Manang's Chicken to Open at SM Fairview Soon

My sister and I just love Manang's Chicken! We do have different preferences - I love to eat my Manang's Chicken hot off the kitchen, while my sister loves to wait for hours so the chicken meat would absorb the sauce. We find ourselves craving for it every now and then, but even if the nearest branch to us is the one at the Wilcon City Center, we usually dine at either SM City North EDSA or Glorietta branches because those were the most accessible.

One weekend afternoon, my sister and I food tripped at their Glorietta branch and we had:


Manang's Fish Fillet Meal.
My meal. I wanted to try this as soon as I saw it on their menu, but it was just this moment that I finally tried it out. I love battered fish, but I usually pair it with aioli or coleslaw, so tasting this with the Manang's Chicken sauce was a great revelation. I loved the sweet-salty-spicy blend and it really went well with the soft, flaky fish and its lightly crunchy covering. Just like the sauces for the chicken, diners can opt to go with their choice of sauce - original, mild spicy, and extra spicy.


Manang's Chicken Cut Meal.
One thing we loved about Manang's Chicken, the flavors seeped through its meat, unlike the others we tasted that tasted bland on in the inside. The amount of sauce was enough... but should you want more, you can just avail for extra sauce. As for us, we buy several little cups of sauce to take home, so we could still have a taste of Manang's Chicken.


Cheezy Spaghetti.
Something sister and I shared. Their spaghetti won't win any awards, sure... but there is just something about their spaghetti that makes sister and I crave for it. This is marketed for the kids so it was a little on the sweet side, but instead of adding grated cheese, they added cheese sauce. Sister said it felt like eating spaghetti when we were kids... kinda like having a flashback of the past, which is maybe why we love it a lot.


Manang's Chips and Dips.
Another favorite at Manang's Chicken. This was the large size, which came with one dip of choice (we ordered another dip because we loved mixing the two dips together). Aside from this and the regular sized one, they also sell this by tubs (small and big). One trivia... we love this so much that we actually ordered two tubs of their chips as part of our media noche - the family shared the big tub, the small tub we gave to our neighbor so they could taste it, too.

It's been a while since we last dined at Manang's Chicken, so when I received news that they are opening a branch at SM City Fairview, we were very happy. No word yet as to exactly when it will open, but they are targeting the month of November. As soon as it opens, the girls and I will definitely visit and binge (mommy loves their Crispy Pancit, by the way), and of course share the experience here on the blog.

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Joey Pepperoni Pizzeria

I just realized that I have quite a lot of food trips that I still haven't shared here on the blog, so in order to catch up with the times, I will try to blog as much as I can.

Sister and I don't bring a lot of cash when we travel, basically because we don't have that much to burn anyway. Normally, whenever I travel north, I always have about three thousand to spend - including bus fares - no matter how long I am planning to stay on vacation. I am a very thrifty person and has already learned the many ways to stretch the budget, but there were times that I find myself spending mindlessly, and this food trip was a good example.


When sister and I once went to Baguio City, thinking where to eat was one of the toughest questions to be answered because there are just so many to choose from. However, since we were on a budget, we couldn't eat at the two places we had in mind - Cafe by the Ruins and PNKY. We decided to just go to SM City Baguio for our aunt also asked us to buy the latest issue of DiabetEASE Magazine, and it was there where we found a place to eat at. We knew there were Joey Pepperoni branches in Metro Manila, but because we still haven't tasted the food here, it was the best choice we could think of.


The place had a very spacious dining area, but because there were very few diners at that time, we decided to stay at the al fresco side, where some of the diners stayed at, maybe because of the natural cool breeze.

Choosing what to order took us time for we want to make this food trip very memorable. The place offered a few food promos, and in the end we decided to go for a plate of pasta, a small serving of pizza, and a dessert.



Pasta Altonno
Sister's choice was the tuna spaghetti. A few years ago, I had a very bad cooking disaster at home when I cooked Tuna Spaghetti for the family and it left me so devastated that I stopped eating Tuna Spaghetti. Having a taste of this was a big leap for me, and I was glad I did because it tasted really good. The sauce wasn't oily, the seasoning was okay, and of course, the bell peppers tasted great.


Bolognese Spaghetti
If you're a fan of tangy, very-Italian tasting pasta, this one's for you. It may look very simple and not as decorated as the usual Pinoy Spaghetti, but it was packed with flavor.

Both pasta plates were priced at 99 each, a glass of iced tea included. Truly worth its price!


Messicana Pizza
I guess my sister has developed a liking for Mexican-flavored pizza that she ordered this as her pizza choice. Very meaty kind of pizza, something impressed my sister as she's not really into vegetables, and the Mexican seasoning was so awesome! Well, Mexican is my favorite international cuisine, that even if this one didn't have my usual pizza toppings, I considered this something very memorable.


The Works
This might not have my favorite pineapples, but this pizza was foodgasmic. Umm umm good!

Sister and I only ate two pizza slices - one from each flavors and had the rest packed to take home - or rather something to eat while traveling back home. I thought all along we planned this food trip well, until we realized we made a bad budget choice for going for our pizza. Well, the pizzas are very affordable - 170 pesos each, but at that time Joey Pepperoni also had a promo on pizza - two 8-inch pizzas for only 199 pesos. It only had two flavor choices: Ham & Bacon in Red Sauce and Ham & Mushroom in White Sauce (either go for one of each or go for two of one flavor), but it was still pizza and we could have saved 70 pesos each should we went for it. Well, sister said that the important thing was we had what we really wanted, so it was just okay.


Frozen Cappuccino Mudpie
For her dessert, she opted to go with one of her favorite ice cream flavors - coffee. Been so long since I last ate an ice cream cake (errr pie), that even if in reality it's just ice cream shaped into a cake, it still brought us many memories of our late father taking us to this cake place in Makati (called Dates & Nuts if I remember it correctly) where we ate ice cream cake at 7 in the morning. Very rare did our father took us with him at work, and the ice cream cake was our ultimate foodie memory. No ice cream cake will come as close to that level, but this one was okay.


Pizza Cookie Dough
There weren't much desserts to choose from, so with the remaining four choices, I went with this as this was very unique. I have tasted a lot of Brownie a la Mode in the past, and this provided a different twist - with the chocolate flavor coming from the choco chips. The cookie was soft and wasn't overly sweet that it paired well with the vanilla ice cream.

We split the bill as we both want to make sure that the money we had for this vacation would suffice everything. We each paid 354 pesos - quite steep for a traveler on a budget, but considering the amount of food we ate and how great tasting each were, it was beyond what we expected for a memorable food trip. At first we shy from entering Joey Pepperoni branches in the Metro as it looked posh, but knowing how affordable their food were, we knew we'd come back to dine there again.

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Amici Offers New Dishes in Celebration of Their 6th Year Anniversary

Amici is one of the restaurants in my foodie bucket list. For years, my sister and I have hoped of dining there, but we just couldn't find the chance to do so. Last week, I was finally able to fulfill a dining wish - when I was invited to taste the new dishes at their Venice Piazza branch.



Amici started as a humble canteen put up by Fr. Gianluigi Colombo, a Salesian Italian priest in charge of overseeing the operations of the Don Bosco Makati Printing Press. During lunch break, he noticed that employees had to leave the premises, so he put up a canteen serving Italian coffee and gelato, as well as wood-fired baked pizza and homemade pasta. In 2001, Amici di Don Bosco (meaning, "Friends of Don Bosco") was established as a business that also serves the dining needs of the students studying in Don Bosco. Word of mouth about the great tasting, authentic, and affordable Italian food spread, and soon people flock to the Hole-in-the-Wall store in Makati just to taste what Amici di Don Bosco has to offer.

In 2007, Danny Moran planned to open a business and thought about opening a gelato place. A meeting with the priests made him learn about Amici di Don Bosco, and a few meetings after, he took over the business, with the promise of partnering the food business with the Tuloy Foundation.

Today, Amici has eight establishments, one located at the Venice Piazza in McKinley Hill - Bonifacio Global City.



I love the homey ambiance of the restaurant! Decorations look posh, but I personally love the mis-matched chairs. To give the impression that the restaurant is an extension of our own home, the owners included framed pictures - which are their own personal pictures.

Amici is celebrating their sixth anniversary this week by offering ten new dishes - two of which I shared yesterday (please check my other post).


Mediterranean Blue Cheese and Walnut Salad
At first, I was apprehensive in trying this one. With ingredients having different flavors - bitter arugula leaves, tangy sweet grapes, sweet candied walnuts, and the blue cheese - I didn't know how the flavors would blend, but it did taste good! I loved how the flavors fight each other, and the red wine vinaigrette binding the ingredients together just made it such a unique salad.


Asian Chicken Salad
I did like the other salad, but if I have to make a choice between the two salad servings, I would choose this, maybe because I love that slightly tangy flavor in my salad. It was lip-smacking good, and the fried wonton strips provide more crunchy texture.


Prosciutto & Artichoke Cream Cheese Pizza Roll
Unlike the panniza, this one is already rolled and cut too pieces when served. The artichoke cream cuts the strong flavor of the prosciutto, while the reduced balsamic vinegar drizzled at the top provided an interesting kick in the flavors.


Prosciutto Portobello Pizza Roll
I wasn't able to taste this (wasn't served at our table), so I cannot make a comment about it, but this pizza roll contains prosciutto, portobello mushrooms, cream cheese, and arugula... served with roasted garlic dip.


Garlic Chorizo Spaghetti
I love oil based spaghetti, and the aglio olio has got to be my favorite! I was so happy when this was served, but I found it a little salty for my taste.


Penne Rosa & Bacon
A combination of pomodoro and bechamel sauces were enough to make this a winner for me. Adding bacon and mushroom to the mix, it was one of the nicest pasta dishes I have tasted.


Pork Marsala
Such a tasty dish - I loved that the pork was cut thinly and rolled with ham and cheese, making it easy to eat. The reduce marsala wine was a little overpowering, but I liked it.


Chicken Parmigiana
The chicken in the image looked dry, but in reality it was tender and juicy. The contrast between the crunchy breading and the juicy chicken meat combined with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce made this dish my overall favorite among the dishes I tasted.



Amici offers desserts, but to complete the Italian fare, we were served gelato! We were given three flavors to choose from - Sans Rival, Ferrero, and Pistachio, and we decided to get one of each so we could taste and compare. What I loved about their gelato was that it tasted the same as what the flavor was. Sure it was cold and had the ice cream feel in the mouth, but if you are to eat a Ferrero Rocher chocolate and have a taste of the Ferrero gelato after... you wouldn't taste the difference in the flavor.

Amici is all about celebrating good food and good friendships, as well as good family ties. If you fancy to eat some Italian cuisine, please do visit one of their eight branches - Don Bosco, Tomas Morato, SM Megamall, Greenhills, Alabang Town Center, Ayala Triangle Gardens, Venice Piazza, and UP Ayala Technohub.

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