The First Saturday: Taste of Heaven and Bowl & Brew

I'm starting a new project for 2014. Every Saturday, I'm going to try out something new: an experience, a restaurant, a boyfriend (lol no), and will blog about it to document the things I've tried out in the span of a year. This not only helps me remember the wonderful places I've been to and the equally wonderful people I've been with, but will also appear as search results on Google, thus aiding me in my quest to gain more page views. Hue hue hue.

So here's my entry for the first Saturday day of 2014. On this date, I went to two new places in Teacher's Village: A Taste of Heaven and Bowl & Brew.

Appropriately named, I must say

A Taste of Heaven is a milkshake place located at #71 Maginhawa. It's pretty small and seats about 15-20 people at most. Some of my friends have been there and said that their milkshakes were worth a try, and since I was craving milkshakes but didn't feel like being around too many people, I decided to read a book there.

Trying to take a picture of the menu and failing

Their shakes are not that expensive. The classics cost 80PHP while the premium ones cost 130PHP. I tried a mid-priced shake called Peach Banana Cobbler and it was really refreshing and not too sweet. I also ordered TLC (Tenderly Loved Chicken), which came with a side of fries. I don't know what kind of loving went into that chicken but it tasted good.

 Also the guy who made this was pretty cute. 

They also had a "Choose and Shake" menu where you get to choose what to put in your milkshake from a range of chocolates (M&Ms, Reese's, Snickers, etc.). I'm planning to try this one out next time. Yes, there will be a next time because I forgot to slip TLC guy my number.

Bowl & Brew, on the other hand, is another small eatery along Maginhawa. My friend and I chanced upon it when we left Pino because I wanted to walk around after drinking a glass of flavored beer (which you should also definitely try out. Go for Peach). We really didn't plan on going in but the place was too orange to miss.

"Thou shall not resist me," said the sign to us

You could see the snazzy interior from the outside, but being inside was a totally different experience. Everything was so eye-catching that I needed about 50 more eyes to appreciate everything. I mean, there was a bowl galaxy on the ceiling, for crying out loud.

ORRRAAAANGEEEE

Decoration or Time-Space Warp?

When we got there, the staff was having dinner while watching MMK and seemed oddly surprised that two weirdos walked through the door. They quickly gave us a menu and since the sign mentioned "Lucban Specialties," we decided to have a Lucban Longganisa Sandwich. The sign also said "Coffee and More," so we also ordered an Espresso (which the staff called Expresso and turned out to be unavailable so my friend just went for an Americano), and a Latte Machiatto.

Still orange

I have a sweet tooth so I went for the desserts and asked the staff what the cakes on display were called. The one I asked did not know. One of the other girls said "Tiramisu." I pointed to the chocolate cake beside the tiramisu. The girls looked at each other and laughed sheepishly. I joked, "So ano to, something something chocolate something?" [So what's this, something something chocolate something?] And one of the girls said, "Yes, Ma'am." So I didn't order it. Lol.

Our order arrived and although the serving was smaller than expected, the longganisa was pretty good. The bread didn't seem like a good match for it, though, and was a bit hard to chew.

Yep, we just got this. No tissue, no plates, no utensils. I guess coz we didn't order those.

Our coffee also arrived. At least my friend's coffee did. What got served to me was literally just milk with froth on top. My friend pointed it out to the staff and they apologized profusely. They replaced my coffee with something that more closely resembled a latte, but even that fell short. My friend's Americano looked like what you'd get when you poured hot water into a mug with coffee dregs at the bottom. It was sad. It was so sad I couldn't even take a picture of it.

We didn't stay long because apart from the excruciating show on TV, the colors were just too much. We went back out into the night... and was welcomed by a dog on a roof barking at a cat on the pavement. Apparently, our WTF quota had not been reached.

To be fair, I think we caught Bowl & Brew on a bad day. The big boss was not around and when he did come in, he was nice and took our picture to post on their Facebook page (which, unfortunately, I cannot find). I don't know if I'm willing to give this resto another shot, but if someone out there wants to, let me know if you also experience hallucinations right after.