Hawaiian Mid-afternoon Snack-out

doesn't look like a resto from afar...

We were out to meet someone at UP Ayala Techno-Hub when we spotted this interestingly blue colored store that lie amidst all the different restos that forms a semi circle food hub. From afar, it didn't look anything like a resto. Compared to the rest of the food shoppes in the area, this one looked surprisingly lonely.... Had it not been for the poster with an ice cream on it, one would really think that it was an outlet store selling surfing gears.

Anyhow, we went inside and saw that it was indeed quiet. Just one man was seated in one of it's tables. We proceeded to order at the counter. It's like a fast-food chain, you place your order, pay at the counter, then after a while, your name will be called to pick up the goodies from the counter. We tried out their "best seller" wipe out burger and had cheese added to it. We also tried out their phat fries, which notably had fatter potato slices compared to most fries. For our drinks, she had a north shore pine iced tea, while he had the regular lemon iced tea.

burger to wipe out your hunger, 1/3lb beef patty!

Location: Hawaii's North Shore, UP-Ayala Techno-Hub
Food Ordered and Cost: Wipe Out Burger 1/3 lb patty-P165, add-on Cheddar Cheese-P15, Phat Fries-P60, North Shore Pine Tea (regular)-P60, Lemon Tea (large)-P50
Total Cost:P350

dining on a surfboard!

She says...

I like the ambiance of the place. They play soft but not sleepy kind of music. The surf board tables were really cute! As for the burger, it was really juicy. The patty was soft and tender. It was not like some other burger which have very rubbery and rigid patties. I also like the dressing that they placed on the burger, it had an adequate mix of sweetness, sourness, and yumminess. I also like how they sliced up the veggie into bits and pieces as it's often annoying when the lettuce just comes off when you bite off a burger.

The fries on the other hand was alright. It was not so crunchy but it wasn't flabby either. But like any other fries, it felt really fat-loaded.

The pine tea was interesting. It was not your usually iced tea. It had a hint of raspberry and a bit minty, just a little. Most importantly, it just had the right amount of sweetness.

Oh, I also received a freebie, a vanilla ice cream twirl since our bill had exceeded P180. Despite the rainy and cold weather, I enjoyed it so much. It actually had nothing fancy on it. It was just plain vanilla ice cream, but sometimes simple flavors, as long as they are full, can really make our palates happy.

She rates: 3.5/5 Wipe Out Burger, 3.5/5 Phat Fries, 4/5 Pine Tea, 4/5 Vanilla Iced Cream

pine or lemon?

phat or fat?

He says....

When I first saw their sign, I thought "What the heck? Hawaiian theme is sooo late 80s!" I went inside expecting some native-ish decor and hawaiian shirts and skirts but I was surprised that by Hawaiian they actually meant surfboards. They had surfboards for table.

Fancy.

This is a new food shop so we ordered their best selling stuff which is the burger. Amusing thing about their burger is that aside from the typical burger ingredients, you can add ingredients to them depending on your taste. We added cheese.

There were a few customers in the place so I expected their food to suck. They didn't. The burger, although not as dense and thick as the other burgers of its price range, was very delicious.

We also had their phat fries. They're thickly cut fries served with tomato. We ordered two. It was that good.

I don't know why there were so few people there. Maybe because it was raining really hard that day.

He rates...

4/5

A Burger to Crave For

Crave Burger Combo 1

We were in BGC to settle some things at a condo and do some clean up when we got hungry. Not much options there but we did saw a small stall right behind the corner, Crave Burgers. We ordered their classic combo meal which contains a burger, skinny fries, and a red iced tea or blue lemonade of your choice. We had the drinks upsized for P10 additional. The offered free delivery service with no extra charge since our unit was nearby.

the burger @Crave

the skinny fries @Crave

Location: Crave Burger, Bonifacio Global City

Food Ordered: Combo 1= single patty crave burger, skinny fries, red iced tea

Cost: P190 (additional P10 for upsizing the drinks to 16 oz.)

She says...

The burger was huge. It had to be, since this is quite expensive for a  burger. The beef patty  was grilled, didn't experience dripping oil as I ate it although some parts were not well done. It was flavorful and the lettuce and tomatoes were fresh. The didn't put mayo or anything on it but you have the option to  add them to your liking. Included in their pack was 3 small cups, one containing mayo, the other ketchup, and the last one had mustard. The skinny fries were large slices of fried potato pieces. Real potato, that is. It wasn't oily either. The red iced tea went well with the burger. The meal was really heavy on the tummy, it made me so sleepy after consuming the meal.

She rate: 4/5

He says...

This thing is humongous! Being a person raised on local burgers, I'm still amazed by how big some burgers can be. This is probably due to its American origin -- they are huge people. Crave burger is one of the big ones I've seen locally and we just ordered the single patty version.

The burger was tasty enough. The people at Crave Burgers are kind enough to give us different types of sauce unlike they typical, ketchup from other stores. I suppose that's to be expected if the burger costs that much. You can choose which sauces suit your taste or you do it pinoy way and just put it all there. Eating the burger with the fries was great. It adds that much needed saltiness to the burger.

My order came with red tea. It was delicious and with just the right sweetness but it wasn't on the level of a certain "japanese" unlimited rice fastfood shop.

He rates: 4/5

Alain's Exploits: The Tea Bar

V-Mall (formerly Vira Mall) in Greenhills (or GH, as I call it) is not exactly known for its food choices. It's the place to go if you're looking for affordable clothes and gadget--- that is if you're a good haggler.

They do have a food court and some food shops scattered all over the mall. Since I usually go there for my gadget fix and was sorta hungry and curious, I decided to try one of the food shops I often pass by on my rounds: The Tea Bar.

The Tea Bar is a comfy enough place. It has warm lighting which is inviting and relaxing, this is specially good for eating. The chairs are soft (at least the one I sat on) and the tables were clean as should all restaurants be.

The only unusual thing about the place was the strong smell of tea. I'm saying unusual because I can't decide if it's pleasant or awful.

Their menu book looks tattered from old use and was very weird to hold and look at so I just ordered two things just to get rid of it. First is the basket of chicken.

The pieces were a bit smaller than I'm used to but there were 6 pieces so it's forgivable. The taste is.. meh. Not a very exciting taste.

The Earl Grey Iced Tea on the other hand is very good. I was a bit surprised to be served with an Iced Earl Grey when I'm used to it being hot but they did good with it. The taste of this drink is very strong but not like strong-tasting iced tea of other food shops. The strong taste here doesn't come from too much sugar, like other shops, but from the strong tea flavor. This is probably the only real iced tea I've had.

Rating:

Service: 4/5

Place: 3.5/5

Chicken: 2.5/5

Iced Tea: 4.5/5

BK Burger Shots @Burger King

BK Burger Shots Meal Upsized to Large Fries and Drinks

We were in Trinoma to meet up a friend in Burger King. We usually eat Burger King when we're in St. Luke's as they offer free parking for 3 hours, just enough time for his check-up. As we usually eat their whooper of any other sandwiches, we decided to try out their BK Burger Shots as it looked interesting. I mean, rarely would you find mini-burgers in any sandwich bar! Anyway, they had two variants, BBQ burger and chicken cheese. We opted for the latter though and had the fries and drinks up-sized to large.

Location: Burger King, Trinoma

Food Ordered: BK Burger Shots (Chicken Cheese)

Cost: P99 for the value meal with fries and drinks; P40 for upsize to large fries and drinks

She says...

BK Shots is totally not worth the price. It's really very small. Imagine 2 pandelitos (small pan de sal) cut in half with a piece of chicken tender and a slice of cheese placed in between. It also didn't have any commendable taste. The bread itself was soggy. What's even more horrible was the the fries that they served along with it. It was soggy as well and it bore the taste of lard. Surely, I wouldn't order this one anymore. Not again!

She rates: 0.5/5

He says...

Have you ever stayed late at night thinking you're hungry and going to the kitchen and fixing yourself a sandwhich? Can you imagine that taste? That sandwich probably tastes better than this burger.

The bread has the wet-for-a-while feel,the chicken tastes like the chicken tenders you can find in the super market and the cheese is, well, cheese.

I can't believe they're even legally allowed to sell this cheezy poison.

He rates: 0/5