This was suggested by one of the YouTuber that I follow. This place is small but they carry a lot…read moreof different products. You can find the Hopia section on the right side when entering the store. This place can get crowded on the weekend but the check out process is smooth. The Hopia price is around Php68. It comes with a lot of flavors including the classic Monggo, Baboy and Ube. I tried the Ube-Jackfruit Hopia and it tasted good. The filling is not overly sweet and the jackfruit flavor is subtle. The pastry is soft and flaky. For Vegetarians: The Hopias in shiny wrapper are cooked using corn oil and the rest are cooked using pork oil. I got the tip from one of the staff.

My husband's favorite! Love their pineapple hopia. The best! We always buy here whenever we visit…read morePhilippines.

The place is clean cozy. You Can buy quality steaks…read moredownstairs and they cook the steak upstairs. Cooking Is open 10:30 am - 2pm and 7 pm-10 pm We had the strip loin its about sinewy and medium well not too well. They ran out of lamb chop which I heard was good. Also heard salmon is good. Will have to come back again.

The meat depot has been open for quite some time now, which is quite impossible for a business that…read moreisn't thriving. As per with all of their other branches, the quality of meats served are above average, and they have ensured to have a streamlined menu that both doesn't confuse the customers, while lessening the chances of a meal going wrong due to incompatibilities of the selection. On this trip, I got the rib eye steak, my brother got the T-bone steak, mum got a spicy sausage and my sister got a cheese filled sausage. To top it off, we got grilled bacon with mash just in case we were still hungry after that. They were all good, but if I had to choose the lowest ranked dish, it would be the cheese sausage.

Ever since my trip to Tokyo last month, I love all things Japanese. I fell in love with the city…read morealong with its people, culture, things and food! I still have a Japanese hangover until now, evident in my obsession for all things Matcha Green tea. But Royce has been a love of mine even before I turned into a Japanese fanatic. Royce first stormed the malls of Manila years ago. At the time, most people prefer the smooth and rich texture of chocolate from Europe. I for one am guilty of that. Today, Japan argues with Royce that they can definitely come up with the same quality chocolate. Yay for competition! My favorite would have to be their dark chocolate variant and potato chips covered in dark chocolate. Now allow me to wipe of the drool dripping down my face.

Here's another well-loved Filipino delicacy: Bibingka!…read more And what happens if this beloved ricecake is weaved into a business in big time malls, altering the usual wave of buying from local streets? Better appreciation and weight gain, of course! Whenever I pass by Bibingkinitan, I would always be enticed by their smoldering look of the cheese and butter flowing off of the bibingka's surface. That's it, I've been defeated and I end up buying even just one piece. Bibingkinitan offers a scrumptious Filipino merienda snack with cheese overload and the classic version, bringing happy thoughts and of course, instant heaven before going back to reality as one finishes the whole thing. What makes them great is that the recipe is authentic, not that sweet (but you still need water), and is served on banana leaf pieces, emulating the traditional way of serving it.

Super fresh meats, fish and seafood and chicken. Also vegetables are very fresh with a great…read moreselection. Prices are fair and competitive. A fairly clean wet market. Cooked foods and desserts are very good to great.

One of the cleanest markets that I've been to that is situated in metro manila specifically in…read moreQuezon City. I love how they cater to different needs of the buyers. But I love their food stalls the one facing Dapitan Arcade. This is where I buy big bilaos of California maki at a very affordable price. Their small bilao will cost P200-300 good for family size and the biggest bilao ranges from P750-800 only and can feed almost 25 people. There are also some stalls selling Filipino dishes and kakanin good for to go. The only that's hassle is here is when during peak hours it is hard to find parking because of traffic and a portion of the lot is allotted to shuttle services. The best time to come in is 10AM after all the hustle and bustle are done and all the food stores are open.

As a mommy, I do a lot of grocery shopping (obviously, I don't want my family to starve). MyOwn…read moreMeat Shop is my favorite place for meat shopping. Don't ask, mom's do that. We shop separately for everyday groceries, for clothes and yes, even for meat. This is a place where a lot caterers and restaurants get meat and fish in bulk. I love how everything is so organized. There are sections specifically for seafood, chicken, for imported steaks and for every kind of cut imaginable. The meats are packed so neatly, too! They vacuum-sealed in square bags so stacking them in the fridge is super easy. I love how fresh everything tastes when they're cooked and how lean the pre-packed meats are (even the pork). I love the selection of fish they have -- from Black Bass to Norwegian Salmon and in different cuts, too! Plus, if you're a frequent buyer, they keep records of you. Just tell them your name and they can show you records of what you've bought in the past. Great for keeping track of your budget...I don't know if they do this for everyone though, maybe just those weird moms who buy a week's worth of groceries as much as caterers do for a big event.

I am a gym goer, and there are seasons that it actually shows (albeit few). So I get a lot of…read morequestions about what I eat, how I prepare them, and where I buy my stuff. Well, I eat beef and fish, salmon in particular, and this is where I get them, in bulk. MyOwn Meatshop is, well, a meatshop, but they sell all sorts of frozen meats and seafood. Here you'll find imported steak cuts, frozen imported seafood like mussels, cod, salmon and other fish I've never even heard of, and I learned of this place by asking a caterer where they get their salmon supplies from. It is quite cheap, the salmon and the cod in particular, and they have it in different sorts of cuts and fillets. Do call in ahead to check on stocks though, as they are quite popular with bulk buyers and stocks may sometimes be limited. As for how I prepare my fish, let's just say that it isn't something that you can stomach on a daily basis, so let's leave that for another post somewhere else. "My meatshop? MyOwn Meatshop!" I just made that up. Thought you needed some cheese with your salmon. No? Ok sorry.

Known as the 'bagsakan' of produce coming from up north (Baguio, Cordillera, Tarlac, etc.), expect…read morethis place to have the cheapest produce in Manila. When I saw the prices of the food here, it was insane. Some are even 50% less than what I would usually pay for in supermarkets or palengkes here in the South. Sometimes even less actually! As far as variety goes, they have a plethora of vegetables and fruits to choose from, so it's hard not to go crazy as they're also as fresh as you can get here in the city. Don't expect Balintawak Market though to be all clean and safe--it's the kind of place where you really have to be careful with your bags and valuables. If you're vegetarian/vegan, it would be so perfect if you lived near this place. Sadly, I'm from the South and this place is just not practical enough for me to head to for my weekly stash of greens.

So let's say you want a memorable gift for someone or maybe an eyecatching centerpiece for an…read moreevent. Have you ever considered candy? And not just any candy. There's actually somewhere in the metro that makes hand pulled, hand rolled rock candy. And it's not going to break your bank either. You can get a small jar for 100php or a bigger jar for 175php. For that much, you get a bunch of small, 3-5cm large candies with individual designs. These were pieces cut from one long roll. It blows my mind that these guys are able to make designs like cars and letters and hearts and even little Captain America faces out of rolls of colored, flavored sugar. No molds, no guides. Just rolling and kneading. Blows. My. Mind. The flavors are great, too. My personal favorite is (no prizes there for guessing) the salted caramel. Not only do you get that pure sugar flavor from the caramel but you actually get little flecks of salt from time to time. I found myself cracking the jar open multiple times in the day. Just a heads up though, if you want to use these as centerpieces then make sure they're kept away from hot lights. They don't keep in heat very well. Keep them on a table in the jar a few days, they'll still be okay but they might end up kind of fused together.

I'm a sucker for sweets with a little something extra, and Twisted Candy gives you that. It's…read morealmost just regular hard candy, sure, but it comes in a lot of different flavors, and comes in these little cute designs that are just made by hand at the store itself. It can be pretty mesmerizing to watch these guys just throw around the soft candy into ropes and bang it out into these itty-bitty buttons of fun. They even do personalized designs, which I think is pretty cool. I buy these for my brother when I'm thinking of getting him a treat, since they look so appealing even in their plastic bags. My brother goes through dialysis almost daily so he has a lot of food to avoid, so he appreciates a little special something when he does actually get something he can eat. I do think they're a little on the pricey side though, since a hundred bucks would only get you a small bag. But I guess it's fair with the work that goes into them, and just the variety of fruit and other sugary flavorings they come in, which makes you want to try everything! Luckily they have the variety packs for you to do just that.