Just when you think you couldn't fit another restaurant into Kapitolyo, they open up an entire…read morefoodpark. Insane. Having said that, Gastro Park Kapitolyo is a fantastic addition to the Kapitolyo food scene, if only for the fact that it was able to cram so many restaurants in one space. It also established 1st Street as Kapitolyo's second food street, sharing it with Kanto, Nori, and Ser Chef, among others. The layout of the food park was kept simple and straight to the point, and I appreciate the fact that it actually has a roof. As with most food parks, the outlets are good and decent although no outlet really stands out. I do appreciate the price point of the outlets though, as most of them have plenty of options below P150. That's a major selling point in my book.

A fun place to eat and go on a food trip with friends!…read more This Gastro Park has quite a variety of cuisines available. They have Filipino, Japanese, Singaporean, Thai, and Italian, just to name a few of them. I like that they also thought of how warm it can get. They provided ceiling fans in the middle seating area. The outer areas don't have fans but at the least the fans they have help keep the air circulating.

If you're Pinoy, you'll understand that when you have a family or company party/get together, you…read moremust bring food that will satisfy and feed everyone...on a budget! Apart from the essential noodles (spaghetti or pancit) and meat dish (fried chicken or pork barbecue), a "kakanin" or rice cake dessert is also something to complete the festivities. For kakanin in a hurry, this is a good place to drop by. They have cassava cake, pichi pichi, and even leche flan. The prices are very affordable and they offer small or big serving sizes. I actually like their pichi pichi with cheese. They are bigger than the usual ones you get from other restaurants and cheaper too! :)

My favorite snack, without a doubt, is deep-fried potatoes. Mojos, potato wedges, french fries--I…read moreLOVE ALL OF IT! I don't care where it's from, as long as it tastes decent and it's crispy, I am good to go. I don't usually like to pay big money for my deep-fried potatoes, so I often go to hidden undiscovered food stalls just to buy it. One of my fave food stalls out there that sells all kinds of snacks is the Potato Giant. Potato Giant sells potato bites, chicken bites, bacon mozarella pockets and even hash brown. Their potato bites are to die for. It tastes just like the iconic Mojos of Shakey's, but cheaper. Texture was spot-on. It had the right amount of crisp to it. The coating and the edges of the potato bites were thick and flaky, which made it even better. You can also choose the flavor of your potato bites. They have cheese and sour cream powder to add a little bit of twist to your potato bites. Besides deep-fried snacks, they also have beverages to beat the summer heat. If you pass by this place, make sure to try their Wintermelon Soya Twist.

If I didn't have colleagues that used to study at a nearby university to San Antonio Village, I…read morewould never have gotten wind of Totong's Dynamite in the first place. First of all, I never was a huge fan of dynamite sticks. In my close-minded way of thinking, I thought that adding ground beef and finger chilis to a cheese stick would be bastardizing it. Thankfully, Totong and his humble dynamite blew that right out of the water. For only 19 pesos, Totong's Dynamite is a tasty quick snack that hits all the right bases on the flavor spectrum. Another reason I used to dislike dynamite sticks was because they were served with ketchup mixed with mayo - a thoroughly useless sauce, in my opinion. I like that Totong's understands my plight, and offers vinegar alongside the useless sauce, for those of us who are picky about it. Did I mention also that they deliver? So when I'm not down to trek from Pearl Drive to San Antonio, for a minimum of 10 pieces, you can simply contact Totong's and they will deliver the food straight to your office - which is an absolute godsend when I'm pulling in late hours and want a snack (or early dinner, in which case, I'll buy four pieces).

I sometimes surprise myself with how far I would go to try something new. I heard about Totong's…read moreDynamite from a coworker at this old food blog that I used to write for. Actually, she wrote a review and I was very intrigued because her pictures showed a lot of people lining up for this nondescript little food cart. I lived in Manila at that time, and I had no business being in Kapitolyo, so it was quite a big thing to have gone all the way to Pasig from Taft Avenue just to get my hands on some fried goodness. Totong's Dynamite is hardly original, though they do it well here. I think the idea of wrapping some ground beef in a lumpia wrapper, with cheese and a deseeded green finger chili was invented somewhere else (a friend of mine suggested that Gerry's Grill did it first), but Totong's concentrates on their dynamite lumpia and there is nothing else on the menu apart from the chicken dinuguan and some drinks. For P18 pesos, you get to sample a really tasty snack that is spicy, cheesy, meaty and crunchy at the same time. The dynamite lumpia pairs well with steamed rice, though it is also good when eaten by itself. I could say that it was worth the trip. I had about five of these babies and I was sweating in the heat. If you are craving a spicy lumpia fix, order the iced tea to cool you down after the snack. To find Totong's you have to go into Kapitolyo's San Antonio Village, a small gated community between Capinpin and Malvar Streets. You can ask the guards around the area because they know where it is.

Yeah!! I found me another stand for Irvin Salted Egg chips!! You have to have a pallet for these…read morebut I'm telling you they are good. I love to eat salted duck eggs and these are the flavored chips. There are many other brands but I think Irvin's is the best taste. The prices in the Philippines are much better than in Singapore, too. Same size bags but better prices. Love these chips! You can find the stand at Fashion Mall SM Megamall in front of Shack Shack. You can't miss it! [45/100]

My first taste of an evening food market happened when Banchetto was still in Emerald Street, in…read morethe Ortigas business district. They would close down the street and have the tents and canopies erected on the main street itself. The place used to cater to the call center crowd of Ortigas, and it was always such a huge hit.I have never experienced such a huge collection of food options in one spot before that, and my eyes must have been the size of saucers, marveling at the mounds and mounds of different kinds of food waiting for me to eat. Now, Banchetto has moved to several locations, and it must have finally found its perfect spot in Boni, near Robinsons because it hasn't moved in a while. Banchetto is filled with your usual food market staples - pasta, pizza, bagnet, shawarma, sisig, cakes and pastries and of course, typical street food like fishballs, squid balls and kikiam on a stick. The variety is both a blessing and a curse. You will have a lot of fun looking at the different stalls and booths, but it's always such a difficult task finally deciding what to eat. It is relatively inexpensive and you can have great value for money if you choose wisely.

Shawarma House is one of the reasons why I still give food stands the benefit of the doubt. Sure,…read moremany of them all look them same, taste the same, have a name that sounds the same, and so much more. Shawarma House may look like a simple shawarma stand at first glance, but upon taking a bite out of their pitas. I can confidently say that they're above average. They sell their shawarmas in a variety of servings, small, large, and all meat. The large cost me about sixty pesos, fifty nine if I'm being pedantic. The truth is though, the price is actually worth it. Their large shawarma is one of the bigger ones that I've tried. Usually, there are shawarma stands out there that also have a larger size. The drawback is that they tend to stuff the shawarma with less veggies or meat. Not with shawarma house though. The garlic and cheese suce are okay, they're nothing out of this worl or special.

There are plenty of burger stands in Metro Manila, and Burger Boy isn't really anything special or…read morenew. That's not to say it's bad, but it's not generic feel isn't really a point in its favor. There's nothing about it that I can say that will separate it from the rest of the pack other than its name, You could give it a different name and you probably wouldn't notice the difference. There menu is basic. There are burgers, cheeseburgers, burgers that are bigger than the regular. The patties are nothing great, but not bad. Some would find it a bit small or slim, considering the price range, I can't really complain. The nice thing about burger stands like this is that they're buy one take one. You can't go wrong in terms of value here. If you're on a tight budget and just looking for merienda, then just hop towards their stand and pick something from their menu.

One amazingly-worth-your-money food stall! Php199 for UNLIMITED Shrimp Tempura! PHP105 for 9 pieces…read moreof Shrimp Tempura! How can you beat that? The tempura itself was good. The batter was light and crispy. We ordered it for take home and we loved that it was still crispy despite eating it after 20 mins. or so and after being inside a paper bag. In terms of taste, it was a little on the sweet side. It kind of reminded me like pancake batter. Hahahaha! It was still good though! I'd definitely go back here next time and stuff myself with unlimited Shrimp Tempura!

The Food Cathedral is the newest addition to the growing number of establishments that house food…read morestalls and small businesses. It's near the Mandaluyong City Hall and Mandaluyong Circle. But since there's still construction in those areas leading to Sgt Bumatay, you have to find another route to find this new foodie destination. Currently, it is home to six small food businesses: Bangbas, Giuseppe, Akita Ramenya, Rookie St., Jidja Middle Eastern Cuisine and Bad Boy Tikboy. The variety is really great. You'll enjoy Filipino, Middle Eastern, Japanese and American cuisine in one place. You won't miss The Food Cathedral because it's brightly coloured with stained glasses and banderitas within the vicinity. Very much like how we decorate our churches here whenever we have fiestas. A few of the people who frequent this place are mountain bikers. It's a meet up place for them. Maybe if you are one, it's a good chance to connect with like-minded folk. The Food Cathedral is barely a month-old, so there's still room for other stalls to fill in its halls. There's enough room for everyone to eat. Somehow, it has gained a following from Mandaluyong residents. It's really easy to get lost in the food because from what I've observed, nothing went above P250! For real.