Butter Diner Brunch

It's been years since I've bugged my sis to eat here and by a twist of fate, we happen to pass by the Butter Diner in Cubao after shopping for books in the Scholastic warehouse clearance sale (in Pasig). I didn't realize that years have gone by since this quaint diner opened. The passing time was evident in their furniture and the ghostly 2nd floor (eerie!).

A must-try is their flavored butter, of course! We had the 3 slices of toasts with 3 scoops of flavored butter (Cinnamon Raisin, BBQ Party, and Strawberry Butter as seen in picture below). It was served on a huge wooden block that looks like a chopping board which I think is cute. We thoroughly enjoyed the butter especially the strawberry one and our least favorite is the BBQ flavor. We only ordered that since they ran out of the bacon flavored butter. The 6 half-slices weren't enough for the tasty smooth butter. We even tried putting some cinnamon raisin butter on an Oreo and it was yum!


The sausage and cheese omelette was also marvelous. It was also served with a side of BBQ Party butter which we lathered on the omelette to melt. Yum-my!


They have comic strips for their wallpaper which tells the story of how Butter Diner came to be. The story tells us of a humble housewife who did not want to be an employee for the rest of her life so she started making sandwiches and other food that she sold to the office-workers after the World War II. Her business boomed and so she got to open her own diner that was famous for their pancakes and waffles with the Strawberry-flavored butter. Now, I am not sure if this is a true story but nevertheless, it was an interesting read. =)


The other wall was decorated with the 50's stars like Marylin Monroe, Aubrey Hepburn and Elvis. There were also 50's appliances lined up like a toaster, radio, jukebox and a candy dispenser.


We cleaned up nice, eh? I was only disappointed that they don't have milkshakes available at that time. There were lots of items in the menu not available actually. Wonder what's happening to this place. I wouldn't be surprised if the staff are actually vampires trying to blend in with the humans what with the eerie feeling I got while we dined. (Just kiddin'! hehe)

Cocktales' Sweet Concoctions

Cocktales -- desserts like no other. Only in Cocktales can you drink cocktails without getting tipsy. Their unique idea is to transform cocktail drinks to a healthier and more kid-friendly concoctions.


What's cool about this is you can choose to have your drinks spiked for an additional 40 pesos. They have quite an assortment of drinks, shakes and savory food.



My sister ordered the watermelon Mojito (not spiked, of course, since it was in the middle of the afternoon and we our pamangkins with us). This refreshing watermelon drink has a tinge of ginger that is served in a cute curvy tall glass. For 75 bucks, their drinks are really affordable!


My order was Mango Daiquiri. This drink is made up of mango and I think a squeeze of lemon juice and some herb (I can't quite catch the taste of it but it's an herb) and tapioca balls. So refreshing!


We also ordered their Shepherd's pie. It's ground meat with button mushrooms baked with a layer or mashed potato and topped with gravy. Their gravy has a strong savory taste that left me bitin for more mashed potato. But overall, the dish was yummy.


Cocktales branches are located at malls, we tried out the Trinoma branch. When we arrived the smell of cinnamon welcomed us and we were a bit surprised. I looked for the deliriously lovely smell and it turns out that Cinnabon was a floor below us. =) Yum yum!

Ice Cream in Cakes at Bake and Churn

I was a bit early for our d-group meeting on a Friday night when I stumbled into Elvie who was craving for cakes. So we ventured off with Bamboo and Meann in search of sweets. Good thing Elvie remembered that Steph recommended a yummy cake place in Megamall.


So here we are at Bake and Churn. It's just a stall in the heart of megamall but they have couches and tables in front so you can order a slice and eat it right away. This is the first time I've seen ice cream cakes to be sold by slices since it's usually by the whole. And now I know why, I've seen the lady who cuts the cakes and it's really difficult to slice these (maybe that's the reason why.. hehe). But it's really cool that when the cakes were served it wasn't a bit melted.


I ordered the Apple Cinnamon. As you can see in the picture below, the white part is the ice cream which is topped with crumbled cinnamon cake mixture. The ice cream had apple bits inside and is sitting on a thin layer of graham crust.


This here is the chocolate mousse (sorry for the blurry picture but it looks and tastes really delish, I promise). It actually got 4 layers, chocolate ice cream alternating with a moist chocolate cake.


They have numerous flavors on their menu. Below is the Strawberry Cheesecake Roll and Black Forest Roll. The cakes aren't too sweet but delightfully so and it doesn't melt easily which is an added value.


The only down side of it is that the cakes are served on a styro container for customers who wants to dine in. Not really a presentable way of serving the cakes and it decreases the appetizing image of these treats. But as we noticed, most of the customers order cakes by the whole and take it home. They have a number of flavors to choose from and this place is definitely worth a try and definitely worth coming back to.

Japanese Desserts in Dezaato Pan

The sweet end of our Banawe foodtrip is gelato in Dezaato Pan (this is just adjacent to Tempura). This is gelato Japanese version and not Japanese gelato since gelato is Italian.


I ordered the Menta Stracciatella (this is mint ice cream with hardened ribbons of chocolate). Their gelato is not sweet at all but I could taste the mint and the chocolate which I liked. It is not even creamy but still yummy. This costs 60 pesos for 100g, not bad right?


They also have freshly baked bread and pastries.


This is the decor on the wall going up the 2nd floor.


The Japanese is known for their pretty presentation of their food. Be it candies, gums, bento boxes, pastries and cakes. In Dezaato Pan, there's no exemption. Their cakes are really cute! I think it's hard to eat something as pretty as this. But I'd like to try their cakes next time when my stomach's not full.


More kawaii cakes..

Teriyaki Boy

I wonder, does the Japanese letters say 'Teriyaki'? They have this on the restaurant's ceiling.


Anyway, we went to Teriyaki Boy also along Banawe for a late lunch for my sister and merienda for me. Only one table was occupied other than ours at 4pm on a Saturday so we got the place to ourselves.

We ordered Tori Karaage that is served with crispy spicy chips. The Karaage is also so crunchy but the meat is tender which makes it so delish!


Here's a top view of the dish.


What pretty plates..


Here's a bowl of rice.. (I think I was too engrossed at taking pictures of the food rather than eating..)


Here's the philly cheese steak maki. This is a winner!


I so love this picture! (see picture below) I even made it my desktop wallpaper! Hehe.. The steak inside was cooked to perfection and was so thin but not rubbery and is complimented by the cheese on top of it. The cheese was even slightly melted so that it will spread throughout your mouth. You can have a cheese meltdown with this dish because even the dip is made from cheese. What I like most about this is the white and black sesame seeds all around the roll. It brings the philly cheese steak an Asian feel to it.


Next is the Ramen. The soup is being poured on the noodles once served on the table.


It has the right amount of toppings (eggs, shrimp, squid ball, fish fillet, leeks etc). and noodles are very tasty. Although my sister said it tastes like Japanese instant noodles but yummy nonetheless. The soup had too much MSG, though. Made me sleepy when we got home.


I got busy decorating my bowl with the various toppings to take a picture of it. Here's how it turned out.


They don't have desserts on their menu. We only spied these two treats on their mini menu board on the table. Looks interesting ice cream, I'd like to try that next time!

Afternoon Tea at Serenitea

We went out for an afternoon tea on a holiday Saturday (PNoy's not fond of moving holidays to a weekday.. sad). Anyway, Serenitea is our first stop on a the lazy warm afternoon.

"When we sip tea, we are on our way to serenity" - Alexandra Stoddard

The smell of tea brewing welcomed us as we entered Serenitea in Banawe cor. N. Roxas St. Their store somehow looks out of place with their neighboring auto shops but is easily spotted with the big signage outside.

They have a very long list of milk tea, brewed tea, fruit tea and other kinds of tea. Makes it harder to choose! After picking the kind of tea, choose the toppings. They have QQ, Pearl, Egg pudding, Black Bricks, Crystals and Lime jelly. And after that, the sweetness level needs to be determined, from 0% - 25% - 50% - 75% - 100%.


I ordered Chocomint milktea for my mom with black bricks. The black bricks are actually coffee jelly and it goes well with the chocolate. =)


This one here is the Royal Milk tea with egg pudding for my sister. I would prefer this to be a little more sweeter even though I already ordered it at a full sugar level. My sis didn't like it though.


And the Yakult Green tea goes to me of course! This is so yummy! Although at first sip, it tasted a bit like flowers. Thinking about this makes me crave for more tea!


For snack, they have pepper everything! Pepper tofu, pepper corn, pepper potato, pepper pepper pepper.. Good thing their hash brown isn't pepper hash brown! Wonder how would that taste like! So we just ordered the pepper tofu. It's very peppery and MSG-y with fried peppered veggie leaves (not sure what was it).


Here's a picture of me and my mom with our sereniteas.


And here's my sis and my mom with the pepperific tofu! (and their battalion of cellphones! haha)

Pizza and Pasta Craving at Carlos Pizza

Since we didn't had the chance to eat out at Green Tomato one evening due to their busy work schedules so we tried Carlos Pizza in Venice Piazza near our offices. True to the theme of the mall, Carlos Pizza decorated their place with a Venice-feel, putting up a bridge and a mural of a canal river. It feels like Venice here in McKinley Hill when the rainy days come, believe me.



First order up, Creamy Pesto Chicken. It took forever before our order came but in fairness to them, they told us that we need to wait 20 minutes for our order since everything was cooked upon ordering. But already waited for 30 minutes for our pasta and another 15 minutes for the pizza. I even followed up our order of pizza before they served it. Service is too slow especially for working people like us considering almost all their patrons during weekdays are office-goers aside from the students from Enderun.

The pasta is creamy enough but where is the pesto?! The taste of basil, pine nuts and garlic was so minimal they shouldn't have the lisence to put pesto on the title of this dish. I'd have to say the taste was not spectacular. We had ground black pepper overload in our pasta since it's a bit bland.


They have two kinds of bottled chili sauce, the red chili sauce and the green chili sauce, to spice things up. I'm not sure what the difference is because I only tried the green one and it's not too hot.


After almost finishing our pasta, our margherita pizza came finally! We can tell that it was hot from the oven. But disappointing to see that there's only one basil leaf on each slice! They're scrimping on the basil even on the pizza. (I truly love basil so I was disappointed. hehe)


The pizza was so cheesy. So cheesy, in fact, it can be called cheese pizza with A basil leaf! Just kidding! Their crust was delicious though.


Our server gave us a bottle of chili olive oil. It goes great with the pizza, she said. The chili oil was yummy and it really did went well with the pizza. But I'd prefer if the pizza was already delicious by itself and need not add additional spices.


Overall, it wasn't a great experience dining here. They still have a lot of room for improvement.