Joyfully Yours

I've always considered Wingman as one of the best buffalo wings place in the Metro. When I was invited to a game of beer pong here, I just agreed right away even if I had no idea on how to play the game!

Garlic Parmesan Wings, Curly Fries and Black Bean Burrito

Garlic Parmesan Curly Fries for a touch of flavor.

Dip it in their sauce and eat it in one go!

After having some of my regular favorites (above), it was time to play beer pong! Yes, I did not forget I was there for the game even though I was enjoying the delicious fares. Haha! :D

The staff of Wingman started setting up the beer pong table and taught us how to play. I was actually part of the first team who played. During the game, the staff gave tips, explained the rules further and of course, helped with the scoring.

Basically, here's what happened: Beer was poured on 6 plastic cups and lined into a triangle. Each player has two ping pong balls then whoever's it (through a short game of rock-paper-scissors) will throw the ball to the other side of the table and shoot it in the opponent's cup for the opponent to drink.
Like a ping pong game, the ball can only bounce once on the table. More than one bounce on the table is invalid and the next player gets to throw the ball. With one bounce and if it shoots in your opponent's cup, your opponent must drink 2 cups of beer. Without a bounce but if the ball shoots in your opponent's cup, your opponent will only drink 1 cup.

So the goal is to have the ball bounce once on the table and shoot in your opponent's cup for your opponent to drink 2 cups at the same time.
Just take turns in throwing the ball to the other side of the table until you finish your opponent's cup or your cups get finished. In my case, I lost the game. Haha! :D But it was all good.

On this visit, I got the chance to try their newest addition to their menu called "Hell Fire" which is literally buffalo wings on fire! This fiery hot chicken wings spiced up with Carolina Reaper Chili will surely challenge your taste buds.

Hell Fire

This burning dish comes with a serving of vanilla ice cream to cool down the palate in case you're brave enough to try it and need a back up.

A closer look without the fire

Aside from being spiced with Carolina Reaper, as you can see, these chopped "labuyo" (native Filipino chili) will already start the heat when you take a bite into this dish. As I've said above, I was courageous enough to try it! One bite and I had to keep on biting the meat to the bones to avoid making my tongue feel numb. Oh yes, it was extremely spicy! However, what's surprising is that the wings had a sweet and salty note despite having a high level of spicyness. Also, yes, I ate the vanilla ice cream! It was quite difficult to handle the heat so I needed the ice cream to help me out.

After that hot chicken wings, I had the Honey Dijon Wings. I needed a sweet dish aside from ice cream to cool down my taste buds.

Honey Dijon Wings

While watching the other teams play against each other, our group enjoyed more yummy treats.

Onion Rings Perfectly crisp outside, soft and flavorful inside. <3 td="">

Deep Fried Coke Yes, you read it right! It's a weird dessert but fun to eat. It's a cup of crunchy coke flavored batter topped with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.

Wingman is open daily from 11am - 1am and is located at The Collective, Malugay St., Makati.

With more than 2,000 locations in 49 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and 15 countries all over the world, Applebee's is one of the world's largest casual dining restaurant. In the Philippines, Applebee's can be found in Bonifacio Global City and Eastwood City.

According to Chef Aldrin Ortile, the new dishes for Applebee's Philippines are a combination of Applebee's USA recipes and original creations which they have developed locally.

The new appetizers are good with Engkanto Beer which is a new partner of Applebee's Philippines. Delight in pairing the beer with Fried Sweet and Spicy Pickles, Bacon Jalapeño Potato Croquettes and Calamari.

Fried Sweet and Spicy Pickles

Bacon Jalapeño Croquettes It's crispy outside but soft warm and juicy inside. The taste of bacon is absorbed by the potato which makes it very aromatic. There's a hint of jalapeño sourness but doesn't give much heat.

Calamari These yummy rings are placed on a bed of crispy fried shredded wanton wrappers. The breading of the calamari is very tasty as the breading is equally divided on all sides. The wanton wrappers gives an extra crispness to the dish when you eat them together. My 2-year-old daughter loves this dish and kept eating it without the dip because it's that flavorful!

The Grilled Watermelon and Spicy Shrimp Salad with fresh greens, cucumbers, feta cheese, toasted almonds, spicy grilled shrimp and grilled watermelon cubes in a creamy mint yoghurt dressing is not only a colorful and unique concept but reminds one of the upcoming holidays with green and red as its primary color palette. Somehow, it tells me to remember to eat healthy (the greens) before I gain any holiday weight soon. ;P

Grilled Watermelon and Spicy Shrimp Salad

For those who have been reading my posts would know that salmon is my favorite fish. Not only because of its uniquely pink color but its naturally sweet flavor is enough to get me hooked. Thus, the new Teriyaki Balsamic Glazed Salmon was an exciting entree to try.

Teriyaki Balsamic Glazed Salmon The salmon is just seasoned right, soft and flaky. The green beans despite being fried are moist and retains their original texture. The rice that comes together with it is a bit on the sweeter side with notes of tomatoes and there's also bits of corn in it.

The beautiful Triple Meat All-in Burger which has USDA beef burger patty, double smoked bacon, shredded beef brisket, cheddar cheese and honey BBQ sauce in a brioche bun seems to be a crowd favorite during the launch. The rich flavor of all the meat put together will magnetize you to bite into it more and more until you finish the burger and feel that you'd like more.

Triple Meat All-in Burger

For the original Philippine creations, I absolutely love the Pork Liempo Adobo which has soft melt in your mouth sweet, salty and tangy pork belly grilled to perfection topped with crispy fried onions and with a side of warm rice. The wonderful, wonderful piece of meat works so well with the onions and rice that a whole plate is never enough.

Pork Liempo Adobo

The Fiesta BBQ Pork Liempo is on the sweeter side with its marinade of Asian BBQ sauce. The tortilla strips underneath makes the plate looks festive as Applebee's recommends its guests to #celebrateeverything because milestones are really meant to be celebrated and shared with loved ones.

Fiesta BBQ Pork Liempo

Finding that perfect blend of sweet and spicy, this dish is for you! The Firecracker Shrimp which is Cavatappi pasta covered with a rich Sriracha Parmesan Cream Sauce with breaded shrimp and vegetable relish. This is my favorite from all the newly launched dishes which I've tried so try this too, ok? :D

Firecracker Shrimp

Banoffee lovers unite! Applebee's now offers Banoffee Cheesecake which is composed of toffee cheesecake on a coffee graham cracker crust drizzles with dulce de leche, hot fudge sauces and topped with banana chips.

Banoffee Cheesecake

Another dessert to look forward to is their Smores Creme Brulee with is so heavenly! Imagine the sugar glazed chocolate flan (creme brulee) topped with banoffee crumble and toasted marshmallows that complements each other in every scoop. It's so good that I wanted to lick my bowl after eating it but was too shy to do it. :D

Smores Creme Brulee

Happiness is being able to eat good food, agree? If you do, go ahead and enjoy the new offerings of Applebee's! Below are other dishes which I wasn't able to try because I was too full but looks so good to eat. ;)

BBQ Beef Brisket Tacos

Spinach Artichoke and Grill Chicken Cavatappi

For updates on Applebee's Grill and Bar Philippines, you may go to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ApplebeesPH/ or follow them on Instagram @applebeesph.

Grilling Pork Belly

All photos of this blog were taken by Johan Sy of Studiyo.💛

Novotel Manila Araneta Center is celebrating the 50th anniversary of ASEAN by bringing in 8 Asian cuisines together in Food Exchange, its all day dining cafe until September 3, 2017 (Sunday). The 8 Asian cuisines featured are from China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, India and of course, the Philippines with Celebrity Chef Sau del Rosario carrying the Philippine flag. There's no need to fly to these countries as they bring in chefs from these countries in and create their unique street food for us Filipino foodies to enjoy.

This is the display on each table. I like how the symbolisms represents perfectly on what's happening in Food Exchange: the flags represents the countries which the chefs participating in the Asian Food Festival are from while the pineapple symbolizes that they're in the Philippines, particularly in Novotel Manila. It's so geeky but amazing at the same time!

This is the photo of all the chefs that are participating in this festival which is made to assure all the 8 Asian cuisine (street food) are as authentic as it is!

Fishballs!!!

Kikiam (It's also made of fish but tastes a bit different)

Crunchy outside, soft, chewy and full of veggies with squid inside. So good!