When I was in Singapore last year, my housemates, Rey and Cindy, took me out for dinner at 4 Fingers, which is a small food joint in ION Orchard that they said serves the best crispy chicken in the city.

My friends were right. The crispy fried chickens were so delicious and crispy that I just had to come back for more. And I honestly felt sad when it was time for me to return to the Philippines, thinking I’ll never have those scrumptious chickens ever again.

But after almost a year since having my last piece of 4 Fingers’ Crispy Chicken, imagine my surprise when my sister, Mhel, and I found a newly opened 4 Fingers store by accident in SM City North EDSA, Quezon City. We quickly found ourselves a table, settled down, and ordered our food.

Over the past year, group-buying sites have sprouted like there’s no tomorrow, providing us with opportunities to dine at a restaurant, pamper ourselves at a spa or salon, and even buy gadgets at very affordable prices, usually at 50% discount. Because of them, more businesses have gained much-needed exposure, especially those that are targeting an already saturated market. And we completely support upcoming businesses or companies, particularly those that have started from humble beginnings. We’re one to give everyone a chance to impress or disappoint us. This time, a restaurant in Caloocan did not just let us down, but completely upset us – Apricot Diner.

If you’ve been following our blog, you know we are not snobs when it comes to food and we get easily pleased. However, because we cook at home and we’re so used to the intense flavors of our homemade dishes (not bragging! It’s a fact and we can proudly prove that), we can sometimes be very critical about dishes at a restaurant, especially when the prices are too steep for what they served us. If I’m going to spend over 500 for a buffet or even just one dish, you better serve me something good.

Before I tell you about how our dinner at Apricot Diner went, let me tell you first about how this all started. I saw this deal last year on MetroDeal for 58% discount vouchers from Apricot Diner, who claim to be offering an “Eat-All-You-Can International Fusion Buffet”. As you can see, the photos they used were enticing, which I now think were taken from Google Images or somewhere else.

I honestly had doubts because they’re located in Caloocan, but, again, we’re all for supporting restaurants that aren’t that known yet. There might be a gem there somewhere.

So, to clarify this, they were offering Php 600 value of food from their eat-all-you-can buffet for just Php 250. The description had me sold, but I did a little digging first. At that time, there were nothing really substantial written about them yet, so I just crossed my fingers that they’ll deliver to their promise of “… finest foods". I thought of bringing my 2 best friends with me and Ken so I bought 4 vouchers in total, for a total of Php 1,000.

When Ken and I thought of coming up with a monthly theme for our blog, the first thing that came to mind is desserts month. And the first store we wanted to visit was, of course, Parvati in Trinoma, a one-stop desserts shop.

With the growing number of home bakers in the country today (oh we can’t be thankful enough! ), getting their products out there can be a challenge considering the logistics of opening their own store. This is where Parvati comes in, providing a venue for talented pastry makers to showcase their homemade creations in one roof.

It was August last year when we first went to Parvati at the Mindanao lobby of Trinoma (I know, this is a very late post that has been sitting in the drafts folder for months). Upon walking in, we were welcomed with a smile and were directed to check their selections of pastries posted on this line of chillers / refrigerators located at one corner of the store. We were in dessert heaven!

Based on the information on their Facebook page, Parvati features 40 best-selling desserts from 27 different home bakers. They have various cakes, cookies, cheesecakes (love, love, love), revel bars, pudding, cupcakes, pies, brownies, etc. If you’ve got a sweet tooth like we do, I tell yah, you’d probably spend a long time choosing what to order. We wanted to try everything, but we know we HAD to limit ourselves to just three.

We love buffet style restaurants because we get to taste a wide variety of dishes while taking control of the ones that we want to have more of. And in our experience, most of the time, it was worth the price. So, we’ll be featuring more eat all you can buffet-style food places here, like Cabalen restaurant.

One weekend in June, our family was out for a whole afternoon of food trips and we were scheduled to watch a flick around 3pm. So, we had a lot of time to spare for lunch. I’ve been wanting to eat at Cabalen for the longest time so we decided to head on there to try their eat-all-you-can buffet.

Cabalen’s buffet in Trinoma features Filipino and Asian dishes. The price is Php 468 per adult, Php 270 for kids (4 feet and below). This buffet is available only at their branches in SM Clark, SM Mall of Asia Glorietta and SM Megamall. Their other branches only feature Filipino dishes.

Back in August, I invited three of my blogger friends to dine with me at Lola Maria Restaurant at The Legend Villas at Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong City. I had four (4) vouchers I bought from Mega Deals (oh, don’t you just love these group-buying sites!) that we decided to use. We agreed they’d be tagging along their families and I’ll be with Ken, like always.

It was easy to locate The Legend Villas. Lola Maria is right at the entrance so you’d immediately see it. The outside of the restaurant reminds me of old Spanish homes. And when we entered, even the interior setup gives you a somewhat nostalgic feeling, like you’re inside the house of a family of mestizos back in the days.

A few weeks ago, my nanay and I went out for our much-needed mother-daughter date. I had four vouchers bought from CashCashPinoy for 52% off on food and drinks from Dillinger’s 1903 Steak Brew restobar in Greenbelt 3. After hours of pampering from rO2 Beauty and Wellness Center, we were starving so we headed straight to the restaurant.

Upon our arrival on the third floor of Greenbelt 3, we immediately saw Dillinger’s 1903. Okay, I asked a guard for the exact location. It was beside Red Box. And as soon as we got there, I couldn’t help but admire the design of the outside of the restaurant.

The wooden doors, the brick wall, the mix of hues of black, gold and gray, and the wide glass windows are reminiscent of something you’d see in a mafia movie. So, let’s go inside…