A Lyrical Night Of Binging

food at Nolita

I'm walking briskly. I'm already a few minutes late from our agreed meet-up. The traffic in C5 is partly to blame. But it's always traffic in C5, my mind would retort. I told my fussy mind to hush. I'm only just a few kilometers away to Bonifacio High Street Central. Karen texted me that she's already in Slice, that cozy bakery cafe beside Jamba Juice where the goodness of their Brown Rice Arroz Caldo still tattooed every so finely in my memory bank.


A Dessert Interlude

sweets at Slice

Karen already started munching on a quartet of desserts when I arrive at Slice. And the coconut flakes studded cupcake with a curious moniker Morning Glory is already halfway gone. Apparently, Karen developed quite a fixation with this dessert. And who could not be? The dessicated coconut gave the cupcake an intriguing texture that you would want more of it. And the cupcake itself, though high fibrous, is well moist and heavily flavored with the ingredients it was mixed in (which includes walnuts, apples and carrots). This is one mighty cupcake, I should say.

I became equally transfixed with the Choco Yema. The curlicue design of the frosting is already a sight to behold. As I bite into it, I fall into a bliss of chocolate delight both with the cupcake and the chocolate yema frosting.

And I also got curious with the two other desserts that Karen ordered. It looks to me they're like cookies, but it's too thick to be called as such. As a matter of fact, they are cookies. The deep dish ones. One is Peanut Butter Deep Dish and the other is the Chocolate Chip Deep Dish. I have to open my mouth wide enough to get a nice chunk of the cookie. The crispiness of the cookie reverberates with each chew then a surprise when you bit into a chocolate chip or a chunk of peanut butter. But we're not done yet. After we polished our desserts and drank a glassful of water, we headed straight through the door in search for a place to eat dinner.

G/F Bonifacio High Street Central
West Superblock, 7th Ave cor 29th St.
Bonifacio Global City
Taguig

553-7783

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A Symphony Of Pizzas

big pizza slices

I always fantasizes about eating a big ass pizza slice which is so big it requires you to hold it with two hands. How I envy Macaulay Culkin on that scene when he open a take-out box of pizza and pulled a  slice of cheese pizza that's humongous in size on the Home Alone movie. The pizza slice is so big that it almost dwarfs his head. Of course, we have Big Guys Pizza here but oftentimes the pie was already cut into small square pieces to apportion it to more people which kills the thrill factor for me. I wanted to have the biggest slice possible just for me. 

jampacked crowd at Nolita

pizza slices on display

And that fantasy becomes a reality here in Nolita. A casual pizzeria place that invokes how the pizzas are served in New York. The place were packed when we arrived. Luckily, we're able to nab the remaining seats. Once the problem of where to place our buns was out of the way, the dilemma of which pizza slice to order becomes our next order of business. 

steak & egg and walnut wild mushroom & ricotta pizza slices

iced white chocolate drink

I wanted to try something different and my easiest choice is the Steak & Eggs. Truth be told, how many times have you tried a pizza slice with a sunny side up egg on top? My friend find that a bit crazy but I liked it. The yolk of the egg somehow enhance the creaminess of the cheese and well compliments the meatiness of the beef slices. Not to mention the crust of this pizza is marvelous. To quote Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love: "I'm in love, I'm having a relationship with my pizza."

Karen would have chose the Steak & Eggs if not for the fried egg on top so she opted for a rather veggie-friendly pie which surprised me, the Wild Mushroom, Walnut & Ricotta. Something that I would have chosen if Karen decided to give the Steak & Eggs a try. For a pizza slice with nary any meat on it, this is really good. Cheesy pizza with the flavorful mushroom and walnuts for texture. What's not to like? I could have stole a much larger piece from Karen's slice but sense of propriety wins.

I didn't feel ordering anymore desserts since we've already consumed quite a mouthful at Slice. For now, I'm happy with the Iced White Chocolate which serves as my dessert (in liquefied form) for this evening. Creamy and sweet. I wish the contents is twice as many. I finished this drink in no time and almost beg to have a refill of this.

pesto pasta

potato chip fries

Of course, I wouldn't settle for just a slice of pizza. So we also order additional grubs. Accompaniments for a delightful pizza meal. To be quite frank, Karen and I found the Pesto Pasta Al Telefono a little bit unsettling. The green hue is so striking that placing this pasta on a green colored bowl can already be considered an eye sore. This is where the maxim 'looks can be deceiving' come into play. After we each have our own forkful of the pesto pasta, Karen and I stared at the almost alien green colored pasta dish before us, stupefied. How can this sickly moss colored food can taste so good? I'm almost having an epiphany. Fusili noodles draped with the pesto sauce that's nutty and creamy all at once. The dollop of ricotta cheese makes the dish even more eye-rolling delicious. This maybe the best pesto dish I ever come across. And I know Karen may very well agree with me.

The Potato Chip Fries is also something we happily munch along with the pizza. Karen detect some spice but couldn't figure out if it's from the dip or the fries itself. I belatedly learned that the sour cream dip has some sriracha (a very potent hot sauce) on it. But we finished it to the last piece.

7th Avenue cor 29th St.
Bonifacio High Street Central
Bonifacio Global City
Taguig

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A Coda Of Cocktails

cocktails at Las Flores

I'm raring to have some cocktails before I call it a night. And it's a toss up between Niner Ichi Nana, a bar that I've become very fond of, and Las Flores. Initially, I wanted to bring Karen to that bar at the ground floor of the Globe Telecom building but I also feel like trying something different and Las Flores seems to be the unequivocal answer. Deciding to get our cocktail fix at Las Flores is one thing, but finding where this bar/Spanish restaurant is located in BGC proved to be a very painful task. It's no feat walking a couple of kilometers, asking a few misguided passersby, and almost raising the white flag thus retreating to a nearby Starbucks instead. Luckily, we chance upon a guard who seem to know the comings and goings of BGC and direct us to the correct junction where we could slip through.

sangria and white lady

an innocent looking cocktail with an evil intent ;)

pop corn plainly salted to nibble with

The place is exceedingly dark illuminated only by soft lights and candles placed on each tables. Loud Hispanic music is being played which sets up the mood quite nicely, and the motley crew of people we see tonight gives the bar a cosmopolitan vibe. We we're given both the food menu and the cocktails menu but we're more interested with the latter thus we only gave the former menu just a cursory glance. 

Karen ordered a very safe cocktail drink called Sangria Blanca, a fruit infused white wine. It was placed in a odd looking small fishbowl-like glass where the fruits are strategically placed on top. I remember taking a few sips of the sangria but I could barely recall the taste. Maybe because it's overtaken by a more powerful and strong alcohol flavor of the Las Flores White Lady that I'm drinking. Don't be fooled by it's unassuming appearance since potent green liquid looks all-innocent from its perch of a classy looking long stemmed goblet glass. I initially thought the drink was only mildly strong but when I'm already half-way through it, I felt hotness all over and my tongue loosened a bit. Damn! This drink almost knock me over.

chesnut macchiato and a doughnut

chubby me and Karen

To tame down my alcohol addled brain, we went straight to Starbucks At The Grove near Tiendesitas. I'm rooting to try the Chesnut Macchiato but almost went ballistic when told that it's not available at this store (told yah my brain got "fried" by that one heck of cocktail drink). We then head on straight to Starbucks in Silver City which comes more prepared since they're able to offer me this drink, and that calmed me down a bit. Though I kinda wrinkled my nose at the lack of dessert selections on the display case, so I just ask for the Classic Glazed Doughnut.

Oh, chesnut macchiato! You one lavishly sweet, creamy coffee you! The doughnut could have been a perfect partner for this rich, milky coffee if not for the parchment paper where the doughnut was placed. All the sugary glazed got stuck on it. Sayang tuloy!

My friend Karen is now back in Manila for good, after hibernating for a couple of years in her hometown in Mindanao. Hope this fun-filled night out will have an encore soon.

One McKinley Place
Bonifacio Global City
Taguig