Watch this clip of Artie dancing alone and ending up with a flash mob dance:

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Guess what’s on Glee! Jollibee! - Pinoy Idle

Despite the varieties of ice cream that I like, vanilla ice cream is still my go-to flavor. The creamy milky vanilla is my comfort food - something I will never grow tired of, and makes me feel like I made a great decision each time I pick it. Others knock it for being a boring ice cream flavor, but vanilla happens to complement a lot of other food! You can come up with a variety of other fun concoctions with vanilla ice cream.

Sundaes and Toppings:

Shakey's ice cream toppings

My fondest college memories include making and indulging in giant ice cream sundaes with my blockmates at Shakey’s Katipunan (they had an get-all-you-can ice cream bar, but you could only go at the bar once with a pretty huge bowl).  We very, very, VERY generously topped our sundaes with various kinds of cereal, chocolate chips, marshmallows (and whatever treat was available),  and then drizzled it with chocolate or strawberry syrup. YUM!

Ice Cream Soda or Floats:
Personally, I find McDonald’s Coke Float a bit disgusting.  While vanilla ice cream and chocolate go well with each other, but Coke and chocolate? Not too pleasing to my palate. I favor Sprite and orange soda for floats, but there is still no matching rootbeer floats! They’re my favorites, especially the non-existent (in fastfood chains) A&W Rootbeer float.

Making ice cream soda is like a science in itself.  Since I like my ice cream sodas to be foamy, I request the restaurant servers to scoop ice cream first into the glass before pouring the soda.  Also, never include ice in your ice cream soda! The McDonald’s servers here always do that, but you can always request for no ice.

(Insert food Here) à la Mode:

Chocolate cake ala mode

A lot of restaurants use “à la mode” on their food names to mean “with ice cream.” Aside from the common apple pie à la mode, brownie à la mode and waffle à la mode, I like to put vanilla ice cream on my champorado (chocolate porridge).  Hot coffee with vanilla ice cream makes my brewed coffee oh so milkier! (Surprisingly, the ice cream does not melt quickly). My “will-be-famous” (wink) fudge cookies are actually great with vanilla ice cream!

To silence the nagging inner voice encouraging us to be more health conscious, there’s always fruits à la mode!  A dollop of vanilla ice cream on your pears and apples makes a very appetizing dessert.

French Fries or Potato Chips
A lot of people find it pretty weird, but I absolutely love dipping my fries in vanilla ice cream! The combination is an acquired taste, I guess, but I’m definitely not alone in loving it.

This snack is enjoyable and quite addictive because of the burst of flavors - salty, sweet, creamy, hot, and cold - all at the same time.

If you haven’t tried this one yet, I personally recommend McDonald’s fries and vanilla ice cream (from their sundaes or soft-serve cones), as I find Burger King’s ice cream a tad too watery, and Jollibee’s fries too bland.

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Vanilla Ice Cream - Pinoy Idle

Writer’s Note: After Game 1 of the UAAP Basketball Championship of Ateneo-La Salle in 2008, my friend and I wrote a long review on Butter Diner.  This is my worst dining experience ever, and I strongly discourage anyone who would even think about trying Butter Diner.  Here is a shorter and less agitated version of the review.

My friend and I wanted to try Butter Diner because it got good reviews from ClicktheCity.com, and also received praise from one of my friends from the office. Along with some other friends, we headed there after game 1 of ADMU-DLSU and got one of the worst dining experiences. EVER.

Service:

Butter Diner’s service was inefficient and very slow - perhaps, slower than a snail’s pace.  For example, six of us were given just one menu to share, and when we asked for another menu, it took 15 more minutes for the staff to hand another one.  This was only the start of the long wait.

When our food did not arrive 30 minutes after our orders were taken, we followed it up.  Only then did they tell us that the mashed potatoes that go along with the pot roast were already out of stock.  Perhaps, the waiter could have informed us about the mashed potatoes when we mentioned our orders, or at least even when the chef  saw our order slip?

We waited for 45 minutes before the first item, the beef pot roast, was served.  We had to keep following up our orders one at a time, and only then would those food items show up.  We waited more than 30 minutes after the first order was served, and most of the orders require minimal preparation, such as soup, salad, and pancakes. The last omelet was served 30 minutes after I left.

The staff, in an attempt to make an apology, told us that there was only one cook in the kitchen, and was the cause for the delays. That was funny to hear, since two other tables which were empty when we started ordering were served first.  Maybe, they follow LIFO, (last in, first out) which shouldn’t really be used if you don’t want to agitate your customers and hear them say “we ordered before they did!”

Food

Beef Pot Roast:
I like tender beef, but this was too tender for my taste. The meat shreds too easily that it doesn’t feel like I’m chewing anything anymore.  As far as taste is concerned, I’m not too picky with my food unless I feel cheated. The beef was seasoned with too much soy sauce, maybe not even Knorr or Maggi seasoning. For the price (around 200php), I don’t think it was worth my money.

Cream of Mushroom Soup:
The soup’s consistency was too watery.  Moreover, it tasted more like garlic soup than a mushroom soup.  My friend, Roy, also observed that it was too buttery, and joked that it was probably because we were in a “butter” diner.

Western Burger and Fries:
It was surprisingly small for a 165 peso burger. The burger was not all bad. The bun was soft and parts of the patty were juicy, but most of it was a bit dry for my taste.

It seems adding bacon and BBQ sauce makes it western. The bacon was not just burnt to a crisp; it was burnt so bad it felt carcinogenic. The only thing that felt right was the spicy kick of the BBQ sauce and the fries.  The fries were okay, not bad, but nothing special either.

I didn’t sample the food of the others, but I did see a lot of inconsistencies in their servings. The three omelets we ordered were served with three French toasts. The first one that came out seemed to be just soggy bread, while the second had a scoop of butter and confectioner’s sugar sprinkled on them.

Ambiance
Butter Diner does have the feel of a 60’s American diner. I loved the memorabilia, the old school posters, pictures and equipment – even the old bread toaster on our table actually still worked, as we were welcomed by the smell of a heating coil after playing around with it. There were radios, TVs, and even a Kermit Clein poster!
While being 60’s themed is fine, it was no excuse to keep it feeling dingy. A cockroach on the table is not really a good way to start a diner experience.
Butter Diner was simply disappointing.

With good reviews and praise, I felt even more letdown by the experience. I had high expectations, but the service was slow and sloppy, and the food wasn’t even worth the wait. I don’t see why I had to pay service charge, when my friend had to keep standing up and asking the kitchen and the staff for each of our meals, and even the bill.

I wanted a second opinion and asked both Helen and Roy, first time Butter Diner visitors as well, and we all agreed that Butter Diner does not deserve a second visit, or maybe even a first from you.

Original Version Written by: Cris Evert Callueng and Roy Vitangcol
Photo Credits: Helen Tan

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Review: Butter Diner - Pinoy Idle

Bottomless Iced Tea

I like iced tea as much as the next Filipino. It’s my default drink whenever choosing one from a long menu becomes too much of a hassle. Throw in the word “bottomless,” and it becomes a no-brainer.

The thing that fascinates me most about bottomless drinks is the impression that I will never end up being lugi. Taking it to the extreme, if I drink large enough quantities, the cost of the beverage per unit consumed will approach zero. I, on behalf of my pocket, find that very reassuring.

However, I can’t get rid of this uneasy feeling that I’m ordering something that I myself can make without any real effort. (It’s almost like ordering Lucky Me instant noodles in a restaurant.) Having this apprehension, I decided to investigate its economic merit.

I went to our neighborhood’s grocery store and gathered some relevant data. Using the largest packs of different brands as basis, I found out the following:

• The average price of powdered iced tea is 129 pesos per kilogram.
• Around 2.25 tablespoons of powder is needed per 300-mL glass. (Converted from instructions on making a 200-mL glass.)
• The average density of iced tea powder is about 16 grams per tablespoon. (Calculated using info written on some packs along the lines of “Makes XX glasses of thirst-quenching goodness”.)

Using this data, I got P 4.64 as the cost of iced tea powder in one 300-mL glass.

Next is the cost of water. From where we buy distilled water, the cost is P 50 for 5 gallons (18.93 liters). That’s P 0.79 per 300-mL glass. For simplicity, let’s assume the ice costs just as much because of the energy needed to get it to the solid state.

This brings the total cost of ingredients to 4.64 + 0.79 + 0.79 = 6.22 pesos. This would be the cost of a 300-mL glass of iced tea if I made it at home myself.

Doubling that figure to account for the non-ingredient considerations (like labor, profit margin, etc.), I get P 12.44. That’s still much cheaper than softdrinks and if I am to trust this rather rough, unscientific study, then drinking 4 glasses of iced tea for a 40-peso bottomless order should put my economical conscience (a.k.a. mom’s voice) at ease.

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Bottomless Iced Tea - Pinoy Idle

Black Angus Burger

Charlie’s Grind and Grill (by Chef Rob Goco of Cyma) is making a name for itself as one of the best, if not THE best Burger Place in Manila. A restaurant located at Kapitolyo Drive (beside a carwash station), Charlie’s is gaining popularity for its black Angus burger and its Philly cheese steak.

Orders are placed outside at a counter, where you can also see the kitchen crew at work. The inside is well air-conditioned and designed with a cool orange-white interior. They also have a fridge full of both local and imported beers. Pillars divide the room into two. There are two flat-screen TVs on each side and the customers hold the remote controls. Additionally, customers can have their cars washed while dining.

We waited a bit longer than expected for our food to arrive, but boy, was the fifteen-minute wait worth it! I ordered their black Angus burger and fries. The burger patty was succulent and very beefy, with absolutely no hint of extenders.

Pure beef goodness! The melted cheese and usual burger toppings complemented the beef’s juiciness and saltiness very well.

The fries they served are cut in wedges, perfectly cooked crisp on the outside but tender on the inside. Charlie’s also did not scrimp on the servings; the amount of potato wedges is comparable to an entire BASKET of Shakey’s mojos. They also used quality ketchup as their main dip, another plus. For an affordable Php 175 (Php 150 for the burger, and an additional Php 25 to add fries), I now know where to go to satiate my burger cravings.

Fish and Chips

My friend ordered the fish and chips for Php 180. The size of the fish was humongous - approximately a whole fillet of dory. While I was not able to taste it, he told me that Charlie’s trumps Fish and Co.

My fellow foodies and I have scheduled another visit, and we will definitely be trying more of their offerings, especially their Philly cheese steak!

Address: 16 East Kapitolyo Drive, Pasig City

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Review: Charlie’s Grind & Grill - Pinoy Idle