Cold Layers (The Original Taiwan Snow Ice)

About the food:

Summer has officially begun and so are the hot days. To start off this summer, I'm excited to feature this great new summer treat I found and tried, which is Cold Layers (The Original Taiwan Snow Ice). 

This delectable dessert is named 'It's Complicated.' The one in the center is milk snow ice, and surrounding it are strawberries, mangoes, and kiwi (fruits served may vary depending on the season). At the bottom of the snow ice is an egg pudding. The snow ice isn't sweet at all and is very smooth. Both the milk and the fruits are fresh.

They also have other sweet dessert combinations that are worth trying. These are: Crazy Love (chocolate snow ice, fresh strawberries, strawberry syrup, chocolate pudding); Deep Temptation (chocolate snow ice, banana, mallows, choco syrup, chocolate pudding); Summer Fling (mango snow ice, fresh mangoes, aloe vera jelly) and; First Crush (soy snow ice, grass jelly, tapioca,  brown syrup).

Where to buy:


At this point, Cold Layers has only one branch in the Philippines. Its at the 2nd floor, Northeast Square Building, Connecticut, Greenhills.

Rating:  10/10

Compared to ice cream or cakes, snow ice ought to be healthier. Its also low in fat, is low in calories, starch free, and is all natural. The fruits and the syrup however, still contain sugar though, but only a little so you can still enjoy. 



Recommended links:

Chicken Charlie

About the food:

Everybody loves to eat chicken. Furthermore, there are countless recipes available for its various parts. Today I'm featuring Chicken Charlie. This chicken recipe, available in either legs or wings, is not just deep-fried. It is DOUBLE-FRIED.

Now, what benefits does double-frying have? They say that the first fry cooks the chicken and removes the fat. The second fry makes the chicken much more crispier. In an experiment done regarding the double-frying technique, it has been shown that a potato appears much crispier on the outside when it was cooked twice. As for the claim that it removes fat, I express my doubts. Since the chicken is deep fried, I do not see how the fat can come out. If a chicken is cooked in broth, the fat goes to the broth. If it is grilled, the fat comes out and falls to the bottom of the grill.

Where to buy:


Chicken Charlie is located at 592 N.S. Amoranto St. cor. Banawe St., Quezon City and is open from
11am to 9pm, Monday to Sunday.



Rating:  5/10

Someone once said that what makes a food taste great is the fat, whether it be ice cream or fried chicken. For this chicken, I give a rating of 5. While it does taste great and crispy while its freshly fried, one cannot ignore that it is fried, not just once but twice. More oil (with the exception of olive oil) can lead to high blood pressure.



Recommended links:



to read more about the double frying experiment:  http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/the-burger-lab-why-double-fry-french-fries.html

Custard Apple at Mercato Centrale

About the food:

The fruit known as custard apple or cherimoya is very rarely seen in the Philippines. Fortunately, last December, very few harvests of this variety were successfully sold in Mercato Centrale.

The fruit is best eaten when it is not that ripe yet. You will know if it is ripe when the top of the fruit begins to show cracks. If you eat the fruit before it becomes ripe, the texture is more firm as opposed to soft when it is  very ripe. In both cases however, the fruit is very sweet. 

Where to buy:

The custard apples used to be sold at Mercato Centrale. It costed around PHP250 a kilo for the medium sized variety (approximately 3 pieces).  However, as of late December, all of the farmer-seller's harvests have been sold out. Unlike the regular fruits that are sold in our supermarkets, custard apple trees are very difficult to nurture  in our climate. It is unknown at this time when they will have such fruits available again. If you go to other countries such as the United States though, you may find custard apples sold there.

Rating:  9/10

Fruits are a healthier alternative to desserts that make use of refined sugar and flour. They are also packed with vitamins and provide numerous benefits.


Recommended links:

to know more about the benefits of the custard apple, check out: http://www.diethealthclub.com/health-food/custard-apple-health-benefits.html

Shi Lin Restaurant

About the food:

In my previous blog post, I gave high ratings to dimsum because it was steamed.  Upon more research and feedback however, I would like to clarify that not all steamed food can be considered healthy, a statement which is sad but true. Even though dimsum is steamed, they can still contain high levels of fat and/or sodium. Hence, you should not eat too much of anything.

Moving on, when I went to Podium, I was able to find a relatively affordable place to eat, which is Shi Lin. The above picture is a hot and sour soup. I was pleased because it contained a lot of vegetables and meat, not just broth. 

Likewise, the passion berry iced tea tasted great too.

i was surprised by the large size of the dimsum steamer

The xiao long bao dimsum were also delicious. The broth was very much retained inside the wrapper. There were even instructions on how you can best enjoy eating them. Add equal amounts of soy sauce and black vinegar along with the ginger; dip the dimsum in the sauce using your chopstick; place the dimsum in your soup spoon; poke a hole in the dimsum to let the hot broth out and; add some ginger as you enjoy the food. Alternatively, you should try eating it without the sauce.


Where to buy:

Shi Lin is located at the Podium, near SM Megamall. 

Rating:  9/10

I can't wait to try their other dimsum varieties at another time.



Recommended links:

http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/95534-health-dim-sum-is-fattening-unhealthy/

King Bee Chinese Cuisine

shark's fin dumpling

About the food:

Ever since, our country the Philippines, has been home to a whole lot of chinese restaurants (ranging from the fastfood level up to the expensive authentic class). The good thing about the variety is that you do not have to eat and spend at a fine-dine restaurant just to taste good chinese cuisine.

King Bee Chinese Food is positioned for value-for-money. They give you great tasting chinese food and charge you reasonable prices. In the past, they only had branches in a few provinces. But now, they are slowly expanding to the metropolis. 

Certainly, there has been negative feedback about a number of chinese food, applicable to all restaurants. Some doubt that the cheap siopao being sold is really filled with pork. Others would complain that the noodle soup they had was filled with lots of MSG, to make it more delicious. Still others would say that they are not content with the level of cleanliness they maintain. So far, I have not heard any of these concerns apply to King Bee.  


Moving on, one type of chinese food I am particularly pleased about is their dimsum. The ingredients are fresh as well as steamed (not deep-fried with oil and mixed with MSG), making it much more healthy.

Where to buy:

Check out their website link below to view their list of branches.

seaking roll

Rating:  9/10


Dimsum is a healthy treat worth consuming. The process of steaming allows the food to keep more of its nutrients (as opposed to frying or cooking in broth). Furthermore, steamed food is unlikely to have burnt black portions that are almost always seen in grilled food.

hakao dumpling

lemonade (notice the number of lemon slices in the glass)

Recommended links:

http://www.kingbeefood.com/branches.html