Brooklyn Pizza (Tomas Morato)

Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times at Brooklyn Pizza, Tomas Morato. We always pass over this place whenever we go to Tomas Morato for other food adventures. Lately, I've been wondering why. I've heard little about this place, but from the outside, it looked like a decent enough pizza parlor that serves Buffalo wings. After Googling up their menu and finding out their somewhat reasonable price tag, we finally made time to try it out.

As I've mentioned, their prices were not too steep for a pizza place. We were even luckier the first time we went because they had a promo that features most of their menu. Their Barkada Summer Promo, priced at 799 Php, offered a choice of some of their 14" pizzas, a choice of some of their pastas, an order of Buffalo Wings, and 1.5 liters of Pepsi. Although there was just the two of us, and I would've forgone the included beverage, this was too good of a deal to pass. So we settled for their Vegetarian Pizza and White Shrimp Pasta.

Joey Pepperoni (SM North EDSA)

This last Tuesday, me, Beloved, and friends ate at Joey Pepperoni. I mentioned the exact day because it's somewhat important. We were supposed to take advantage of the Tuesday-only all-you-can-eat pizza at Papa John's. When we got there, there was a mob waiting for the 6pm starting of the once-a-week promo. Surrendering, we decided to find someplace else to eat and found ourselves at a different pizza place, which, while does not offer unlimited pizza, still offers the same type of menu, and, humorously, has the same initials only in reverse.

The place is located at SM North EDSA's annex, at the first floor, very close to the SaveMore supermarket. My friends have taken advantage of their unlimited pasta offer, which they do not serve anymore. They do, however, offer two pizzas out of four choices for 199 Php, and most of us decided to take on that offer. Beloved and I got their Beef Bacon and Garlic Gamberi pizzas (199 Php) and, since according to my friends, the pasta here is good, we also got their Bolognese Pasta with Mozzarella Sticks for 170 Php which we added 20 Php to upgrade the iced tea to bottomless that came with it.

Chophouse (Trinoma)

A week ago, Beloved and I ate at Chophouse. This grilled steak-specialty restaurant that features a cow statue with a halo and angel wings has been a mainstay in Trinoma's 4th floor alfresco area. Well, the cow statue is a mainstay—this place was formerly called "Holy Cow", quite appropriate for the mascot. At first we thought that this was just a simple name change, but Holy Cow opened doors on SM North EDSA's new Annex, and now we're not sure anymore. Me and my friends joked that perhaps Holy Cow was co-shared by two friends that drifted apart, settling for an agreement that one keeps the name while the other keeps the cow statue.

Anyway me in particular wanted to try this place out for one thing. They offer an eat-all-you-can table-side yakiniku for 300 Php. So I got just that, which I will informally call All-You-Can-Eat Beef Yakiniku. Beloved got their Putanesca Pasta (250 Php) and I also ordered their Classic Caesar Salad (280 Php) because eating just beef sounds tiring on the palate.

After ordering, we were asked to go their outdoor tables because their table-side grill wasn't smokeless, and was instructed that I wasn't allowed to share. I was, however, allowed to have leftovers, which was a good thing.

Almon Marina (SM North EDSA)

Me and my friends ate at Almon Marina for dinner a couple of days ago after our semi-weekly Bingo sessions. This relatively newly-opened sandwich bar replaced Seattle's Best Coffee's location in SM North EDSA's the Block. We had no idea what to expect here, but I guess it was safe to assume that this would be something similar to Oliver's Super Sandwich where sandwiches are the main specialty. However, I also assumed that they had good seafood due to the second of its name.

And indeed, both assumptions held true. Their choices had three entire boards dedicated to sandwiches, and among these sandwiches were seafood-oriented ones such as salmon, tuna, crab, et cetera. However, it wasn't entirely dominated with sandwiches, nor was it entirely dominated with seafood. They had grilled entrees as well, and because I was pretty hungry, and because the number of sandwich choices was too many to just pick one, I decided to order one of their house grilled specialties, their most expensive item on the menu, which was their Fillet Mignon for 260 Php.

Mary Grace (Trinoma)

A couple of days ago, Beloved and I finally ate at Mary Grace. I say "finally" because this quaint little cafe is located in a mall we frequent at a place we always pass by when we get in or go home. The reasons why we never got to eat here until that day were, one: we only get to pass here when we go to the place where we meet or when we're done with our business in this mall and go home, and two: when we do pass by here when hungry, the place is always full. Actually, the latter was also true when we went in. Luckily, a table just got cleared, so we took the opportunity to find out just why this place is always packed.

We had little idea what kind of food this cafe had, seeing the tables outside usually have pastas and greens. When we got to see the menu, we find out that their food basically consists of that, and sandwiches and other usual cafe food fare. As for the cost, well, it's pretty cafe-esque, comparable to food at your popular coffee places such as Starbucks (yes, they do serve food). Dominant in their menu is their pasta, so Beloved chose one that she fancies from what it's called and perhaps its description—their Leek and Saffron Cream with Fillet of Dory (230 Php). As for me, I picked one of their small selection of sandwiches—the Fili Beef and Tomatoes (205 Php). We also ordered one of their more curious salads—the Fried Kesong Puti and Calamansi Vinaigrette (199 Php). Finally, well, I guess last two, we got a pitcher of their Sangria Iced Tea (224 Php) and one of their Mary Grace Cheese Roll (42 Php), just to try it out.

The Old Spaghetti House (SM North EDSA)

The other day, me and my friends decided to spend our college week celebration at SM North. After exploring the 3 buildings of the mall, we decided to eat at The Old Spaghetti House which is one of my family's favorite restaurants. That and my friends weren't in the mood for Japanese. The Old Spaghetti House obviously specializes in pasta, plus they have a wide variety to choose from. They have pastas in specialty sauce, white sauce, red sauce, plus other unique pasta dishes. You can also substitute the paste with fettuccine (flat noodles), penne (cylinder-shaped), or angel hair (also known as Capellini, which means very thin hair) for an additional (10.00php) or the whole wheat spaghetti pasta for (25.00php).

I ordered my usual, which is the Japanese Wasabi Alfredo Fettuccine for (195.00php) and their new Matcha Green Tea for (95.00php). Ivy ordered the Thai Bagoong Pasta for (155.00php) while Dustin got the Pepper-crusted fish with spaghetti in Sun-dried tomato pesto for (195.00php). They both got iced tea (45.00php; non-refillable one) for drinks. We also ordered the Carbonara Wrap (110.00php) out of curiousity.

Aveneto Pizzarea Ristorante (Trinoma)

Yesterday, for lunch, beloved and I ate at Aveneto. This is one of the more overdue nomnom adventures we've had, since we've been here more times than I can accurately remember. And if you're a mall-goer or live in the vicinity of Visayas Ave., you've probably at least heard of this resto, if not have eaten in it. If not, well, you can probably assume from its name that it's Italian, and it is. Being an Italian restaurant, they specialize in pizzas and pastas, but also have some nonstandard Italian fare ranging from their appetizers and their hero sandwiches (then again, maybe the latter is also Italian). This restaurant has a lot of branches, and I've been to most of them. The particular one we ate at yesterday was their Trinoma branch. When we go here, it's usually full because it's dinner time. Their lunch hours are the opposite of that, and we were practically the only table when we came in.

Aveneto is a place you don't go alone, or even on a date. You go here in groups of maybe at least four simply because of the serving sizes. This is one of the places me and my friends go to when there's an occasion and have no particular place in mind because it's a pretty good value if you're in a huge group. Their pastas are good for at least two, and their pizzas, even the smallest, can be shared by four (assuming you ordered pastas on the side). A good thing, though, is that like most Filipino franchises, they allow taking home of your leftovers with no extra charge. That thought in mind, we decided to order a pasta, a small pizza, and a couple of appetizers. Beloved wanted their Deep Fried Crabsticks (190 Php), and I wanted their French Fries (55 Php). Because their appetizers platter, which contains cheese balls and chicken wings aside from the aforementioned, has less crabsticks than she wanted, we just ordered them separately. As for our pasta, we ordered their Seafood Pasta Parmigiana (250 Php) on thick noodles, which is basically seafood pasta in red sauce. Our pizza of choice was their small Vegetarian Pizza (240 Php), because it was basically the only choice we had that has mushrooms, no seafood, and sounded complementary to what we ordered. Their Refillable Iced Tea is priced at 65 Php, and we ordered one for each of us.

Friuli Trattoria (Maginhawa Street)

Beloved and I ate at Friuli Trattoria for dinner. Yes, I know I said it'll be a while before our next nomnom adventure. But because Starcraft II's Southeast Asia server lags like hell, it didn't really take plenty of my time. Anyway, Friuli is an Italian joint found in Maginhawa St., one of the closest pizza places from home. It's also our family's restaurant, so I might be a bit biased. I hope you trust that I won't be despite saying that this is my favorite Italian place, as I'll try to back that claim up. I've basically tasted everything on the menu, but recently, they've renovated and added a lot of brewed coffee-based drinks on the menu. It's also been a while since we went here, so we did.

Friuli boasts an affordable menu with some not-so-common varieties of pizza. There's also pasta, which basically comes in two white, two red, and one green varieties. I'm not really big into pasta, and when I do order pasta, I just get the Pesto. But they say they're good as well, especially the Putanesca. I'm digressing, so I'll just say it straight: you go here for the pizza. While we usually order the more affordable ones because of the mantra I follow: pizza is about the crust and not the toppings; we decided to order one of the more premium ones: Spiced Romano (229 Php) because I sort of missed it. Because we're not ordering pasta, we just got their Mozarella Sticks (130 Php) as a side. For our drinks, I had Italian Soda (50 Php) and beloved tried the Iced Caramel (75 Php), one of the newer coffee-based ones. That's it for our meal, and if you add it all up it comes less than 500, which is quite affordable comparing it to our usual food adventures.

Bigoli (Trinoma)

Yesterday, beloved and I ate at Bigoli while doing my errands. It certainly wasn't the first time we went here. In fact, this is one of the most frequent places we eat at in Trinoma. Not that I fancy Italian food that much, which is what Bigoli specializes in. And even for an Italian place, it's not among my favorites. However, for the fact that they offer unlimited bread sticks and bottomless drinks for a very affordable price just makes it somewhat impossible to just shun this one away. Beloved also likes this place due to the fact that they serve cream dory.

Obviously beloved ordered Cream Dory with Italian Rice (130 Php). As for me, I wasn't really feeling for pasta, and I usually order their pesto just for their bread sticks. This time, I ordered their Bacon Stromboli (120 Php) because it's been a while since I had bacon and I was feeling bacon deprived. I also ordered a slice of their Shrimp Bianca Pizza (85 Php), which I always get after discovering it with whatever others I order. Of course, we also ordered their Bottomless Drinks (55 Php). No sharing!

Xtremely Xpresso Cafe (Subic)

Beloved and I went to a trip to Zambales which turned into a trip to Subic after a day because of the randomness of the impulses of my father side. There, we got to try out a couple of restaurants that we decided to do a review on. When we got to Subic, we stopped by a cafe called Xtremely Xpresso Cafe for brunch.

Although there's plenty of coffee in their menu, it's more of a diner than a cafe, especially since they serve pizza, pasta, sandwiches, rice meals, and breakfast. Among them was a 22-inch pizza for around 450 to 650 Php, which seems to be a great deal. Unfortunately, they don't serve pizza during the time we got there. Instead, we ordered their pasta, Nut Pesto (220 Php) which comes with your choice of topping: seafood, Hungarian sausage, and... another that I forget. For drinks, I ordered Green Tea (50 Php) for myself and Iced Tea (60 Php) for beloved.

Kangaroo Jack (SM North EDSA)

Kangaroo Jack opened a couple of months ago as the Sky Garden opened, even though it was located at the main mall. Although they didn't serve kangaroo, their menu is filled with grilled meatstuffs served with rice. Every time we pass by, I saw appetizing pictures of steaks and sausages that I promised myself to try it out at least once. Every time we went to SM North EDSA, though, we end up eating someplace else.

Today, beloved and I went here after canvassing the new food places at the newly-reopened Carpark. We were pretty hungry and decided to eat here since it was the closest from where we crossed. Beloved saw that they served Cream Dory (120 Php) and went for that. After a quick scour at their menu, I decided to go for their Rib-eye Steak (175 Php) cooked medium rare. We also ordered a couple of bottomless iced teas (65 Php each).