Lunch at Banapple

I had lunch with my friend J at Banapple the other day. Since the last time I was there, I only took out a Banoffee Pie, I took the opportunity to sample their meals. J ordered the Asian Crabstick and Mango Salad Sandwich and a slice of the Amaretto Cheesecake (the waitress said that this was a strawberry cheesecake). I ordered the Salpicao Rafael and a slice of their supposedly other specialty, Apple Caramel Crumble Pie. You can check out their menu & pricelist here. The place was packed and we were third on the waitlist.





The Verdict:

We saw the servings of pasta at other tables, and they are definitely value for money. The servings are big enough to satisfy you if you are hungry! I didn't hear any praises nor complaints from J, so I'm guessing the sandwich was good enough. As for my Salpicao Rafael, it was tasty. It wasn't the dark, garlic and soy sauce affair that I expected of salpicao. It was more of like a cross between a salpicao and a teriyaki. Nevertheless, it was good enough and value for money. Banapple's food isn't the knock-your-socks-off great tasting food that other reviews make it out to be, but it is above average. Sometimes I wonder if my standards are too high. But if I know I have tasted better or can make better, I don't consider it superlatively great tasting!

The Amaretto Cheesecake was also above average. It was good. The Apple Caramel Crumble Pie though, was another matter. The cinnamon was too strong, and I like cinnamon! I basically had to force myself to eat the pie, and couldn't finish it. I left maybe a third of the pie on the plate and concentrated on eating the crust, the pie's only saving grace. I couldn't taste anything but cinnamon. Even the crumble topping tasted like sawdust and cinnamon. I know I'm never ordering that again! You know how they can fix that pie? Maybe remove 3/4s of the cinnamon they put in there. Add some brown sugar and some water to the filling, and maybe a dash of nutmeg. And bloody add some grated cheese, sugar, and breadcrumbs to the crumble topping. The pie and the topping was too dry.

Overall, the great thing about Banapple is that it serves good food at hefty servings at affordable prices. The service was good, although it seemed that there was only one waitress. She was cheerful but whenever we noticed her serving orders or bussing tables, we couldn't help but think kawawa naman siya (poor thing!) since the place was really busy and she seemed to be on it nonstop. We were there for almost 2 hours since we did a lot of catching up.

Pan-fried ham Bento

This was a relatively simple and quick bento of pan fried Christmas ham, rice, and peeled kiat-kiat. Haay, no veggies :( I didn't have time to prep some.

Black Sesame Shortbread Cookies

I had been wondering for some time what to do with some black sesame I still had leftover from making black sesame soup. I had already made black sesame soup twice and still had about 2-3 cups' worth of black sesame seeds. Some time ago, I read a blog where the author made black sesame cookies, so that gave me the idea of adding black sesame to a good but plain cookie recipe.. and well, since I like good shortbread..

Crisp but flaky, this rich, buttery shortbread cookie melts in your mouth, and the black sesame adds a little crunch to your bite! Very, very delicious and quite easy to make! I will definitely make this again. The butter is the star of the show, so make sure to use real butter. Here I use Lurpak unsalted butter. Recipe is adapted from the Scottish shortbread recipe from 'Joy of Cooking' by Irma S. Rombauer, et al. I really love these cookies. I have to stop myself from getting another cookie after the first one.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour

2 tablespoons black sesame seeds (no need to pre-toast)

some cake flour for kneading

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 F.

1. Beat butter, powdered sugar, sugar and salt on medium speed until very fluffy and well blended.
2. Add 1 cup of all purpose flour, carefully stir the flour in the batter by hand, taking care not to stir too much. It doesn't matter if it's not all incorporated.
3. Add the cake flour and black sesame and stir again until blended.
4. Lightly dust kneading surface with a little cake flour, just enough to keep the dough from sticking. Turn the dough out onto kneading surface. Knead gently, as little as possible, just until it's possible to roll the dough.
5. With a rolling pin, roll the dough about 1/4 inch thick.
6. With a cookie cutter, cut the dough into desired shapes.
7. Place cookies in cookie sheet, preferably lined with aluminum foil to prevent sticking & easier cleanup.
8. Bake cookies for 45-50 minutes.
9. Let cool and enjoy!

Buy 1 Take 1 Loot and Japan Home Center Haul

Okay, I love Robinson's Otis now. It has the biggest Japan Home Center branch I've been to so far, and it still has some of the items that I have been looking for. Check out the insulated bento bags! There's the smaller one with the flower print - very Japanese, and the bigger checkered one with a pocket. They are both well-made (there was another plain model that had bad quality stitching). They are still in stock so if you are looking for them, check out the Otis branch. I also got a sandwich box, a Winnie the Pooh container, and.. tada! Did you see the black bento? I had despaired of ever finding one. It's a real Japanese-type 2-tier bento with the top cover. I also got 2 glass containers just in case I cannot avoid having to nuke my lunch. I am trying to avoid microwaving food as much as possible. It is very unhealthy according to various forwarded emails and websites, and microwaving using plastic containers (even microwave-safe ones) are worse. As for me, I also prefer my food cooked and heated the old-fashioned way, and as for the "nuking is bad" claims, I would rather be safe than sorry.

Dad also found a lot of things on Buy-1-Take-1 or some other promo at the supermarket. Those Japanese crackers are good! I am quite pleased at the Lurpak butter haul! P145 for 2 bars? It's cheaper than Anchor! Love love love love good butter on good bread (NOT the tasty-type commercial breads)! Good bread = yeasty, flavorful, slightly chewy. Crusty outside, chewy inside and hole-y! I just don't like the commercial 'tasty' loaf being sold nowadays. They are too refined and make too many crumbs when you slice them. Me like big yeast holes in me bread. Sometimes I actually seek out the "cheaper" breads since they are closer to the real bread I like.

Cute furry friends hung upside down

A few days ago I had the maid wash some old stuffed toys. I've had them for yeaarrrs... with some even dating back 1993-ish.. I can't remember exactly. I've never had them washed before so you can imagine how dusty and.. well, they actually looked dark grey from all the dust.

I was walking past the clean laundry area when I noticed that the little fluffy things just looked way too cute hung upside down.. and they looked even cuter posed together! Enjoy! I know I will!

They are: a Christmas bear, a kitten, and a puppy. They are about 5-6 inches tall. The puppy looks stupid.. that's what makes it sooo cute!

Enoki Mushrooms & Bacon + Soy-Butter Beef Bento

While I was at Il Terrazo buying Banoffee Pie (see Banapple's Banoffee Pie post), I decided to check out the Rustan's Supermarket at the basement. I saw some enoki mushrooms and decided to make Bacon-wrapped Enoki. I first tried this dish at Teriyaki Boy with the boyfriend, and it has since become one of our "must-orders" whenever we eat at Teriyaki Boy.

Here I just wrapped some enoki mushrooms with maple syrup-cured bacon and put them on a non-stick skillet (no oil) over medium heat. Roll the bacon to make sure all sides are cooked, cover the skillet just to make sure the inner roll of bacon also gets cooked. Lower heat and continue cooking until cooked through.

Since I was only able to make 6 bacon enokis, I also made some Soy-Butter Beef from Kaoko's blog. Why do I need the beef? Hmm.. 6 bacon enokis = 2 for my bento, 2 for boyfriend's bento, 1 sacrified for "taste & doneness test", 1 I gave my dad to try.

I sliced some cucumbers, tomatoes and a ponkan. The ponkan looks pretty, no? Peel ponkan, slice ponkan (cross-section). Cross-section, wow. I'm betraying my engineering background!

Banapple's Banofee Pie

I have read the raves about Banapple's Banoffee Pie. So it should follow, like a bear to honey, that I have to try it! How can I resist? A get together with friends last weekend gave just the perfect excuse to go buy the whole pie.

I read that Banapple opened their second branch in Tomas Morato. Good! That means no driving all the way to Katipunan. I'm really not a QC person and I think I would get lost if I tried to go to their original branch. Their Morato branch is actually located on the ABS-CBN side of the street, on the second floor of a new promenade-type building.

So, how is the banoffee pie, you ask? As you can see from the picture, it has a graham type crust, BIG chunks of ripe bananas dripping with a yummy yummy thick caramel sauce, and is topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this an 8. I would definitely buy it again someday.

I liked the bananas and the caramel fudge sauce, they really went very well together. Whipped cream and chocolate shavings - hmm.. they were okay, nothing wrong with them. One thing I wasn't crazy about was the crust, though. I felt that there was too much butter in the crust, and since I was eating the pie cold, it sometimes felt like eating butter sebo.. I hope you understand what I mean. I like butter, but I just don't like eating cold butter. I prefer butter slathered on bread (at room temperature!).

But in any case, we ate half of the pie during the party, and the leftover half was gone in less than 2 days, so I guess it's okay. I would buy this pie again, if only for the bananas and caramel fudge sauce! The whole pie only cost P510.

Banapple Pies & Cheesecakes is located at the 2nd Level, Il Terrazo, Tomas Morato cor. Scout Madrinan, South Triangle, Quezon City. Tel Number 413-2675.