Our Banchetto-Emerald Food Trip!

Update: 07/10/2011 – Banchetto now operates from Tuesdays to Saturdays in 3 different locations. Please check the bottom of this post for the schedules.

After attending Magnolia’s Summer Bloggers party, we (my friend Badeth and her photo booth guys, my bro and I) headed over to Banchetto in Emerald Ave. in Ortigas.

Banchetto started out as a very popular late night food strip in Ortigas. They recently opened 2 more venues in Libis, Quezon City and at Pioneer in Mandaluyong City (more info at the bottom of the post).

Badeth and Kenneth at Banchetto

I’ve been reading a lot of raves about Banchetto and so I was pretty excited to check out all the food I can enjoy there. Oh, trust me, Banchetto is definitely any foodie’s heaven. You’ve got a lot of food choices. You can enjoy a full meal or something lighter if you’re on a diet. We even saw a stall selling food for vegetarians.

Okay, let the photos speak for me. Wipe off the drool after. Everything’s really mouth-watering! 😀

I wanted to try the isaw since I haven’t had them for a very long time. But, I was a bit full after the buffet at the event we came from. Next time, I’ll make sure to not skip this.

My bro and I are coffee and pastry lovers. So, when we saw Good Farm’s booth in Banchetto-Emerald, we were so eager to try their products. We ordered their Coffee Brownies with Vanilla ice cream, priced at Php 35.00. The lady in black was the one who baked the brownies.

The brownies were really moist and chewy, just the way I like it. We were disappointed though ‘cause we were expecting a li’l more kick of coffee flavor. I guess we should’ve tried their Arabica Coffee brownies (Php 25).

If you work in Ortigas, Banchetto-Emerald is definitely a place you’d be frequenting a lot. You can save on your meal expenses because there are many food choices at very affordable prices. There are even packed meals you can buy, as pictured below.

What I also would love to come back for are all these grilled food at Banchetto. When I saw these huge squids being grilled, I felt my tummy grumble even when I know I’m still full. These are perfect for a quick late night drink with friends. 🙂

 

 

Oooh, and these kebabs, too, looked tempting! Waaahhh I seriously want to go back!

Next time, I want my nanay with us. I know she’d enjoy all the food here, too, especially all these seafood! My dad would also enjoy this! Hmmmm…

Ooohhh… lechon. We already had lechon at the event so it was easy not to look back 😀

Now, the next set of photos is for your sweet tooth.

Chocolates! Lots of them! ^_^

I wanted to buy the chocolate-covered Finger Sticks sold at Php 70 here at Dory’s Nuts and Delicacies. I remember snacking on them way back when I was still working. But, my bro discouraged me. 😀

Since my bro, Ken, is aiming to become a pastry chef, his admiration of cake and pastry designs heightened. And, so, most of the photos we took were of the different sweet delights we found at Banchetto. 75% of what we bought that night were all pastries. 😀

Good thing we still had the energy to walk up to the end of the Banchetto food strip. Otherwise, we would’ve missed having a taste of Cakes by K’s Pavlova.

We ordered their Kiwi Pavlova (Php 60.00). We only got to enjoy it at home. The meringue’s sweetness was just right for me.

The combination of the slices of kiwi and the cream inside the meringue was inexplicable. I super loved it. My bro and I had to literally savor every half-spoonful of this dessert.

There were a lot of other pastry stalls at Banchetto-Emerald. Next to Cakes by K’s stall is Sweet Treats. Ken was awed by the designs of their pastries that he wanted us to buy something from them, too. 😀

My bro chose to try their Sans Rival topped with cashews, Php 50.00. I didn’t completely like it ‘cause I don’t like eating nuts with anything, especially desserts. But, he enjoyed it.

What else did my bro and I ended up buying at Banchetto aside from all these pastries? After checking out almost all the food stalls there, we ended up with the first one we saw that sells huge burgers – Am Burger, known for their Juicy Lucy Burger.

I was tempted to try theirs because they grill their burgers. They have a lot of customers, I guess mainly because they’re the first stall you’d see when you enter Banchetto at the front entrance.

We ordered the Juicy Lucy burger with blue cheese at Php 175. It’s a BIG burger. Don’t let this photo deceive you. We had it sliced into 4.

Well, it didn’t blow me away. Not even my bro or my nanay who got to try it, too. I was expecting more beefy goodness for the price we paid for it. But, I’m hoping it’s only because we ate it at home, after almost an hour of travel time.

There are a ton of people that Friday night in Banchetto-Emerald. I had to be extra careful walking through the crowd. The walking area inside the food market can be a li’l narrow that one might need to ensure they have SSDI ‘cause there were some people who I saw were deliberately pushing other people just to get through. I mean, c’mon! Ask nicely. 🙂

If you’re “cowboys” (not picky) like us, you’d actually enjoy Banchetto. That is, if you don’t mind having to dine al fresco at the steps or outside the buildings along the whole food market strip. There are tables at the other side of Banchetto-Emerald, but it’s a bit hard to get a table since there are a LOT of people. I’m not kidding!

Badeth with her photo booth boys at the steps, done with their meals
while my bro and I were still shopping for food 😀

I’m really looking forward to coming back to Banchetto. Next time, I’ll make sure I haven’t had anything heavy the whole day. 😀 And I’m hoping we’d also get to visit Midnight Mercato.

Stay tuned for the foodie club we’ll be opening for membership real soon – The Burp Society.

Banchetto Street Food Fiesta

Update: They now operate 5 straight nights in 3 different locations

Tuesdays: Banchetto at Shopwise Libis, Quezon City – 6pm to 2am

Wednesdays to Thursdays: Banchetto Forum at Edsa Corner Pioneer Streets, Mandaluyong City – 8:30pm to 6am

Fridays to Saturdays: Banchetto Megatent at Meralco Avenue, Pasig City – 8pm to 7am

Banchetto on Facebook

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For the Love of Banchetto…