One day I was reading food and travel blogs and came across BANAPPLE. The pictures of the food in www.clickthecity.com looked really yummy and I made a mental note to visit the place since it's is very near where I live.
Knowing my penchance for proscrastination, I forgot about it until one day I was really hungry and came across the article again while checking out what's showing in the theaters.
I was chatting with Redcomet and I ended up describing the food stuff served in Banapple. It didn't help curb out my hunger pangs.
Anyway, the next day I kept telling Chloe and Lofrick about visiting the place after we were done upgrading a computer in the office. These folks are two of my chow buddies (meaning food trippers like me) and won't back out on something like this.
Banapple is located at Katipunan Avenue near Blue Ridge. It's on the same side as Quirino Memorial Hospital (a.k.a. Labor Hospital) across Kopi Roti. It's a small country style cafe with a few tables (around 5-6). Parking space in front of the cafe is only two .... that's how small it is, and the rest of the parking space they share with other tenants of the commercial area.
For something small, it seems to attract a huge clientele because a lot of cars were littered in the area, waiting for parking space. Some parked along the road.
Why am I stressing lack of parking? Well, when you get a bite of that Banapple, you will come back. So this serves as a reminder for road ragers with sweet tooth.
Once inside, we sampled their limited lunch/dinner menu. It consisted of pasta, sandwiches, and other typical Filipino favorites. We ordered the Garlic Beef Tapa, Chicken Parmigiano, and I think a Pasta Magnifico. For dessert, we had Strawberry Amaretto Cheesecake and Super Caramel Fudge Cake. We had iced teas for drinks.
... we devoured all of it with gusto.
THE FOOD IS DELICIOUS!!!
I particularly loved the Chicken Parmigiano (and the pasta ... and the tapa). Dessert is sinfully good. Lofrick commented that eating the Strawberry Amaretto Cheesecake tasted like my car. My car has this California Scents Coronado Cherry. And he meant that in a good way. The cheesecake is excellent. It's perfect. But my favorite is the fudge cake. The taste reminded me of the "molten" chocolate cake of Chilli's.
Two days after (or is a day after?), I brought my high school friend Bonsai to the place. Aside from the Chicken Parmigiano, we had a Pasta Verde (pesto sauced pasta). I had the fudge cake and she had an Oreo Cookie Cheesecake. For a petite girl measuring 4'10," she enjoyed filling up her bottomless pit of a stomach while chatting up a storm. In fact, she loved what we ate so much she ordered food and desserts to go for her sister and nephews (She still joined in in eating the take homes - hahaha).
One terrible Friday Pay Day, I had this hankering to go back at the place (it's been only a week since the first visit). So I dragged Lofrick amidst the horrendous traffic. Unfortunately, there are no parking spaces available (not even near the road) - the place is packed. We ended up eating somewhere along the strip of Katipunan Ave. (another chow discovery). But we HAD TO go back to the place (which was still filled with people) and ordered the BANOFFEE pie to go, which they say made it famous. I was a little disappointed because I wasn't able to eat there, but when I got home and tasted the pie, all the bad vibes (due to the traffic) melted away. The pie is so good. It's a combination of coffee cake and banana cake with a light sweet icing. It's yummy.
You can never go wrong with this place. It's good food with reasonable prices. It's not one of them snooty places but it's not low-end as well. It's quality stuff without boring holes in your pockets.
Bring your friends ... and expect to elbow for parking space. It won't be soon 'til word gets out.
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