Cafe Agogo

4 stars

The name may be misleading, but don't let it turn you off. I've been hearing that they had great paninis and so decided to give it a try. It's literally a hole in the wall. When passing by the area, blink, and you'll miss it. A good landmark though, is that it is directly across Makati Med. The cafe itself was dimly lit and gave me a feeling that it was kind of an artsy pub house. Most of the artworks displayed were on sale. The acoustics of the place was not very good and noise was just bouncing back and forth. Upon inspection of the wall, I saw that they had combo meals which I had decided to get.

What we ate:

1- details to follow



2- details to follow



Onion Rings- I was not able to take a picture of this since we were so hungry when it was served. I must say though that it was in my honest opinion, the best order of onion rings I've ever had in all the restaus I've tried. It's dipping sauce was also unique tasting although a little small compared to huge serving of the onion rings which can actually serve 4 people.

Mochamisu- The mini broas guarding the cake, were soft and smooth, although I was expecting them to be crunchy, I liked the idea of its softness and smoothness. The mocha taste was definitley there although very subtle. It's actually your classic tiramisu with a little more kick!


Lemon Torte- This somewhat reminded me of sansrival only that it had lemon zests in it's icing and hints of lemon in the torte itself. The best part about this cake was its lemony filling. It was a nice break from all the sweet cakes, we're all so used to having. I would have preferred the filling to be more sour, more lemony though.

Jack's Loft

On one looooong break, my friends and I decided to pass the time away by trying out the food in Jack's Loft. We've been going here since we got to college but have tried the dessert only and have always promised that we would come back to try their food-food. And so we did.

Onion Rings Php108

We got the Onion Rings which was very thinly sliced. The only problem was that when the rings set, they stuck together and was quite hard to pull apart and in doing so, ruined their coating. The dipping sauce was pretty lame, it was somewhat a mayo-ketchup mix, just like we have at home. The serving size was great though and good enough for about 3-4 people.

Four Mushroom Pasta Php 148

I ordered the Four Mushroom Pasta which was phenomenal! Upon closer inspection, you could actually see and differentiate the four musrooms used to make the pasta. If memory serves me right, I think the pasta had button mushrooms, straw mushrooms, shitake mushrooms and porcini mushrooms. It had a cream sauce which was not over powering at all and let the taste of the mushrooms stand through. Some ham and a lot of parmesan cheese was added to give it more texture. Love love love it. Perfect for one hungry person.

Wild Rice Risotto Php 198

Described as "risotto blended of wild rice, brocolli, caauliflower, carrots and beef in a sweet soy sauce." My friend got the Risotto which really intimidated us at first. It was perfectly shaped and was so disheartening to break from its form. But boy was it good! When we were eating it, it felt like we were eating soup,pasta and viand all at the same time! It was so rich and "creamy" for a rice dish. There were bits and pieces of shitake mushroom, brocolli and some meat. It kinda tasted burnt, but I guess that was just part of the beauty of the dish. Enough for one person, though I suggest ordering something else to go with it.

Apple Pie a la Mode Php 98

yum, yum. They indeed use real apples (unlike the other restaus which have soggy textured replacements) which was a pleasant surprise since it added crunch to the pie crumble on top. The vanilla ice cream was flattering and the caramel sauce on top was a wonderful addition to the the palette of tastes.

Decadent Chocolate Cake Php108

I was told that this was their best seller but I was greatly disappointed. They had heated the cake, which had melted its chocolate-caramel top layer but did nothing to impress me. The cake was your plain sponge cake (which i really do not like) found in most common restaus. It was not bad but was nothing spectacular. Would not recomment it.

I would higly recommend the blueberry cheesecake. It was wondeful if only for the perfect texture and taste of the cheesecake itself. Forget about the blueberry part. The cheesecake was firm, cheesey and cakey just as a cheesecake should be. The taste was in the middle of being sour and sweet. You can really tell that they used good quality cream cheese. Try it!


One boo-boo though was that they had screwed up the order of release of the food. They first served the pasta, then the onion rings, then the apple pie (which we had to eat right away or else the ice cream would have melted), then the risotto and finally the chocolate cake. I would have really appreciated it if our food had come out in sync.

oh.oh. the fishbowl iced teas are just too cute!!!!

Chocolate Kiss Cafe

On a long break between classes, we decided to go to the UP Bahay ng Alumni, which I have been hearing about since high school. It's a small, awkwardly shaped restau that seats about 20-25 people only. When we got their, there were quite a number of customers ranging from students to teachers all the way to families eating out. Their menu is quite wide ranged and they have a lot if items not found in the menu, so better make sure what their specials are.

What we ate:

Gamberi Pasta Php 210

Spicy. You can have it toned down as you please though. The small shrimps were great since they were fresh, which is something i really love. There was also a touch of lemon in the pasta which helped keep that nasty feeling of "fishiness" (lansa) away. The serving was big enough for 2 people.

Hungarian Sausage & PennePhp 165

Great yummy slices of Hungarian sausage which was sauteed with fresh tomatoes and bell pepper. Since penne pasta was used, I think, this would best serve one person.

Kiss Suite- You get 3 small pieces of cake for the price of Php 55! A great way to taste more cakes at one time actually. One can choose from Devil’s Food Cake, Carrot Cake, Dayap Chiffon Cake, Kahlua Butter Cake or Prune Cake, but that's not all the cakes they have.



We got: Prune Cake-The best of the three.You could hardly tell, it was made of prunes



Dayap Chiffon-A bit disappointing. The cake was too spongey and I could hardly taste the Dayap.



Devil's Food Cake-The cake itself was okay but I hated! the icing used. I actually ended scraping the icing off before eating the rest of the cake.

Chef D' Angelo

After a long day of shopping, and watching the Fab 5 talk their hearts out, my friend and I were famished! After a lot of looking around, we settled for Chef D' Angelo in Glorietta.

What We Ate:

Fried Onion Strings

They're not very stringy are they? They were more like onion wedges than strings. Inspite of the big portions of onion, you could harly taste its natural flavor. It was a bit bland even. The breading made it nice and crunchy though, which is always good. It had a ranch dressing to go with it.


Classic Burger

Big size. The meat was a little rare though which I do not like. Have tasted better burgers than this. Nothing spectacular. The fries were crisp, and you can tell that they weren't the frozen kind.

Baguio Strawberry Cheesecake

It's cheesecakiness was fine and the oreo crust was a great way of adding an opposing taste to the sweetness of the cake. What I had a problem with however was the strawberry-ness of the cake. Although proudly bragging that the strawberries used to make this cake came all the way from Baguio, I was disappointed because there was hardly any taste to it. I could hardly, no, barely taste the strawberry! The cream cheese most definitely overpowered the strawberry in this cake..... Good cheesecake but not a good strawberry cheesecake!

Butterfinger Cheesecake

Fleur de Lys

Though, it's quite far from where I live and where I study, we went there to try the desserts we have been hearing great raves about for ourselves. The place was quite small with a maximum sitting capacity of about 20 people only. The dessert display was jaw dropping. I literally wanted to just stare at it for hours on end!! Alas, I had to of course take a seat....

What we ate:

Adobo Flakes Pasta (Php 150)

I thought the flakes would be crispy, but they weren't. The flakes were actually just added to the pasta more of like as a topping. It wasn't incorporated in the sauce. It was pleasant. The cream sauce was light and you could really really pick up the adobo influence in the pasta. The pasta in the picture may look dry, but actually, all the sauce was underneath the pasta which kept it warm.


Banana & Peanut Butter Waffle (Php100)

It was good, albeit, a little dry. The bananas and the peanut butter drizzling were great. If you do decide to order this, try to get a littlbe bit of everything in every bite. Nothing about this dish was sweet and so the addition of whipped cream was an excellent way of adding the "dessert" feel into it.


Italian Sausage Waffle (Php 160)

This waffle on the other hand had basil incorporated in it. You can really tell that it was baked from scratch. The sausage was just right in that it was not sour nor spicy. Most of all, it was lean. (yey!) Again, if you order this, try to get a little bit of the tomato,waffle, sausage and egg in every bite. Could be a meal on its own but we ordered it more as an appetizer/side dish.

Nuts About You (Php 105)

A beautiful macadamia pie. One of the best I've had in a really long time. The pistachio ice cream enhanced the taste of the pie and did not rob it at all of it beauty and magnificence. Who doensn't love macadamias?!


Dulce and Gabanana (Php 95)

There were warm bananas hidden underneath all that whipped cream layered on top a gingerbreadish kind of crust.


A River Rums Through (Php 60)

I've always enjoyed rhum cakes for its rich buttery flavor and hint of rhum. This was the exact opposite though! There was a very small hint of butter and a lot of rhum taste! It was a bit too overpowering for me. I felt that the cake was soaked in rhum actually, but all is well and good.


Almond Loca (Php 95)

There was a lot of almonds in it. It was not too sweet and overpowering. The almonds were actually embedded somewhere in between layers of meringue wafers in a rich buttercream in between.


Pavlova Picasso (Php 95)

I was expecting the strawberry meringue to be hard, but it was not! The softness of the meringue, made it very easy to take a bite into the dessert which was very flattering. The whipped cream added creaminess to the otherwise dry meringue and the walnut and fruits (grapes, mango and kiwi) added hints of other various wonderful flavors.

The Sicilian Express

This is a cheaply priced Italian eatery. If you're on a budget but looking for good food, this is the place for you to go. They specialize in take-out and deliveries although you can still eat in, they have minimal eating spaces and so sitting can be a problem during lunch hours.

This is what we ordered:

Sicilian Salad

Well, it would be really unfair to compare it to the Sicilian Salad in Italianni's but for it price, it tasted good and refreshing. Refreshing in the sense that there was a lot of sweetness and flavor added into the salad because of the fruits. There were generous amounts of grapes, mangoes and tomatoes in the salad. The most importan part of it all for me was that the fruits were big enough to be enjoyed, i.e. the grapes weren't sliced in half, the mangoes were not mushed or the tomatoes were not chopped finely. There was some chicken in the salad which broke its monotony. The dressing was very simple kind of like a thousand island meets caesar salad dressing but complimented the fruits very well.

Pasta Shrimp Milano

The sauce was a bit too watery and the pasta as far as I could tell was a bit overdone. I may be so bold to say that I think it could have been reboiled or reheated already. The only good thing about the pasta was that there was a generous amount of FRESH shrimps.

Sicilian Sausage Pizza

Blue Ginger

I wanted to try this place because of its kitschy ambience. It was a very vibrant mix of reds, yellows and oranges and since I needed some cheering up at that time, I decided to try this place out even thought it had opened only about a week prior to my visit..

Crispy Pork and Swamp Cabbage 

The pork wasn't crispy yet the swamp cabbage. the ironies of life... this dish was more of a "binagoongan" kind of dish much to my surprise

Tom Yum Soup 

There was a lot of chicken in the soup, not enough shrimp. there were no mushrooms at all! i'd have to say that i honestly felt like i was eating ready made (canned) soup here! not impressed at all!

Food was leaning towards crappy. I'm sorry but it's true. The serving and presentation of the food was like that just as well. Will not go back. Definitely.

Misato Japanese Restaurant

I've been hearing a lot about this place from the "Chinese Mafia" ....I first discovered the place when I saw one of them dining in the restau and after some prodding, he bragged about how yummy the food was and even gave recommendations.... Naturally, I had to try it for myself!

This is what we ate:

Tempura Maki- php145


Green Fried Chicken- php 210

don't be intimidated by the way it looks, this stuff was really yummy

Shirasu Rice Medley- php 80

- this was good too! at first i was really weirded out because i thought there was something alive in my food!!! there really really was something moving (think seaweed under the sea)... i still don't know what those paper thin stuff were but hey! the rice was great!


The only reason I didn't give the restau 5 stars was because of the restrooms. They were small and cramped and had sliding doors.Moreover, there was no air circulating! Talk about claustrophobia! Much! Worst of all, it was painted red which really made my head hurt. Aside from that small issue, the service and food were excellent!

Annabel Lee

We went here for a lack of a better choice. It was in the middle of the day, after hours and hours of early bird shopping and what attracted me to the place was there cake display. There really was a lot to choose from but before we did, we decided to have lunch first since we had really really worked up an appetite already.

What we ate:

Beef Stoganof and Shitake Pasta

would have loved it, but the beef was a little too chewy for my liking, our server told me that this was good for 2 people, but really it's just good for one! even for someone who has a small appetite! love the shitake on the pasta though!

Bleu Cheese and Chicken Croquet Salad

This was a downright disappointment. the dressing was fantastic all right but i could count the number of leetuce lieaves in this salad with one hand! the chicken croquet was too mushy for my liking as well...


Banana Lemon Pie

alas! after about ten whole minutes of perusing the beautiful display case, i settled for this cake. it did not diasappoint. the banana taste was just right but the lemon part was missing. i enjoyed it well enough though....


Service was a bit slow and maybe because we came in during the slow hours, most if not all of the employees were busy gossipin in a corner. Would try the cakes again but would not go back for the food.

Bellini's

This has got to be the best Italian restaurant I have eaten in! The food makes me fall in love over and over and over again! The location is quite uneasy on the eye. It's surrounded by suspicious looking people and the like.. There are so many dogs in the area!!!!....the lengths i go through for a good meal.........If not for the place, I would take everyone I know to this place!

Toasted Crostini with Salmon

The salmon was not 'fishy' (malansa) at all. the small lemon slice was just enough to balance the bite. don't underestimate this appetizer.


Spinach Ham Ravioli with Truffle Cream

Just by reading the name, you know that the food has gotta be good! and of course it was! the cream was not too rich nor too subtle. there was a good balance between the amount of spinach and ham in the ravioli and so neither over powered the other..the ham used here was not your ordinary supermarket ham, it was one of those gourmet ham whose name escapes me at the moment.

Salamina Pizza

Nothing else to say but to look at the pic and it speaks for itself! the crust was really thin and so the different tastes and textures in the pizza were not overpowered... just look at that paper thin salamina! yum yum

Panna Cota

the best in town! after my very first bite, i thought i had tasted clouds... really! i know it sounds cheesy and all but the panna cota was soft and smooth and creamy and i've run out of adjectives to describe it


Strwaberry Shortcake

Max Brenner

Amidst the posh stores in Greenbelt is this cafe that serves not only yummmmmy chocolates but great feel-good, small- talk food.

Fish n' Chips

The fish was tender and it almost seemed like I was eating chicken because the fillet was really thick yet, very juicy and not hard at all. The batter used made the coating very crunchy and crispy. The order was just enough for 2 people.

Low Fat Chicken Fingers

For whatever it's worth, the chicken was low fat! hehe...
The dipping sauce was a good match.

Mushroom Addiction Pasta

The pasta was cooked just right. It wasn't hard nor too mushy. The cream sauce was minimal, it was just enough to coat the pasta noodles well. One can tell that the mushrooms used here were very fresh and not of the canned kind!

Chocolate Mousse

Is there anything cuter than that? The sauces come in mini beakers!!! cute!!!!

I would come back many times over for the Mushroom Addiction....I think i prefer the fish n' chips a lil more than the chicken fingers
I would recommend this place for lazy afternoons or night caps. The ambience is very soothing and flattering for catching up with friends or for winding a long day down.

Taste of Siam

This would really have to be my favourite Thai restau! There is nothing here that disappoints.

Tom Yum Ruam Mitra

The soup is served with fire bursting out of the hole in the middle. Okay maybe im exaggerating..... I think they used dry ice to capture the effect but hey! i think it worked just fine! The soup was in a perfect level of sourness and was not too spicy. There were a lot of shrimps and big button mushrooms to go around for two people. The server said that the order was just enough for 2 people but i think 3-4 could have even enjoy this!

Fluffy Catfish Salad

I don't know why it's called "fluffy" because there was nothing fluffy about this dish! It was very crisp and light, made even more perfect by its green mango-vinegar dipping sauce.

Phad Thai

Though I knew what I had ordered was already more than enough for two people, I had to indulge my guest and order something with carbos, who later regretted coercing me to order this because we were so stuffed! hehehe.....Well, I think there was too much egg in this phad thai and not enough peanutty taste in it. I don't think I'll be having this again anytime soon.

Must Try: Fluffy Catfish Salad