Entries Tagged 'Dessert' ↓

Ok, this post is quite late, but nonetheless still made it. 🙂

Red Ribbon introduces Santa's Wish Cake

Last month, almost at the same time as the launch of the Choco Walnut Fudge, Red Ribbon Cakes by Design introduced a cake made for your Christmas festivities, the Santa’s Wish cake. It really looks appealing and in season.

Santa Wish Cake

Inspired by the beloved icons of Christmas, Santa Claus, with his cherry-red hat, twinkling eyes and fluffy white beard, Red Ribbon’s Santa’s Wish cake enhances the joy of the Christmas spirit, not withstanding the true meaning of Christmas which is Christ Jesus. :).

It’s made with moist and dense rhumbutter cake and a layer of creamy caramel filling. The outermost layer is covered with icing and decorative green and red pine tree cuts.

Santa's Wish Cake Slices with the Green & Red Pine Trees

Merry Christmas!

Embarrassingly, I tried to take a bite off the green pine tree on the first time I tried it thinking it was made of sugar. It actually is, however, it was thick and not made with the purpose of being eaten. 🙂

What’s special about this cake is that the Santa’s Wish cake will be available on a pre-order basis only at any Red Ribbon store from November 27 – December 15.

But don”t worry, Red Ribbon’s Santa’s Wish cake will be available off-the-shelf in all Red Ribbon stores from December 22 – 24 at P550 – so you still have like…uhm… 2 days. :)  Merry Chirstmas to all! NomNom will be back after Christmas! 🙂

Lolo Dad’s has gained its gastronomical reputation long before among Malate‘s finest. And now in Makati, foodies such as NomNom just has no excuse of trying it out.

Now in the form of a brasserie, Lolo Dad brings the experience closer to busy metropolitans.

A brasserie in Makati

Aside for the price range, Lolo Dad’s Brasserie exudes the same trademark quality of food and service at Ayala 6750 for about a year now.

“We created a Brasserie in order to give a more affordable Lolo Dad’s dining experience to the people,” said Ding Ayuyao, general manager of the Brasserie.

A brasserie is an affordable restaurant that serves wine, fine meals and beer.

Lunch Special Menu

With the holiday season, Lolo Dad’s Brasserie reinvented its Lunch Special.

At just P495 per head(exclusive of service charge), the Lunch Special Menu includes Mussels or Beef Cheeks specially prepared by Ariel Manuel himself, owner of Lolo Dad’s and Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets Best Chef awardee. This menu already includes three choices of appetizers, and for dessert, indulgent Vanilla Almond ice cream sitting on top of home-style banana bread.

For tapas aficionados, the Brasserie has prepared a tapas menu that won’t cost over P200*. Enjoy this delightful Spanish treat anytime of the day.

Lolo Dad’s Brasserie is open from Mondays to Saturdays at 11:00 am to 10:00 pm at Ayala 6750 in Makati City

Photo above (left to right):
1) Kebab of boneless Chicken Leg (with Garlic rice)
2) Mussels, Prawn and White Flesh pasta (in Chardonnay, Garlic and Anchovy pasta)
3) Stewed Beef Cheeks (baked with Puff pastry)

End your meal with a sweet note with the delectable Vanilla Almiond Banana Split consisting of Vanilla and Almond Selecta Ice cream with Banana bread.

Choco Walnut Fudge

I was ecstatic a few weeks ago upon knowing that Red Ribbon will be releasing their second ‘premium’ cake – the indulgent Choco Walnut Fudge.

The first one – Coffee Walnut Bavarian – became my instant favorite when it came out early this year.

Aside from the fact that it’s from Red Ribbon, the Choco Walnut Fudge was made more special since it used Hershey’s dark chocolate.

All these premium qualities earned this new cake from Red Ribbon the title “a 5-star  Indulgent Dessert.”

Red Ribbon's Choco Walnut Fudge

Slice of Choco Walnut Fudge

A creamy layer of chocolate mousse rests on the lower brownie cake both loaded with fudge and chopped walnuts all over.

Surrounding the cake is Hershey’s  dark chocolate ganache. Even the sprinkles on top and long chocolate curls around it are all made with Hersheys.

Yumm…

Aside from Hershey’s dark chocolate, I think it’s the chocolate mousse which caught my tastebuds. I’ve always loved the chocolate mousse cake.

Choco Walnut Fudge Cake with Hershey's Dark Chocolate

Hurry! Catch your own Choco Walnut Fudge soon since its only offered this holiday season! It retails at P680 in one size. Nomnomnom…

Last night’s dinner was made of Yummy, figuratively and literally. Yummy foodie magazine invited a group of foodies, including Nomnom, for an intimate dinner at Tosco in Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City.

Tosco, Dusit Thani Hotel

And who would say no to an intimate dinner invite by a food magazine? It’s almost sure, the food would be great. And I was not mistaken.

Potato Sour Creme Soup

Potato-Sour Creme Soup

For soup appetizer, we had potato-sour creme soup.

It was good and creamy. The lemon grilled shrimp slices even made it better.

I found the initally served bread complimentary to its rich taste and I cleaned up my bowl to the last drop.

I think the leaves on top is tarragon – an aromatic Eurasian herb for seasoning.

Tosco Bread

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Chicken Breast with a Surprise

The main entree looked like a simple chicken breast but I found a surprise marinated apricot and orange cinnamon couscous at its center. The serving of rice is also worth mentioning with its citrus-like aftertaste and scent. It was something new to my taste buds and I found it pleasing. Stems of green asparagus lined the plate.

Couscous is a north African dish usually characterized by steamed semolina and meat; in this case chicken meat.

Chicken breast with Orange Cinnamon and Apricot

Trilogie

Yes, you read it right – it ended with ‘gie.’ The dinner was concluded with a trilogie of vanilla, red wine creme, and caramelized mango. It was the goodness of dessert times three.

Tosco Trilogie: Vanilla, Red Wine Creme, & Caramelized Mango

The vanilla was prepared light and covered with shreds of crispy barquillos. Lovely.

It was my first time to taste a red wine creme and I loved its softness with hint of strawberry. Although I think I’m alone with this conclusion since the plates of those around me left the red wine creme half-consumed.

The caramelized mango was, well, caramelized mango.

Although a combination of three desserts sound overwhelming, I surprisingly found it wanting. The three were all sweet but it was not overdone. Simply said, I cleaned the plate.

Tosco's Caffe Latte

And just like after any sweets, a good cup of coffee is always appreciated after.

Yummy Planner 2010

Yummy Magazine - December Issue

It was a good way of celebrating the holidays and the blessed year of 2009 for Yummy Magazine as they release the Yummy 2010 Planner and 3 new cookbooks namely YUMMY Meals in Minutes, YUMMY So-easy Sweets, and YUMMY Weekend Cooking.

The Yummy Planner 2010 is now sold in major bookstores at P250 while the cookbooks are at an affordable price of P100 each.

Their December issue is also now out with cooking tips for Christmas like how to have a delicious and inexpensive Noche Buena. They are also adding new sections to the magazine and website Yummy.ph. Something to look forward to in 2010. Check it out here.

Tosco Wine Bar, Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City

More photos of Yummy Christmas Dinner.

We also shared a good chat over dinner with fellow foodies Fran, Az, and new friends Oggie & Ferdz of HappyFoodies.com, among others. It was also nice to see Anton of Our Awesome Planet again and Joey of Table for Three Please, for the first time. It was a Yummy dinner indeed!

Hello NomnomClub.com readers and subscribers. I recently received a delicious email from one of my admired chocolate shops in the metro – Heavenly Chocolates.

We had a very educational chocolate seminar in their shop along Roces Avenue early this year. And I was ecstatic to know that they’ll be having free tasting sessions over the weekend.

This coming Nov 21 & 22, Heavenly Chocolates will entertain customers for free tasting sessions. The first one entitled “Taste the Darkness” will be on Saturday, November 21, 2009. I’m not really sure if the title has something to do with the near-showing Twilight sequel: New Moon. 🙂

“Taste the Darkness” will introduce the new flavors of SACHI BLACK chocolates. Sachi Nama Chocolates are one of the premium products of Heavenly Chocolates. Free tasting is available all day long. Come with a friend.

The second day, Sunday, November 22, 2009, focuses more on the traditional Filipino merienda. The culprits are tsokolate (native chocolate), suman (sticky rice pudding), mangga (mango), and ensaimada (a type of pastry).

You can come in groups or as a family as long as you RSVP for crowd control. The available time slots are 2 pm, 4pm, and 6 pm.

Look for chocolate connoisseur Benjamin Pedro and RSVP via his email: benjaminvpedro<at>yahoo.com Wait for the confirmation email and see you at the 4pm session on Sunday. 🙂

Heavenly Chocolates is located at 127 Roces Avenue, Quezon City. When you are at the Timog Area, it is a stone’s throw away from the McDonald Morato Branch with a giant french fries facade. The shop is near the corner of Tomas Morato & Roces Ave. Their telephone number is 666-2208

For the first timers, Heavenly Chocolates is relatively an average-sized chocolate shop that can house about 25 customers at a time, but it gives you that homey atmosphere fit for a hot cup of chocolate drink during a rainy day. 🙂

Woot! Thank you to all who participated in my Thank You Day Photo Contest Promo a few weeks ago! This is actually a back post as I was very busy lately. Nonetheless, the 5 Nomnom Club finalists and winners are:

• Thank You Mama! by LittleNars.com

“I am doing this for Mama, this is how I will show my love for her. She doesn’t deserve any other disappointment. She only deserve happiness. So please God, MAKE THIS HAPPEN.”

• How do you spread the sweetness of gratitude? by Mamuyac.Multiply

“I can’t find the right words to say to my baby Charles but “thank you” on how he made my life an exciting and worthy journey that it is today.”

• An Entry … by IAmNicely.com

“I want the world to know how grateful I am to God for giving me such cool and loving parents.”

• My Entry… by Misha

“I am thankful for my best friends who have always been there for me through the good times & the bad.”

• Spread The Sweetness… by NextJam

“I’ll be showing you how to be appreciated through my passion in Toy Photography.”

I wish you guys the best and hopefully Toblerone would be able to select one of you in their top 3 winners from among all the finalists from the online community! Cheers!

Nonetheless, by being finlaists in my contest, all you five automatically receives Thank You Toblerone Gift Packs! You will be informed via email as to how to claim these items.

Thank you also to GeiserMaclang and Toblerone for hosting this contest.

For more information on the National Thank You Day, visit www.thankyoudayphilippines.com HERE

Weeks after Red Ribbon hosted the “A Memorable Dessert Experience” online writing contest, the winners can now be revealed. This is in celebration of Red Ribbon‘s newest White Forest cake.

Continue reading →

Most of you who know the author of NomnomClub.com personally would know that I jump from time to time from the Quezon City house where my relatives are and to my place in Makati where I stay as an independent bachelor.

So what’s the point? 🙂 From the QC house, I usually do groceries first before heading home. And part of my regular grocery list are bananas.

They serve two purposes. It’s part of my breakfast (with milk or coffee), and it’s my power snack before jogging in the early evening. Yes, it’s my source of potassium.

It started to be ingrained in my diet years ago when I was much into badminton. Fellow players bring a bunch of banana and we feast on them for energy before or after game. The key point here is that it’s not heavy on the stomach, befitting athletic activities.

Now, going back to my groceries. I always end up buying either the generic Latondan (a local type of big bananas ) from SM or the big Cavendish ones from Dole. Dole is a major fruit brand here in the Philippines, and I believe in some countries as well.

Dole’s price hardly fluctuates and is almost always pegged at P46 (at least in ShoeMart Mall), in contrast to that of the seemingly generic-labelled Latondan whose price jumps up and down regularly in the range of P30-P40 per kilo.

With a tight budget, I sometimes go for the cheaper generic Latondans. However, when the price reaches almost P40, I go for the Dole Bananas. I feel it’s more worth it even with the few added peso. With the assurance of cleanliness and quality, I wouldn’t mind it being a little more expensive.

Moreover, a bunch of Dole bananas have 6 to 8 pieces while a kilo of the generic ones has about the same. But if you compare them side by side, the Dole Bananas are way bigger.

On closing note, I would have to add that bananas can help people with weight problems as well. Citing from a Dole Banana article:

…bananas contain resistant starch that is responsible in enhancing fat burning by up to 30%. More filling than most fruits, bananas can easily satisfy hunger and let you feel full longer while providing the daily nutrients your body need. And since you won’t feel constantly hungry, bananas help to curb your appetite and reduce overall calorie intake in a day. What’s more, DOLE Bananas are high in fibre that helps carry away some fat as it travels through the digestive system.

So I hope you start including bananas in your diet – Dole Bananas or the generic Latondan or Lacatan. For more helpful information, surf on to www.dolebananadiet.com.ph or simply click HERE.