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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Mango Chiboust

By: The Moody Critic

No bee or butterfly would dare overlook this alluring flower-like dessert. The sweet extract from the beautifully arranged fresh mango slices seemed like honeydew from heaven.

Surprisingly, the cheesecake matrix had a strange wet cotton wool consistency. Though it may not be as solid or compact like your everyday cheesecake, it didn't melt, collapse, or show any sign of deterioration at room temperature.

The harmony and balance of tastes together with the coherence in color choice for the matrix and base layers make this dessert a winner. The meticulous handiwork applied on this dessert will surely make eating this piece of art a painful struggle

Presentation: 9.4
Taste: 8.9
Texture and consistency: 8.3
Serving size: 8.2
Value for money: 8.4

Overall rating: 8.8/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Bizu Patisserie
Address: Greenbelt 2, Ayala Center, Makati City
Full food name: Mango Chiboust
Price: P195.00

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Mixed Ravioli

By: The Moody Critic

This dish features a duo of spinach and cheese ravioli and a mushroom ravioli. Though I'm not really a fan of vegetables, this dish surely proved me wrong even if meat was not involved at all.

The mushroom ravioli was a lot better because it's taste was complementary to the pomodoro sauce. On the other hand, the spinach and cheese ravioli was quite pungent and it didn't produce a synergistic effect with the sauce. The pasta was al dente and had a correct ratio with its filling.

The vibrant pomodoro sauce and the fresh basil chiffonade provided the effective contrast of colors making this dish very enticing to eat. However, I find the sauce very sour so I had to rely on the pasta to neutralize that acidity. If I had brought along a litmus paper, I'm sure the blue will turn red. The feta cheese should have been grated rather than placing them as large chunks.

What I most specifically didn't like about this dish was was the garlic bread foccacia. It was really hard and it lacked flavor.

Presentation: 8.3
Taste: 7.8
Texture and consistency: 8.8
Serving size: 7.4
Value for money: 6.9

Overall rating: 8.0/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Bizu Patisserie
Address: Greenbelt 2, Ayala Center, Makati City
Full food name: Mixed Ravioli
Price: P395.00

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Envy

By: The Moody Critic

Not the prettiest cake to behold especially when you remember the mysterious dripping goo from the Goosebumps show. As described by the menu, it is a super-moist chocolate cake with green mint sauce. And how couldn't it be super moist if it was practically bathed with this minty goo from a witch's cauldron? I think what they were trying to replicate here was a lava cake because of its traditional form. If it was a plain chocolate cake, it was way under-cooked and if it was a lava cake on the other hand, it was overcooked. To my dismay, the cafe staff didn't even know what it was.

The cake was extremely moist all over and the mint sauce was overwhelming in terms of amount and taste. After patiently waiting for 30-40 minutes, all I get was this wellspring of Flubber which I strongly suspect was a rushed dessert because of its uneven cooking inside and out manifested by its crusting surface and soft interior.

Speaking of Envy, it reminded me of Fullmetal Alchemist's Envy in his colossal monstrous form or at least what remained of him when the Philosopher's Stone was no more. Remember that FMA's Envy can transform into anything he liked to imitate. As I have mentioned earlier, this ambiguous cake lacks its own identity so I think that is why they called it Envy. I suggest that this dessert should undergo a complete overhaul.

Presentation: 5.2
Taste: 3.1
Texture and consistency: 4.6
Serving size: 6.4
Value for money: 6.0

Overall rating: 4.4/10
Mood: DISGUSTED

Resto: Wicked Kitchen
Address: Mother Ignacia St. Quezon City
Full food name: Envy
Price: P158.00

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Forest Berry Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

There's more to this cake than its apparent cuteness. First, you may consider this as a 2-week old forgotten birthday cake in the fridge because the base layer was mysteriously hard, coarse, and dry. Second, the middle layer had a shocking rubbery consistency similar to the nodes of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. This layer would also demand tremendous muscle effort because your fork has the tendency of sticking avidly to the cake. So when you pull your fork from that layer, you will be dragging the entire cake. Moreover, this cheesecake was ridiculously nutty thus preventing me to savor the richness of the cream cheese.

To me, it was a Sahara desert experience rather than a forest adventure. However, the oasis of that desert-like experience was the white chocolate frosting. Although it was excessively sweet, it revived the entire dessert because of its highly contrasting and potent taste. The overall structure was quite appealing also because of its unique dome shape compared to the standard cheesecake wedge.

Presentation: 7.0
Taste: 6.5
Texture and consistency: 4.2
Serving size: 6.6
Value for money: 8.2

Overall rating: 7.2/10
Mood: UNSATISFIED

Resto: Cheesecake Etc.
Address: Northeast Square Bldg., Greenhills, San Juan
Full food name: Forest Berry Cheesecake
Price: P160.00

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Two Nut Caramel Cheesecake

By: The Moody Critic

With its relatively cheap price, you can never go wrong with this dessert when you come to the shop to fill your empty stomach.

The cheesecake matrix was very compact but it slightly lacked the ideal texture that I was looking for.

Above the rich matrix comes the poverty-stricken caramel layer. If they managed to saturate this dessert with not just one, but two kinds of nuts, then they could have bathed it with lavish caramel sauce instead. I really struggled to find the caramel taste up to the very last bite and I tried to conserve what little caramel was available just to match the generous amount of the cheesecake matrix. Although disappointed, this layer was still the reason why I chose this particular dessert because the caramel was captivatingly arranged in a Medusa-like or devil's snare-like manner.

Surprisingly, I noticed that the base layer was quite softer compared to the other cheesecake bases I ate before from this restaurant so I managed to consume the dessert completely.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 7.4
Texture and consistency: 7.8
Serving size: 9.0
Value for money: 9.0

Overall rating: 7.9/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Banapple Pies & Cheesecakes
Address: Il Terrazo Mall, Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City
Full food name: Two Nut Caramel Cheesecake
Price: P105.00

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Oh! La La

By: The Moody Critic

It is an innovative idea to give the classic Oreo cheesecake a makeover. However, the thought of making the cheesecake matrix a marble of hazelnut and vanilla didn't work for me. By deviating from the standard layering seen in typical cheesecakes, the cake loss the balance and the potential synergistic effect of its flavors. It was like hazelnut as episode one and vanilla as episode two. Another downside of this dessert was the increased humidity of the matrix by roughly 30%. It was like eating a piece of a poor unsuspecting bread that fell into a cup of coffee. I also believe that the general idea of making a cheesecake is making it more hydrophobic than hydrophilic.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 7.3
Texture and consistency: 6.0
Serving size: 6.6
Value for money: 8.2

Overall rating: 7.2/10
Mood: AMBIVALENT

Resto: Fleur De Lys Patisserie & Cafe
Address: Tomas Morato ave., South triangle, Quezon city
Full food name: Oh! La La
Price: P98.00

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Strawberry Shortcake

By: The Moody Critic

This is a dessert for those who haven't eaten strawberries for a decade. Almost everything from top to bottom is made up of strawberry. The strawberry toppings though showing some signs of aging already, are still succulent. However, it was very intriguing that they used an overripe mother strawberry and unripe daughter berries around it.

The cake is enclosed by a rich and delicious strawberry cream. There were frozen strawberry slices embedded in the cake which were quite hard to extract. If you force to get these adherent strawberries, the cake has this tendency to collapse.

The cake's overall presentation was very commendable especially the intricate detail of a Mayan-like or Aztec-like carvings of the base layer. However, I don't get the wisdom of placing the butterfly at the side because it seemed to me that the insect was flying with decreased sensorium so it crash-landed into the cake.

Presentation: 9.3
Taste: 8.2
Texture and consistency: 8.5
Serving size: 8.3
Value for money: 8.2

Overall rating: 8.5/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Sweet Bella Cafe
Address: Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City
Full food name: Strawberry Shortcake
Price: P275

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Hallow Mallow S'mores Pie

By: The Moody Critic

A dessert that obviously heralds the Halloween season.

To be honest, I haven't tasted the actual S'mores. I usually hear about it in American TV shows and they would really fuel my desire to taste it. But thanks to this dessert, my curiosity was somehow put to rest.

This dessert includes the traditional ingredients needed to make S'mores: graham, chocolate fudge, and toasted marshmallows except for the added roasted almonds. From top to bottom, the cake was inconsistent in terms of texture because first you have a smooth, rich graham whipped cream, then a rocky road-like texture from almonds and chocolate fudge underneath, then a gooey marshmallow layer with brittle graham crackers.

The only amazing constituent of this dessert was the deliciously sweet graham whipped cream because of its thematic cobweb-like design and the cute solitary ghoulish marshmallow on top. As I have observed, these marshmallows vary in facial expressions and personalities.

Sad to say, like its existing brothers and sisters, this dessert's Oreo crust seemed to have been enveloped with iron curtain. I wasn't able to eat it because it was practically made indestructible.

Presentation: 8.0
Taste: 7.3
Texture and consistency: 6.2
Serving size: 8.7
Value for money: 8.1

Overall rating: 7.4/10
Mood: AMBIVALENT

Resto: Banapple Pies and Cheesecakes
Address: Il Terrazo Mall, Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City
Full food name: Hallow Mallow S'mores Pie
Price: P110.00

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Yo-ho-Hope!

By: The Moody Critic

Though this cheesecake may look like it has underwent some melting, it didn't prevent it from kicking some butt. Originally made as a Christmas-season dessert, the hidden candied pecans under the custard layer gives you an explosion of a very distinct roasted nut effect; just perfect for the holidays!

This dessert has three layers: a top layer of custard cream, a middle layer of rich chocolate fudge, and a bittersweet base of chocolate cookies. The middle fudgy layer could have been made 20% sweeter while the base layer should be 10% sweeter so that they would potentiate the sharp sweetness of the top layer. Unfortunately, the posterior portion of the base layer was made very thick and it was also unyielding because it was as hard and compact as a bone. This gave me the impression that it was overcooked.

WARNING: This is a very very dense dessert which warrants small frequent feedings. It may actually be consumed by two people.

Presentation: 7.3
Taste: 8.8
Texture and consistency: 7.9
Serving size: 9.4
Value for money: 9.2

Overall rating: 8.4/10
Mood: SATISFIED

Resto: Banapple Pies & Cheesecakes
Address: Il Terrazo Mall, Tomas Morato Ave., Quezon City
Full food name: Yo-ho-hope!
Price: P120.00

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