Entries Tagged 'Promos / Events' ↓

We were able to witness the soft opening of the new SM Supermarket Aura a few days ago at the lower ground floor of the similarly newly opened SM Aura Premier in Taguig, SM Supermalls‘ 47th mall.

SM Aura Premier

Inevitably, together with my wife, we satisfied our foodie curiosity with the new supermarket and went around to see what they have to offer.

Fresh Every Day!

So I wore my “cart- pusher” hat/role which I earned since I got married a few months back while wifey does the actual grocery shopping. 😛

Interestingly, the new SM Supermarket Aura is pretty big at 9,300 sqm floor space and has several interesting new sections compared to other SM groceries we frequent. We do our weekly grocery shopping at SM Supermakret North Edsa since we live near Munoz.

Fruits & Veggies

Ready-To-Eat Food Stalls

It has the usual sections on bread, health & beauty, fruits and veggies, poultry, seafood, meat, and frozen goods, among others. But they also has new and surprising ones.

Here are the new sections and discoveries we saw which made it to our ‘10 Reasons Why SM Supermakret Aura is a Grocery Haven‘ list :

Wine & Liquor Section

• Premium Wine & Liquor Section & the P 230K Wine Bottle

On the right side of the entrance are situated stand alone stores such as Watsons, and a couple of ready–to-eat food stalls but the Wine & Liquor section at the right most is obviously bigger and has a wider selection than usual.

Moreover, what caught our attention was a very premium cognac brand by the name of Camus Cuvee 5.150 which costs P 230,000 for one bottle beside other similarly premium wine bottles on display. It is the highlight of a masterpiece collection of 5 Camus Cognacs aged 22-37 years minimum by  Cyril Camus celebrating 150 years of family tradition.

Camus Cuvee Cognac 5.150 worth P230,000 !

We later came to know that this is the only SM Supermarket so far to carry this line of expensive wine and that the aforementioned Camus Cuvee is one of the only two bottles in the Philippines!

Buy 1 Take 1 Gardenia Bread at only P57!

• Chateau de France

On the other end of the supermarket is a bigger bread section as well which greets customers from the left side entrance.

Chateau de France will be your bread at first sight. A famous bread line from France, this is Chateau de France second branch in the Philippines with the first one in SM Makati which also just opened a month ago.

You would find French macarons, baguettes, croissants, and quiche, among others from their selection.

Chateau de France in the Bakery Section

Moreover, did you know that these French breads and pastries are imported directly from France ‘as is‘ and shipped utilizing cryotechnology to preserve it’s goodness?

• 

  Fruit Carving Section

  Fruit Carving Station + Soup Section

Near the bread section is a small but distinctive stall serving as a fruit carving station. It is a free service to customers who buy fruits from SM Supermarket. This is best suited for businesses in the catering or food service industry which can easily have the fruits carved here.

A little push of the cart further is a  soup stall serving fresh and hot, well, soup!.

Simple as it is, I was surprised seeing it at first but if you are looking for a quick soup-fix in an air-conditioned grocery, this might be worth a try.

Soup Stall

• Organic Products

Aside from the usual fruits and vegetable varieties you would see in an ordinary supermarket, SM Aura Supermarket has a substantial section devoted to fresh organic fruits and vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, papayas, and chico. Packed and canned items for customers on the go are also available.

Organic Vegetables and Root crops

SM Supermarket Aura

Herbs & Spices

Of special interest is the shelf with mushroom varieties I found in the organic section.

I got to chat with Ms. Cherry Lo of Crystal Jade Dining-In at the nearby Bonifacio High Street restaurant a week ago when we tried their dishes. One of which is the “Sauteed Prawn & Scallop with Chicken and Assorted Mushroom Served in Pumpkin“. She mentioned how she gets these very good mushrooms fresh from the generous variety available at the nearby mall Market! Market!.

Mushroom Variety Shelf in SM Supermarket Aura

I guess I could now recommend SM Aura Supermarket mushrooms for her to try one of these days.

• International Shelves

At the center of SM Supermarket Aura are 12 shelves of inviting imported products. Most of the items are from the countries of France, Germany, Japan, US, and Korea.

Asian Imported Goods

Western Goods

Although we focused on buying fresh goods and products for our upcoming house blessing that time, I guess we’ll check out more of the international goods / imported goods in our next visit.

10 Reasons….Part 2 Teaser: Bahay Kubo: Bataw (96/kg) & Patani (392/kg)

NomNom Wifey at the SM Prestige Cashier Counter

This is only the first half of our ‘10 reasons why SM Aura Supermarket is a grocery haven’.

Stay tuned for the second and final installment of our SM Supermarket Aura grocery experience in the next few days!

This is a ‘Yummy’ feast you don’t want to miss! YUMMY Eats, YUMMY magazine’s eating and cooking fair is back on its third year!

To be held this coming Saturday (May 18) at the NBC Tent in Bonifacio Global City, YUMMY Eats is a day filled with non-stop eating as you get to eat your heart out with food samples from all 50 food booths from 10am to 6pm. The last time I went to Yummy Eats was in 2011 and I enjoyed it.

Expect a bigger and better Yummy Eats this year as upcoming food establishments and home bakers will be showcased. The participants are handpicked by the Yummy Magazine editorial team. Mad Meats Bacon, Backyard Burger, and Chez Karine, are just some of them!

Expect to see more Yummy favorites as well like Pepita’s Lecon, Pino, Mochiko, and more! There would also be a series of fun cooking demos, cook-offs and raffle draws.

Yummy Magazine’s Yummy Eats 2013!

Although entrance to YUMMY Eats has a charge of P 200, it will surely be worth it with all the overflowing food and fun activities.

Bring your May issue of YUMMY magazine and get a discounted entrance fee of P 150! You can also pay online through http://www.yummy.ph/yummyeats. Know more about YUMMY’s growing online community at http://www.yummy.ph, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/yummymagazine, and Twitter @yummyph.

See you this Saturday at the biggest and yummiest foodie gathering – Yummy Eats!

KFC Philippines has officially turned over P 7.5 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in their KFC Jupiter branch yesterday.

World Food Programme

As part of the World Hunger Relief campaign, KFC restaurants across the Philippines donated P5 from each of the sale of their Fully Loved Meal from November 1, 2012 to January 17, 2013. Donation through the campaign’s canister program was also another option.

“Shared joy is at the heart of what we are as a brand. The World Food Programme has given us at KFC Philippines a means to share what we have with those who need it most over the last four years. We would like to thank our loyal customers and employees for their generosity…,” shares KFC Philippines General Manager Liza Leah Calma-Juinio.

This  advocacy will support a school feeding programme for central Mindanao providing upto 750,000 school meals.

“WFP is grateful to KFC Philippines and its customers for this contribution, which will support WFP’s local efforts to fight hunger among school children… KFC’s annual donations, made through the World Hunger Relief campaign, are a testament to the company’s very real commitment to our cause of ending hunger,” said WFP Philippines Deputy Country Director Asaka Nyangara.

KFC Fully Loaded Meal

KFC’s contribution is in line with the Yum! Brands World Hunger Relief campaign, the world’s largest private sector hunger relief effort spanning more than 120 countries, which KFC Philippines has participated in since 2009.

*Top photo: (middle) Mr. Dipayan Bhattacharyya – Head-Food Security, World Food Programme; (rightmost)  Mr. Restituto B. Macuto – Director III, Disaster Risk Reduction & Response Operation Office, Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Know more about KFC and the United Nations World Food Programme on Twitter @KFCPhilippines and Facebook page www.facebook.com/kfcphilippines.

No, it’s not your favorite British comedy television program that continues to make you laugh even if you’ve watched it for 10x already. 🙂 It’s the Philippine franchise of Mr. Bean from Singapore!

Mr. Bean Eastwood Mall

Mr. Bean is a famous soya chain brand in Singapore serving healthy and fresh soya milk, creative ice blended soya drinks, chilled taho, and more.

In the Philippines, Mr. Bean has been here since last year and they’re celebrating the 1st anniversary of their first branch in Alabang Town Center today. They have since expanded with three more branches in Eastwood Mall in Quezon City, Lucky Chiantown Mall in Manila, JP Morgan Net Plaza Building, and in McKinley Venice Piazza in Taguig by June 2013.

Mr. Bean Eastwood

Yesterday, me and my wife were able to try for the first time the best of what Mr. Bean has to offer in their Eastwood Mall branch.  They invited us over in advance for their anniversary promos we will discuss in a while.

Classic Soya (Cold)

We were able to try the cold classic soya milk as a refreshing treat from walking inside the mall. The regular size costs P55 while the large one is P65. I suggest you get the regular one, unless you decide to share it with someone, since I find the regular cup already filling enough.

If you’re a bit more adventurous and wants some flavor with your soya, then you’ve got a myriad of choices among watermelon, papaya, melon, honeydew, and mango from the Fresh Fruity Soya category. (P75-85 for Regular; P85-90 Large)

If you’re not into fruits and want it more icy, you’ve got the classic, strawberry, chocolate, mocha, and lychee variants from the Icy Soya category. (P75-90 for Regular; P85-100 Large)

(Left) Watermelon Fresh Fruity Soya, Classic Milk Soya (cold), Soya Beans (Right) Mr. Bean Pancakes

Lychee Ice Soya (P90 R) with Lychee Pop Add-on (P20)

Lychee Icy Soya + Lychee Pop

Just like the add-ons in milk tea shops, they have pearls, chocolate fudge, caramel fudge, and lychee pop which you can have together with your drinks or any of their products for that matter. It all costs P20 per add-on serving except for the pearls which is P10.

So we tried adding the intriguing Lychee pop which was said to give a light burst of lychee flavor in your mouth since the pearl-like sago ‘pops‘ in your mouth. We added it to the Lychee Icy Soya and the result is pretty interesting.

It reminded me of Figaro’s popping boba which they offer with their milk tea offerings as well. I’m sure the Lychee Pops will click with the kids.

Watermelon Soya

My wife got the watermelon fresh fruity soya (P75 regular). I guess what’s particularly special with Mr. Bean’s soya drinks is that they don’t use syrup. They use fresh fruits and blended it with your soya drink. You’ve got to understand though that the soya have the tendency to dilute the fruit flavors so don’t expect a strong fruit taste. Just like with the watermelon, the soya taste was still the dominant flavor, just with a hint of watermelon; hence the pink color.

Among the three, the Classic Soya Milk is still my most recommended Mr. Bean drink.

The Food – Pancakes!

Cheese Pancake (P60)

If you’re a fan of Japanese pancakes like I do, then Mr. Bean pancakes are for you too!

We got to try the cheese and kaya pancake variants and the latter was a clear winner for me. The cheese pancake actually contains cream cheese which is also good. It’s just that the kaya filling is the traditional Kaya Singaporeans usually have for breakfast. Something like the equivalent  of Filipino’s love for coconut jam.

In fact, I have tried the same kaya pancake from a Mr. Bean store in Singapore when I first visited the country back in August 2008. It was a memorable one because it was my first international trip and the kiosk immediately caught my attention then.

The pancakes also come in peanut butter and chocolate flavors. All costs P60 each.

Kaya Pancakes (P60)

Lastly, it would be interesting to note that the flour they use for the pancakes is also infused with the same high-quality soya from North America and used in all Mr. Bean branches in Singapore and other countries including the Philippines.

Soy Ice Cream (P80/cup)

Soy Ice Cream

One of the  surprises for me yesterday was the soy ice cream! Yes, a soft-serve ice cream made out of soya. I was informed that it is the first and so far the only soya based soft-served ice cream in the Philippines. It costs P80 per cup.

It has so great a concept-potential that franchisers are even considering franchising the soya ice cream concept alone! 😛

I was initially skeptical on how it would taste like. I also felt a bit of a rougher texture than the usual soft-serve ice cream we have in the Philippines but the taste grew on me as I took more scoops and finally learned to love it. I guess you have to try it for yourself as well to fully appreciate what I mean. 🙂

Chilled Taho

I thought it was just an ordinary chilled taho in a plastic container. Well, it is, except for the fact that it tasted awesomely great! I mean how much can a plain taho taste like? My concept of the usual taho we got used to in our youth was challenged after tasting Mr. Bean chilled taho (P45 regular, P55 large).

As plain as it looks, it instantly and unexpectedly became my favorite product from Mr. Bean. I later on learned from one of the owners that they use coco sugar infused with the soya. I also suggested that they could easily and interestingly add flavored variants.

Chilled Taho (P45; Also available as hot / classic (P45 R; P55 L)

Mr. Bean 1st Anniversary

Uric Acid Free

After having said all these, if you are old or have gout, you would certainly run away from anything soya-based. Interestingly,  Mr. Bean follows a special de-shelling process to remove ‘purine‘ which is the culprit in producing uric acid. So it is a comfort to know that we can actually bring our old folks over and have them enjoy soya as well.

Happy Birthday Treat

As a treat to its loyal customers and soya lovers on their anniversary, Mr. Bean Philippines is having a price rollback to it’s old menu prices today!

Moreover, the first 40 customers today and tomorrow (May 1 & 2, 2013) who visit any Mr. Bean branches can get to win a free gift of either a puzzle kit or Mr. Bean pin strap.

MrBean Special (P75)

Mr. Bean
Ground Floor (near Activity area)
Eastwood Mall

I’m certainly going back to Mr. Bean. Maybe my wife and I will try the one in JP Morgan Net Plaza Building since we frequent BGC more.

Hot Soya Milk

You would notice that the price range is not cheap for a cup of soya drink or the Japanese pancakes which are similarly available in other shops. But don’t forget either that you are paying for the high-quality ingredients, processes, and good tasting products that Mr. Bean have to offer. As they say, you get what you pay for. 🙂

Aside from the ones we tried from the above menu, I am particularly interested to also try  the Mr. Bean Special (black sesame & peanut rice ball) and the hot version of the Classic Soya Milk in our next visit.

Happy Anniversary to Mr. Bean Philippines!

7-Election GULP Cups

I’ve been itching to publish my article on my senatorial bets for the upcoming Philippine national elections come May 13, 2013. Until that serious post comes to fruition in my other blog, let me settle for a bit fancier and informal one via the 7-Eleven “7-Election Campaign“!

NomNom Club @ 7-Eleven with Lipton Red Tea

Although it started since last month, you still have about two weeks to catch up on the 7-Eleven “7-Election Campaign” fever of choosing your candidates online and preferred parties by simply purchasing a 473ml (16oz) GULP cup and make your vote count!

You have three cup choices:

• Team PNOY
• Team UNA
• Team Independent

The 7-Eleven crew registers your chosen cup in the cashier. On the other hand, you can mock vote for your Senatorial candidates online at 7-election.com.ph. A cup is about P18.

How To Vote:

How else do I show you these unless I try it myself, right? 🙂 So here’s what I did:

How To Vote

1. Go To 7-election.com.ph (connected via Facebook / Twitter)
2. Choose My Senatorial Candidates
3. View the Results

7-Election Cups: (L-R) Team PNOY, Team UNA, Team Independent

My Senatorial Bets. 7 Team PNOY, 2 Team Independent, & 1 Team UNA,  2 more slots open for the 2 more weeks remaining. 🙂

You can also view the results per area from the homepage if you are curious. For lazy people, here’s the link. 🙂

7-Elections Results Board at 7-Eleven Roosevelt/Munoz where we bought our GULP drinks

Online Area Results

Although the 7-Election Campaign is not official (of course), it kind of makes you think and decide as early as now which are your preferred candidates come election day while at the same time having a refreshing drink from 7-Eleven. 😛 Who are your bets?

Eastwood Central Plaza rocked as Oishi claimed a night of music by announcing its very own The Marty’s Band.

Ramon Bautista as Host and judge

Starting from young aspiring musicians from different universities around the Metro submitting their online auditions, the Final 8 proved themselves in deserving their respective spots. The Marty’s Band was after all a creation of the people together with a diverse pool of judges: comedian Ramon Bautista, Rock Ed founder Gang Badoy, actress Saab Magalona, music composer Francis De Veyra and rocker-director RA Rivera.

Marty’s Fancy Guitar

Oishi, maker of Marty’s Cracklin’ vegetarian chicharon spearheaded the event and made sure their tasty crunch was felt having Ramon Bautista as host made it livelier as he drew energy out of the supporters.

Paving the way in announcing the winners was a rocking roster of local bands. But to start things off and to set the night’s tone, the finalist performed their debut song, “Chicharock Chicharoll.” This was intensely followed by Gracenote, Banda ni Kleggy, Ebe Dancel and 6 Cyclemind.

Judges RA Rivera, Gang Badoy and Francis De Veyra (without Saab Magalona)

As the Final 8 were called on-stage, one could see the anticipation in the finalists’ faces knowing that only 4 of them would be part of the Marty’s Band. The prizes lined-up includes P 100,000 each and the full band experience under one of the most reputable band management groups in the industry. The Top 4 would include a vocalist, Lead Guitarist, Bassist and a Drummer. The crowd made sure that their favorite finalists felt the support and possibly what is yet to be their careers.

Oishi Marty’s Crowd

The Marty’s Band

Finally the winners were announced having Sud Ballecer as vocalist (University of Santo Tomas), Nokie Dalangin as Lead Guitarist (De La Salle University), Bam Butalid as Bassist (Asia Pacific College) and Christian Malubay as Dummer (STI). Oishi made the crowd go for an extra O, Wow! moment as Eunice Grace Gatdula (Asia Pacific College) was also announced as a surprise winner and the fifth member of the band, receiving the People’s Choice Award.

Final-8-Martys singing ‘Awit ng Kabataan’

The Marty’s Band Winners- Sud Ballecer (vocals), Eunice Gatdula (peoples choice award), Nokie Dalangin (lead guitarist), Bam Butalid (Bass)

Pedicab

In the end, the final 8 gave their parting words capped by performances from Pedicab and Radio Active Sago Project, the band of their mentor, Francis De Veyra. Kudos to The Marty’s Band!

The food-filled summer weekend food fair is back on it’s 3rd year – Best Food Forward! It will fill your tummies on April 20-21, 2013 at the NBC Tent in Bonifacio Global City.

Opening as early as 10am,  Best Food Forward is expected to house over 6,000 food-lovers in this two-day stint. It will showcase various specialty food stalls, cooking demonstrations, celebrity chefs, showbiz guests, and of course, foodies like you and me!

Best Food Forward 2013

The events’ beneficiary will be the Unang Hakbang Foundation who hosts a weekly feeding for program kids. Chef Bruce Lim will also be doing a cooking demo on Saturday, April 20 at 2pm!

7 Food Stalls to Check Out

• 

  Earl Grey Almond Crips

  Delicakes by Joy

I love 2 things from Delicakes by Joy, the tea-infused pastries Flavored Macarons and the Earl Grey Almond Crips.

The former looks like a fusion of the traditional Filipino macarons and cupcakes which are moist to the taste inside and out. A box of original macaroons box of 12s mini costs P160; the assorted one is P180.

The latter is even better with its crispy texture hihglighted by my favorite almond slivers. It’s not cheap at P150 per 80 grams but the experience eating ’em is worth the amount.

Delicakes by Joy Tea-Infused Macaroon Flavors

• Kalookies

As simple as it looks, these fudge-centered cookies will grab your taste buds at first bite and leave you wanting for more. It comes in 3 flavors too!

Kalookies

• Our Kitchen

Our Kitchen provides varied food offerings but hihglighted their brownies and microwave-ready meal packs.

Our Kitchen Brownies and Meal Packs

• Mrs. Graham’s Bakery

Mrs. Graham’s Bakery has a gamut of macaroon surprises in different flavors.

Mrs. Graham’s Bakery Macaroons

• Kewpie Salad Dressings

And just when you thought, you’ve got ye our favorite salad dressings at home, wait ’til you taste Kewpie Salad Dressings in bottles.

Kewpie Salad Dressings

• Curly Pepitas Magic Drinks and More (Butter Beer)

From the creators of the famous Butter Beer in Mercato Centrale, they came up with new products such as the Speculoos Pulvoron, Speculoos Shake, and Speculoos Milktea

Curly Pepitas Speculoos Variants

• Eat My GF (Garlic Fries)

It’s not just the burger, the bacon or the ingredients, it’s the combinatin of them all which makes Eat My GF (Garlic Fries) stand out form the others. Take a big bite!

Eat My GF servings with Gold Leaf Tea to balance the fight 🙂

Best Food Forward Tickets:

Tickets to the event will be available on the day itself! Just go to NBC Tent to purchase your tickets! Entrance fee is just P 75 or get some tickets for free from NomNom Club! 🙂 Reminiscing about Best Food Forward 2012. 🙂

Partners and Sponsors:

Best Food Forward is partnered with Electrolux, Alaska Milk Corporation, Kewpie, Flyace Corporation, Jolly and Philips. Special thanks go to Gastro Chef, Mac Graphic Carranz, Outcomm, Gourmet Farms, Enzo’s Shawarma and Tapa King. Media partners include ClicktheCity, Lifestyle Network, Crossover 101.1, Nuffnang, Food, Appetite, Flavors, Yummy, Yummy.ph, the Asian Food Channel, Openrice.com, BusinessWorld, Highlife, Wedding Flavours, MyWeb.ph, Media Magnet, Herword.com, Zodio and When In Manila.

Delicakes by Joy

Best Food Forward
NBC TENT
8th avenue corner Katipunan Circle, Bonifacio Global City
(across the FORT STRIP, walking distance from ROX,Bonifacio High Street)
0917.8871933 or 2119644
www.bestfoodforward.com.ph
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Best-Food-Forward/148077355228746

See you at the NBC Tent for the Best Food Forward 2013 Summer Food Fair this weekend!

It was a quaint afternoon at home last week when a strangely huge and ultra-colorful box was delivered to our new house in Quezon City. It had the ‘Mentos‘ brand, a popular mint candy in the Philippines, boldy printed on it.

Inside the big box were 6 more smaller boxes bearing written riddles on the cover. One of the riddles said: “The sun bakes them, the hand breaks them, the foot treads them, and the mouth tastes them. What are they?“

NomNom Club Foodie Jonel carrying the huge box!

I wasn’t able to answer this one. But opening the box reveals the answer through a related object – in this case, a small violet notebook – which means Grape. There were a total of 6 riddles and objects which revealed the 6 answers representing 6 of the 7 new fruity sensations of Mentos namely grape, raspberry, orange, pineapple, strawberry, green apple, and the mystery flavor.

Mentos Rainbow Mystery Riddles

What’s your guess?

Mentos Rainbow Mystery

Finally, a longer black box is seemingly hidden at the bottom which contained 6 packs of  the Rainbow variant. The pack contains 2 of each of the flavors mentioned above plus two of the mystery flavor. In total, Mentos Candy enthusiasts will be experiencing 7 exciting fruit flavors in one rainbow roll aptly dubbed “Rainbow Mystery Roll.”

Check out more details at the Mentos Philippines Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MentosPhilippines and join in the fun of the Facebook Rainbow Mystery Rollette game app at http://www.facebook.com/MentosPhilippines/app_111703135666853

The Answer

Rainbow Mystery Roll

I got to try the Rainbow Mystery Roll and my taste buds found the mystery flavor quite familiar. My initial guess was ‘mangosteen.’ But thinking a bit further, I think I know what it is already. To keep the excitement going, I will not share my answer yet.

How about you, have you tired the Mentos Rainbow Mystery roll and tasted the mystery flavor? What’s your guess / answer? My guess starts with the letter “W.” 🙂