I had gone to this new building along Dona Soledad Avenue corner Afghanistan not to go to this new…read morecoffee shop, but to inquire about the services offered at the Elorde gym above it. But since it was a hot day and I felt like I needed to take a short break, I decided to drop by Black & White Garden Cafe. This is your typical coffee shop with no pretensions about what it is. You go in and have coffee and any light snack on their menu. Since the place is quite new -- only a few months in operation --the inside is quite clean, thank you. The aircon was also cool, which was great considering that it was one of those days when the temperature was expected to hit 40 degrees. I was the only customer when I came in, but a couple more entered when I was nearly done with my coffee. Since both the Elorde gym and the Black & White Garden Cafe are new businesses, they are still feeling their way. The coffee shop will be dependent on the gym for a good number of its future clients, so I guess there must be some synergistic relationship between the two. There's a security guard house just outside the coffee shop, so that has to add to the security aspect. Not too far off is the latest branch of Starbucks, but I have to surmise that this little coffee shop will not be competing with that giant. For quiet business meetings, Black & White could be a good place as it offers more privacy than Starbucks.

AMBIENCE It was freezing cold and very cozy by the couches…read more They had the usual big teddy bear near the entrance. BEVERAGE I got the usual Original Milk Tea since I was in the mood to keep things simple today. Like my last experience, it was cold and creamy. I managed to let this drink last for 3 hours because it was so tall (maior) and sips made me feel my money's worth. SERVICE One word: Efficient!

There are so many bubble tea places popping up here in the Philippines. I love it, but sometimes…read moreyou take chance at a new place and the drinks are "meh". I hate boba disappointments, but this place NEVER lets me down :). I like the quality, consistency and options of Macao. This location is my absolute favorite. It is IMPECCABLY clean and I love the decor. The staff is friendly and efficient. There were a few big rushes of customers who came in, and the line kept on moving quickly. Also, try the sansrival cake. It's one of the best I've had. It is super rich, so share with a friend or two and enjoy!

This fairly new business is something that I would like to have one day. Bake & Brew café is a…read moresimple coffee shop that also sells cakes, cookies and cupcakes, as well as a handful of set meals. Their service might seem a bit slow, but then this is no fastfood joint. It's an old-fashioned coffee shop where one can go and savor the coffee and whatever else is ordered slowly. No rush rush. It's been around for about a year, and we decided to give it a try one night when we were on the way home. Since it's just a few blocks from home, we were in no hurry. Although I like to brew my own coffee, I decided to give theirs a try. It wasn't bad at all. I like the all-white inside décor because it looks so clean. There's nothing pretentious about Bake & Brew. It harkens back to a time when coffee shops were places to go to enjoy good coffee in peace. I wasn't too sure if a place like this can survive in our area, but it seems to be doing well. Everytime I pass by there's one or two customers. And having survived their first year should be a good omen for the owners. It's nothing like Starbucks or even the coffee shop from my favourite TV show Friends, and this is a good thing. I should go there more often.

This place is a small coffee and pastry shop in Better Living. The atmosphere is cozy and feels…read morelike home. The cakes here are to die for. But best of all, the staff and owners are very nice which just makes the whole experience so much nicer.

They're donuts and always fresh. And the service is so amazing. Every time I go there my cravings…read moreare fulfilled

Years ago, life was much simpler. We only had a few things to choose from. For burgers, we had…read moreMcdonalds. For fried chicken, it was always KFC. For pizza, Shakey's without fail and for donuts, it was Dunkin. At the time, there was no other option for donuts but it didn't mean that we wanted something else. We all had our favorites. For me it was the butternut, for my sister it was the choco frosted and for my mother it was the boston crème. We would often have a box at home, kept inside the refrigerator to be brought as "baon" to school or as an after meal dessert. These days, you would see huge donut chains around the metro. Most of them I find too sweet or too creamy for my palate. I guess a part of me still longs for my childhood favorite and it comes in a form of a round, very soft butternut from Dunkin.

Yet another place that specializes in milk tea along Dona Soledad Avenue in Bicutan, Paranaque City…read moreis Bon Appetea. This place also serves all kinds of snacks and being one of the newer places in the area, the inside is spotlessly clean and joyfully bright. As always, every milk or boba tea place that springs up in the area is tested by me and my wife. Mostly her because she totally loves milk tea, while I'm more of a coffee man myself. As she is in constant search for the perfect tall plastic cup of ice cold milk tea, one of the kids bought her something from Bon Appetea which she shared with me. In my honest opinion, it was pretty good. In hers, it was just fine, but not outstanding. Thils led us to a friendly debate on the merits of the various brands of milk tea. My taste buds tell me that the differences between the competing brands are slight. She disagrees. She says there is a world of a difference between one and another. What we did agree on is that the add-ons can make or break a milk tea. Those "pearls" come not only in various sizes, but the tastes are different. One place I like adds oats which adds to the texture. It's a plus in my book, a minus in hers. Ditto with the jellies. We both like coffee flavoured jelly added to our milk tea. We've only tried Bon Appetea a handful of times. For now, I give it four stars because the place is nice and clean, and their milk tea is not too shabby.

Sweet bread was delicious. Especially the donuts filled with cream. The staff were friendly. I…read morefound several small shops when I visited Metro Manila and in Cebu. So good. .

Who would have thought that something as ordinary as the Filipinos' favourite breakfast of pan de…read moresal could be turned into big business? The answer is Pan de Manila, which has branches all over the metropolis because Pinoys simply cannot live without their daily pan de sal. Yes, there are countless neighbourhood bakeries that bake the lightly salted bread every morning. But the problem is one of quality control. The pan de sal comes out in various sizes and can become bigger or smaller than usual depending on the whims of the baker. Then there's the matter of taste. Regular bakers will make do with whatever is available where raw ingredients are concerned. As a result, one batch of pan de sal can taste great, while another batch can be flat, all from the same corner bakery. Not so with Pan de Manila, which has a branch along Dona Soledad Avenue in Paranaque City. Not only is their pan de sal baked in a wood-fired oven, but the size is always uniform. The branch in Better Living is one of the bigger ones, which means that besides the ubiquitous pan de sal, all sorts of 'palaman' are likewise available, from cheddar cheese to peanut butter to bottled sardines. They also have their own brand of instant coffee. Pan de Manila has two sizes of the basic bread, regular and large. And since pan de sal can also be served for merienda, Pan de Manila is open all day all the way to early evening. Enter the store and the aroma of freshly baked bread immediately fills your nostrils, enticing you to buy your favourite bread. For good taste and consistency, Pan de Manila deserves five stars.

I had mistakenly believed that Tea Farm right beside Eton's in front of Paranaque Doctors' Hospital…read morehad the same owner. I was wrong. It turns out that Tea Farm sort of competes with Eton's which serves brewed coffee. Sort of because as its name suggests, Tea Farm serves all sorts of tea, with its specialties being an assortment of milk teas. I know, I know. This place must have lost some of its clientele when there was a milk tea scare not too long ago. That was when the owner and a guest at a milk tea place were poisoned to death. Not good, huh? But the police have solved that case. There was nothing wrong with the milk tea per se. It seems that someone had placed a sugar-like poison in one of the containers. Fortunately, Tea Farm and all the other milk tea places have recovered. Since I spent two years in Dubai some years ago, our all-around office boy always prepared milk tea for me when I arrived at the office for the day's grind. So I was a fan of milk tea long before it became the rage in Metro Manila. I would rate the ice cold milk teas served at Tea Farm with a four out of five stars. It's not bad at all. And at the height of summer, it's a great way to cool off. Tea Farm is located along Dona Soledad Avenue, Paranaque not too far from the corner of Russia.

This is a very new business located along Russia street corner Saudi Arabia in Better Living…read moreSubdivision, Paranaque. Only a couple of months old, it was opened at the height of the milk tea scare that almost caused the milk tea houses all over Metro Manila to close shop. But the owners persisted and they kept their new business open in hopes of finding a steady clientele. I hope they succeed. Since it's located just beside Mr. Liempo where we are regular clients, I decided to give it a try. Or rather my wife decided to try it out, and I just took several sips of her milk tea. While she is an ardent lover of the various flavors available at Infinitea, she just had to try this new kid on the block. Well surprise, surprise. It's every bit as good as Infinitea. I have no idea what their secret is. I just know good milk tea when I taste it, and I've had my share of good and bad ones. Seasons Leaf is a small place. It looks like a typical apartment which was converted into a business. The only problem it faces is the large number of milk tea places in Better Living because as any marketing expert knows, having a good product is not enough. I'm hoping this place survives. They may need to add to their products because being a one-trick pony may not be good enough. As for me, everytime I buy a liempo at the stall beside them, I will give their other flavors a try.

A part of me has always wanted to relocate to Chinatown, and all my reasons are because of…read morefood--which are VERY valid reasons. This tiny store does a good job in carrying essential Chinese food products and other goods, making it very convenient for us who live here in the south. For the usual stuff, I get cheap dried shiitake mushrooms, noodles, and tikoy here. They also sell their own brand of chili garlic oil, which is AMAZING stuff and a steal at only Php 120 for a generously-sized bottle. They also carry other Asian items, too. There was this one time, I was intrigued by this dark brown solid square block that smelled SO GOOD. Turns out, it was a Taiwanese wintermelon tea block! Allow me to be proud of this discovery, as I've never seen anything like it, nor have I ever imagined tea as a heavy, hard block and not a tea bag. You dilute it in water using heat, and use it as a syrup to add to milk (in my case, I use soy milk) or just water, pancakes maybe, or whatever floats your boat.

Little Chinatown is a 10-minute walk from my house, or rather, from my parents' house. And since…read moreI've moved out, I've missed this store more and more. Their goods may be a little bit more expensive than other dumplings you could get outside, but these babies are worth it. Big pork and shrimp dumplings, with stuffing that you can clearly distinguish as being pork and shrimp. Chinatown is difficult to get to (and sometimes difficult to get out of), so it's nice having a satellite store that sells authentic Chinese goods. And when my folks come over, it's just like getting it delivered!