IHOP

October 20. Sunday.

When IHOP opened in the country earlier this year, it was all the rage! Everyone was buzzing about it and long lines seemed to be the norm. Kim and I have actually planned on trying it before but with patience not being a strong suit of mine, we have always put it off until just recently. We ran in the recent Rexona Run with friends and since it started really early (3:30AM!), it also finished early. So it meant that we'd grab breakfast afterwards, which was the perfect opportunity to try out IHOP. The hype may have died down but since we haven't been here yet, we were a little excited.

 

 

Our group ordered the following:

JT had the Breakfast Sampler. 395php.

This order was packed! Well, actually almost everything in IHOP is. If you can't decide on what to have for breakfast, this is definitely the way to go (actually, there are other similar orders but this is the no brainer one). This has two eggs, two bacon strips, two pork sausage links, 2 hams and they also come with a couple of your basic buttermilk pancakes. Not for those on a diet, but if you're not counting calories and carbs, this is well worth the price.

Francis and Alex shared the Big Steak Omelette. 325php.

They had some plans after breakfast and didn't want a heavy meal, so they shared on an omelette. This had steak strips on top of the omelette. The omelette itself had hash browns, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese in it. Each omelette comes with buttermilk pancakes or mixed fruit. They chose to have it with pancakes.

Kim had the Bacon Temptation Omelette. 285php.

Bacon strips on top, together with diced tomatoes, cheese sauce, and Jack and cheddar in the omelette. Kim said this was really very filling compared to all omelette she has had before. She chose the mixed fruit to go with it.

I had the Rooty Tooty Fresh N' Fruity. 345php.

This sort of resembles JT's sampler, only it didn't have ham with it and my buttermilk pancakes were topped off with cinnamon apple compote but you can choose strawberry or blueberry to go with it if you like. The cinnamon apple on top of my pancakes were good enough on its own, but I liked it better when I added some maple syrup to it.

We weren't able to take down what Hannah's order was, but here's a picture of it.

It had a big piece of hash brown, a couple of scrambled eggs and bacon strips. And it came with a cheesecake pancake.

I get it why people go to IHOP, the food is well prepared and served.  I wouldn't say the food tastes special or better than most breakfast joints (well, the pancakes are really fluffier here), but the quality of the food and the service really make the difference. And the menu isn't really priced higher than other places considering the quantity you get, so if you haven't tried IHOP out yet, it's well worth a visit (or the waiting line).

IHOP
W Global Center
30th St. cor. 9th Ave., BGC, Taguig
https://www.facebook.com/IHOPPhilippines

Ally's All Day Breakfast Place

September 6, 2013. Friday.

We love dining in familiar places. Another thing we also love is having breakfast food during anytime of the day. So it was a win- win when we discovered Ally's All Day Breakfast Place in Malingap Street, which is near Maginhawa (it actually intersects it at one point).

Ally's serves breakfast food all day (duh), ranging from rice meals to pancakes to waffles. It's location is perfect because while there are a lot of foodie places in the Maginhawa area, there's really no dedicated breakfast place there aside from the usual tapsihans. It's a little small, but it's interiors are bright and well lit. We loved the orange and yellow motif, and the tile- topped tables. It's quaint but charming.

Kim ordered the Adobo Flakes

Adobo Flakes. 130php.

The adobo flakes, which was copious, came with an egg, rice and a side of tomato and bell pepper. The flakes were a little dry but still tasty enough. The combination of tomato and bell pepper was a little weird, though. We think it would've been better if it was just a little tomato cut in half instead.

I got the La La Longanisa.

La La Longanisa. 350php.

I usually order tapsilog at breakfast places but since I always end up disappointed if it's not Rodic's. I tried to avoid it this time. The La La Longanisa is from the Big Breakfast Attack part of their menu, which is enough to be shared by two. But since I can eat for two (most of the time), I ordered this for my own. This was sort of like a longanisa platter as it came with 2 pieces each of Vigan, Lucban and Cabanatuan longganisa, and 3 pieces of Alaminos longganisa. That's a grand total of 9 pieces of longganisa! Of course, it also had egg, rice and their weird side of tomato and bell pepper. It also came with bottomless iced tea. The different longganisa's each had their own distinguishing taste, but all of them shared one trait -- they were garlicky! I was still tasting and smelling the longganisa on my mouth a few hours after eating. This meal was great since it was big and really filling, but we think that the price is a little high for it even when shared by two.

For dessert, we had our own pancakes made.

Their menu has their Signature Pancakes on it but for those who want to make their own, you are free to do so. They'll just give you a small paper to tick whatever ingredients you want to put on your own creation. We opted for a chocolate batter, topped with blueberry and ice cream. Simple, but heavenly. The vanilla ice cream made for a nice contrast from the slight tartness of the blueberry, and it was heavenly as it melted from the warm, soft and pillowy chocolate pancakes. Oh, and you can name your pancakes too! We named our KiMiguel of course.

Despite being situated in an area filled with a lot of great restaurants, Ally's manages to differentiate itself from the pack*. The place, while small, is inviting and cozy. The staff is friendly and helpful. And the food selection is great, with option for customization as well. It's just like waking up to breakfast served at home.

*We ate here when it was still the only breakfast place in this area, but about a couple of weeks later π Breakfast and Pies from the Pino guys opened almost just across the street.

Ally's All Day Breakfast Places
50 Malingap St., Sikatuna
Quezon City
https://www.facebook.com/AllysAllDay

Slappy Cakes

July 5, 2013

We both love breakfast food, it doesn't matter what time of the day we take it and where we get it from. But it has taken quite some prodding to get Kim to agree to eat at Slappy Cakes. It's not the restaurant and it's not the food she has problems with, but it's the location! Slappy Cakes occupies the space once rented out by Kim's favorite restaurant -- O'sonho. I'm not sure as to why the Portuguese Fusion Restaurant moved out, it might be because of the poor foot traffic in the area it's located at (that was the case before J.Co moved in a couple of doors down), or poor service. I've dined at O'sonho a couple of times and the food was always great. It's just the slow service that was always a big letdown. But I digress.

 

Slappy Cakes is an American import that prides itself in being a breakfast restaurant that offers a fun and different dining experience. How could a breakfast joint be different you say? Well for one, Slappy Cakes menu is not littered with -silog meals. Although they have some -silog in it, it's not more than a handful like most other places. And oh, almost forgot, you get to cook your own pancakes! That's why there's a griddle at the middle of every table!

 

But before you get to cook your own pancakes, you need to choose what kind of pancake batter you want. They have Buttermilk, Whole Grain, Peanut Butter, Vegan, Chocolate. We chose the Peanut Butter to step out from the usual buttermilk batter.

Peanut Butter Batter (260php). Bananas (45php) and Nutella (75php).

Each batter comes in an 8oz. squeeze bottle. While that may not sound a lot, but I guarantee you it is more than enough to feed two people. After selecting your batter, you get to choose some fixins and toppings if you'd like. We went safe with the combination since it was our first time here.

And now that we have our batter, fixins and toppings, let's cook! And trust me, cooking pancakes is so basic no one could ever mess it up.

 

The pancakes themselves were really not that special, but then again that's not the main draw of this restaurant. It's the chance to cook and make funny pancake shapes with friends and families that makes this place different. Takes personalization to a whole new level.

Aside from the pancake, we also ordered  their Classic Breakfast.

Classic Breakfast 280php.

The classic breakfast comes with 2 eggs, breakfast potatoes and bacon or sausage and toast. We had the eggs scrambled, and had the potatoes and bacon. Although I'd prefer hash browns in my breakfast plate, the square cut breakfast potatoes weren't bad at all. Surprisingly, it was the highlight of this plate!

We enjoyed getting the chance to cook our breakfast food together at Slappy Cakes. The staff was also courteous and efficient in their service. You should definitely try Slappy Cakes if you want a different breakfast food experience!

Slappy Cakes
Unit 1880-5, Ground Floor,
New Eastwood Mall, Quezon City
http://www.slappycakes.com.ph/
https://www.facebook.com/SlappyCakesPH