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Sheraton Manila Bay’s Lechonito Special

FILIPINO celebrations are never complete without a lechon — a roast pig. But since most celebrations are now confined at home with only a few family members and friends, lechonito or cochinillo — roast suckling pig — is a practical alternative. The Sheraton Manila Bay offers its own version, Lechonito Special, for P7,888 net, with each lechonito set including vegetable kare-kare (a peanut based stew), bringhe rice, ube (purple yam) leche flan, and a healthy fruit beverage. The package is good for sharing by up to four persons. To order for delivery, call 5318-0788, 0917-583-7294, 0917-583-7326 or e-mail sh.mnlsb.fnb@sheraton.com. Twenty-four hours advance order is required. For a full listing of the hotel’s gourmet takeaways menu, visit http://bit.ly/ccmnlsb.

Special edition bag for Conrad Manila’s mooncakes

THE CONRAD Manila celebrates the Mid-Autum Festival with restaurant China Blue by Jereme Leung’s selection of handmade mooncakes in four flavors, which come in limited edition Filipino-designed bags. The mooncake flavors include the new Baked fragrant pandan with taro black gold charcoal (embellished in black and gold edible paint, it has a smooth pandan paste and creamy taro center), along with Baked red bean single salted egg yolk, and Baked white lotus single egg yolk versions. The mooncakes come in special bags and boxes. There is the new Harvest Mooncake Bag, a collaboration with local fashion designer Zarah Juan, available in two limited editions and come in two colors, red and tan. The bag’s embroidery depicts traditional barong Tagalog fabric, with an intricate design of rice grains. Each bag is handcrafted from upcycled wood by artisans in Paete, Laguna. Then there are previous favorites, the Tropical Allure by Christy Ng bag in purple or red, the Pacific Allure bag, and the Pacific box. Each mooncake gift set comes in a box of four baked mooncakes, with options to mix and match flavors. The Harvest Mooncake Limited Edition bag containing four mooncakes costs P5,888 net, the Tropical Allure bag with four mooncakes is P3,888, the Pacific Pearl bag with four mooncakes is P2,888, and the Pacific box with four mooncakes is P2,588. The mooncake gift set are available for purchase until Sept. 21, with an early bird discount of 20% for pre-orders until Aug. 31. Orders can be placed at https://bit.ly/CBJLOrderForm. For more details on the mooncake offerings, call 8833-9999 or 0917-650-4043, e-mail conradmanila@conradhotels.com, or visit www.eatdrinkhilton.com.

Limited time offer from New World’s Jasmine

NEW World Makati Hotel’s guests can enjoy dim sum and an array of whole cakes while staying safe at home during the quarantine with limited-time offers until Aug. 31. Self-pick-up orders at Jasmine are 15% off while whole cakes from The Shop are at P1,000 net. For guests who prefer to have their Jasmine orders delivered, the restaurant is available on mobile food apps Grab, Food Panda, Pickaroo for added convenience. Jasmine recently added six new dim sums — shrimp with corn and Chinese parsley dumpling, minced chicken with truffle mushroom dumpling, shrimp with Pacific clam dumpling, curry bun with chicken, mushroom, carrots and corn, Youtiao shrimp mousse with wasabi sauce, and seafood cheese net spring roll — to its all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner, also available to enjoy at home. The six new items may only be ordered for self-pick-up for now and are not available yet on mobile food apps. Home celebrations are made more special with The Shop’s lineup of whole cakes available for P1,000 net. Choose from the Strawberry Shortcake (layers of butter sponge cake and sliced strawberries cooked in sugar syrup, topped with macarons, ganache frosting and fresh berries), Chocolate Truffle Crunch (dark chocolate cake with layers of moist sponge and a hint of crunch topped with a dark chocolate coating), Almond Praline Crunch (cream and soft cheese with a mixture of caramel hazelnut praline paste, finished with praline Chantilly cream and almond flakes), and Red Velvet (sponge cake layered with cream cheese frosting, topped with a mirror glaze). Orders are for self-pick-up and must be made at least 48 hours in advance. Order directly until end of August by calling 8811-6888 ext. 3679, e-mailing fb.reservations@newworldhotels.com or joining the Viber app community at www.tinyurl.com/NewWorldMKTViber.

Foodie photo workshop

LEARN how to snap the best photos of food with a smartphone at the Photo Foodie workshop with photographer Sandra Dans on Aug. 21, (10 a.m. to 12 noon). Ms. Dans has worked as a professional photographer since 2010. She also teaches photography education at a local university. She graduated with a BFA in Visual Communication from the College of Fine Arts at UP Diliman and has an MFA in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. The program fee is at P500, open to participants aged 14 years and above. Prepare a smartphone and a dish or dishes to photograph. For more information and to register, visit www.bgcartscenter.org/summer-art-fun.

Del Monte Kitchenomics now an app

DEL Monte Kitchenomics keeps up with the times with a mobile app that makes easy-to-follow recipes more accessible to everyone. Launched in 1984 as a consumer culinary platform, Del Monte Kitchenomics started out as a direct mail-based customer relationship management program, where registered members were sent recipe cards and cooking tips, then it became a TV cooking show. Del Monte Kitchenomics solidified its presence in the digital space and social media with a mobile app version freely available at Google Play and Apple App Store. Beyond recipes and cooking tips, the app enables users to prepare a meal plan, generate a shopping list, and order their favorite Del Monte products through Shopee and Lazada. The platform also offers kitchen novices its Del Monte Kitchenomics University to level up their cooking skills with lessons to elevate their daily meals or jumpstart an entrepreneurial culinary journey.

Crimson Hotel offers free delivery

THE CRIMSON Hotel is offering free delivery within Muntinlupa City until Aug. 31 with a minimum order of P500 from Baker J, Firehouse Pizza, and Café Eight. Aside from Firehouse Pizza’s Signature, Classic, and Vegan pizzas, one can try out the Pizza of the Month and the Hungry Feast. Meanwhile, Café Eight adds spice and color to dining at home with its Thai-inspired food bundle, Thai’s the Limit, which includes Thai shrimp cake, Pomelo salad, Thai grilled chicken, Pad Thai, and Sticky mango rice (P1,500 net per order, good for four people). The Thai grilled chicken and Pad Thai are served in a self-heating portable hotbox. Order at least one day prior to date of pick-up. Message the hotel on Viber (0998-590-0428).

New restaurants added to GrabFood Signatures program

FOLLOWING the successful rollout of GrabFood Signatures in April, a new batch of restaurants and brands have joined the program. GrabFood Signatures is a collection of premium food brands only available for delivery on Grab. The newest roster of restaurants includes crowd favorites ranging from Papa John’s, Lugang Café, Yabu, Ippudo, and TGI Friday’s, to Botejyu, Paper Moon Café, and Pepi Cubano, and many more. To order, open the GrabFood tab on the Grab app, then look for the widget labeled “Only With GrabFood” to see all the restaurants under GrabFood Signatures. Consumers can also look forward to P100 off when they buy food items with a minimum spend of P550 from any of the new merchants under GrabFood Signatures. To do so they must type in the code SIGNATURES upon checkout. Merchants under GrabFood Signatures offer a long-distance delivery option. The initial roster of restaurants available under the GrabFood Signatures program includes brands like Angel’s Pizza, Frankies, New York Buffalo Wings, Andok’s, Kimono Ken, Mann Hann, Turks, Cibo, Sinangag Express, Wildflour Burger, and Popeyes. Customers can also order snacks, desserts, or drinks from restaurants like Big Al’s Cookie Jar, J.Co Doughnuts & Coffee, Banapple, Cake2Go, and Café Mary Grace.

Bo’s Coffee marks 25 years

IN THE midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the competitive market, homegrown brand Bo’s Coffee is celebrating its 25^th year with the rollout of new products and continuing expansion here and abroad. For its silver year, the famous café chain is returning to its roots by helping uplift the coffee farm communities. For every purchase of beans from Bo’s Coffee Philippine Coffee Origins line, 10% of the proceeds will go to its adopted farm in Atok, Benguet. Bo’s Coffee also recently launched its Cakes in Tubs, available in Carrot Cake, Deluxe Chocolate Cake, and Burnt Cheesecake flavors. Customers can also enjoy the classic Kapeng Barako in whole Coffee Beans and Single Drip Coffee. Beginning with a single store in Cebu City 25 years ago, Bo’s expanded rapidly across the archipelago and currently operates over 100 stores, making it the country’s largest homegrown brand. It also expanded globally, starting with a café in Doha, Qatar in the Middle East. Aside from coffee farmers, Bo’s Coffee has also championed startup businesses and social enterprises by selling farm merchandise and food in its stores. Even before the pandemic, it had an online ordering platform called “Bo’s Coffee Order Ahead” on Facebook Messenger. This allowed customers to skip the queue, pay online and pick up their orders from a nearby store or have them delivered home. In mid-2020, it launched its first digital coffee service, Bo’s Coffee Daily, as a new way for customers to enjoy the barista experience. The chain also unveiled two more digital brands, Urbanica Milk Coffee and S’Wich, in partnership with Foodpanda, ensuring that its beans and baked goods are available nationwide through the webstore.

Cooking suggestions from Midea

MIDEA offers five meal suggestions that can be made using its multifunctional air fryers. Best known as a way to fry food without oil, there are other things that can be cooked with it aside from fried dishes. Here are some tasty and healthy suggestions: Bacon-wrapped Asparagus, with the correct preset on the digital air fryer, the asparagus and bacon will come out crispy and delicious; Homemade chips, set the appropriate temperature and time on the Midea air fryer, and “fry” for 15 to 17 minutes, turning every five to seven minutes to make the chips crispy and golden brown; Roasted savory chicken; Grilled barbecue, broil meat and achieve that char finish in 15 minutes; Air Fryer Desserts like warm chocolate lava cake and classic bread pudding. Midea’s 5.5L Digital Air Fryer is available exclusively at www.mideaph.com, Midea’s official Lazada page (www.lazada.com.ph/midea) and at Midea’s official Shopee page (www.shopee.ph/mideaphilippines), and the Midea 3.5L Mechanical Air Fryer is at their e-commerce and leading appliance stores nationwide.

Chefs share recipes to try at home this lockdown

PINOY chefs Boy Logro and Aileen Conde are sharing a variety of easy-to-recreate recipes in cooking show Solane Kitchen Moments. They have recipes for the healthy eater, the sweet tooth, and even the kids, together with a handful of tips and tricks from these professional chefs. There is Mr. Logro’s Pinaisang Isda using fresh ingredients that can easily be found in the nearest palengke or supermarket. While maya maya is his fish of choice, any fish will do. For a kid-friendly recipe, have a go at Logro’s Omurice, a fun way to make the young ones eat their greens and proteins. Meanwhile, Ms. Conde, a pastry chef and cake shop Honey Glaze Cakes owner, shares easy recipes for Frozen Mango Chiffon Cake and Dulce de Leche Cheesecake, and Double Dutch Cookies. The Solane Kitchen Moments can be found among the videos on Solane’s Facebook page.

Food temperature tips from Samsung

KEEPING food at optimal storage temperature ensures that when you are ready to cook or eat, they are at their tastiest best. Samsung, which has a range of refrigerators and freezers, notes that most people tend to just put all their meat in the freezer when in reality, some of the steak can be stored in the temperature required for most vegetables to keep their quality. Certain steaks certain steaks like Wagyu can be kept at an optimal temperature of 2°C before cooking. (Samsung’s French Door Refrigerator has a FlexZone feature where one can store different foods and drinks depending on the desired temperature which can be easily changed to accommodate a different temperature storage.) For stocking up on additional steaks or steaks like Angus, place them at around -1°C to preserve their freshness while frozen. Store your cheese where the temperature is cold and stable: keep hard cheeses like Manchego at 4°C to 6°C, and soft cheeses like brie stored at a lower temperature of around 3°C to 4°C, away from other produce. Additionally, place the cold cuts in the same temperature mode as Fruits & Vegetables to preserve their deli-like quality. They can be stored right there for weeks. The newest Samsung French Door Refrigerator and other appliances can be had through Samsung’s FlexiDeals promo, which offers convenient payment options from straight cash discount up to 35% off. Get 12-month 0% installment plans, and a low monthly interest via Home Credit and In-house Financing. The promo runs until Aug. 31. For details on the Flexideal promo, visit https://www.samsung.com/ph/offer/offline/2021/flexideals/.