M Bakery is back for pick-up, delivery with Mother's Day specials

MANILA -- M Bakery, Manila’s own branch of New York’s famous cupcakery, has special offerings to celebrate Mother’s Day.

On top of the list are special vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream decorated with kid-like drawings and writing, bringing back a sense of whimsy and nostalgia.

Customers can send their own personalized designs and messages, too. M Bakery’s 6-inch and 9-inch cakes are also available for orders.

This follows the recent reopening of M Bakery’s Bonifacio Global City branch where the shop’s trademark banana pudding, classic and select specialty cakes and cupcakes, cheesecakes, icebox desserts, and cookies by the dozen are available for takeout and delivery.

“Since the implementation of the ECQ, our fans have been asking us for ways to get their hands on their favorite M Bakery desserts to help cope with the cabin fever and still find some semblance of normalcy in celebrating birthdays or other occasions despite being stuck at home,” said Stewart Ong, managing partner and franchise owner of M Bakery in Manila.

“We have decided to open shop and start baking again to brighten up our customers’ days and make celebrations more special with delicious treats that they can enjoy at home with their families,” added managing partner and head chef Candy Lu.

To prioritize the health and safety of its staff and customers and the freshness of its products, M Bakery is offering a limited menu and is only accepting advance orders for pick-up or delivery during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) period.

Pricing and special flavors will be announced on a weekly basis through M Bakery’s Facebook and Instagram channels.

The ordered products, which are safely prepared and carefully packaged inside the store, can be picked up on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays at the shop between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to observe proper social distancing.

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New restaurant alert: Yumchee at Bonifacio Stopover

MANILA -- “Forever yum!” is the tagline of newcomer, Yumchee, a homegrown Chinese fastfood restaurant from the Kenji-tei restaurant group.

Yumchee aims to bring the quality food at affordable prices at its flagship branch in Bonifacio Stopover in Taguig City.

“Yumchee is a play of words. Yum for delicious, chee is a play on Chinese. This is about good Chinese food for the people,” explained Richard Co, one of the owners of Yumchee.

While they have several categories – congee, set meals, dimsum, etc. -- Yumchee has a limited number of items per category. For example, the dimsum menu has only seven items from the surely popular pork shrimp siomai, fried wanton, and their version of the BBQ pork buns, which was like a sweet asado bun.

I particularly liked the Beancurd Shrimp Roll, which came to the table tightly wrapped and glistening, and when bit on had plump and juicy shrimp inside, very filling with a bit of dipping sauce. All dimsum come at a flat rate of P85, so it’s fairly easy to try all seven with a big enough group.

Congee and noodles are quintessentially Chinese, and Yumchee has four kinds of congee, as well as noodle soups. At 159 per bowl, one can get congee with pork meatballs or fish fillet, but why not try their Pork with Century and Salted Egg Congee? The century and salted egg combination gave an interesting umami-flavor to the bowl, I had a moment that I thought I was eating goto.

 Or if you’re looking for something healthier, try the Mixed Seafood Congee which had clean flavors of shrimp and squid. Congee orders come with fried breadsticks (airy fried pieces of bread), and eating or dunking these with the congee is really the way to go.

Noodles are also priced at P159 per bowl, with the sure crowd-pleaser Beef Brisket and Wanton. Yumchee has firm noodles and a nice portion of toppings of meat in it.

Surely a hit with the office workers in nearby buildings, the set meals are priced at P199 and includes a main dish and a side. Sides included steamed rice and soup, or even stir-fried noodles and soup.

Eight choices of main dishes are available, including the Sweet and Sour Pork, which had a really nice sweet-sour taste, with the meat’s fried breading still crispy. One of the bestsellers is the Chicken Chop, a fried deboned chicken which had a pleasant fry to it, great crispy breading.

Interesting main dish choices also include citrusy Orange Chicken (same saucing/cooking treatment as sweet and sour but with orange), Chinese Adobo (which tasted like humba with that anise asado flavor), and Black Pepper Beef (beef in pepper gravy sauce with red bell peppers).

For dessert or a snack, Yumchee has shaved ice bowls. And for P78 you have your choice of two toppings from mango, grass jelly, black pearl, strawberry, kiwi, peach and lychee. Table favorites included the grass jelly-lychee or the mango-strawberry combination.

Alternatively, one could also get an order of the fried breadsticks for P58, and choose either a chocolate or caramel dip for P20.

Eat with sips of their specialty drinks. The iced lemon tea would go great with almost everything in the menu, and instead of dessert, why not opt for the iced milk teas?


With the most expensive dish in the menu at P199, Yumchee is gearing towards stamping their own brand of “premium fast food” in the extremely competitive Filipino fast-food industry, starting with Bonifacio Global City.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Yoga meets good food, music, art in BGC

The busy life in the city seemed to make the concept of getting a rest out of place. But this fitness center located in one of the business hubs in the country is asserting the need for serenity and relaxation.

Life Yoga Center, a fitness center promoting holistic health and wellness lifestyle, in Bonifacio Global City is where the practice of yoga meets good food, modern music and art, and a sense of community.

The center is modernizing traditional yoga classes, offering various classes to cater to different preferences and incorporating music to raise the vibe.

Yoga classes offered in Life include the traditional form of yoga, Ash-Asana, and the powerful and energetic yoga, Rock n' flow, among others.

After a yoga class awaits the Vibe Cafe where a healthy lifestyle is emphasized with the cafe's organic eats. The cafe serves light snacks like chicken pesto with asparagus and the crunchy H&C sandwich. For rice lovers, the rice bowls are also available in the cafe.

Modern art has a place in the center too, various art pieces are displayed throughout the place. They in fact transform their yoga studios into pop art galleries when featuring new artists.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Binay raps Taguig men taking down Makati banners

MANILA -- The local government of Makati City on Thursday released footage from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera of Taguig personnel taking down tarpaulins--declaring Bonifacio Global City (BGC) as Makati property--along McKinley Road on Wednesday.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay, who presented the CCTV footage during a press conference, said the Taguig employees attempted to sow confusion amid a ruling of the Court of Appeals awarding Fort Bonifacio to Makati City.


The video shows a group of around 15 to 20 men dressed in white shirts taking down a "Welcome to BGC Makati" banner along the road.

The men, most of them wearing "I Love Taguig" shirts, are also seen preventing civilians from taking footage of the incident.

A motorist's phone was even confiscated after he was punched inside his car and threatened to be taken to the Taguig City Hall, Binay said.

Binay said Taguig should surrender its personnel involved in the incident. He said these people should face disciplinary action.

"Ang McKinley Road sa Forbes Park ay bahagi ng Makati. Siguro naman ay hindi inaangkin o balak angkinin ito ng Taguig. Malinaw na hindi lang nanggulo ang mga tauhan ng Taguig sa Makati. Lumabag sila sa batas. Dapat silang managot sa batas," he said.

"Kaya ako ay nakikiusap kay Mayor Lani [Cayetano]. Isuko na ninyo ang mga empleyado ng Taguig na lumabag ng batas," he added.

Binay also said that what the Taguig employees did was already "too much." "Ang ginawa nila kahapon...ang pinakasukdulan. At ito ay hindi namin mapapalampas."

"Kung isa o dalawa ang sangkot, pwedeng i-dahilan na hindi awtorisado ang ginagawa. Pero kung grupo ng sampu o dalawampu ang sangkot, na nakasuot ng t-shirt na 'I Love Taguig' ang karamihan, parang mahirap paniwalaan na sariling desisyon nila na manggulo sa Makati," he added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com