Midnight Food Rave for Call Center Owls at The Fort

Scene from the Midnight Mercato

Beginning February 29, 2012 and all Wednesday nights therein, a late night food market will be open from 10:00pm to 3:00am (including every Friday and Saturday nights). Welcome to “Midnight Mercato” at the 34th Street and 8th Avenue of Bonifacio Global City (beside MC Home Depot). Free wi-fi. Live bands. What more can a call center professional ask for?

Text from Midnight Mercato:

Are you looking for a place to indulge your late night food cravings on a Wednesday night? Or you can’t wait until the weekend to visit your favorite late night food markets?

Then Midnight Mercato, Metro Manila’s premiere late night weekend food market, will be open on Wednesday nights starting February 29 to answer your foodie call!

Indulge in the Midnight Mercato experience and enjoy an extensive selection of foodie favorites – steamed cheeseburgers, crunchy pork belly, wagyu steak on a sticks, deep dish pizzas, authentic Vigan empanadas, ice-cream filled mochi balls, specialty milk teas, dark lager beer cheesecakes – straight from the kitchens of home-based and specialty chefs, while enjoying live acoustic performances and free wi-fi. Wednesday Midnight Mercato is perfect way to celebrate the middle of the week!

Midnght Mercato is open from 10:00pm to 3:00am every Friday, Saturday and Wednesday (starting February 29) and Mercato Centrale is open every Saturday and Sunday from 7:00am to 2:00pm. Midnight Mercato is located at the corner of 34th street and 8th avenue beside MC Home Depot in Bonifacio Global City.

For more information, please visit their website www.midnightmercato.com or their Facebook account. For vendor booth rental or venue rental inquiries, please email admin@mercatocentrale.ph or text 0917-840-1152.

Source: Midnight Mercato Centrale Organizer

Photo submitted by RJ Ledesma of Mercato Centrale

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Distrito Makati is a New Weekday Lifestyle Market

From the organizers of Mercato Centrale comes Distrito Makati

From the same organizers of the famed Mercato brand of night market of food, fashion and other products comes one right by your neighborhood in Makati. Heck! Even the patients at adjacent Makati Medical Center can opt to dine in its comfortable, well-ventilated environment if they’re sick and tired of hospital food. And free wi-fi, too!

They opened Friday last week or “Black Friday” as Americans call it.

Remember that open parking lot right beside the Makati Medical Center at the end of Amorsolo Street, or ending up at Ayala Avenue? Every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night, starting at 9:00pm, they open Distrito Makati to offer some tasty meals as well as fashion, beauty, wellness and household products. The market ends at three o’clock in the morning.

If you are interested to become a concessionaire for Distrito Makati, please email the organizers at admin@distritomakati.com or text 09178401152.

Source: Mercato Centrale

Image from Mercato Centrale

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Fil-Am Cuisine at Metro Orlando

Fil-Am Cuisine along W. Vine Street in Kissimmee, FL

The message reads: “Drop into Fil-Am Cuisine for good times and great food. The restaurant is a neighborhood favorite, and offers a casual, friendly dining atmosphere that you and your friends are sure to enjoy. Fil-Am Cuisine also features a friendly, professional staff of great people, who will make sure your visit is memorable and that Fil-Am Cuisine lives up to its reputation for pleasant dining and superb cuisine. The menu offers an inspired array of selections that is sure to satisfy everyone in your group, every time. Be sure to ask your server about new selections, daily specials, and special chef’s creations. Whether you’re in the mood for casual dining or a special occasion, Fil-Am Cuisine is sure to please.”

Fil-Am Cuisine
3197 W. Vine St.
Kissimmee, FL 34741
Phone: (407) 847-7121
Cuisine: Asian
Price: $

Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 11:00am – 7:00pm
Sunday: Closed
Amenities: TV
Atmosphere: Family / Children
Attire: Casual
Service: Sit Down, Carry Out

Meals: Dinner, Lunch
Parking: Parking on Site
Reservations: Suggested
Special Features: Booster/High Chairs, Non Smoking Area, Wheelchair Access
Payment Methods: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Cash

Source: Restaurant.com

Photo from Restaurant.com

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Live Pacquiao-Marquez Fight at Italiannis

Pacquiao-Marquez fight will be shown live at three Italiannis restaurants

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Showing only at Trinoma, Bonifacio High Street, and Greenbelt branches!

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Something is Brewing in Greenhills

View of Greenhills Shopping Center from the roofdeck carpark

When someone wants to buy fake shoes, bags, shirts, watches, clothes, heck! Almost everything you’d imagine to be a copy. But there’s a transformation brewing inside Greenhills Shopping Center, hopefully to decongest the nighmarish traffic and improve its reputation for providing things beyond fake items.

I came across an e-mail from my high school alma mater’s (La Salle Green Hills) alumni association where it was encouraging members to invest in one of the four high-rise condominiums inside the shopping complex, in return for a portion of the list price being donated to the association’s projects like the adult night school, scholarship funds and outreach programs.

I didn’t know that for 80 years, Ortigas and Company has been developing prestigious communities such as Greenhills subdivisions, Greenmeadows and Valle Verde. There are newer development projects like the Luntala Valle Verde, Ortigas. However, Greenhills Shopping Center has been a melting pot of different religions, races and views for the past decades, and has been a hub for bargain hunters and value-shoppers, so to speak. Today, it is undergoing a redevelopment plan that hopes to transform itself into a complete live, work and play community.

The plan calls for doubling the shopping space that will enhance the “tiangge” shopping style while allowing for a wider array of well-known fashion and lifestyle brands. This will be supported by improvements in the entertainment corridor that includes more dining options, as well as cinemas that showcase the latest in digital technology. In the middle of these, the plan calls for bringing back the community gathering place feel, like the Avenida de Ortigas and the Spanish Steps. An underground parking is under development, to be operational by December this year. And soon, enjoy life in a more personal way at Viridian, the first luxury condominium to rise in Greenhills Shopping Center.

And so the saying goes, “A picture paints a thousand words.”

“Greenhills, I’m looking forward to this awesome transformation!”

Top title photo by elaineverri at Flickr.com

Other images and photos are the property of the La Salle Green Hills Alumni Association (LSGHAA) and GH Heritage Realty Inc.

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The redevelopment plan of Greenhills Shopping Center

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More shopping, dining and entertainment choices

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Artist's perspective of the redevelopment plans

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Some actual photographs

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Jollibee Opening Soon in Jersey City

They’re actually hiring. See poster for details.

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Image shared by Rey Robles at Facebook.com

Italianni’s Pizza and Pasta Promo

Carbo-loading? Go for Italianni’s (Philippines) Pizza and Pasta Promo on Wednesdays, Thursday, Saturdays and Sundays.

Cool!

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Halloween Treat

Visit any Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf store on October 27, between 7pm and 9pm, and yell… “TRICK OR POMEGRANATREAT!” and you’ll receive a regular sized Pomegranate Frozen Swirl – on the house!

Okay, be fair, boys and girls. One treat per person only

Free Recipe – Suman Na May Latik

Photo by joannapcc at Flickr.com

When I encountered this foodie blog “Sugarlace,” the first thing that came to mind was having to trek Quezon to buy this one-of-a-kind delicacy from the market, packaged in a small square basket, with the rice-based sticky thingie wrapped in banana leaves with a small bottle of (still) sticky, gooey, sweet, thck sauce. It was because of my in-laws that I discovered this kind of their specialty from their province.

This is dessert in the Philippines, the only way Filipinos would die for after a scrumptous meal of meat with all the fat trimmings you can ask. Enjoy and thanks for Trisha, the 24 25 year old Filipina-Chinese from Sydney, Australia.

Please go to her blog-post to get all the ingredients and instructions on how to prepare one of the best-tasting desserts in the world.

Read more at Sugarlace

$1B Investment Plan in the Philippines Bared by Coca-Cola

Photo by Svadilfari at Flickr.com

Coca-Cola disclosed its plan to spend $1 Billion over the next five years to expand its presence and operations in the Philippines as part of its global plan to focus more on emerging markets. A recent upgrade in global standing of the Philippines by Goldman Sachs to include the country in its “Next Eleven” list may have been one of the reasons why Coca-Cola is investing this much. With a population of 91 million and a stable manufacturing and service-based economy, the Philippines offers several good investment options for the likes of Coca-Cola.

$2 Billion investment is also alloted for China while it is also buying its largest bottler in North America for more than $12 Billion.

Source: Bullfax.com

Free Coffee Bean Frozen Twirl Upsize Coupon for Sunday

Coffee Bean is a great place to hang around telecommuting. Their “Eggs Ben” (eggs benedict) are by far the best in the city. Cap it out with their newly launched and hotly raved frozen yogurt.

Valid only on Sunday, September 26, 2010.

Just print the coupon, cut it out and present it to your Coffee Bean Barista. Valid only at Greenbelt, Trinoma, Alabang Town Center, Midtown, Four Seasons, Rockwell, Eastwood, Greenhills Promenade and Bonifacio High Street.

Source: E-mail from coffeebean.com.ph

Free Coupon Frozen Swirl Treat from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

San Miguel to Sell 1.63 Billion Dollars Worth of Shares

Image by _gem_ at Flickr.com

One of the Philippines’ biggest companies San Miguel Corporation is set to sell 75 billion Pesos worth of shares to finance investments and acquisitions. The board of Southeast Asia’s largest food and beverage company has approved the sale of shares for at least 75 Pesos per share.

Source: MSN News

Must-taste Street Food in the Philippines

Everywhere you look in the Philippines, it is common to find people crowding make shift or portable stalls in the streets. These street foods are easy to find outside school gates, churches, parks and even in malls where they offer most exotic delicacies. Let’s take a trip to the streets of the Philippines and rediscover Pinoy street food.

Photo from filipino-foods.com

Read more at Filipino Foods

Manila’s The Ultimate Taste Test Season 4 – Are You Ready?

Popular Manila food, travel and lifestyle blogger Anton Diaz is now running this seasonal food rave at a much bigger scale – the NBC Tent inside The Fort. It is set on May 14 to accommodate 1,000 guests to be wined and dined by 45 food providers, from 9 providers of starters and appetizers to 13 providers for the main course and ending in 16 supplliers of desserts, mixed with 6 drinks suppliers’ beer, soda, coffee and water.

Poster by OAP at Flickr.com

“It’s a gastronomical entourage of a different kind of binge!” I laughed when I heard that phrase from someone who once went to Anton’s UTT fest. You have to reserve to get invited.

Read more at Our Awesome Planet and fancy going to a chance in a lifetime event. I am

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Free Breakfast on Friday April 23 at Subway Canada

Customer Appreciation Event on Friday, April 23, 2010. Starts 7:00am up to 11:00am only.

Free breakfast melt and a cup of coffee.

No purchase required.

Homemade Bibingkang Galapong

Photo by Chotda at Flickr.com

I saw this blog that brought my mind back to the Christmas tradition of the Philippines. Much like the Spaghetti ala Makati Supermarket’s famous meal, look into this recipe from “Pinoy Food | Free Filipino Food Recipe” and savor the taste that’s truly Filipino.

By the way, this blog has a Kindle version, in case some of you are “Kindlers.”

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, well-beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups rice flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups coconut milk (2nd or more presses; see separate recipe)
• 1/4 cup melted margarine
• 2 tbsps. baking powder
• 1/4 cup coco cream (first press)
• 1/4 cup sugar for topping

Instructions:

1. Add sugar to beaten eggs.

2. Combine salt and rice flour; add to egg mixture.

3. Add melted margarine and baking powder.

4. Pour into banana-leaf lined mold.

My sister’s note: Tita Mimi assumes we know that the banana leaves have to be wilted, that is, passed over an open flame on the stove top.

5. Bake in 375 degree Fahrenheit oven.

6. Brush top with coco cream and sugar; bake until golden crust is formed.

note: Tita Mimi doesn’t say when to take out the bibingka to brush the top with the coco cream and sugar. I would assume that this is done when the bibingka is 3/4’s done (so the batter doesn’t flop). We would have to experiment on time frames.

7. Makes 3 large bibingkas.

Source: Pinoy Food | Free Filipino Food Recipe

Jollibee gives up operations in Taiwan and Shanghai

Philippine fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) has given up its operations in China’s Taiwan and Shanghai and chosen to focus on “building bigger brands” in other parts of China.

JFC gave up its 70 percent stake in Lao Dong Pte. Ltd. which operates Lao Dong restaurants in Taiwan. It also terminated its franchising agreement with Chun Shui Tang Tea House and shut down its stores in Shanghai.

Read more at Individual

Halloween Treat – 50 Percent Off Brothers Burgers

Only available at Cebu, BF Paranaque, Ortigas, Malaet, Pasong Tamo, SM Megamall, Tomas Morato, Capitol Hills, Paseo de Sta. Rosa and Telus Araneta Center.

For inquiries, call 815-0732.

Johnny Rockets Opens in the Philippines

A Johnny Rockets hamburger franchise recently opened in the Philippines right the day before typhoon Ondoy (or Ketsana) wreaked havoc on the country. The 2,000+ square foot restaurant is located inside the mall in Eastwood City, Libis, Quezon City. This is the first branch of twenty that is planned in the Philippines.

Since 1986, Johnny Rockets has been offering the all-American fast food service, which includes hamburgers, classic sandwiches and hand-dipped shakes and malts. It is headquartered in Lake Forest, California, with about 280 corporate and franchise-owned restaurants in 29 states and 11 countries.

Visit the Johnny Rockets Website

Filipino Stores in US Meet Big Chain Competition

Even Filipino stores in the United States meet competition of growing “big chain” stores specializing in Asian products. In California, there two big Asian supermarkets that are adding more branches — 99 Ranch and Seafood City. Of course, it’s a great welcome for the Asian community where these chains exist but it spells trouble for the smaller groceries such as Concord’s (California) Oriental Food Market, owned by Sherrie Gaerlan and her husband for some eight years already.

Source: Contra Costa Times.

San Miguel To Spend $2 Billion in Acquisitions

Philippine food and drinks giant San Miguel Corporation intends to spend about $2 billion in acquiring companies in various industries such as infrastructure projects and power plants. Such investments include tollway roads, power, oil, water and telecommunications.

Source: Bloomberg.com.

Filipino Restaurant at New York’s Lower East Side

Located in the heart of New York’s Lower East Side, “Kuma Inn” is a cozy restaurant tucked away on the second floor, serving Filipino, Thai, and Southeast Asian cuisine. It is owned and operated by Executive Chef King Phojanakong. The restaurant offers an original menu consisting of a variety of meats, seafood and vegetables.

Call the restaurant at (212) 353-8866 for reservations or click here to go to its website.

Renaissance Dubai Hotel features Filipino cuisine

Renaissance Dubai Hotel will be featuring the flavors of Filipino cuisine at the hotel’s Spice Island restaurant on June 9 to 23, 2009. In cooperation with the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai and the Philippine Business Council, it will showcase the best of Filipino cuisine featuring the hotel’s Filipino chefs: Chefs Ofelia Fuentes, Norberto Dagonoon and Rina Tecson. The hotel’s workforce consists of 40% Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW).

Spaghetti Recipe ala Makati Supermarket

Since I was a kid, when someone mentioned “the best spaghetti in town,” none topped my taste palette than Makati Supermarket’s version. I remember when the old location burned down where Glorietta now sits and Makati Supermarket re-opened again, there was a flurry of people rushing to its opening day and beyond simply because they missed the spaghetti. Long before Jollibee and Italian bistros, Makati Supermarket’s spaghetti was the best.

Here’s a blog from a Filipino Foodie who’s giving away a recipe that would probably taste as good as the famous dish (don’t hold me liable as I haven’t tried to cook it – yet!). Click to go to PinoyFoodBlog.com.