[Krispy Kreme Philippines Series] The Original Glazed Donut

Today, the Makati Brunch Club blogs about Krispy Kreme Philippines' spectacular original glazed donut.

As we mentioned before, Krispy Kreme's Philippine branch opens on November 30, 2006, 8:30am, at the City Center, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, near Serendra, selling glazed lemon-filled, traditional cake, sugar, chocolate iced glaze, chocolate iced with sprinkles, glazed raspberry filled, new york cheesecake, powdered strawberry filled, chocolate iced creme filled, glazed cruller, glazed sour cream (!), chocolate iced custard filled, caramel kreme crunch, and glazed chocolate cake, in addition to the original glazed we sampled.

The original glazed donut is the classic Krispy Kreme donut: simple and flavorful, an airy donut dipped into a sugar glaze that positively crumbles in your mouth. It tickles the palate with hints of sugar that are not too sweet - just perfect, if you ask us.

Lean: "One bite will never be enough."

Idjea: Yummy donut that melts in your mouth. A big improvement over the other donuts
available here in Manila. A definite must-buy for all donut-lovers!

Ganns: "I don't like having too much of a sugar rush, so this is great.
On the downside, the donuts I picked up seemed a little oilier than most."

Tina: "My perfect morning: fresh, light, soft and sweet!"

Leigh: "Sugar rush!"

Say KRISPY KREMEEEEEEEE!

Thanks to Krispy Kreme Philippines and Press Inc.'s Blooey Singson for hooking us up with these delightful donuts.

Come to Krispy Kreme Philippines' official store opening on November 30, and avail of the following:

• The first customer to ring the cash register will win a one-year supply of Original Glazed donuts.
  
• Free limited-edition Krispy Kreme Philippines tees will go to the first 500 customers.
• Raffle prizes (one-, three-, and six-months worth of free donuts) up for grabs to the 2nd to 500th customers)

Cucina @ Food Choices, Glorietta 4

With some free time on our hands, we decided to walk all the way to Glorietta 4 for a yummy brunch. We walked around Glorietta 4 but couldn't come up with a choice that made all parties happy, so the solution? Food Choices!

Fast Food
I'm not a fan of fast food areas, especially that of SM's. The cold metal benches and seeing the settling layer of fat and oil on perpetually reheated food doesn't stimulate your gastronomic senses at all. Glorietta 4's Food Choices is a definite improvement from the usual. (There are actually tables and chairs not bolted to the floor, imagine that!)

However, one thing common among all fast food areas, and Glorietta 4's Food Choices is no expection, is the cramped space. Glorietta 4's Food Choices used to be a bit more spacious but for some reason they've added several booths or kiosks in the middle of the eating area and now it's just too congested.

On to the food
On this trip to Glorietta 4's Food Choices, I decided to get my food at Cucina (They serve Spanish-Filipino cuisine). Since they had a lot of yummy looking viands and I couldn't decide on just one, I ordered one their "promo" plates. For 155 pesos, I get a choice of 3 viands, rice and a small (really, it was small, look at the photo below) glass of softdrink.

For my viands, I chose their Lengua with Mushroom Sauce, a spanish classic, Callos and my craving for that day, Chorizo. For the rice, I had their Spanish Rice.

For just 155 pesos, the amount of food on my plate was not bad. It was pretty amazing actually, I was expecting them to stinge on the dishes but surprisingly they placed a good sized serving of each viand.

Their Lengua with Mushroom Sauce was good. It was cooked well, not tough to eat and the mushroom sauce was delicious. I think I had about 3 slices of lengua (tongue!)

Their Callos was also yummy and cooked just right. Some callos dishes come out chewy but theirs weren't which was good considering the dish was probably out there on the display for several hours already.

Now for their Chorizo, this was a bit of a disappointment. The last time I ate at Cucina, I adored their chorizo dishes. Unfortunately, on this try the sausage was cut too thick and it was crumbly. Don't know how else to describe it but looking at the sausage slices, I think the meat of the sausage was not packed into the sausage skin (or whatever that's called) that well. The taste wasn't all that bad but the texture of the sausage when you eat it just distracts you from tasting its flavor.

Yes, they didn't stinge on the viands but boy were they "economical" on the drinks. When I said small, I didn't mean the regular sized plastic cups. Small means those transparent plastic cups some places give out when you just want some tap water. Darn it, it was small!

Verdict: I will go back and try out their other dishes (their chicken looked good) but maybe this time I'll go with a regular order to get a regular-sized drink.

The Old Spaghetti House @ Paseo de Roxas

We headed over to The Old Spaghetti House or TOSH along Paseo de Roxas Road in the Makati Central Business District. This Old Spaghetti House is just a couple of blocks away from Greenbelt 1. Really just a short 5-minute walk from our office.

The Old Spaghetti House's Lasagna

Anyway, we had eaten there before but I think it was pre-MBC days so no review yet. This time, I tried their Lasagna, a classic pasta dish. Thanks to Greenwich commercials, I have been craving this pasta for days (ironically, I didn't end up in Greenwich...) There's not much you can do to destroy a lasagna recipe. It's pretty simple to cook and the flavor is classic. As for TOSH's Lasagna, it was good. Not great mind you, but not bad at all. It could have been better with more cheese and a bigger serving.

I also ordered their Garlic Mushroom appetizers and it was pretty good. Cebu's Sol E Luna had better unfortunately, they closed down (big bummer).

Conclusion: I'd go back for another serving of their lasagna and maybe try out their other pasta dishes. That's if I really want to spend a bit more than I should for lasagna.

Another one of their pasta dishes... now if only I can remember what it's called...

[Krispy Kreme Philippines Series] The Glazed Chocolate Cake

For the next few days, the Makati Brunch Club will have the pleasure of blogging about Krispy Kreme Philippines! Krispy Kreme donuts, the world-renowned American doughnut franchise, will officially open on Philippine shores on November 30, 2006, 8:30am, at the City Center, Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, near Serendra.

Today, with Lean and Idjea out of the office on official business (bwahahaha!), Leigh, Tina, and I had the pleasure of sampling the first donut variety sent us, the glazed chocolate cake, which was a soft, moist chocolate cake topped with a light glaze. Rich and sinful, but not gritty with sugar, this donut was absolutely delightful.

Leigh: The glaze is so yummy, I could lick it off the donut!

Ganns: To quote Friends' Monica Geller, I think I just had a tiny orgasm! Hahaha! Seriously, a sinfully rich, wonderfully moist cake donut with just the right amount of sweetness.

Tina: Irresistible, minus the guilt!

Other donut varieties available in the Philippines are original glazed, glazed lemon-filled, traditional cake, sugar, chocolate iced glaze, chocolate iced with sprinkles, glazed raspberry filled, new york cheesecake, powdered strawberry filled, chocolate iced creme filled, glazed cruller, glazed sour cream (!), chocolate iced custard filled, and caramel kreme crunch.

Thanks to Krispy Kreme Philippines for hooking us up with these delightful donuts.

Come to Krispy Kreme Philippines' official store opening on November 30, and avail of the following:

• The first customer to ring the cash register will win a one-year supply of Original Glazed donuts.
  
• Free limited-edition Krispy Kreme Philippines tees will go to the first 500 customers.
• Raffle prizes (one-, three-, and six-months worth of free donuts) up for grabs to the 2nd to 500th customers)