π Breakfast and Pies (Malingap Street, near Maginhawa Street)

Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times this past week at π Breakfast and Pies. This is a new place found at Malingap Street, at UP Teacher's Village. This place is located beside Pino and Pipino. In fact, I believe this place is owned by the owners of the aforementioned place, as well as BRGR: The Burger Project. Since we've been to these places and had pleasant experiences, we had quite high expectations of the place, even if it has just opened up, I believe just a week ago.

It's pretty obvious what their specialty is: Breakfast and Pies. The first time we went, their Menu didn't have permanent prices, all just penciled on. However, it was pretty much complete with what you expect from breakfast—pancakes, waffles, corned beef, bacon, et cetera. They, of course, also have a big enough selection of pies. Since both Beloved and I enjoy waffles the most for breakfast, we ordered their Gourmet Waffle Chicken and Waffles (205 Php 165 Php). In addition, we also ordered their Steak and Eggs (625 Php 595 Php). Now, it's usually Beloved who gets more excited with the drinks. This time around, however, I noticed a peculiar drink in their menu. I immediately ordered that, their Cereal Milk (75 Php 125 Php). Beloved settled for their Celery Cranberry Juice (75 Php). Finally, we also tried their Banana Cream Pie (105 Php), just so we can experience the full... uh... experience.

Steveston Pizza (Tomas Morato)

Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times at Steveston Pizza. This place, relatively new, located at Tomas Morato, popped up in our Facebook news feeds with pictures from friends that was gastronomically pleasing. Aside from knowing that it's a pizza place, and that they serve scrumptious-looking pizzas, we knew nothing more than that. We had quite the surprise learning that they only serve one size—foot-diameter pizzas at not-so-scrumptious looking prices. A couple of them was even priced at 1.3K Php—yes, at the same size!

Still, that didn't stop us from ordering. Our first visit didn't contain any of the most-expensive-pizza-we-ever-saw offerings. Aside from the premium "C" pizzas, there were the more affordable Pizza Classic, the healthier Margarite Tree, Colours, and The Journeys. We settled for one of their Colours priced half of their "C" pizzas: their Green Pizza (699 Php). Yeah, if you compare it to the competition, it's still quite expensive. We also ordered their Angels or Oven Baked Chicken (180 Php for 6 pieces), and had them Spicy. The server warned us that their "Spicy" meant Spicy. We took no heed and ordered drinks.

Snack Shack (V. Luna Extension, near Maginhawa Street)

Beloved and I had brunch at Snack Shack. I've been to this place many times before, and have been wanting to visit it with Beloved because she holds the camera. Now, I'll try not to spoil much before we get to the pics, but I'm quite excited writing about this one.

The place is literally a shack. Located at V. Luna Extension, close to Savemore Supermarket, it's a very small place where only a maximum of four people can be accommodated with the bar table. However, the place is really made for take-outs and stand-ins (and perhaps deliveries). As for the "snack" part, there's actually just four (then, when we visited now there's five) items on their menu composed of two categories: burgers and sausages, both in buns. There are two kinds of burgers, their Quarter-Pounder with Cheese (70 Php) and Half-Pounder with Double Cheese (135 Php). Yep, you read that right—that's a quarter pound burger for less than 100 Php; by far the best deal pound-by-pound of all the burger places we've been to. As for their sausages, there's the mildly spiced Bockwurst with Cheese (90 Php) and the curry-spiced Currywurst (90 Php). Now, they have the spicy Hungarian (90 Php).

You can customize your burger with different add-ons for 20 Php each: Jalapeño peppers, Blue cheese, Cream cheese, Garlic ranch, Garlic chips, and Barbecue sauce. You can also add Extra cheese for 15 Php. Beloved had their Half-Pounder with Double Cheese with Blue Cheese add-on (155 Php total) and I had, as I have always had since I first visited, their no-frills attached Half-Pounder with Double Cheese (135 Php). I had their Bockwurst before, so this time, I also ordered their Currywurst (90 Php) just to try it out.

Gloria Maris (Gateway)

Beloved and I had dinner a couple of times at Gloria Maris. This Chinese seafood-specialty restaurant had a newly-opened (or maybe moved?) branch at the top floor of Gateway near where the cinemas are. Beloved usually associates Gloria Maris with expensive and classy, the former being the reason why we don't consider going here. The first time we went, they were still on soft opening. Although it still looked classy and had an expensive feel, after surveying the menu, we found out it was surprisingly not-as-expensive as Beloved expected. Not fancying anything in particular that night, we decided to try it out.

As with most Chinese restaurants, most of their stuff is good for sharing. We found out that they have a soft opening promo wherein if you order more than 500Php worth, you get a free order of Yang Chow Fried Rice. We made sure to hit the threshold by ordering their Vegetables in Oyster Sauce (198 Php) and Steamed Fish Fillet and Beancurd (268 Php) as our main dishes, Steamed Seafood Roll (99 Php) and Hakao (99 Php) from their dimsum choices, a couple of orders of Seafood Spinach Soup (88 Php), and an order of Butchi (88 Php) for dessert. I asked if their juices were fresh, and received an affirmation. I ordered their Calamansi Juice (55 Php) and Beloved asked for their Watermelon Shake (78 Php).

Golden Spoon (Shangri-La Plaza)

After our adventure at Akira, Beloved and I had dessert at Golden Spoon. This frozen yogurt place is located at the ground floor of Shangri-La Plaza. We were very reluctant going here, but after learning that they have an "all-you-can-put" mechanic, we decided to try it out.

There were three weightless "artist cup" sizes to choose from. The first one, costing 199 php, was smaller than what most yogurt places consider "small", and was so puny that it looked like we couldn't fit even half a cup's worth of yogurt—and that's without toppings, which Beloved would consider a crime not having with yogurt. The next one costs 299 Php was a more realistic sized cup wherein I thought we could fit in enough good for Beloved and me to share. So we got that cup—their Wonderful Cup for beloved and me to share.

I was the one who handled all the putting, so I packed as much yogurt as I could. There were plenty of flavors to choose from, and I put in Tarty Tart, Classic Vanilla, Double Vanilla, and Coffee Kahlua flavors. Before I knew it, it was already twice the height of the cup and we didn't even have any toppings yet, which Beloved nagged at me for. There were also a lot of toppings to choose from, but we only managed to put in granola, because putting any more felt like it wouldn't hold. Looking back, it could have, but we didn't dare risk it.