Amateur baker

• Chicken pie with butter crust
• Food for the gods
• Vanilla and mocha chiffon cupcakes
• (Something like) tiramisu, version 2
• Betty Crocker’s blueberry muffins
• Classic sponge cake with strawberry jam and whipped cream
• Chocolate crinkles
• Blueberry and apple squares
• Oatmeal cookies and a cookie fest
• Vanilla-mocha marble chiffon cake

Noche Buena

• The noche buena blog is live!
• Pepperoni and cheese stuffed bread rolls
• Christmas ham from Majestic
• Corn dogs
• Cooking for Christmas and the New Year
• Roast duckling on New Year’s eve
• Ernest’s pancit canton with bacon-cut pork
• Fresh tropical fruits salad
• In my kitchen: taking it easy
• Roast pork with salsa verde

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Kopi Roti

After a very late, and very hefty, lunch (at 4.30 p.m., no kidding) at Causeway Seafood Restaurant (Timog Avenue branch, this time) last Sunday, I was craving for coffee. The girls, on the other hand, wanted to go to Starbucks for an Oreo cheesecake fix. But just the day before we were already at Starbucks twice–once on the way to Enchanted Kingdom and, again, on the way home. My husband had been talking incessantly about Kopi Roti and I wanted to try their stuff.

So, from Causeway, we drove the short distance to Kopi Roti along Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City. It’s a very small place–a one room affair not much bigger than an average home kitchen. Two small tables and a bar with stools, the counter and that was it. The coffee was great. Robust but not bitter. Neither did it have the soury taste of most brewed coffee.

Kopi Roti, however, isn’t a place to bring kids to. Not much elbow room and nothing familiar on the menu. Our 12-year-old did try the iced coffee but decided it was too strong. Well, it would be since the coffee she knows is Swiss Miss with about half a teaspoonful of instant coffee stirred in.

Aside from coffee, Kopi Roti has iced barley (which I haven’t tried yet), juices, tea and the usual softdrinks. But the dessert that my husband had been raving about, an iced concoction similar to, but simpler than, our own halo-halo, was not available last Sunday. Called Red Ruby, it is red tapioca balls (sago), lychees, shaved ice and coconut milk. I’m a lover of coconuts and all food products made from coconut so you can understand my disappointment when we couldn’t order it.

The price of coffee is about 40% less than Starbucks and the quality is comparable. But what I really liked about Kopi Roti is the unpretentiousness of its beverages. Not fancy like Starbucks which is 70% looks and presentation. Kopi Roti seems to operate on the principle that you don’t have to scream to be noticed. With all the coffee shops around–and they have mushroomed during the past couple of years–Kopi Roti has not ridden on the Starbucks formula. Which is good, as far as I am concerned. It maintains its individuality and its unique appeal.

Kopi Roti was established in Singapore in 1955 but only found its way to the Philippines last year. If it’s great coffee you’re after, rather than being seen hanging out in the “cool” cafe joints, you will like Kopi Roti.

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