J.CO Donuts : Now in SM Mall of Asia

Oh, you know how much we love J.CO Donuts. We’ve blogged about them here before the opening of J.CO’s first branch in the Philippines. We also featured their J.Pop bite-sized donuts, which we absolutely adore. They’re definitely one of our top favorites from the past year. 🙂

Their first branch is in SM Megamall at The Strip. ~~This Thursday, May 24th,~~Â (update!) On May 28th, Monday next week,Â J.CO Donuts & Coffee is opening their SECOND branch in SM Mall of Asia! We know that’s definitely good news for all you foodies who are from the South or Manila area. 🙂

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Sariwon Korean Barbecue at Bonifacio High Street

Sariwon Korean Barbecue, a newly opened restaurant in Bonifacio High Street Central, proves that Koreans and Filipinos are not only similar with their love for music and cheeky telenovelas; they also share a discerning palate for good food.

Awarded “Best Korean Restaurant” by NBC Broadcasting Company in 2005 and by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2007, Sariwon had a rather humble beginning. Her husband suffering from diabetes pushed Mrs. Bun-Im Koo to create her own bulgogi sauce from a mixture of various fruits and vegetables without using a single speck of sugar. Urged by neighbours and friends, they established their first restaurant in 1938, which transformed from a small diner with 27 seats to a whopping sitting capacity of 350 at their main branch in South Korea.

Every table in Sariwon is equipped with imported ceramic smokeless grills that have exhausts on the sides that suck out smoke from grilling, so you don’t have to worry about your clothes smelling of smoke upon leaving.

After we’ve settled into our seats, we were warmly welcomed by our server, Joy, who was carrying a tray with six side dishes called Banchan. The first thing I recognized was Korea’s national dish â€“ Kimchi.

The names of the other side dishes, I asked our server to write down because there’s no way I could spell them myself. Shigumchi is blanched spinach leaves. Moosangchae, or seasoned Korean radish, reminded me of our very own achara. Kochu Meolchi Dokkeum is roasted anchovies with green chilli. They also have seasoned Korean bean sprouts or Kongnamul. Finally, there’s Tanhobak Sarada, which is mashed sweet pumpkin and potato, perhaps the Korean version of mashed potatoes. We forgot that these were side dishes, not appetizers, so when the other food arrived, there’s barely anything left on the plates.

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A New Year, New Blog Design and a Series of GIVEAWAYS!

This month of May, our food blog, Certified Foodies, is celebrating its SECOND anniversary. And we can’t be more excited about the future. 🙂

Back in 2010, after months of conceptualizing on how we can make our food blog unique, we threw in the towel and decided that our passion and love for food will get our message across – that food should be enjoyed and shouldn’t just be for nourishment.

The past two years have been CRAZY… in a VERY good way. Here are some of our achievements so far:

We were voted #1 in the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2011.
Voted #10 amongst all the international food blogs competing for FriendsEAT’s Best Food Blogger in 2011.
Our food blog was a finalist in the Philippine Blog Awards 2011 for Food and Beverage category (National level).
We are now contributors for Breakfast Magazine, which was launched in February.

We are so thankful for all the blessings and recognition we’ve received through this food blog. Who would’ve thought that the food (mis)adventures of 2 siblings would take us this far? 😀

Thank you to all our fellow foodies and friends who have visited, left a comment or even lurked on our food blog to look at our food photos and articles. It means so much to us that you all find the time to drop by here, “like” our posts on Facebook or tweet with us. 🙂

New Design

Because of everything that has happened in the past 2 years, we believe this blog deserved a major makeover. After almost 2 years of slow loading time and unorganized, less personalized theme…

…this food blog is now sporting a brand spanking new theme, designed to our own personal tastes.

The theme was mainly designed by me (Mhel), but all the design elements and additional contents were from a collaboration of bothÂ our ideas (me and Ken). We wanted a less cluttered look, almost minimalistic design, to bring more focus on the photos.

Now, the blog loads much faster after we moved to a new server. Even with the slideshow above and gallery below, feedback has been positive about our blog’s loading time (If you have violent reactions to this, let us know at the comments section!).

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