Vanilla Cupcake Bakery: Sugar and spice and all things nice

Last Wednesday, my friend Pammy and I were like little giggly girls once more as we stepped into Vanilla Cupcake Bakery & Cafe at Trinoma Mall. The whole place is so cutesy and artsy, with its interiors and furniture all bathed in pastel colors and lovely flower and check prints. Going through its door was almost like stepping into a fairytale land! We looked at the cupcake display and we were mesmerized. Ogling at all those yummy-looking things, it was hard to choose! Finally, we decided.

Mine:  A cup of cappuccino and banoffee panna cotta in a jar, which was so cute I took it home.

 

Lovely cup and teaspoon.

Pammy's carrot cupcake...

...and red velvet cupcake.

Pammy's kiwi and passion fruit drink 

Cupcakes here..

...and there!

The panna cotta-in-a-jar is both an eye candy and yummy treat.

Don't all those cupcakes look delish?

See how cute the mismatched furniture here are.

Polka dotted mini porcelain bowl

I love the pink bike.

My only problem during our visit was that I couldn't taste and smell a thing because of a bad case of cold. Thus, I cannot say whether my cappuccino and banofee panna cotta were good,. But Pammy, who had a taste of my jar-red dessert, said it was delicious and I trust her. Haha!

Anyway, I discovered Vanilla Cupcake when my hubby brought home one a few months ago. I found the box and the cupcake itself too cute that I had to take pictures:

I used to not really like cupcakes but this one changed me.  :-)

Vanilla Cupcake Bakery & Cafe serves pasta and rice meals, too. And by the way, I learned just the other day that the cute cupcake shop inside the Kamiseta boutique in Trinoma was actually the Vanilla Cupcake Bakery that I know today. I'd seen that at Kamiseta last year but I don't know if they already carried the name then. Anyway, Kamiseta-Trinoma doesn't have that cupcake store now anymore and they'd opened a separate store for the yummies recently, which we visited. Yup, Kamiseta and Vanilla Cupcake Bakery have the same owners.  
Vanilla Cupcake Bakery has six branches at present - two in Glorietta, at UP Town Center, Trinoma, Alabang Town Center and Fort Bonifacio (not sure if this one has opened, though).

Old yet new (to me!)

Pho Hoa is a nearly three-decade-old international restaurant chain with presence in seven countries and serves Asian dishes, particularly Vietnamese noodle soup. In the Philippines, it is currently found in 19 locations scattered all over Metro Manila. And although Pho Hoa has been here for many years (20 years maybe?), it was my first time to eat there earlier this year in the company of my two friends in the office, Pam and Glo. Truth was, I wanted to eat at the restaurant directly opposite Pho Hoa in Trinoma but my two companions overpowered me. Hehe. I'm not a very adventurous eater, that's why, so I make safe choices of restaurants and stay away from dishes not familiar to me. But well, no regrets. I liked what I had. 

These were our orders:

Grilled pork, veggie and fried rolls vermicelli bowl, P280.

Grilled chicken and spring rolls with rice, P280.

Beef Stew with Bread, P240.

Buttered bread that came with the Beef Stew

Fresh Lemonade, P120.

Pot of Jasmine Tea, P56.

The Beef Stew with Bread was my order. I went for it, thinking it was not very different from our very own "mechado". Hehe. Well, quite close. And it was good. I'd probably go to Pho Hoa a second time. :-)

A 'blockbuster' lunch!

            No, we didn't lunch on juicy steaks, nor prime ribs, nor the freshest seafood. We had..err..donuts. So, why do I say 'blockbuster'? Because the line to get our lunch lasted some 20 minutes, like we were queuing for tickets to a blockbuster movie. Truth was, we were still lucky that the line when we came was short (this was outside, but there's still a line inside!) because it was still lunchtime. Well, that was the strategy because not many people equate lunch with just donuts right? Hehe.. Lines at J. CO since it opened at Trinoma mall last year have been crazy especially on peak hours in the afternoon till evenings, so I thought we ought to buy and eat there around lunchtime. But alas! We didn't escape the queue though it was 
not very long, thankfully. 

J. CO Donuts is today's fastest growing donut and coffee chain in South-East Asia that traces its roots to Jakarta, Indonesia, where it began its operations in 2005. In March 2012, the first 
J. CO branch in the Philippines opened at SM Megamall. At present, other stores are found at Trinoma (which my kids and I visited for the first time last Friday), Mall of Asia, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Town Center and Eastwood City,

Before I got to taste a J. CO donut, I was wondering about and amused by the long lines. But when I tasted those melt-in-the-mouth donuts especially the J. Club donut sandwich, my question was answered. Now I know why people are crazy about them. They're unlike the donuts we grew up with. They're chewy-soft, come in new, delightful flavors (ex. tiramisu, lychee, avocado) and do not overwhelm you with sweetness. The donuts also come in cute names such as Why Nut, and some, with celebrity-sounding names like Avocado Dicaprio, Blueberry More and Berry Spears. These sweet munchies have become such a huge hit among Filipinos that often, you'd see people going out the store or on the streets carrying boxes, not just a few pieces of J. CO donuts. 
Anyway, these were what we had during last Friday's lunch out from the office:

J. Club Cheezy Rich (P45 each).  This donut sandwich is sooo yummy it'll make you forget your name!

Blueberry More

See that creamy filling oozing out? Delicious!

Alcapone. Some people swear this is the most delicious J. CO donut.

Berry Spears. We pulled this out of our take-home box, the reason it looks squished.

Complimentary Glazzy Donuts  :-)

My daughter's drink - Cappuccino Frappe (P130)

My little boy's drink - Iced Chocolate (P115)

My drink - Americano coffee (P85)

We bought 2-dozen donuts, most of them for my officemates (pabili. hehe..).

This whole box of 12 donuts was for my boss, who says she can finish 3 in one sitting. Hehe..

J. Pops baby donuts on display (P250/2 dozens). Aren't they real cuties?

The counters inside J. CO

The lines inside (not including the peeps queing outside). There's a separate line for dine in and take out.

J. CO donuts cost P42 apiece. When you buy a dozen, you'll pay less at P350, and even lesser at P550 when you buy 2 dozens.

Good food, good friends, great day

A week before my birthday this August, I met with one of my best buddies, who I haven’t seen for over a year. This guy, along with his wife, went through really tough times when he suffered a ruptured aneurysm in 2010 and went under the knife twice. It was only more than two weeks after we met up for my birthday treat that year that I received a text message from my friend's wife that he was in the hospital. The almost two months of hospitalization that followed was agonizing for the couple and the rest of their family and even us in their circle of friends. It is truly by God’s amazing grace that he has completed the travel on the long road to recovery.

Some two weeks ago, my friend’s wife texted me asking if we could meet up at Centris in Quezon City.  And so I jumped at the chance to see them.  At noontime, we were foursome not at Centris, however, but in Trinoma (my favorite mall and hangout place). My friend asked for my lunch venue suggestion and knowing that he hasn’t tried Taco Bell yet, I broached the idea, to which they agreed. By the way, there were four of us because the couple brought along their smart three-year-old kid, my godson. So, Taco Bell it was for lunch and we had:

Fiesta Rice, Seasoned Ground Beef, Fiesta Salsa Salad, and Fiesta Bites with Cheese Sauce, 129.00 (Meal C)

Fiesta Rice, Chunky Pork BBQ, Fiesta Salsa Salad and Churros with Chocolate Dip, 129.00 (Meal A)

My lunch.

Crunchy Taco, P39.

Margarita Slush, P39.

Nachos, P39. Note that they're generous with the cheese dip :-)

I’ve satisfied my Mexican food cravings several times here at Taco Bell and walked away happy on all occasions. Food here is delicious and filling without burning a hole in the pocket. My companions this time liked it at Taco Bell, too.  
 For dessert, my friend’s wife asked me again for a suggestion. Without batting an eyelash, I answered “Dunkin Donuts,” because I have this undying love for their Blueberry Cheese premium donut. But as quickly as I gave that suggestion, my mind changed as I remembered admiring the Black Forest cake donut on display at Mister Donut one time. And so off we went there for coffee and donuts. My friends shunned coffee, though, and opted for the Mango Frostbite. I got a Black Forest, of course, while my friends had  Sansrival and Chocolate Mousse cake donuts plus a choco muffin. My brewed coffee was good! I've always liked it at both Dunkin Donuts and Mister Donut. The cake donuts were quite okay, except that my friend’s wife commented that they were really just like regular donuts just prettified.  I agreed. Yes, nothing spectacular about the cake donuts. Although they're not bad, they were way too sweet that you'd want to stop eating after three forkfuls.

Black Forest cake donut, P45.

Sanrsival, P45.

Chocolate Mousse, P45.

Choco muffin, P26.

Mango Frostbite, P35.

Brewed coffee, P35.

Meanwhile. there were two other things (aside from coffee) I liked about the Mister Donut shop in Trinoma. One is the cozy ambiance and the other, the expanded menu. I was impressed that they now offer a penne pasta dish called Baked Cheese Tomato Penne and a burger steak rice meal. There's also a gourmet sandwich, the Chicken Burger with Chips, which looks yummy on the menu display. Next time, next time...  

My good buddy has a caption for this: "Destruction in consumption!"

Anyway, it was time to go a little shopping after we were done at Mister Donut and not long afterwards, to go home. It was one great day I had with good friends, sharing good laughs and good food. :-)