Renzie Visits Pancake House

Pancake House has always been an reliable favorite for us whenever we go out. We took these pictures a couple weeks back, when we decided to have a late snack at Glorietta in Makati.

I remembered a time when the old Pancake House really served pancakes and waffles mostly. But just like any other successful restaurant chain in Metro Manila, Pancake House had been able to meet the demands of a fickle market by offering a better variety of food, as well as new items on the menu from time to time.

So yes, you can still get your pancakes, but they have much to offer whether you feel like eating rice, a sandwich, or the occasional slab of steak.

I almost usually get myself some pancakes or the french toast, or at least make sure I leave room for those. Depending on how I feel on a particular visit, I'll probably get myself...

• an order of spaghetti and a sandwich, or a spaghetti and two tacos
• a breakfast meal, like tapa or tocino, with eggs and fried rice. Plus an extra fried rice thrown in for good measure.
• a steak. Mm-mmm.

We also almost always go for Pancake House's very own iced tea. Not the crappy Lipton/Nestea drink-all-you-can iced tea- way too sweet and watered down. Ask for the House-blended iced tea. You can never go wrong with that.

For pancakes and waffles? I usually go for the one with peanut butter, or the one with peaches. Or just a plain waffle.

Price-wise, it's alright. It's one step up from fast food fare, and not as pricey as your casual family dining restaurants like TGIFridays or Chili's.

Although they have cakes, shakes and other dessert items on the menu, I'd say I'm fairly happy with the pancakes, waffles or french toast.

Cheers, everyone!

Secret Passion Apple Pie: All I Need Now is Some Vanilla Ice Cream

There's some Apple Crumble Pie in my fridge- and I can't wait to have me some of that. Doesn't that baby look gorgeous? Mmm-mm!

I dropped by Rockwell Powerplant last Sunday- nothing special, just the usual Sunday dinner and groceries- and I was delightfully surprised to find a cake fair going on downstairs. There were maybe ten or twelve cake and pastry merchants set up right in the middle of the busy concourse level, with people crowding around the stalls, helping themselves to some free samples, then taking away whatever baked goodies they fancied.

One of these stalls had among other things, this impressive-looking Apple Crumble Pie (as you can see), as well as other baked goodies. They said they used to be known as Tiny Blessings, mainly because they started out with small, home-made goodies like cookies, cheesecakes and other sweet treats. But with the massive apple pie that turned out to be a surprise best-seller for them, they decided to rename themselves as Secret Passion.

Secret Passion cakes are baked using only the finest and purest natural ingredients- much better than your regular mass-produced, mass-market cakes. I might come back for their Quezo de Bola Taisan. Or any of their cheesecakes. Or cookies. So many goodies, so little tummy space.

In any case, I recommend you get in touch with Tin of Secret Passion, and ask for a menu of their cakes, pies and other baked goodies, right here on their Multiply site. They also have other dishes you might want to try out if you're not into sweets- try their Beef Caldereta, the Penne Shrimp in Olive Oil, or the Lemon Roast Chicken, among others.

Go give em a call at (+632) 571.2384 or (+63917) 700.5659.

As for me, I gotta get me a tub of vanilla ice cream to go with my Apple Crumble Pie!

Cheers, everyone!

So Long, and Thanks for all the Buttercake!

I had the chance to check out this exclusive residential community in Nasugbu, Batangas just last week. Kawayan Cove is definitely a place worth checking out, particularly more so if you're seriously shopping around for some Philippine real estate.

Read up on some of the highlights of my visit (along with other bloggers)- you could check out my other blog, "The Life & Times of the Renzie Man" for my stories on Kawayan Cove. Of course there are other related blog posts to that article as well, which you might want to read up on as well.

In a nutshell though, our little field excursion to Nasugbu, Batangas was quite an experience. Kawayan Cove is absolutely breathtaking, and the Puyat family was on site to not just welcome us, but also to show us around- so they gave us a tour, shared stories about the place and some insights on how they chose to develop this forested beachfront property in a certain way. All that over a hearty lunch (which I'll be writing about in a bit), while leisurely lounging on the serene, white-sanded comfort of Bamboo Beach.

Anyway, I'm actually writing this post to rave about the little parting gift the Puyats sent us home with at the end of the fun tour they put together for us that day: the Kawayan Cove Buttercakes.

Well, at least that's what I thought I'd call them. These quaint little buttercakes, as it turned out, were made from an old Puyat family poundcake recipe, which they give out during Christmas time to share with family and friends.

They're light, fluffy, and incredibly delicious. On the way home, I've already noticed some of my fellow bloggers wolfing them down on the bus. I didn't realize how good they tasted until I got home to take my first buttercake out of the cute wicker packaging.

My girlfriend actually liked them so much better than my pasalubongs. You guessed it- we had really gone to town on those buttercakes. Fortunately, Mr. Puyat gave me a second box of those delicious poundcakes. That box is already marked for termination- I'm going to have them for snacks right after I publish this blog entry.

Special thanks to Mr. Joey Puyat and everyone in the Puyat family who joined us that day for being such gracious hosts; they were all there to welcome us, show us around Kawayan Cove, and pretty much made us feel right at home. I particularly have to also mention what excellent service we got from the Kawayan Cove staff- everyone who was there was well-looked after.

Also, thanks and shout-out to fellow blogger Anton Diaz of Our Awesome Planet- for giving us some tips on how to be better photo-bloggers. Last but not least, thanks to our friends from Geiser-Maclang for making it all happen.

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Recommends: Banapple

Shortly after arriving from Los Angeles, my friends suggested we all get down for some coffee and cake and swap stories. Banapple had always been a favorite place of ours- since Tish (one of my friends) recommended we try the place out.

At the time I had heard about Banapple, it was already having quite a deal of good word-of-mouth. The cakes, I heard, were excellent, and so was pretty much everything else in there. The hype at the time (around August or September of last year) was such that even if it had a sole branch down Katipunan Avenue (near where all the other drinking spots, nightspots and restos are located), it's definitely worth the effort.

We come back to it everytime, at least whenever we could manage.

Banapple's name comes from their two specialty treats: The Banoffee Pie (pictured above; forget that commercialized crap they make at other bakeshops- this one's the real deal!), and their signature Apple Caramel Crumble.

This quaint little coffee shop/bakery started out in 2000, at first churning out nice little pies and cheesecakes for family and friends, but now it's gained an impressive legion of devotees- loyal patrons- who stop by for a quick take-out or to even stick around for a hearty meal and dessert.

Banapple is a rather small place- which can only accommodate about 20 sit-down customers at a time. But it does have a certain appeal- welcoming, pretty much like home- even when there's a line of people out to get some muffins, slices of pie or sandwiches to-go.

What To Have at Banapple

You know you have to leave some room for those much-raved about pies. Banapple has enough to offer you- whether you're looking for a sandwich, a pasta dish, or a rice meal.

If you feel like having something light, ClickTheCity.com recommends you try Banapple's Terrific Tuna Sandwich, or you can also go for the Awesome Blueberry Pancakes (a stack of three mean-looking flaps which are indeed, awesome!) or have the Creamy Chicken Pie- which comes with a generous side of coleslaw.

Banapple also has a selection of must-try pasta dishes: slightly heavy, but you don't exactly go to a place like this to watch the calories, right? Check out their Fettuccine Jacintha- their own version of creamy carbonara, or you can also try the Pasta Verde- which is a penne dish with their special pesto sauce. Both dishes come served with bread which they made themselves.

For dinner, you may want to try their Salpicao Rafael- essentially rib-eye beef cubes stewed in a special sauce of garlic and mushrooms, and then served with rice. For your next visit, you can try their Chicken Breast Parmigiano- tender chicken breast fillets in a parmesan-crusted breading, then smothered in a chunky tomato sauce and topped with mozzarella.

For your dessert, you can also try some of their Chocolate Chip Walnut Pie, the Cadbury Old Gold Oreo Cheesecake or another customer favorite, Banapple's own Blueberry Cheesecake. Grab a slice, and you're guaranteed to bring home an entire box home- unless some other customer beats you to it. Yes, they run out of pies sometimes- so you know it's real good.

Speaking of take-home, consider raiding their shelves for the Banana-Apple Sweet Bread, my personal favorite. Help yourselves to some of their muffins, meat pies and cookies- which is great if you want to bring some Banapple goodness into the office, take it out-of-town, or just have a ready stash of goodies at home.

In our next post, we'll talk more about the legendary Banoffee Pie.

Banapple Pies and Cheesecakes is located at 225 Katipunan Avenue, in Blue Ridge, Quezon City. They're open Monday to Sunday from 7:30am to 11:30pm. For advance orders and inquiries, give them a call at (+632) 439.2675 .

Some pictures are from ClickTheCity.com. Check out their very own review of Banapple here, and their own gallery of Banapple photos here.

Renzie Recommends is a continuing series of personal reviews on this blog, Renzie on Food, featuring restaurants, food items and other dining experiences I personally think you should try out, given a chance. For me, eating is one of the simpler pleasures we enjoy, wherever we go- and good food is definitely the the way to go.

Cheers, everyone!