Tuna panini, tacos and more at Café Ben-a-Bien

It had been awhile since I last saw saw my mom-in-law though we'd communicate by phone. Earlier this month, I was happy to finally see her but was also sad that she was sick then. Nevertheless, going to San Juan presented to me an opportunity to explore this neighbor city a bit to try a new foodie place. My daughter and I, before going to see hubby's mum, dropped by this coffee shop on N. Domingo St. called Café Ben-a-Bien. It was afternoon, time for merienda cena and we had:

Tuna Melt with Vegetable Salad, P85.

Tacos, P120 (3 pcs)

Cafe Latte, P75.

Mocha Frappuccino, P120.

Inside Café Ben-a-Bien

Truth to tell, I had high expectations from Café Ben-a Bien as I stepped inside to find a nice and homey though simple place. Sadly, I was in for disappointment when it came to the food. My daughter shared my sentiment. The tuna panini lacked in "spark". The tuna filling could have been a lot better had they put more mayo and spices to it. All we could taste was the tuna itself,  as if the fish flakes were stuffed in between the bread slices straight from the can without anything added to them. Really, my daughter makes tuna sandwiches that taste a lot better. It was a good idea, though, to serve tuna sandwich with a side of garden fresh salad. And then the tacos..well, they would have come to my liking if I weren't able to dish out a better version. Haha! Sorry for bragging but my daughter agrees. Hehe. The only thing I liked was my frappe but my daughter wasn't happy either with her latte. The poor thing... Oh well, I'm sure other Cafe Ben-a-Bien offers are better if not out-rightly delish 

            and I hope to be back to try them so I'd be able to give this café a kinder review. :-)     

Love the music, love the chicken

I mention Kenny Rogers to my kids and their eyes widen, roast chicken on their scheming minds. But say the name to my mom and most likely, she'll be singing "I will always love you". Hahaha! Truth is, both me and my mom love the music of Kenny Rogers.  But my kids don't know who in the world he is.  Surely, though, they know how yummy roast chicken is at this restaurant that bears his name, which the world-famous country singer co-founded (with former KFC owner John Y. Brown Jr.)  in 1991 . Ever since my children were small, Kenny Rogers Roasters has been our favorite family restaurant and we would always go for an order or two (when the kids got bigger and the youngest came) of a group meal consisting of one whole roast chicken, four cups of rice, four side dishes, four muffins and a pitcher of iced tea. However, it had been about three years since we last ate at Kenny Rogers so when I broached the idea to the hubby and kids one Saturday, not one opposed it as everyone had missed their roast chicken. So two roast chicken group meals we had for dinner at the new and lovely Robinson's Magnolia mall branch.  Our group of nine (with us were two of my nephews and my eldest daughter's beau)  had a nice, filling dinner.

Roast Chicken Group Meal, P675.

Delish! The best roast chicken for me.

Colorful, yummy muffins.

Iced tea.

The roast chicken was as good as my taste buds remembered. For sides, we had corn and carrots, coleslaw, steamed vegetables, mashed potato and fresh fruit salad. Sweet ending was provided by muffins that came in four different flavors. 

Meanwhile, more recently, I added Kenny Rogers Roasters to my list of to-go places for coffee after discovering that they now serve my poison. And they do have good latte! It's perfect with their sandwiches and pasta. My daughter and I dropped by another Saturday at Kenny Rogers Roasters - SM City Manila and had:

(I just used a point-and-shoot camera for the following pictures, thus, the paler colors.)

Roast chicken sandwich, P110.

Spaghetti Carbonara, P125.

Potato and Bacon Salad, P50.

Cafe Latte, P60. 

Strawberry sundae, P60.

We loved everything especially the Bacon and Potato Salad. Yummy! Now we have added reasons to visit Kenny Rogers Roasters.

Sunny day + nice brekkie = happy morning!

Eating out for breakfast is a luxury for me since I'm a late riser and rarely do I leave the house in the a.m. (I go to work at noontime, too.). Today is one of those rare occasions. I had an errand so I had to get up earlier than usual and head over to QC, tagging along my daughter. And we didn't pass up the chance to have breakfast at McDonald's if only for their hash brown and sausage! Yummy! At this branch at the corner of Mindanao and North Avenues, there's McCafe, too, so we were able to get "specialty coffee" - cappuccino for me, cafe latte for my daughter. I went for a hotcake and sausage meal plus hash brown (P102), while my daughter had Big Breakfast consisting of rice with sausage and fried egg plus hash brown (P121). We added P40 to each order to upgrade our drinks to cappuccino and cafe latte.  

Breakfasts such as this on a sunny day indeed make for a happy morning. :-)
By the way, we're on the last days of summer for this year, so go out into the sun for a few good minutes for that healthful dose of Vitamin D! Have a blessed week ahead!

 

My breakfast - hotcakes with sausage, hash brown and cappuccino

Big Breakfast for my daughter, who's not fond of fried rice so she had it changed to plain rice.

Cappuccino - P75 for a regular cup; just add P40 to a value meal for an upgrade.

Cafe Latte, also P75 for a small cup; just add P40 if you order a meal and want to change your drink.

Inside McDonald's at North Ave. corner Mindanao Ave. in QC

I love the classy interiors of this McDonald's store. 

Missing coffee breaks at Kopimeyts

Baked Carbonara, P95.  for single serving, P165 for sharing

Tapsilog, P100.

Brewed coffee that came with the Tapsilog. Lovely saucer, isn't it?

Grandma's Chocolate Cake P100. I gotta make mano to that lola!

Cafe latte, P60. Like the leaf art :-)

There wasn't a single coffeehouse in the vicinity of our office along Visayas Ave. in Diliman, Quezon City till Kopimeyts was established last year. So one day, one of my closest friends at work and I jumped at the chance of spending our coffee break there. Since then, I'd been at Kopimeyts a couple of times, with  different company on each occasion. I loved their Tapsilog, a breakfast fare which you could order here anytime of the day. At P100., it already came with brewed coffee. Not bad, you might say. However, I loved their baked carbonara even more. They used penne pasta, which surprised me the first time I ordered it, since most restaurants use spaghetti noodles for this particular dish. At Kopimeyts, baked carbonara was heavenly. It had just the right creaminess. Hindi nakakasawa. Yum! It came with a halved slice of toasted garlicky tasty bread - a plus point for me since pasta is lonely food without garlic bread, don't you just think so? Just before I embarked on a joyful three-and-a-half-week vacation last May, I took two of my kids to work and to Kopimeyts and they too loved the baked carbonara. But when I reported back to work, I found out Kopimeyts was no more, to my dismay! A salon is now in its place. Oh darn, no coffee shop in the neighborhood again! Now all I have are coffee and baked carbonara memories. Sigh!