Category: Restaurants

Yoh-Gurt Froz is celebrating its 6th anniversary this year.  And they are taking it to the next level by upgrading their brand to ……. Yoh Froz!

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the launch at their newest branch located in Banawe, Quezon City.  I’ve actually noticed Yoh Froz in Banawe as it has a nice welcoming ambiance and the place is really, really big!  I was wondering why a yogurt place would open such a big branch if they are only serving yogurts?

Apparently, I was wrong.  Yoh Froz is way more than just serving yogurt.  While I hear the owners explain the history of Yoh Froz, I was totally in awe.  I admire the passion of the Gatchalian family!  Just look at their vision & mission:

• Vision – To become the country’s no. 1 frozen yogurt brand that will passionately promote health by integrating yogurt into the Filipino lifestyle through our products and services.
• Mission – with our vision as our driving force, we aspire:
  • to offer the most satisfying frozen yogurt experience to our customers through continuous product innovation, excellent customer service and quality control.
  • to provide our employees a workplace that is grounded on integrity and inspired by the pursuit for excellence.
  • to expand nationwide and allow passionate entrepreneurs to share in our vision by creating profitable franchises and working closely with our franchisees as we grow our business together.

Do you know that it all started with a simple family discovery in one of their trips abroad back in 2004?

They were successful as yogurt is now part of our lifestyle.  It became one of our favorite dessert!

As for Yoh Froz, from one tiny cart in 2005, they now have 17 branches in the Philippines.  Wow!
The branches are in the following locations: ABS-CBN, Alabang Town Center, Banawe, Bonifacio High Street, Dagupan City, Davao City, Eastwood, Greenbelt 5, Greenhills, Marquee Mall, Rockwell, Robinsons Place Manila, San Juan, Shangri-La, Shangri-La Supermarket, SM Las Pinas, SM Mall of Asia, Tomas Morato and Trinoma.

Health is definitely their philosophy (Do Your Health a Favor).  You can see all sorts of reasons why yogurt is healthy at the walls of their stores.  It makes you wanna eat more without feeling guilty since we’ll be getting so much benefit from eating yogurt.

Yoh Froz’ main product is the Froz.  The Froz, formerly known as Classic Fro-yo, is a 98% fat-free creamy indulgence that is loaded with prebiotics, probiotics and all the health benefits found in yogurt.  It’s low-calorie, has zero cholesterol and is safe for lactose-intolerant consumers.  Apart from all those descriptions, the Froz is actually delicious based on the products I’ve tasted yesterday during the launch.

In connection to their rebranding, Yoh Froz has expanded their menu offerings in order to provide us new ways to enjoy the Froz.

• We can have our Froz in Plain flavor or in the flavor of the season.  We can also create our own Froz by choosing the toppings from their big selection of fresh fruits, cereals, nuts, pastries and candies.

The favorites: Chocolate Jungle Froz (chocolate dip, rice krispies & banana) & Fruit Mania Froz (Strawberry, kiwi & mango).

• Yoh-Gurt Pasta & Sandwiches

• Belgian Waffles (Php 135)

• Yoh-Gurt Parfait (Php 175) – you can choose from Mango Parfait or Strawberry Parfait.  The Yoh-Gurt Parfait includes Plain Froz, almond nuts, banana, granola clusters and mango or strawberry (according to your order).  This looked so appetizing!

• Yoh-Gurt Smoothies – you can choose from Mango Banana (Php 125), Peach Mango (Php 125), Merry Berry (Php 135) or Strawberry Banana (Php 135)

Two more products will be offered very soon.  We were all so lucky to be the first ones to try it.  Actually, they were trying to get our feedback so they can improve the recipe before rolling it out in Yoh Froz.  Honestly, both items were sooooooo good!

• Yoh-Froz Mochi

I’ve eaten ice-cream mochi before and the combination really worked!  I’m glad that Yoh-Froz is trying that out as well with their Froz.  They are offering it in 7 flavors.  I was able to try out their coffee and strawberry flavors.  Both were delicious.  Loved it!

• Yoh Pops

This was definitely my favorite!  See the smile on my face there.  The pinipig pops was just too good!  Shall I say, PERFECT!  It was jampacked with Froz and the coating was yummy!  I will definitely wait for Yoh Froz to finally offer this in their stores as I will be getting it for sure.  This was the best item I’ve tried during the Yoh Froz launch.

I had a great time during the launch.  I enjoyed the different Yoh Froz products I tasted too!  Since Yoh Froz Banawe is near my place, I’m sure that I’ll be back soon.

——————-
Yoh Froz
Banawe Avenue, between Sta Catalina and Scout Alcaraz streets, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 373-9651

I was with 2 of my high school friends last saturday.  After singing our heart out in the afternoon, we decided to continue our bonding through dinner.  My friend suggested Cerchio Grill & Lounge and she was sure I’d love it.  I haven’t heard of Cerchio Grill but I believe in my friend’s taste so we went straight to the restaurant which is just near the Karaoke place we went to.

My friend was all praises about Cerchio Grill.  When she mentioned that the restaurant was also put up by the same owners of Romulo Cafe, I knew then that she was right.  I had such a good experience in Romulo Cafe and was so impressed with their food and ambiance.

I can say the same with Cerchio Grill & Lounge.  I was so pleasantly surprised with how beautifully designed the place is.  You can see tons of circles all over the place.  I realized then that Cerchio means circle in Italian and that probably was the reason why they designed the restaurant in that shape.

Cerchio Grill & Lounge is classy and it doesn’t just stop with its beautiful interior design.  Cerchio Grill & Lounge’s service was awesome too!  You can definitely feel that their servers were trained really well.

Here is the list of food items we ordered:

• Cool as a Cucumber (Php 95)

I remember this drink from Romulo Cafe.  I must say after having this the 2nd time around, that I’m officially addicted to this.  My old wish still stands, I hope Cerchio Grill & Romulo Cafe can serve this a bottomless drink.

• Ripe  Mango Shake (Php 85)

Fruit shakes will never be absent in any restaurant’s menu.  Cerchio Grill & Lounge also has green mango, pineapple, banana and buko shakes (all at the same price).

• Mojito (Php 115)

Even if Cerchio Grill & Lounge is a restaurant, it seems like you can hang out there and have cocktails and alcohol.  My friend ordered this mojito.  I wanted to taste it as I know I needed to write about it here in HeaRty’s Haven.  I swear the alcohol was just too strong.  My friend was actually red-faced throughout our dinner due to this drink hahaha!

• Singaporean Crispy Squid Heads (Php 180)

A definite winner in Cerchio Grill & Lounge’s menu!  Perfect appetizer for any meal indeed.  This sweet but very spicy dish had all the flavors over the squid heads.  We couldn’t get enough of this even the dish was served to us when we were almost finished with our main dishes.  We don’t wanna cancel our crispy squid heads order as we knew that the wait was worth it.  Sooooooo yummy!

• Filipino Onion Soup w/ Bulalo Bits & Queso Puti Croutons (Php 150)

I couldn’t imagine how we can make the famous French Onion Soup into Filipino style.  Cerchio Grill & Lounge, however, was able to do this successfully!  This definitely had a different taste but it was complete inspired from French Onion Soup.  The queso puti and bulalo bits were perfect ingredients to this tasty soup.  It was yummy!

• Shrimp Tempura in Tamarind Broth (Php 145)

Cerchio’s own version of sinigang na hipon.  They made it a bit Japanese by putting breaded tempura into the soup.  The other different thing they’ve done was to use Tamarind broth.  This was okay but I think I’ll stick with the original sinigang but this was good too.  It’s just a matter of preference 🙂

• Mixed Vegetables with Tofu & Mushroom (Php 170)

Our meal won’t be complete without a vegetable dish.  I guess we consider vegetables as a light dish. This dish was just ordinary but it was tasty.  I love how the sauce was evenly spread out the dish that every spoonful of this was flavorful!  If you’re a vegetarian, Cerchio’s mixed vegetables with tofu & mushrooms is a good option.

• Oven-Baked Crispy Pata (Php 650)

Who can ever resist crispy pata?  When I saw the name with ‘baked’ in it, I thought it could be less oily.  We all know that Filipinos cook crispy pata by frying it.  So baking it might make it a bit healthier by removing those oils.

The taste was just as delicious.  I really love the crispiness of the skin and the tenderness of the meat.  This is a must-order.  You also have 3 choices of sauce: sweet, spicy and a combination of sweet & spicy.  I liked the sweet & spicy sauce the most but it all boils down to your own taste.  So take your pick! 🙂

• Garlic Rice

Most of us are on diet.  The waiter was very firm in recommending the garlic rice to go with the oven-baked crispy pata.  I took his advice and didn’t regret it.  It was a great combination indeed.

• Toffee Sansrival (Php 140)

I love the presentation of Cerchio Grill’s cakes.  They put the name of the restaurant in a plate using Choco syrup.  It was simple yet very delish to look at.  Toffee Sansrival Cake was my choice of dessert and I was so glad that I stuck with it in spite of many choices in the menu.  The cake wasn’t too sweet and you can taste the nuts in each bite.  The icing were soooo good too!  I totally forgot about my diet.  I just wanted to eat this Toffee sansrival.  I’ll take care of my diet right after this meal.

• Carrot Cake (Php 160)

While I enjoyed Cerchio Grill’s toffee sansrival, the carrot cake was a disappointment for me.  I felt the icing had too much milk.  However, the cake itself had real bits of carrots.  It definitely stayed true to its name.  It was indeed a carrot cake.  I really just hope they fix the icing in their carrot cake.

A lot of friends do ask me for restaurant recommendations.  I now will put Cerchio Grill as one of my top choices for restaurants in Tomas Morato.  Beautiful ambiance, great service and yummy food – what else can you look for?  They got all the ingredients right.  Highly recommended 🙂

Me and my high school friends had a great dining experience.  For sure, I will be back in Cerchio Grill & Lounge soon! 🙂

——————–
Cerchio Grill & Lounge
76 Sct. Limbaga St., Brgy. Laging Handa, Tomas Morato, Quezon City, Philippines
(02) 351-5279

After the amazing show in Tribu K Mindanawan Cultural Village, we walked to Riverwalk Grill for our dinner.  We were told that Riverwalk Grill is famous for their exotic foods.  Crocodile was mentioned a couple of times and I was actually thinking yaiks, should I eat?

I was hungry then as I only had noodles for lunch that day.  As we walked through the restaurant, I saw the chef cooking barbeque.  When I got to smell the aroma of the food, I knew right then and there that we would have a nice meal.

Riverwalk Grill is more of an outdoor type of place.  It doesn’t look like a high-class restaurant but hey, it was the food we were looking forward to.  I was excited.  I wondered how a crocodile would taste like!

I wasn’t part of the ones who ordered the food so I was just there to be surprised haha!  Here are the food that were served to us:

• Thai Mango Salad (Php 90)

This dish is a combination of green and semi-ripe mangoes drizzled with vinegar and garnished with onions.  Thai Mango Salad is nothing extraordinary but I actually liked this dish.  The bitterness in the mango was very distinct here, yum! 😀

• Imbao Soup (Php 120)

Imbao soup is actually clam soup.  Here in Riverwalk Grill, the clams they used are the female ones.  The clams are juicier than other types.  This dish was pretty cheap for only Php 120 and it was presented nicely too.

• Croco Spicy (Php 390)

Now, our most awaited dishes were being served.  First up were crocodile dishes.  This one is Crocodile spicy (one of the most popular dishes in Riverwalk Grill).  Honestly, I never imagined that I would actually eat something like this in my lifetime.  I took a bite.  It tasted like chicken but I just kept chewing for a few seconds.  The sauce gave the dish character but I can’t conclude my impression of crocodile yet.

• Croco Sisig (Php 390)

The 2nd exotic dish served was still a crocodile one.  This time cooked like a sisig.  Oh boy, it did look delicious!  After I took a teaspoonful of Croco sisig, I can now conclude that I won’t be eating or craving for crocodile in the future hahaha!  It’s nice that I was able to finally try it though 🙂  Crocodile meat was tough, I felt like eating chewing gum.  I will stick with pork sisig next time 😛

• Ostrich Egg Omelette (Php 500)

Next up were ostrich dishes. Contrary to crocodile meat, I actually liked ostrich a lot, like a lot!  I think I’ve eaten more of ostrich dishes compared to other dishes Riverwalk Grill served us.  I especially liked the Ostrich Egg Omelette.  It was a bit expensive at Php 500 per plate but hey, how often do we get a chance to eat ostrich?

The omelette was cooked with ostrich, several spices and cheese (I think).  It was one of the most ingredient-packed omelette I have eaten.  We also enjoyed taking pictures with the Ostrich Egg hahaha!

• Ostrich Steak (Php 390)

Another favorite of mine is this Ostrich dish cooked as steak.  Surprisingly, it tasted like beef steak and there wasn’t any after taste at all.  Loved it! 🙂

• Beef Kaldereta (Php 216)

• Grilled Chicken Barbeque (Php 66 per stick)

We saw the chefs grilling the chicken earlier.  I knew as soon as the dish landed in our table that it would taste good.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Freshly grilled chicken was definitely a winner!

• Mixed Fruits with Cream

For dessert, we had mixed fruits.  I loved the presentation but I was really thinking why cream was served with the fruits.  I’m not a big fan of cream.  I guess fruits will taste better with cream (like fruit salad right?).

• Mango Float (Php 70)

The name of the dish is quite confusing to me.  Riverwalk Grill’s mango float is actually a mango graham cake.  This freezer-baked cake was topped with cherry which was a nice touch.  I loved the rich flavor of this cake.  I wasn’t able to finish one whole dish as I was too full already with all the dishes that we have tried out.

• Ripe Mango Shake (Php 50)

We all enjoyed our food adventure 🙂  Most of us ate crocodile and ostrich for the 1st time!  What an eventful first night at Davao.  We all ate like a family, passing the dishes to each other and exchanging stories and stuff during our unique meal.

We also took several pictures and this was some of us after our meal.  If you visit Davao, don’t forget to go to Riverwalk Grill and order their crocodile and ostrich dishes.  You won’t regret it.  It’s always nice to be adventurous once in a while 😉

——————–
Riverwalk Grill
MA-A Diversion Road, Davao City (Behind Davao Crocodile Park)
(082) 221-9643

It’s not a secret that I’m a huge fan of Kentucky Fried Chicken or shall we call KFC.  The yummiest chicken in the world is my ultimate comfort food!  Whenever I feel sad or stressed, just one box of KFC hot & crispy chicken can already make my day brighter! 🙂

The past few days, I noticed the newest commercial by KFC.  It seems like they changed their tagline.  I remember KFC as having finger-lickin’ good chicken.  Right now though, they came up with this new ‘so good’ tagline.  Upon watching the TV commercial and thinking about it, KFC So Good does make a lot of sense.

The tagline KFC So Good is simple.  It captures whatever we are feeling. As for me, whenever I get to eat KFC food, I just immediately feel so good! It’s a great feeling and I guess that’s what KFC is all about.

Why is KFC So Good anyways?

• 11 Secret Herbs & Spices

It is definitely the recipe that makes us wanna go back to KFC over and over.  Those eleven secret herbs & spices are just perfect!  I wish we can find out what they are.  I guess it’s going to be KFC’s secret forever hehehe 😛

• Gravy

While I love KFC chicken, I know that even the sauce is addicting!  KFC’s gravy sauce has the right consistency, thickness and taste!  Perfect for Filipino taste buds!  Extremely yummy!  Admittedly, I can’t get enough of it as I use the gravy not just in the chicken but also over rice!

• Fresh Chicken Delivered Daily

I didn’t care much where KFC chicken came from but it was so nice to know that the company does ensure that we get good quality food.  Do you know that KFC doesn’t use frozen chicken?  KFC actually gets daily delivery of chicken.  Now we know that whatever we order is fresh and newly cooked 🙂

• Cooked with Passion with Real Chefs

I always thought that the people cooking the chicken in the KFC kitchen are just normal employees.  I had the shock of my life when we were informed that the ones preparing them are actually chefs (real ones)!!!

KFC chicken are actually breaded with the 11 secret spices by hand and then pressure-fried.  Wow! 😀

Those 4 reasons I mentioned above are definitely the main reasons why KFC is so good.  In connection to the So Good tagline of KFC, the KFC So Good Moments website is now up.

We can share our own So Good moment in the website.  It can be about love, career, family, friends or travel.  Entries can be a photo, a video or a written story.

There’s even an ongoing contest that will run for 3 months.  Every month, KFC will award 15 best stories!

• 3 winners (one from each category) will win GCs for 11 KFC buckets!
• 12 consolation prizes will be given as well in the form of GC worth of Php500.

While we’re at the topic, let me share my personal top 11 so good list.  This can be a good practice for me before I finally submit my official entry in the KFC So Good Moments website 😛

1. KFC is so good.  Their chicken is just unbelievably delicious!  No other chicken comes close.
2. Whenever I reach my goals, whether small or big, is an achievement in itself.  The feeling is definitely so good when we succeed!
3. Letters or notes of appreciation are so good!
4. Being productive is so good 🙂
5. Getting my favorite gadget is so good.
6. Being able to give back is so good!
7. Seeing other people genuinely happy is so good too!  Sometimes, seeing other people very happy makes our heart melt 🙂
8. Writing this blog entry for my favorite fast food restaurant is so good! 😀
9. Being healthy is so good.
10. To be successful is so good.
11. Thinking positive things is so good!

It’s funny that as I write this post, I was eating hot & crispy chicken.  Hahaha!  Talk about coincidence.  I guess KFC is just so good! 😀

As promised in my previous post, sharing with you the food that Microtel Davao serves every morning.  If you’re staying overnight in Microtel, the breakfast buffet is already included in the room rates.  However, if you want to just go there to have breakfast, you can do so by paying Php 200 per person.

It’s pretty cheap for a breakfast buffet right?  The buffet is not spectacular but I believe it’s more than enough to fill our empty tummy 😀

What I liked with Microtel’s breakfast buffet is that they kept it simple (just like what they did with their rooms).  Service was definitely awesome!  The servers were always ready to give their smiles to hungry customers and ready to serve when needed.

I just find it funny that the songs in the background were love songs hehehe 😛

The selection of food was good too!  It was just like our typical filipino breakfast but they do also have breads, cereal and some more stuff.  Let me just share what they have through pictures.  I do apologize in advance if they made you hungry.

Hotdogs, sunny-side up eggs, beef steak & fish.

Plain rice, misua soup, boiled eggs and fish fillet.

Sausage, adobo, breads and puto.

They also serve fresh juice and coffee.  We can also end our meal with fresh fruits.

Breakfast buffet is available at Microtel Davao from 6:30am to 10:00am.  We were there very early as we had a jampacked day.  Thanks again Microtel for the wonderful accommodation & food. 🙂

——————–
Microtel Inn & Suites Davao
6:30AM to 10:00AM
Damosa Gateway Complex, Mamay Road, Lanang, Davao City, Philippines 8000
(02) 233-2333