’ incessant rain and typhoons from the middle part of the year onwards, my traveling is restrained and food escapades limited.

Visiting Mercato Centrale

The last time I went to Mercato Centrale in July, I was soaked in a heavy rain shower going back home. But these are the sacrifices you make for good food and indulging experiences. Night or day, I love Mercato. With the unique and varied choices of delicacies offerred by the foodie stalls, each visit can be as unique as your pallate can take.

On the other hand, the rainy season can really spoil a Mercato Centrale experience.

Heaven Sent City Delivery

We all know that the concept of food delivery is nothing new. But I never thought a group of small foodie businesses could actually come together and get themselves a food delivery partner.

It’s a simple but bright idea. Lightbulb!

City Delivery Delivery Boy

I don’t have to drag my sleepy head on a cold bed weather weekend morning. I’d just have to call on City Delivery’s hotline number 87878. Or if you want to experience Mercato Centrale delivery online, check their website at  http://CityDelivery.ph or their Facebook page where it says City Delivery is a “multi-restaurant delivery service…we let our customers experience the world on their plates with an impressive array of cuisines from the city’s prime restaurants and other food establishments.”

Currently, for a minimum order of Php500 and a delivery fee and 10% Delivery charge,they deliver to the residents of the following areas: Alabang, Greenhills, Las Pinas City, Makati City, Mandaluyong City, Manila City, Marikina City, Muntinlupa City, Ortigas, Paranaque City, Pasay City, Pasig City, Quezon City, and The Fort.

The cap is a little high for an individual delivery but I guess it fits more for group or family order so the P500 minimum delivery is not a problem. I owe all these realization from Mel who asked me if I could feature them here at NomNom Club. And so, now, here it is! I never knew beforehand that I could have stuff from Mercato delivered at the comfort of my home. 🙂

Please keep in mind the advance and real-time ordering scheme:

• Weekdays: Advanced ordering (2 days in advance depending on the merchant)
• Weekends: Real time ordering (9AM-­‐2PM)

Moreover, I was told that current participating establishments are the following:

• 

  Manang's Chicken

  Bale Dutung

• Big Bob’s
• Chuck’s Grubberie
• Homemade Ravioli
• Manang’s Chicken
• Merry Moo
• Mochiko
• Spring by Ha Yuan

I hope more will join in the near future so that consumers can have more choices.

Although my top pick is the ever-famous Bale Dutung, I haven’t tried Manang’s Chicken either. With a recommendation form Mel, I decided to give their signature chicken a try.

Manang's Chicken from Mercato Centrale through City Delivery

Rice almost gone but there are still 2 chicken!

Mel didn’t fail me as Manang’s Chicken was good as well. The white meat was tender and I cannot let go of the sinful chicken skin made tastier by the SAUCE.

I just had to put it in all caps; you would know why after trying Manang’s Chicken yourself.

🙂

In my next City Delivery order, no one can stop me from having one of Pampanga’s best – Bale Dutung by by Chef Claude Tayag!

🙂

Mercato Centrale at the Comfort of your Homes with City Delivery

Thank you City Delivery, it’s Mercato goodness, rain or shine!

I was excited to have the privilege of visiting Gardenia’s bread factory yesterday. The Philippines’ top brand in delicious and healthy breads conducted a bloggers’ plant tour for food and lifestyle bloggers. Interestingly, their plant is located along Star Avenue, LIIP Mamplasan, Biñan, Laguna, which is also from the south and near my place in Batangas.

Mr. Nestor Constancia

In the first part of the program, Mr. Nestor Constancia (Marketing and Sales Manager), shared Gardenia’s history and distribution system. We also watched a short AVP about the company’s processes and fully-automated machines. QAF Limited through Gardenia International Pte. Ltd. established Gardenia Bakeries Philippines Inc. In 1997 and started construction of its bakery plant in Laguna Industrial Park (LIIP), Biñan, Laguna. Operation started in 1998 with the state-of-art bread factory rated as one of the most modern large scale bread manufacturing facility in the country. Its highly-automated and major equipments come from bakery suppliers from Germany, Holland, UK and USA.

Gardenia Bread

Moreover, it now has the largest distribution network in the baking industry covering the whole Luzon archipelago; eastern and some western parts of Visayas including Mindoro, Panay, the Negros islands, and Samar; and even as far away as Mindanao. Their efficient distribution system utilizes a fleet of company-owned feeder and delivery vans, as well as the public Roll-On-Roll-Off (RORO) nautical highway system.

Afterwards, we began our plant tour. Once you enter the plant area, you’ll hear a recorded voice-over explaining the processes of each machine in each station. Here is the step-by-step procedures:

1.    Ingredient Preparation

Ingredient Preparation

2.    Sponge Mixing

Sponge Mixing

3.    Fermentation

Fermentation

4.    Dough Mixing

Dough Mixing

5.    Dividing

Dividing

6.    Rounding

Bread Rounding

7.    Intermediate proofing

Intermediate Proofing

8.    Moulding

Moulding

9.    Final Proofing

Final Proofing

10.    Baking

Baking of the Breads

11.    Depanning

Depanning

12.    Cooling (Top Photo)

13.    Slicing

Gardenia Bread Slicing

14.    Automatic Bagging

Automatic Bagging

15.    G-lock

G-lok / G-lock System

16.    Metal Detectors

Metal Detectors (staples) 😛

17.    Distribution

Gardenia Bread Distribution

It was an awesome sight to see the actual breads being made before you eyes, way beyond what the AVP can share.  However, we had to view it from a higher angle in an enclosed and air-conditioned viewing section intended for visitors. This is to maintain the quality standards of the factory.

A bread making demo using Gardenia breads, of course, and an open forum with Gardenia officers including Mr. Simplicio P. Umali Jr. (President & General Manager), Mr. Nestor E. Constancia (Marketing & Sales Manager), Ms. Cristina P. Domondon (Manufacturing Manager), Ms. Thea Tan (Marketing Manager), Ms. Merlie Barcelos (QA Manager), and Ms. Aine De Guzman (Nutritionist) followed the interesting plant tour.

Gardenia Plant Tour with the Bloggers

Let me give you some interesting points I learned from the open forum with the officers and this Gardenia Plant Tour experience:

• Gardenia delivers round-the-clock (24-hours) to ensure all convenience stores (or mini-stores) receive freshly baked breads everyday.
•  Gardenia uses a “G-lock’/’G-lok’ system that is distinguished with a color-coded scheme so that it will be easy to locate, open, and re-seal. The plastic clip also indicates the best before date as well as its retail price.
• Upon suggestion of the a guest, Gardenia may consider having a no-crust (edges) bread product in the future. But this merits a prior careful study and a lot of considerations including maintaining the quality of the bread.
•  Gardenia exerts efforts to be the environment-friendly by collecting old/left-over stocks of bread and gives them to fisheries for feeding.
• Gardenia incorporates big advertising banners and  posters on each company owned-feeder and delivery vans as a way of effective advertising in the field.
• It was also interesting to know that Gardenia is open to beneficiaries and discussions with charitable event/institutions in need of bread products.

Open Forum with Gardenia Officers

As their tagline “OH I LOVE GARDENIA! So good… You can even eat it on its own!” (masarap kahit walang palaman) suggests, Gardenia maintain its promise of providing the best quality breads to Filipinos in all possible aspects – freshly baked at all times, smells good, tastes even better, feels soft, and of course, nutritious.

It was an educational Gardenia Plant Tour experience indeed! For more info, you may visit the Gardenia website at http://www.gardenia.com.ph, ‘like’ their page on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and watch their videos on YouTube.

*Contributed by Shekinah Armenta

It’s not the ususal SM Savemore grocery opening you know. With a number of SM Savemore stores opening stores around the Philippines, what makes this particular launch in Sta. Ana Manila unique is its first-of-a-kind facade and environment-conscious efforts.

SM Savemore Sta. Ana Grand Opening: (from left) Jojo Tagbo, VP for operations of Savemore; Manila City Councilor Honey Lacuna – Pangan; celebrity guest Bayani Agbayani; 2010 Ms. Earth winners Miss Earth Air Victoria Shchukina of Russia; Miss Earth Water 2011 Wattsaporn Wattanakon of Thailand; and reigning Miss Earth Nicole Faria of India; celebrity guest Sunshine Cruz; Felicidad Sy; Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim; Sta. Ana Heritage Board chairman Vilma Labrador; Parish Priest Andrew Litigio of Our Lady of Abandoned; and SM Supermarket president Herbert T. Sy.

Out-of-the-Box Facade

You might be used to the usual box-type yellow SM Savemore shops, SM Savemore Sta.Ana is the first to incorporate a cultural aspect to the design and architecture. It now looks more Asian in design and blends with the local community.

Environment-Conscious

The original lot has as longstanding Dita Tree which is more than 200 years old. SM Savemore decided to preserve and take care of the tree as a local community heritage. In fact, almost a third of the total land area was alotted for an open courtyard area with the Dita Tree at its center.

Different Facade Design from other SM Savemore Stores

International Miss Earth 2011 Winners Posed with the Dita Tree in Background

Young Narra Trees (lower left of previous photo) were also symbolically planted by International Miss Earth winners Nicole Faria of India, Miss Earth Air Victoria Shchukina of Russia and Miss Earth Water 2011 Wattsaporn Wattanakon of Thailand at the back part of the building facing the river. It also serves as customer parking lot.

P50 WHole Chicken Pormo

A ground structure (left of 4th photo) was also preserved and made into a showcase area. It is said to be an old relic (various structure) of an old wine cellar usually referred to as ‘bahay na bato‘ which has been there for hundreds of years. These are the commitment made by Savemore to the Sta. Ana community towards the preservation of its heritage.

These are all in addition to Savemore’s ongoing commitment to the environment where trademark SM Food Retail Group’s reusable Greenbag are used. The Greenbags now comes in green, blue and black, with various designs that shoppers can choose from starting at P10 each (aside from the points gained by SM Advantage cardholders).

The Program

The celebration was started by the ceremonial ribbon cutting with guests led by Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim.

Manila City Mayor Alfredo Lim (rightmost) with SM Executives and Guests

Miss Earth winners also graced the event and went on an actual grocery shopping of their own.

Miss Earth 2011 Winners Grocery Shopping

Celebrities Sunshine Cruz and Bayani Agbayani were also present at the event. They are Sta.Ana residents themselves.

Sunshine Cruz & Bayani Agbayani (left); SM Savemore Staff Dancing in the Opening

Here are some photos of the actual grocery inside embodied with the concept of neighborhood convenient shopping at affordable prices.:

SM Savemore Grocery Items

Magnolia Ice Cream and Fresh Fruits / Goods Section

This is actually just the first of SM Savemore Markets with a unique facade as they approach different provinces where the community’s history and culture will also be highlighted.

Latte Art fun on a Sunday! Figaro is currently hosting their company-wide Figaro Latte Art Competition 2011 and we’re live blogging ’em from Figaro Emerald branch.

On it’s third year, the Figaro Latte Art Competition is participated by 28 branches this year, both from company-owned branches and franchisees. It aims to enhance the barista’s latte art design skills and to foster camaraderie among the different barista representatives.

Below are some of NomNom’s favorite among the 28 entries in the elimination round. For the complete set of 28 entries, check out NomNomClub’s Facebook Fanpage here.

Figaro Latte Art Competition 2011 (Eliminations Round Participant)

Figaro Latte Art 2011 Contestants

Figaro Latte Art Competition 2011 (Eliminations Round Participant)

Figaro Latte Art Competition 2011 (Eliminations Round Participant)

Who’s your bet for the Top 10 that’s going to qualify for the final round? Watch out for the results of the Figaro Latte Art Competition 2011 tomorrow!

And we’re back to thank our ‘reactionary‘ readers! 🙂 Here are our top commenters for the months of April, May and June 2011!

Congratulations to our returning top commenter for April Lariza Garcia,  May winner Jared’s Mum, and new winner Jian Marla for June.

All three would receive surprise gift packs from this Food Blog. Email admin AT NomNomClub.com for details on how to claim. Again, congratulations to the 2011 Q2 top commenters!

The much awaited tradeshow / conference / exhibit by franchised-business hunters is here again – the 10th Filipino Franchise Show 2011. Brought to us by the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. (AFFI), It will be held at the World Trade Center Manila (Philippines) on July 21 to 24, 2011.

An improvement from last year, this year’s Filipino Franchise Show 2011 will be housed in two exhibit halls and will run for four days instead of the usual three. So if you are wanting to start your business, franchised or otherwise, you might like to get some idea which business to target.

Learn the basics and know-how of owning a franchise through seminars and explore almost 300 franchisors. Let the business gurus enrich the entrepreneur in you! Leading brand participants would include Figaro Coffee, Aquabest, Sea Oil, Mang Inasal, Binalot, Fruitas, Reyes Barbecue and Bibingkinitan. Speakers include Randell Tiongson, Susan “Toots” Ople, Carlo Ople, Glenn Yu, Carson Tan, and Miriam Quiambao, among others, who will share their stories as entrpreneurs or as experts in thier respective fields.

10th Filipino Franchise Show 2011

“The 10th Filipino Franchise Show will be opened by AFFI’s Board of Directors on July 21 at the World Trade Center. Paulo Tibig AFFI’s president and Ricardo ‘Richie’ Cuna AFFI’s Chairman Emeritus will deliver the keynote address and opening remarks,” according to its website.

To know more about this event, please visit www.affi.com.ph or call the AFFI secretariat at 0917-5182334 /506 8883 / 9000002 loc 121. Judging from last year’s Filipino Franchise Show I have attended, this would be another great event worth visiting. 🙂

The 10th Filipino Franchise Show
July 21 – 24, 2011
World Trade Center Manila, Philippines

This is my first OpenRicers‘ Meet gathering and it was great meeting fellow OpenRicers and food bloggers. It was held at Tender Bob’s in Greenbelt a few weeks ago.

We had a good time and Tender Bob’s dinner was filling. Here are some of my photos taken with Samsung Galaxy S2.

Tender Bob's Salsds and Appetizers

Oriental Chicken Salad

Tender Bob's Steaks and Lagarde Wines

Ice Cream and Sizzling Bread & Butter Pudding for Desserts!

Until the next OpenRice meet! Thanks OpenRice.com and Tender Bob’s.

SM Master Chefs‘ ‘Kitchen Makeover‘ will have five lucky shoppers’ kitchens redesigned and furnished by partner designers. This project will be done in partnership with established designers from the Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID).

The five Interior Designers are IDr. Vianca Añonuevo, IDr. JC Arcega, IDr. Mark Steven Perez, IDr. Joselito Soriano, Jr., and IDr. Anne Marie Christine Lim. The first three are partner interior designers of Empire Designs. The latter two are partners of Soriano-Lim Interior Design.

SM Master Chefs 2011

SM Master Chef 2011
Kitchen Makeover Mechanics

July 1 to October 31, 2011

1.    To join, interested shoppers must submit:

• P500 single receipt purchase, including at least one sponsor item of SM Master Chefs, entitles a customer to join the promo.
• Registration forms will be available at the Customer Service Counter of SM Hypermarket.
• Registration forms must be filled up with his/her complete name, address, age, occupation, contact numbers, signature and a written answer, in 50 words or less, to the question: Why does my kitchen deserve a free makeover?
• Attached at least three (3) clear printed photos of their home kitchen.
• Enclose filled up registration forms and pictures in an envelope and drop on the designated drop boxes at the Customer Service counters of all SM Hypermarket branches.

2.    All entries shall be delivered by the branches to Marketing Head Office at the end of deadline.
3.    There will be a total of five (5) winners of Kitchen Make-Over.
4.    SM Hypermarket Marketing staff shall go through all entries and pick one winner at each judging date.  DTI representative shall be invited to witness the selection of winners.
5.   Winners will be notified via registered mail and phone.
6.    An interior designer shall design a kitchen for the winner. He/she shall also determine the items that will
be used. Items shall be purchased at SM Hypermarket.
7.    The winner should be the owner of the kitchen or if rented, must have written consent of the owner.
8.    Employees of SM Hypermarket, all sponsors, it’s partners, its affiliates, and all companies and individual directly or indirectly connected with SM Hypermarket, its agency Ad Targets, Inc. and their relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity are disqualified from joining the promo.

Control Measures:

All registration forms shall be submitted after the deadline of submission of entries to the marketing office for safekeeping under the custody of the Marketing Manager. A DTI representative will be invited to be present in the determination of winners. Per DTI-NCR Permit No. 4959, Series of 2011

Kitchen Sample Exhibit during the SM Master Chefs Launch

Do you think your kitchen badly needs this makeover? Are you an SM Hypermarket  clientele? Then Join SM Master Chefs’ Kitchen Makeover with PSID interior designers!