THE Mid-Autumn Festival 2021 may be in September yet, specifically September 21, 2021, but the mooncake season is officially on at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, as the hotel makes its premium mooncakes available starting last July 26.
Fostering the spirit of unity and continuing to strengthen the ties that bind during these extraordinary times, the hotel’s award-winning Cantonese restaurant, Lung Hin, showcases traditional premium mooncakes in celebration of the auspicious Mid-Autumn Festival. This festival, also known in modern times as the Mooncake Festival, is the second most celebrated event in the Chinese lunar calendar, as it sees families and friends come together to share their blessings with one another.
The premium d mooncakes are available in Boxes of 4 and Boxes of 6
Now available for advanced orders are Lung Hin’s first-class mooncakes, which can be purchased individually at Php828, in a Box of Four (4) at Php2,958, and in a Box of Six (6) at Php3,988. For guests who wish to extend these presents in commemorative packaging for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lung Hin recommends either the Limited Edition Box of Four (4), available at Php 3,128, or the Limited Edition Box of Six (6) at Php 4,128. This year’s featured flavors are red bean with double egg yolks, red lotus with double egg yolks, white lotus with double egg yolks, and mixed nuts. All selling prices indicated are inclusive of applicable taxes and charges.
Advanced orders enjoy a limited-time savings of 15%, applicable on orders of at least 20 Boxes of 4 or Boxes of 6.
For more information, call (632) 7720-7777 or email lunghin.mnl@marcopolohotels.com.
(Marco Polo Ortigas Manila is located at Meralco Ave. corner Sapphire St., Ortigas Center, Pasig City.)
Milk Chocolate Mango Chiboust is Marco Polo Ortigas Manila’s featured cake for its anniversary month of July
HOW time flies. It seems like only yesterday when Marco Polo Ortigas Manila first opened its doors to the public. This month of July, the hotel has turned seven years old, and its management and staff are celebrating it with a series of sweet and savory dining promotions ongoing for the entire month of July.
Café Pronto playfully reinvents traditional cake flavors with the country’s national fruit, the mango, in the Milk Chocolate Mango Chiboust, which is the featured cake for the month of July. It is light layers of fluffy vanilla sponge cake masterfully mixed with cream and chunks of ripe mangoes, with the base laced with milk chocolate. The cake is available at Php1,790 until the end of the month. To order, call (632) 7720-7777 or direct-message Marco Polo Ortigas, Manila’s official social media accounts.
For al fresco dining, VU’s the place to be, with its Charcuterie and Cheese selection every Thursday, Friday and Saturday of July. For Php790++, VU’s serves a platter of choice cold cuts and cheese paired with a glass of either Chardonnay or Shiraz. For additional glasses of wine, guests get 10% discount on every succeeding glass.
The anniversary celebration at Lung Hin, the award-winning Cantonese restaurant at Level 44, is even longer, as it makes two set menus of its well-loved authentic Cantonese dishes available until September 30, 2021. These include diners’ favorites, such as Stir-fried Prawn with Asparagus in XO Sauce and Deep-fried Spare Ribs with Olive and Honey Sauce. These two dishes are properly represented in the Sapphire Set Menu, which is available for Php1,585++ per person. The Diamond Set Menu, meanwhile, includes Pan-fried Australian Wagyu Beef with Black Pepper and at Php2,688++ per person.
For inquiries and reservations, call (632) 7720-7777.
(Marco Polo Ortigas Manila is located at Meralco Ave. corner Sapphire St., Ortigas Center, Pasig City.)
KooKoo Fried Chicken is seasoned with 12 spices to make it burst with flavor with every bite
FRIED chicken lovers, rejoice! There is a new fried chicken to love in town, and it goes by the name KooKoo (short for the Greek word ‘Kookoopoulo,’ which means chicken).
KooKoo Fried Chicken is unlike the thickly battered commercial fried chicken from fast-food restaurants. It is fried chicken that is seasoned with 12 spices and twice-fried to keep the juiciness inside while it is crispy outside.
The chicken comes with a generous helping of herbed gravy
KooKoo Fried Chicken is available in 1-pc. chicken with rice (Php120), 2-pc. chicken with rice (Php180), 6-pc. a la carte chicken (Php46, 8-pc. chicken (Php616), 10-pc. chicken (Php760), 15 pcs. (Php1,125), and 20 pcs. (Php1,440). The chicken comes with a generous serving of herbed gravy (total of 12 herbs).
To order, call or text 0917-6267211 or utak.10/store/midnightbakers2020. Allow two hours’ lead time.
Cupcakes by Sonja’s Assorted Minis–a dozen delightful cupcake variants in bite sizes
I HAVE always loved cupcakes made by Cupcakes by Sonja, which started the cupcake craze when it opened its first store at Serendra in 2006. It was not only because I knew the chef and brains behind it, Chef Sonja Ocampo, but because the cupcakes are very well thought of. Each cupcake is a work of art, with its own design that is always meticulously executed. The cupcakes are moist and fresh, never dry, and Chef Sonja uses only premium ingredients to make them. She always springs delicious surprises, too, with incredible fillings and toppings for her cupcakes. In her able hands, cakes and pies also transform into cupcakes for that single-serving convenience and goodness.
There are just so many delightful flavors of cupcakes in each Cupcakes by Sonja store that you sometimes have a difficult time choosing which ones you really want.
Now, you can have as much as 12 cupcake variants to bring home and fall in love with. From July 5 to 11, 2021, Cupcakes by Sonja is offering Assorted Minis, which is a dozen—even two dozens—different bite-sized cupcakes in a box. The selection is a mix of two new cake-based cupcakes, four timeless classics, and six seasonal flavors.
Parmigiano Reggiano Cheesecake and Sweet Pleasures
The two new cake-based cupcakes are Parmigiano Reggiano Cheesecake (sweet and salty flavor combination in a sharp Parmesan cheese-based cheesecake on a mixed nut crust, topped with toasted slivered almonds and dried cranberries) and Sweet Pleasures (hazelnut dacquoise biscuit with crunchy hazelnut praline, milk chocolate ganache, and milk chocolate Chantilly hugged by a paper-thin Belgian milk chocolate cup).
Cupcakes galore, clockwise from top left: Vanilla Sunshine, Red Velvet Vixen, Bunny Huggers Carrot Cupcake, and Chocolate Cream Pie
The four timeless classics consist of Red Velvet Vixen (traditional Southern Red Velvet cupcakes made with Belgian cocoa and topped with luscious cream cheese frosting), Vanilla Sunshine (fluffy classic yellow cupcake with Cupcakes by Sonja’s signature vanilla buttercream in blue shade and sprinkles), Chocolate Cream Pie (Oreo crust filled with Belgian chocolate cream, topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with Oreo bits), and Bunny Huggers Carrot Cupcake (moist classic carrot cupcake, spiced with cinnamon, and covered with signature cream cheese icing).
Seasonal delights, clockwise from top left: Caramel Apple Cupcake, The Elvis, Banana Monkey Cream Pie, Southern Pecan Pie, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Valrhona Flourless Chocolate Cupcake, and Berries and Cream
The six seasonal flavors are Melt-in-Your-Mouth Valrhona Flourless Chocolate Cupcake (dense Valrhona flourless chocolate with rich, velvety texture that dissolves pleasurably in your tongue), Caramel Apple Cupcake (moist and slightly dense brown butter cupcake filled with caramelized apply compote, topped with apple ganache, whipped cream, julienned apple slices and cinnamon), Banana Monkey Cream Pie (banana slices in luscious banana cream with rum-flavored caramel in a pecan and peanut butter crust, and crowned with freshly whipped cream), Southern Pecan Pie (rich and tender shortcrust with a special pecan filling and bits of pecan nuts bathed in maple syrup), The Elvis (Oreo cookie crust, rich peanut butter cream, Reese’s chocolate bits, slathered with chocolate and caramel, topped with caramelized banana slices and whipped cream), and Berries and Cream (brown butter almond cupcake, topped with sweet fresh strawberry slices and whipped cream icing).
Assorted Minis is available from July 5 to 11, 2021
A box of 12 of Assorted Minis can be had for Php750, while a box of 24 is priced at Php1,500.
Also available: Classic Minis at Php580 per box of 12 and Php1,160 per box of 24. This set of mini cupcakes consists of six all-time favorites—Red Velvet Vixen, Vanilla Sunshine, Bunny Huggers Carrot Cupcake, Chocolate Surprise with Vanilla Buttercream (dark chocolate sponge cake topped with Cupcakes by Sonja’s signature vanilla buttercream), Lemon Drop (springy vanilla cupcake topped with lemon buttercream frosting and sprinkles), and Funfetti (yellow vanilla cupcake with sprinkles, topped with signature buttercream and sprinkles).
To order, visit or call Cupcakes by Sonja’s stores at Serendra (0917-1931062), SM Megamall ()917-1397121), and Molito Alabang (0917-1931455), headquarters (0917-1402604), or order online via cupcakesbysonjaonline.com.
At Kahatea, halayang ube milk tea is called Baguio
TIRED of ordering the same milk tea flavors over and over? Want to enjoy something different—something familiar but at the same time new and exciting—for a change? Why not try the Filipino-themed milk tea flavors of Kahatea?
Leche Flan Espesyal Milk Tea
Guimaras is mango lychee milk tea
Kahatea is the first fully Filipino-themed milk tea brand in the Philippines. With its name derived from the Filipino word ‘kahati,’ which means “to share,” Kahatea offers all-time Filipino treats in milk tea form. These include Iskrambol Milk Tea (or Ice Scramble, which is a shaved ice merienda with milk powder, chocolate syrup, pink food color, mini marshmallows, and both sagong itim and sagong puti, plus a hint of tea); Sultan Kudarat Milk Tea (the milk tea version of Halo-Halo, complete with halayang ube, leche flan, nata de coco, black pearls and coconut strips); the Taho Po! Milk Tea series, which has all three variants—Classic Taho Milk Tea, Ube Taho Milk Tea, and Strawberry Taho Milk Tea—teeming with taho bits and black pearls.
The Taho Po! series, from left: Ube Taho Milk Tea, Classic Taho Milk Tea, and Strawberry Taho Milk Tea
Laguna is kesong puti or cheesecake milk tea
Other Filipino favorites that also made it to the milk tea menu include Leche Flan, Halayang Ube, Tsoko Mani, Kesong Puti, Yema, and Benguet Strawberry. Some of these, however, took on the names of the places where they are most abundant because the business partners behind Kahatea, Angelo Horfilla and Angela Valdez, also want to take their customers on a tour of the Philippines through their milk tea.
True to its name, Kahatea offers “Kahatea promos” with drinks that are bundled together: Two 22oz. drinks of different flavors at a discounted price of Php189 (Kahatea or ‘to share’ bundle). Customers may opt to enjoy solo drinks (Walang Kahatea), though, at Php119 per drink.
To order, simply message 0927-9875211 or Kahatea’s Facebook page. Customers may also use the foodpanda app to search for the nearest Kahatea store around their area.
