"Making Beautiful Things Happen Everyday!"

Who loves bread?

Well, here is something new for you and make that tummy full as imaginatively, for now, as I tour you with my food experience about Harina Artisan Bakery Cafe.

As a full time mommy I need to be creative on foods that I prepare for my family, but there are instances that they get used to what I offer or locally known as "umay".  So I need to know more ways of preparing food.  Thankfully that problem is solve already with this baker cafe. 

Harina Artisan Bakery Cafe is formerly known as Monsees Cafe, owned and established by Baker-Pastry-Chef-Lawyer Marina Demeterio.


Atty. Marina started as a homebaker, doing and selling leche flan, fruit cake and pastries to her colleagues since 1994, with influences coming mostly from her grandmother and by watching TV Shows.  After graduating from law school, Atty. Marina enrolled in culinary schools of Sylvia Cancio, Sylvia Reynoso, Heny Sison and Jill Sandique, and eventually took a leave of absence from her profession in 2007 to take a diploma course at International School for Culinary Arts & Hotel Management (ISCAHM) under internationally renowned pastry chefs Ernie Babaran & Bubbles Cruz Lerias.


In 2008, Atty. Marina established the company Monsees Chefs & Bakers, Inc. which started as a commissary at her house, delivering cakes and breads to food service institutions, catering to well-known restaurants and cafes, and supplying frozen laminated dough to Marriott Hotels, coffee shops and hoomebakers alike.  In 2009, Monsees began to join bazaars and started to carry homey-comfort breads such as the Spanish Bread and Breadsticks/Grissini.



In celebration of its Anniversary this November 2013, Monsees Cafe re-launched, with a refurbished ambiance, a perked-up menu and rebranded as Harina Artisan Bakery Cafe.

Yes, the ambiance is so cozy and it is just like you're in your own home.  As we do our review, we felt that we were just hanging around in a very light atmosphere while listening to Suy Galvez and  munching those delicious food.  Here are some of the food that we tasted during the event.  A tour with Harina Artisan Bakery Cafe.

Drinks first!

Frozen Hot Chocolate

Frozen Hot Chocolate.  I love chocolate very much, since I am not a fan of coffee, hot chocolate is better and it is heaven for me, hahaha.  From the name of the drink Frozen Hot Chocolate, it is quite intriguing because it's contrasting term of cold and hot, right?  Still, the drinks is very delightful and refreshing.  The coldness is right for the taste of chocolate.  As I sip, the fullness of Chocolate is there and the sweetness is heaven!  I definitely recommend it to all my friends who love chocolate drinks.

Red Iced Tea

 

Signature Iced Tea

They are also serving their Signature Iced Tea and Red Iced Tea.

The Breads




Harina's Bloomin Bread, Crusty pull-apart Italian loaf filled with basil puree and assortment melted of cheese. Served with a dip of balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin of Olive Oil worth PhP320.  This bread is for sharing.  Love the taste very much! This is something new for my palate, I'll definitely let my family taste this.

Strawberry Cheesecake-Stuffed French Toast

Strawberry Cheesecake-Stuffed French Toast - Cheesecake filled brioche topped with whipped cream & strawberry preserves, love the sweetness of strawberry. Since my eldest son love strawberry I'll let him taste it, I think that serving My son finish in just a minute. He loves strawberry very much. This is worth PhP290.00

The Meals

Steak and Eggs

Steak and Eggs - Skirt steak served with two fried eggs, French Fries,  baked tomatoes and toast for PhP450.00

Breakfast tart

Breakfast Tart - Pull pastry shell filled with cream cheese, spinach, baked tomatoes, bacon and eggs worth PhP290.00

Hot Canadian Sub Sandwich

Canadian Bacon, gruyere and pickles on Harina's crunchy Baguette or Croissant Rectangles.

Granola Bars with Yogurt Dip

So, are you hungry now? Well, visit their store and try their range of delicious food.  Taste something different and experience something exciting.   They'll be rolling out more tasty new menus, promos and rewards so better be there when it happens. 

Harina Cafe officially opens last November 20, 2013, located at 118 Katipunan Avenue, White Plains, Quezon City, with business hours everyday from 6am to 9pm. For inquiries, call +632-3526721. Be in the loop with Harina Cafe through its

website: http://harina.ph,
Facebook: http://facebook.com/harinacafe and
Twitter/Instagram accounts: @harinacafe

As Atty. Marina's personal mantra "in my kitchen, only happy people are allowed because happy thoughts and smiles are felt in everything made and baked. I also believe that there are no shortcuts to baking, that only premium ingredients must be used, and that new items must be prepared the old-fashioned way."








Well, that's my tour at Harina Artisan Bakery Cafe. Just comment here if you already visit their store and lets share thoughts about it.

A week after heart's day my correspondent Justin was delighted enough to witness Yoshinoya's Gyudon Eating Contest Grand Finals.  It is a yearly event done by Yoshinoya Philippines lead by their President and General Manager Timothy James Yang.  The event was held at the New Activity Center of Glorietta 1 in Makati City.  Completing the line up were the twenty eight (28) finalists who competed during the qualifying rounds from different stores of Yoshinoya in past month.  Aside from the 28 contestants present in the Grand Finals there were also contestant from different medias coming from the print, television, radio and online.  Making the total contender of 32 individuals.



Yoshinoya was founded in the 1800 in Japan during the 1800 and it became popular with delicious recipe of beef and rice known as Gyudon (beef bowl) which was created by Matsuda.


Now, Yoshinoya, with its annual Gyudon Eating Contest hailed the ultimate Beef Gyudon King out of the twenty eight (28) only three (3) of them rise victorious.  If you've joined the qualifying round you definitely know how hard it is to finish a number of bowls.  So for the final match was even more difficult as they have to eat the most number of beef gyudon bowls in 15 minutes and less leftover.  The Top Three (3) Finalists with the most number of bowls consumed and the least weight left after 15 minutes will be declared winners.



The first place winner will receive P100,000 and the bragging rights to be called the Yoshinoya Gyudon Eating Champion, second placer gets P50,000 while the 3rd placer takes home P25,000. Non-winners will get consolation prizes worth P2,000 of Yoshinoya Gift Certificates.  The winner of the media division will get P30,000.



After the opening and some introductions of the guest and dignitaries present during the event, the intense munching starts.  There were plenty of emotions and expressions during the contest.  With the span of 15 minutes finalists are eager to consume as many as they can.

The buzz triggers the end and the finalists were given 30 minutes to rest.  Just enough time for the judges to check and weighs the number of bowls consumed.

After tallying all, Japanese Cultural Attache to the Philippines Maki Mizusawa together with Mr. Timothy Yang announced the winners of the Gyudon Eating Contest.  First announced was the winner for the media division in which our blogger friend Florencio Jusay, Jr. or FPJ bagged the P30,000 cash prize finishing with 7 bowls.


For the Yoshinoya Gyudon Eating Champion was Douglas James Candano.

Congratulations to all the winners!

If you're eyeing to be next year's Gyudon Eating Champion be sure to check out their stores at SM Megamall, SM North EDSA, SM Mall of Asia, Robinsons Galleria, the newly opened Glorietta branch, SM Manila and also in SM Pampanga.

Nowadays, most of the Filipinos love teas. There are different kinds of preparing those teas, but most of the Filipino Chinese likes the natural way of preparing teas.

I recently visited the establishment of Thousand Teas at Mezza Residence in Quezon City.  Not a very fond of teas but I was amazed by this and suprisingly, Thousand Teas offers Hot and Cold Teas and in different touch.  I tried to sip some of their teas and one of teas that I adore was their floral teas which give me a different insight on that particular teas.   I find it relaxing and refreshing.  I am used to drinking instant Iced teas but this one is different, it is freshly prepared.

I think this is the first Tea house that mainly offer all kinds of Teas. Even though they are located in nearby universities and as we all know it is seldom that new generations love to drink tea but for Thousand Teas they are targeting these market by offering something new and flavorful like their milk teas.




That day was great because I was able to acquired plenty of information about teas.  Mr. Jim demonstrated to us the different ways of preparing teas. He was able to show us also the exciting blooms of the Jasmine Tea and the Rose Tea which is actually little by little blooming as it sips in the hot and warm water and mixes with the essence of the rolled teas. Aside from the relaxing taste and scent it is also enjoying watching and seeing those tea blooms. Note use a clear glass pitcher when doing this.

Blooming Teas

Tea Set

If you’re a tea lover you’ll definitely enjoy selections and here are some of their offerings Blueberry Milk Tea, Strawberry Pearl Milk Tea, Assam Pearl Milk Tea, Taro Pearl Milk Tea, and more which is really great. Of course they are not just offering teas but also the tasty dishes like the Pasta Carbonara.  I'm not a fan of pasta but I definitely recommend their Pasta Carbonara.  Flavorful!


As their treat for the holiday they are offering a Tea Gift Sets which are great for executive people and of your bosses. I think it’s a simple gesture to remind them of your bonuses for the coming holiday.

So if you’re looking for a modernized tea house the Thousand Teas is the place to be.


G/F Mezza Residences,
Aurora Blvd. Cor Araneta Ave.,
1113 Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 708 3919

What's the most best time for mommies? Well, having a big break in a very relaxing hotel and that's what happened a few days ago, yours truly went to south together with the other bloggers for this particular event. This was my first time to visit this part of Batangas, the Matabungkay Beach Resort and Hotel. A very interesting place to spend a relaxing day.

Aside from the Beach which is known in the area, the hotel with great amenities, and well the most important is the food are something to look forward to when you visit this side of town. I consider food is a very important thing in spending a big break and MBH features a lot of food that they have in their buffet. This is one thing that people should look up to at MBH during peak season and if MBH have plenty of guests.




What's so interesting about MBH is that they featured two of talented participants of the recently concluded Junior Master Chef, namely Jobim Jalbuena and Tricia Baylosis. They are the highlights the Batangas Food Fest in MBH aside from featuring food delicacies of Batangas. To even highlight more the festivity a cooking demo was conducted by these two talented junior master chefs together with the other chefs of Magnolia. They presented some of their best recipes that people will surely enjoy.




Jobim Jalbuena prepared a "Binarakong Baka" a very authentic taste which Jobim includes some delicacies from Batangas. While Tricia Baylosis prepared a "Kalderetang Kambing with Couscous Rice". Oh i love this food, I am a great fan of Kaldereta menu sometimes I cook Kaldereta for my family. I'll definitely try this recipe and hoped to imitate the version of Kalderetang Kambing of Tricia. Good Luck to me! These are some foods that they will serve for the whole month of November.

Kalderetang Kambing with Couscous Rice of Tricia (photo courtesy of Ms. Jing)

Binarakong Baka of Jobim (photo courtesy of Ms Jing)

The Deep Fried Ice Cream (photo courtesy of Ms. Jing)

Now tell me who in the world will not crave to have a dessert? I'm pretty much sure most of us loves dessert, so who loves ice cream out there?


Chef Manny of Magnolia ice cream made a little twist with the usual ice cream that we eat. This time he did a very unusual preparation of the ice cream. A sizzling ice cream and a deep fried ice cream. Very Interesting, isn't it? This is really something new for our taste buds, imagine Chef Manny use a sizzling plate for the preparation of the ice cream. A very delicious food with an unusual preparation. Well I couldn't really explain more so you better catch it by visiting MBH to personally taste it because it is exclusively available only in MBH.



Aside from the sizzling ice cream, another hot preparation of ice cream was made and this time the ice cream was fried and not only just fried but deep fried. I'm sure your thoughts are already working and thinking how they do it. Well, they rolled an ice cream ball on some plenty of bread crumbs and together with the other ingredients, then have it fried on hot oil in just a few seconds, and presto, a deep fried ice cream.

A very different kind of ice cream only at Matabungkay Beach Resort and Hotel.

After the Batangas Food Fest in MBH, we were given an opportunity to go around the beach, experienced the beautiful place, the amenities and go around the resort. I can say we did have a great time.  It's an experience that personally I'll cherish very much.






For peak months, Matabungkay Beach Hotel is offering Buffet for only Php300/pax and for this whole month of November the food that you see up there are all available.  So, what are you waiting for? visit Matabungkay Beach Hotel…BOOK NOW!!!

For Reservation call (02) 752-5252, (02) 752-5252 / (02) 819-3080 / 0917-865-5334 / 0908-887-0596

Or visit http://www.matabungkay.net/ and Matabungkay Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Matabungkay?fref=ts to book online and for more updates.

You can also FOLLOW them @thematabungkay on Twitter.

I would also like to take this great opportunity to give my thanks to Ms. Charley Leviste Antonio the owner of Matabungkay Beach Hotel and Ms. Wendy Jalbuena for having us in this wonderful place.  We had fun and we enjoyed our stay in Matabungkay Beach Hotel.