Chocolate Paradise Cake

By: The Moody Critic

The first thing that you would probably notice about this cake would be its posterior portion. Its milk chocolate crumbs might give you a scenario of this cake falling on a dirty, rocky terrain and was then picked up to be served on a plate. Nevertheless, it gave the cake a unique eye-catching appeal.

The cake had moderately moist consistency and quite a stable structure. With seven layers composed of chocolate cake, milk chocolate and cream fillings, who will ever doubt its title: chocolate paradise? However, I find this multiple layering scheme redundant and insignificant because the taste was very uniform regardless of layer. Moreover, layering was inconsistent because identical layers are not congruent.

I know they're trying to be different from other coffee shops out there but blue plates just don't work for me. This is a cafe; so it must express its warmth by adhering to classical plain theme of whites. Furthermore, plate abrasions are readily conspicuous in colored ones.

Presentation: 7.0
Taste: 6.0
Texture and consistency: 7.9
Serving size: 8.5
Value for money: 8.0

Overall rating: 7.0/10
Mood: AMBIVALENT

Resto: Baang Coffee
Address: 258 D Tomas Morato Ave. cor. Scout Fernandez St., Quezon City
Full food name: Chocolate Paradise Cake
Price: P90.00

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Philly Cheese Steak

By: The Moody Critic

I started with high hopes but ended up with broken dreams.

The culprit here was none other than the dry, hard, and coarse macrosomic bread. They used a bread which was either too big or too thick. In fact, just eating the sagittal half of the bread with all its filling will suffice. All I tasted in this sandwich was bread, bread, and more bread. The bread clearly overpowered the already limited cheese filling. Sadly, I didn't get that "dangerously cheesy" status by eating this sandwich.

After being served with a stone-cold bread, I therefore conclude that the bread could use some toasting. Applying the laws of thermodynamics, the coffee shop was not even that cold for the sandwich's heat to have easily dissipated.

Don't expect that you'll be using your bare hands with this food. You will need a lot of knife work in eating this sandwich because the bread was too crumbly and the meat and vegetables are all chopped or sliced into pieces. Everything in this sandwich has the the tendency to easily fall on your shirt. But on the positive side, at least the zucchini, tomato, and onion were not overwhelming in taste and quantity.

Lastly, after tasting those fries, I am sincerely hoping they didn't just use some take-out fries from a well-known fast-food chain which already served billions and billions.

Presentation: 7.4
Taste: 5.8
Texture and consistency: 4.2
Serving size: 9.3
Value for money: 7.3

Overall rating: 6.3/10
Mood: DISAPPOINTED

Resto: Baang Coffee
Address: 258 D Tomas Morato Ave. cor. Scout Fernandez St., Quezon City
Full food name: Philly Cheese Steak
Price: P160.00

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Angus Au Jus

By: The Moody Critic

Every time I eat at Racks, Angus Au Jus never fails to be included in my eating program. One simply cannot deny or ignore the quality of a genuine Angus beef.

Without any sauce, any sidings, or any elaborate plating, the Angus beef can definitely stand alone on the plate. The way the meat was seasoned was very remarkable. It is delicious on its own and any sauce would just serve as a bonus. Even if I would asked for a well-done steak, the meat would still remain very tender and juicy.

This dish comes with two sidings of choice. I would almost always choose mashed potato and macaroni & cheese out of the variety of sidings because of their caloric value. But if you're on the heavier side, veggie siding is the way to go!

I found the mashed potato shockingly lumpy and watery. Moreover, it was made very bland given that it has no accompanying gravy. The macaroni & cheese was basically "okay" but the macaroni was slightly undercooked. I almost knocked the living daylights of the waiter because my mac & cheese still had the bacon bits after I specifically asked him not once, but twice to remove them.

With an average size of around 13 cm x 10 cm x 1.7 cm, this beef dish can surely say "shut up and eat!". Sometimes, I would even fast for a whole day just to allot space for this dish because I usually had problems in ambulating afterwards due to my overly distended stomach.

Choice of side dishes:

1. Baked Beans
2. Corn Bread
3. Potato Salad
4. Gravy Fries
5. Mac and Cheese
6. Corn on the Cob
7. Coleslaw
8. Garlic Mashed Potato
9. Buttered Vegetables
10. Pasta Salad

Choice of Sauce:

1. Au Jus (comes with the dish) - Red wine plus the Angus beef's own juice
2. Racks' original barbeque sauce regular (on the table)
3. Racks' original barbeque sauce extra hot (on the table)

Presentation: 6.5
Taste: 8.3
Texture and consistency: 7.5
Complexity: 7.2
Value for money: 8.1

Overall rating: 7.7/10
Mood: Satisfied

Resto: Racks
Address: Ground floor, Entertainment mall, SM Mall of Asia, Pasay City
Full food name: Angus Au Jus
Price: P680.00

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Spaghetti Bolognese

By: The Moody Critic

What a delicious-looking dish! The shape of the plate and the parsley really stirred up my appetite. As expected, the parsley gave the effective color contrast on the plate. However, the pasta was undercooked; it needed five more minutes. The bolognese sauce was lacking an effective flavor. All I could taste were the sourness and the metallic "canny" taste from the canned mushrooms.

How about the bread? In one look, you can say that it is inferior. The bread did not have an interesting personality (e.g. garlic bread). Though you can see minute amounts of an unknown herb, it was still very bland. I'm sure a little spread of butter will go a long way! This bread also seemed out of place on the plate due to its elephantine size, its paleness, and the way it was sliced. Lastly, it was moderately rubbery in consistency so a little precaution to those with brittle or loose teeth. Considering the price of this dish, is quality bread too much too ask?

Whenever I would see meat sauce in the food description, I find it exasperating to ask the fastfood chain or restaurant what their meat sauce was made of (I can't eat pork). There are two reasons behind this: (1) just the act of asking the person who cooked it takes a lot of time, and (2) some establishments don't actually know what it is made of. Consequently, I would usually shy away and would not order the dish that has "meat sauce" in it. But thank you Dolcelatte for specifying in the menu that this dish has an all-beef meat sauce.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 6.4
Texture and consistency: 6.2
Serving size: 8.5
Value for money: 6.5

Overall rating: 6.9/10
Mood: DISAPPOINTED

Resto: Dolcelatte
Address: 1616 Quezon Ave., South Triangle, Quezon City
Full food name: Spaghetti Bolognese
Price: P295.00

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Dolcelatte's Red Velvet Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

Combining modern defiant crimson with traditional white elegance was never a problem for this dessert.

The frosting without a doubt was the trump card of this dessert because not only was it designed to have those intricate rosettes or billows but it was made to harmonize with the rich cheesecake matrix and its semi-bland base.

The cheesecake matrix lacked compactness and the dead air spaces within it was quite easy to discriminate. These air spaces made the matrix osteoporotic causing the latter to easily break apart or fall off.

The red velvet base was moist and was cooked evenly. However, the idea of making ectopic red velvet layers within the cheesecake matrix tarnished the apparent elegance of this dessert. It looked like it has open surgical wounds that need attending to. It would have been better if they adhered to the standard layering of cheesecakes.

Peek a boo! I see you! The partly hidden caramel sauce underneath the red velvet base seemed to be very modest in proclaiming that this dessert is worth a try. It either needs a new plating design or a trip to oblivion.

Presentation: 8.7
Taste: 9.0
Texture and consistency: 8.3
Serving size: 9.0
Value for money: 9.1

Overall rating: 8.8/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Dolcelatte
Address: 1616 Quezon Ave., South Triangle, Quezon City
Full food name: Red Velvet Cheesecake
Price: P150.00

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Milk Chocolate Cake

By: The Moody Critic

NOT BAD for a home-made desert! For such a small cake, it immediately earned it's title as one of the store's bestsellers.

The small grated chocolates which looked like pencil shavings matched the size of this cake. The milk chocolate frosting which served as the skin of the cake seemed like it underwent a lot of oxidative stress because its top surface was uneven. Furthermore, it needs 10% more sweetness because it lacked that penetrating chocolatey goodness. Lastly, the chocolate pillars, those vertical structures surrounding the milk chocolate frosting, should not have been there at all if they would look grotesque in the first place.

The cake was very moist and had the right level of sweetness. It was divided into a superior and inferior partition by an inconspicuous milk chocolate filling. However, you will need a magnifying lens to see this very thin layer of chocolate filling.

If it is such a drag to wash chocolate-smeared plates, then hire an indefatigable dishwasher rather than serve the cake on a disposable plastic plate. The dog bowl-like plate was such a nuisance because it prevented my fork from slicing the cake all the way down to the bottom. The menu brags that this cake is sinfully rich and moist, but I believe this plastic plate should be the genuine sin that they should talk about.

Presentation: 6.7
Taste: 8.0
Texture and consistency: 8.4
Serving size: 8.1
Value for money: 8.0

Overall rating: 7.8/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: The Parvati Store
Address: Mindanao Lobby, Trinoma Mall, Quezon City
Full food name: Milk Chocolate Cake
Price: P150.00 (mini), P595.00 (6-inch), P995.00 (8-inch)

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Déjà vu

By: The Moody Critic

I really do hope I will never have a Déjà vu of eating this dessert. The crepe was undercooked as evidenced by its stickiness to the plate and my knife. It was also made too thick due to the redundant folding thus accentuating its eggy blandness. This thickness also disturbed the ratio of the crepe to its overripe mango filling by around 30%. Instead of the crepe claiming the spotlight with its potent flavor, the hero of the day was the vanilla ice cream embellished with whipped cream and caramel sauce. It saved the crepe from uttermost disaster. However, it would have been better if it was placed on top of the crepe.

Presentation: 6.5
Taste: 7.0
Texture and consistency: 6.0
Serving size: 6.4
Value for money: 3.6

Overall rating: 6.3/10
Mood: DISAPPOINTED

Resto: Cafe Breton 
Address: Robinson's Place, Ermita, Manila
Full food name: Déjà vu
Price: P228.00

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