Dunkin Donuts' price increase

I'm not sure when this change happened, since I haven't really been buying a lot of doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts lately, but it turns out that one of my all-time favorite flavors, the Choco Butternut, is now part of what the store labels are "premium" donuts and as such, it costs 35 pesos a piece. 35 pesos! It's nearly twice the price of other "regular" donuts where it used to be part of.

It's within the same price range as that of other high end doughnuts such as Krispy Kreme [roughly around 40-45 pesos per piece] and J.Co Donuts [42 pesos per piece]. These higher end brands tend to go cheaper as well if you buy by the dozen. It's just sad that what I consider to be part of their original flavors have to be tagged to be part of their pricier group, when they could have just continued to come up with newer flavors to fill that void instead of alienating loyal customers with such a big price increase. Then again, I guess, I'm just not updated.

J.Co Donuts - Hi Lychee!

On a Sunday morning, I was with my girlfriend spending time at J.Co Donuts. I love the variety in their doughnuts, and how they seem to capture the flavor accurately with their products.

So, today, there was this new flavor [or at least it seemed new to me], and I just had to give it a go. It was called "Hi Lychee" and as the name implies, is Lychee-flavored.

Nothing much to write here, except that if you like lychee, this doughnut captures that flavor quite well. Reminds me of those canned lychees with syrup that my dad buys from the grocery.

Red Ribbon Tiramisu Meltdown

It is a Maundy Thursday. Most, if not all malls are closed. I'm at work. Under normal circumstances, it would be a regular grind, except that I would not have to deal with the heavy traffic [while riding buses due to the malls being closed] and the hordes of people at the MRT stations. 

My boss had a craving for cake, and thankfully, Red Ribbon was open and was ready to deliver, and she treated our team to some cake. Tiramisu meltdown galore, and before the cake was consumed by the team, a picture was taken to prove its existence before it becomes a memory.

With the absence of a knife, we had to improvise and use plastic forks to cut into the cake, and as such, the slices are imperfect, but wouldn't you say this still looks enticing? 

While it does taste good, and it was quite an experience, it doesn't really feel much like a tiramisu for me. It was more like a chocolate cake. It had a soft foamy texture, and if you have a sweet tooth, you'd like how sweet this cake is. For me, a tad too sweet, but it's all cool. 

What's more important is that I got to bond with my team on a day at work. Any opportunity that comes along is a great time to spend time with folks at work. It certainly helps with coping and the tedium of the daily work and commute. 

Burger Logic 6: Jollibee Ultimate Burger Steak

In one of my treks to Jollibee, I noticed something new to their menu. I took out my digicam to take a snap of their menu while I was on queue. This is how it looked like from their menu:

A rice meal with fries? I already do it occasionally

I ordered it since I've always been a big burger person and I took a snap of what I was served. Unfortunately, the place was jampacked even at 10PM [it was, after all in Cubao], and I had to eat in a slightly dark corner of the branch. Excuses aside for my poor shot of the food [I try to avoid using the flash as much as possible], let me provide my take on it.

It is 100% beef, all right. When I ordered, you are given the normal "12 minute" wait time whenever you order a Champ [they are using the same patty for this], but in my case, it took less than 10, which is a good thing considering the poor service I get from fastfood places. It includes a regular serving of french fries, where the 1/3 pound patty sits and it is swimming with the mushroom sauce. An egg afterwards and its a fairly big meal.

I tried eating this on two separate occasions, one dine-in, and one on take out, just because I'd like to take note if having the fries would make any difference. When I ate it freshly prepared, the fries were still new and crispy and provided the added texture that I really like. The burger itself? Well, it tasted like the regular burger steak that you can order through them. It's nothing special. 

The time I tried take out, it didn't work out well. The mushroom sauce definitely made the fries very soggy and the overall meal was less enjoyable [note: I ate it around 2-3 hours after ordering it]. Still, the pure beef patty was good and on both times, I felt compelled to reach out and get extra rice. 

Just as much, I took a short video trying to zoom it in, and provide a more detailed look into it. Who knows, maybe next time, I can do a speaking role or some such.

Burger Logic Ep 5: H.I.D. Burgers

 

As recommended to me by a friend, I managed to find this restaurant on one of those jeepney rides on my way to le girlfriend's house. It is conveniently located in a Phoenix petroleum gas station, with a few other establishments. 

The place itself could only house a group of roughly around 20-30 people at most, it has an open air environment. I settled in and had a gander at the menu items. I checked and noticed that they only serve chicken burgers. Also, this reminder about their burgers, which is a welcome sight at the very least.

It also is welcoming that the price for these burgers are relatively cheap. Maybe the use of chicken for the patties help keep the price down since chicken is generally cheaper than beef.
  

H.I.D. Burgers' menu

 I ordered a Sicilian burger, based on the recommendation of a friend and took it home. At first glance, I was surprised at the pandesal-esque bread they chose to use for their burgers. First bite, and it was a pleasant surprise. Second bite and I'm happy. It's a good burger indeed. Not to the extent that my friend mentioned [HID - Sicilian Burger (With mozzarella cheese, basil and grilled tomatoes)

Nateleport ako bigla sa isla ng Sicily sa unang kagat. Ikalawang kagat ko, marunong na ako mag-Italyano, ikatlo, natuto na ako magsign language (Italians are, at some point, deaf), nung maubos ko na, kamukha ko na si Al Pacino.], but still a good burger.

The burgers are flame-grilled, but does not give the impression that it is dry. Also, since this is not breaded in any way, you get pure chicken in every bite. For what it's worth, the price difference of only 20php between the 1/4 pound and 1/3 pound orders is very much worth it.

I'm quite satisfied with this burger place, now if only they weren't so out of the way and/or if they had other branches.

Burger Logic Ep 4: Bon Chon Chicken Burger

I came along to my journey of trying to find good burgers and like my last post, I didn't really expect to chance upon a burger in this restaurant. I was so used to eating Bon Chon's spicy chicken wings that I only noticed this menu item and decided to try it out.

When you order a chicken burger, you are given your choice of patty [soy garlic or spicy] and same goes with the mayo to be applied [apparently, they have a spicy garlic mayo should you want it]. The burger itself contains two of their chops, some lettuce, on an oat covered bun. Served with some skin-on fries, it was good. 

The burger had me in tears the same way that their spicy chicken wings get me teary eyed because of how spicy they are. Since they used the chops, it provides a good crunch as well in every bite. A good choice, indeed.

Burger Logic Ep 3: A Different take on a Burger

Friday payday night, me and a few friends from work went to one of the places we normally go to for some good eats. Situated in E. Rodriguez, Quezon City [to be more specific, E. Rodriguez Avenue, corner Tomas Morato], is Persian Kabab restaurant. It serves some very good persian food at a very reasonable price. They don't skimp on their ingredients for their meals.

What does a Persian restaurant have to do with a hamburger you might say? Well, one of my friends noticed that there was a burger in the menu, and I just had to get to try it out. I took one home and planned to eat it the next day [was too full for a midnight bite]. When I opened the take out styro, it was uhm... a different version of a burger. I figured it was to be different from the usual take.

Not your everyday hamburger.

I reheated everything in the toaster the next day to sample it. Well, I had to slice the patty to ensure that I get a taste of the burger in each bite of the pita bread. By the way, it's not an all-beef patty, as I've observed that it has onions and maybe another ingredient mixed in with the ground beef, and true to its persian roots, this is very tasty. Quite interesting, but the patty is just a tad small for my liking, but it was still filling. For 80 pesos, it is an okay price for something different.

Burger Logic Ep 2: Jollibee Champ

Among local big fastfood chains, one of my favorite burgers has to be Jollibee's Champ. It is 1/3 pound of goodness, freshly prepared only when you order [with the 12 minute wait time - everytime], with its slice of tomato, cheese and lettuce. 

At this point, I'm not even sure McDonalds can match up with Jollibee in terms of their "marquee" burgers. The Big Mac feels more like the Medium Mac, while the Big and Tasty, is more of a dressed-up quarter pounder. 

What I do appreciate is that it is freshly prepared, and that the patty is really juicy, compared to other burgers [ironically, even other Jollibee burgers as well] which are dry. The meat is 100% beef, and you could really taste the difference. 

Price-wise, it is cheaper compared to a.] the McDonalds Big and Tasty b.] Burger King's Whopper and c.] the McDonalds Big Mac. Those are some of the big burgers around the fastfood wars. I'll try to write in about the others, but in the meantime...

   

Pictures are viewable to their full-size glory by clicking on the pictures themselves.

Burger Logic: Ep 1: Burger Machine

I haven't written anything for a long time here, and I figure that I need to get my juices flowing again. I've got tons of pictures and no posts to show for them. It's time to get them uploaded and get something uploaded.

First off, the classic burger stand, Burger Machine. The top of the food chain, in terms of burger stands, back in the day, and was so popular that even the Eraserheads endorsed them at one point. It's been around since forever, but in recent years, it seems to have taken a back seat to Angel's Burger and other burger places.

The classic BM stand.

The classic burger stand is still around, and as with the current trend, they are offering Buy One Take One on seemingly all of their burgers.

Pictured is a Jumbo Bart burger. I'm not exactly sure why it's called a "Bart" burger when it's basically a burger with coleslaw in it.The burger is freshly cooked, which is common fair for burger stands, but I still find to BM to be the best when it comes to preparation. What irks me though is their audacity to charge P6 php for a spoon of cabbage with a bit of dressing. Sometimes even less! 

The actual burger itself though is still good and enjoyable. The patty is thin though. Well, I guess competition is stiff when trying to keep prices low at this level.

At this point, for 50Php, it's still a good buy, and brings me back to my high school days when me and a few highschool buddies would almost make it a daily habit to grab a burger [or two] before heading home.

In the years since, a lot of the old Burger Machine stands that I used to frequent have closed shop, and other stands have taken their place. Have these new stores taken over and have swept BM at the wayside? I'd like to try everything I can, and verify for myself. I still have a busy schedule but would try to write often.