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Make your own food: 'Pop Talk' reviews three D.I.Y. restaurants
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People say “you are what you eat.” In D.I.Y. restaurants, this adage takes on a whole different meaning!
Do-it-yourself or D.I.Y. restos are dining places where customers are given the freedom to personalize their food to their own liking. Just combine different ingredients from the available restaurant selection, or choose from tried and tested combinations, and you're good to go. And since no one knows your tastes in food better than yourself, there is a higher chance that you’ll enjoy what you ordered.
In its quest to review the latest trends, "Pop Talk" visited three recently opened D.I.Y. restaurants in the country. Host Tonipet Gaba customized his food with Pepper editor-in-chief Lars Roxas, foodie Denise Bernardino, and multimedia artist Julie Anne San Jose.
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Blue Bay Walk, EDSA, Macapagal Avenue
Price: P285
If every project involves making personalized pizzas, we wouldn't have to worry about unwilling team members. While Project Pie doesn't promise that this pipe dream would be reality, it still gives customers a chance to create pizzas with toppings of their choice. Not a bad alternative, if you ask pizza lovers.
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Project Pie's first branch in the Philippines opened in July 2013, making it the restaurant's first international franchise outside the United States. In Project Pie, pizzas are personalized via an assembly line where diners get to garnish their pizza dough and choose from over 29 toppings.
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Julie Anne chose to put walnuts and cranberries on her pizza, while Tonipet took the dessert route with bananas and Nutella.
"Ang daming choices," Julie Anne said. "Lately, 'di na ako kumakain ng pizza. Ngayon lang ulit. Sobrang sarap and mabilis lang kasi siyang lutuin. Very affordable and sa ganung kalaking pizza, busog na busog ka na talaga."
Final verdict: 9 pop points
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SM Aura, Taguig
Prize: P225 to P260 per bottle of batter, P40 to P80 per topping
In a country where tapsilog, longsilog, and other kinds of "silog" are enjoyed at any given time of the day, restaurants that serve breakfast meals 24/7 are always loved and often visited. At Slappy Cakes, not only can you enjoy your favorite Pinoy "silog" or eggs benedict any time you want, you can also cook your own pancakes just the way you like it.
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Originally from Portland, Slappy Cakes was opened to the Filipino public in May 2013. One of the things that makes this breakfast place special is the non-stick griddles installed in each of the dining tables, which customers could use for pancake-making. Creating your own pancakes at Slappy Cakes requires you to choose a batter flavor (they have buttermilk, whole grain, peanut butter, vegan, chocolate, and red velvet), combine some fixins (chocolate chips, apples, mangoes, bananas. and more), and then top it with honey, apple sauce, whipped cream and other sauces available.
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"Kailangan ma-improve nila 'yung main dish nila which is the pancake," food blogger Lars said after saying that Slappy Cakes’ breakfast meals are especially delicious. Lars also recommended that you take your kids with you as making D.I.Y. pancakes can be an enjoyable bonding session for the whole family. "Hit ito sa mga bata, lahat sila may sarili silang world. 'Di sila magagambala ng ibang guest."
Final verdict: 8 pop points
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G/F BCS Building, 2297 Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City
Price: P135
You don't need to be a salad lover in order to enjoy customizing and eating your personalized salad. This is what the Pop Talk reviewers discovered after tasting their do-it-yourself salads at Juju Eats.
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As the first salad restaurant in the Philippines, owner Katerina Asanza said that the idea behind Juju Eats is to serve salad as the main course and not just as a side dish. With a large selection of fresh salad ingredients and detox juices, JuJu Eats does more than just persuading people to eat greens. It also gives customers a more personalized and fun approach to having a healthy lifestyle.
![]() Julie Anne’s salad Base: romaine Dressing: honey mustard Toppings: cherry tomatoes cucumber raisins feta cheese tuna flakes walnuts | ![]() Denise’s salad Base: romaine Dressing: ranch Toppings: cherry tomatoes corn egg bacon feta cheese |
Base: pasta Dressing: balsamic Toppings : cherry tomatoes egg veggie patty bacon feta cheese pork inasal sub dried tomatoes | ![]() Tonipet’s salad Base: house romaine Dressing: korean Toppings: cherry tomatoes red kidney beans veggie patty cheddar cheese crispy catfish french beans |
With so many possible combinations, customers surely would not stick to one kind of salad. "Maganda dito kunyari everyday ka dito, pwede kang mag-try ng iba-ibang flavor," Denise remarked. "I like the idea na ikaw ang mamimili ng toppings mo. Saka gusto ko yung staff nila kasi alam talaga nila yung ilalagay."
Final verdict: 9 pop points
–Lara Gonzales/CM, GMA News
–Lara Gonzales/CM, GMA News
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