i came across this food stall at the 2nd level old wing of SM Cebu named "Kuy'as special lumpiang sariwa"... i super love fresh lumpia. i can eat 3 to four pcs. of this in one sitting. hahaha! i'm very curious how good really this is coz i remember this stall featured on tv before. there was a rave on this. its time to put this on a test to my  palette.

the attendant picked on the wrapper that's colored green. immediately, i reacted! hahaha... i asked, why is it green? the attendant said, it's pandan flavored wrapper... then i asked, why is it not fresh? the attendant answered, this is what they really use, even in manila. i was expecting that they will bake in front of me the fresh wrapper but it wasn't the case. i knew right then and there that it was a let down. when we say fresh, it should be fresh. hello! thumbs down on this. then she placed lettuce in the wrapper, then added cooked carrots, turnip and palm heart (ubod). she also sprinkled it with thai lemon grass and moroccan nuts. then, she rolled the wrapper and spread the sauce on top of it.

now for the taste test! from a scale of 1 to 10, i'll rate this a 6. first, they dont use freshly baked wrapper. i don't like flaky wrapper such as this. second, i couldn't taste the palm heart (ubod) in it. i have a feeling that what was used was more on the turnip. the taste was almost close to bland. i dont like the morocccan nuts, plain roasted peanuts would have made a big difference in terms adding crunch and taste. on the other hand, this is a vegetarian dish but considering that this is a vegetarian dish, it doesn't mean that the taste should  be bland. i've tasted vegetarian dish that is very flavorful but not this bland. in all fairness, their garlic sauce was good. the sauce was the only one i liked. it seems that i was eating with only the sauce giving a flavor to it which is very plain. fresh lumpia should be a mix of different flavors because of the many combinations to it. i grew up eating fresh lumpia and this one is really far from what I've grown to like. sorry, in my opinion, this is a not so well thought of dish.

i don't suggest that you try this but out of curiosity try them for yourself. maybe you'll like it. :)

tight hugs,
AC

i came across a stall at the 2nd level of SM Cebu north wing where people were falling in line to have a taste of belgian waffles. the people lining was not exag naman in terms of numbers. i can see around 5 to 6 people falling in line and others are waiting at the tables for their orders. this is basically pancake, added with filling and then folded. i remember a good friend of mine sharing me that this type of waffle would easily melt in your mouth and really tastes good. since i had the opportunity to bump into this, i might as well give it a try though i'm really not a fan of waffles or pancakes.

i ordered the original waffle with belgian chocolate filling. i asked the attendant what else is their best seller and the attendant recommended the blueberry filling. so, i ordered it as well. then, the attendant told me that it would take 40 minutes to get my order! i was shocked in disbelief. i told her, why that looooong? she said that they have bulk orders that day. i let out a sigh and told her that this better be good for me to wait that loooong. i then went to attend my other purpose in the mall.

after 40 minutes, i went back to get my ordered waffles. first, i tried the waffle with belgian chocolate filling. in all fairness, the crust of the waffle is really soft. belgian chocolate is a bitter sweet chocolate and it complimented well with  the waffle. from a scale of 1 to 10, i'll rate this a 7. i find the combination  ordinary.  it doesn't have a WOW factor but its good but not really really good. let me put it this way, try to buy a really good gourmet loaf bread, spread it with your favorite hazelnut chocolate spread, and there you go. i'm pretty sure, your own choice of concoction of gourmet bread and chocolate spread will be better than this.  just my opinion. :)

next, i tried the waffle with blueberry filling. gosh, it was hard for me to finish it. i grossed out eating it. nakakaumay! i love blueberry spread (smuckers blueberry), mind me. i dont know what brand of blueberry they were using but for me, it doesn't blend well with the waffle, its eeewww. personally, i didn't like the combination. i didn't finish eating this one, sorry. super nakakaumay. :(

they still have a lot of filling combinations to choose from. make sure to pick something that you really love or if you're very adventurous, try something that is not within your palettes comfort zone and evaluate after. the price of their waffles is less than 50 pesos. try to check them out, their different waffle fillings/combination may end up to your liking. :)

tight hugs,
AC