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!

Renzie Visits Carl's Jr. Mojave

another fast food adventure with Renzie Baluyut.

Well at least I think it was close to the Mojave- it sure looked like desert terrain on our way in. I took a road trip with Mom and Auntie Flor to check out some property up in California City. We eventually ended up at the Silver Saddle Ranch later that afternoon. But for lunch, we had a quick stop over at a Carl's Jr. by the main road.

As far as I know, there are no Carl's Jr. restaurants any longer in the Philippines. They did, several years before-- but that folded up after a few years. Then again just a couple years back-- and again they folded. But I did miss their burgers, and the poster out front that had "Prime Rib Burgers" in bright bold letters kinda just reeled me in.

And yeah, it was alright. Also had a strawberry milkshake to wash it down.

Now that was alright. Really hit the spot.

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie's Favorite Fast Food- Delivered Right At Home

Here's a post, entitled "Living Solo: Fast Food Fare", that originally got published in another blog of mine, The Life and Times of The Renzie Man- subtitled: The Not-So-New Adventures of Renzie Baluyut in Metro Manila and Los Angeles. It's a personal blog on urban living- with interesting observations and useful tips, particularly when you're on your own in the Philippines and the United States.

In any case, I recently put together a post on the home-delivery food services I typically patronize. I thought it would make a worthy addition to this new food blog of mine. Enjoy!

When you're living on your own in Metro Manila, fast food eating is definitely going to be a regular thing. Sure, you can do your own cooking, but sometimes it's not just as fun to cook when you don't have anyone on hand to appreciate your kitchen-work. Or maybe you're just tired from a hard day slaving away at the salt mines.

On the other hand, you can also just go out, as Metro Manila has a lot of other great dining options in terms of restaurants and food establishments. But making a habit out of dining out, while fun, can also seriously deplete a bachelor's limited income stores.

Which brings us back to fast food.

Most fast food chains in Metro Manila already offer a regular home delivery service. Below are my recommendations for quick-service food delivered right at your doorstep with a short phone call.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my Fast Food Nine:

• McDonald's. 8-6236 or 8-McDo
  
• Jollibee. 8-7000
  
• KFC. 887-8888
  
• Pizza Hut. 911-1111
  
• Shakeys. 7-7777
  
• Chowking. 702-8888
  
• Max's. 7-9000
  
• Greenwich Pizza. 5-5555
  
• Wendy's. 533-3333

My Take on The Fast Food Nine

McDonalds'. 8-6236, or 8-McDO. Ah, the ever-reliable McDonalds. I would have to say that this might very well be my default home delivery food option- whether breakfast, lunch or dinner. They even deliver 24/7 in key areas in the city.

I usually go for their sandwiches with a lot of meat- a couple of double cheeseburgers, quarter pounders with cheese, or big macs. Then wash em all down with a large soda. Remember that the fries do tend to get soggy by the time they get to you, in the same way that the sundaes might melt just a little. Otherwise, McDonalds' service is reliable more often than not- so your food gets to you well within the 30-minute window.

Jollibee. 8-7000. The country's leading fast-food chain, without a doubt. They probably offer more in terms of variety, and their food is catered more towards the Filipino taste. On top of the usual burgers and fries, they do have an assortment of rice meals and desserts as well. We usually go for the two-piece burger steak meals, the hotdogs, and the chickenjoy- Jollibee's fried chicken meal which comes in 1-, 2- or 6-piece meals. Fairly reliable delivery track record, though they don't deliver 24/7 just yet.

KFC. 887.8888. When we have a craving for chicken, it has to be KFC. We usually order a 6-piece box or an 8-piece bucket, depending on how hungry we are- and it has to be Hot and Krispy (though a lot of people I know still prefer the Original Recipe). You can usually request for your chicken to come in all white meat or all dark meat, and you can also order for other things like HotShots- bite-sized chicken balls, wraps called Go-go's, and even salads.

Depending where you are, delivery might take a while- although most places might have a 30-minute delivery time, other areas might take a little longer (like 45 minutes). But hey, it's KFC, so for me, it should be worth the wait.

Pizza Hut. 911-1111. If you're in the mood for some greasy pan pizza, then you'll probably want some Pizza Hut. I'd say Pizza Hut has two things going for itself: one, the delivery service is amazing- they almost always make it over to my place in less than 30 minutes, and two, the Palm Card- a loyalty card of sorts you could sign up for which entitles you to a free medium, large or family sized pizza (a pre-determined pizza-of-the-month) for every purchase of a pizza of the same size (plus a bottle of soda).

Great value, particularly if you're ordering for a family or a small party, excellent delivery track record, and you get the Pizza Hut taste you've been craving for.

Shakey's. 7-7777. Ah, Shakey's. You know you like Shakey's for their thin-crust pizzas. Even better, since they're competing head-on with Pizza Hut (see above), they have their own loyalty program in the form of the Pizza-natic Card. Same concept: you get a free large or family sized pizza (I think you only get a Pepperoni pizza this time- not bad) for every purchase of a pizza of the same size (plus a bottle of soda).

On top of that, you might want to consider getting yourself some Mojo Potatoes (though they aren't what they used to be), or maybe even some chicken to go with your thin-crust pizza. I actually prefer these guys over Pizza Hut: you still get the same great value and delivery track record, with a better (maybe slightly) healthier variety of food- but hey, it's fast food, so it can't be THAT healthy.

Chowking. 702-8888. Just about the only Chinese fast food chain in the Philippines, Chowking offers you a fairly wide variety of dimsum, noodle dishes, rice dishes and vegetable dishes- and quite possibly, the most convenient halo-halo (12 kinds of sweet treats with shaved ice and topped with ice cream) you can have delivered right to your doorstep.

What to get? We almost always get some siopao (Chinese meat buns), and some spicy noodles, a lot of dimsum, some congee (Chinese rice porridge), and a couple of halo-halo's for dessert. Depending on what you order, the food might take quite some time to prepare, but the store often informs you ahead of time if they need a little bit more time. But if you're craving for quick-service Chinese food, then you don't really have much of a choice, do you?

Max's Restaurant. 7-9000. Technically not a fast-food restaurant, but Max's home delivery track record is good enough to put them in the game. Plus, they're just about the only restaurant serving Filipino food that you can easily get with a quick phonecall.

While their claim to fame is their signature fried chicken, they also have a lot of good Pinoy food- pinakbet, kare-kare, pancit canton, lumpiang ubod (fresh or fried), and even crispy pata. Delivery time, depending on your location, might take longer; partially due to the fact that some of your food items might take longer to prepare, and that they don't have as many stores as, say, a Jollibee or a McDonalds'.

Greenwich Pizza. 5-5555. More pizza for you, and they also have their own loyalty program, but for me, they haven't quite mastered the art of getting your food to you in less than 30 minutes. So when you crave for a pizza, the tendency is still to get the more efficient Shakey's or Pizza Hut. Still, they do have a selection of pizza and fast food pasta (my way of saying don't expect much) you might want to check out.

And just like any other quick-service restaurant, they also have a few rice meals on their menu, as well as chicken.

Lastly, we have Wendy's. 533-3333. Wendy's used to be my favorite back in my earlier days of radio- in fact, I think Wendy's was one of the first restaurants to offer a 24-hour home delivery service AND a single number for delivery. Since then, they've been steadily losing ground to Jollibee, McDonald's and just about every other quick service restaurant I've mentioned here.

What I do like from Wendy's is the Wendy's classic- which you can easily upgrade to a double or a triple classic, depending on exactly just how much meat you want to gorge on in one sandwich. The sugar-free iced tea is a plus, but I'd really love to see some nutritional information rather than just taking their word for it.

So there you have it. My guide to fast food eating in Metro Manila. Hope it helps.

Cheers, everyone!