Sa Wakas, a New Pinoy Rock Musical Featuring the Songs of Sugarfree

Following the footsteps of Mama Mia (play and movie which featured the songs of ABBA), Across the Universe (movie which feature the songs of The Beatles) and the local film I Do Bi Doo Bi Doo (which featured the songs of Apo Hiking Society), a new musical that weaves together the songs of one of the country’s most beloved rock bands, Sugarfree.

Sa Wakas, a New Pinoy Rock Musical featuring the songs of Sugarfree, co-written by Andrei Nikolai Pamintuan and Mariane Abuan with the music beautifully arranged by Ejay Yatco, promises to bring together the world of pop rock and musical theatre.The show will feature Sugarfree's hit songs such as "Mariposa," "Burnout," "Wag Ka Nang Umiyak," "Makita Kang Muli," and "Hari ng Sablay," among others. "Sa Wakas" cast members are young, talented and no strangers to the stage: Fred Lo, Vic Robinson, Caisa Borromeo, Laura Cabocha, Justine Peña, Kyla Rivera and many more.

Sa Wakas will be staged on April 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28, 2013 at PETA Theater Center at 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City.  Ticket Prices are Php 500, Php 700 and Php 1000.

Tickets to Sa Wakas, A New Pinoy Rock Musical featuring the songs of Sugarfree will be available at any Ticketnet outlets located at SM Department Customer Care Service Area or visit www.ticketnet.com.ph or you may call 911-5555.For more information about the musical show, visit its website www.sawakas.com.

Bazaar for Things Proudly Philippine Made

Six years ago, the Yabang Pinoy – Filipino Pride movement started the Global Pinoy Bazaar in order to help Filipino entrepreneurs market their products and at the same time, to boost Filipino Love and Pride among the shoppers.

Mark November 5 and 6 on your 2011 calendars for the best Filipino Christmas shopping experience. Yabang Pinoy will be staging the 7th Global Pinoy Bazaar at Rockwell Tent, Makati City, together with Yabang Pinoy’s community of Filipino entrepreneurs committed to Filipino artistry and craftsmanship.

Global Pinoy Bazaar 2011 will feature businesses with 100% Filipino Love and Pride, showcasing ladies’, men’s & children’s apparel, accessories, jewelries, bags & shoes, home decor, beachwear, home and wellness products, as well as Pinoy art and design.

For more information, visit www.yabangpinoy.com. For interested Filipino entrepreneurs who want to be part of future Global Pinoy Bazaars, you may email us at bazaar.globalpinoy@gmail.com.

Filed under EVENTS and FINDS

A Hyphy Saturday

When the Veranda of Robinson's Galleria was still under construction, I already know that a new restaurant called Hyphy will be opened there, thanks to a couple of friends and business contacts who are silent partners in Chef Bruce Lim's latest baby. Yes, a new food adventure to try! A few months after it opened, they invited me to try it and the food was so good I had to ditch my "diet". Since then, I've been going back to Hyphy but I always didn't have my camera with me so I've never blogged about it. This time though, I was armed (with cam) and ready (to eat), and had a fun Satururday late lunch with friends.

Hyphy is Chef Bruce Lim's tribute to the San Francisco-Filipino dishes that he enjoyed as he was growing up. The exterior is simple, all-glass walls that even the kitchen at the back of the restaurant can be seen. Inside, it is just homey with the wood furniture and clean lines in the dining area. The stone wall was decorated with wood planks that are actually skateboards with wheels taken off.

Hyphy exteriors

Hyphy interiors

The menu offered a variety of yummy treats from the light (soup, salad and sanwiches) to the heavy (pasta and rice meals) and sweet (pastries and frozen yogurt selections). For dinner and late night eating, they also serve beer, house mocktails and cocktails. Since we are a big group, we decided to order one meal each that we all can share plus three desserts. This way, we get to sample many dishes yet not eat as much and later on regret the calories we piled on.

Clam Chowder Soup in Sour Dough Bread

First came the soup, Clam Chowder, a thick and creamy clam and potato soup served inside a sour dough bread reminiscent of clam chowders in San Francisco's Pier 9. The soup is so tasty and filling, especially if you decide to eat the bread it came in with.

Cobb Salad

The Cobb Salad is made of fresh greens with grilled chicken and bacon bits, cubed cucumbers and cheese, cherry tomatoes and black olives. A light appetizer (or a meal for the diet conscious). I love vegetable salads and this one in particular is a delectable variation.

SF Steak Sandwich

I am not really into eating meat, specially beef since it is hard to digest, but I wasn't able to resist the SF Steak Sandwich when my friend urged me to try it. The thinly sliced beef of the sandwich is tender, juicy and made tastier with the cheese pimiento dressing with added ingredients -- pickles and corn kernels -- that was a surprising delight, giving every bite good texture and a burst of flavors. The fries, served on the side with honey-mustard dip, were long and evidently from large potatoes, well-cooked and not oily or soggy.

Calamansi Tuyo Pasta

Next on my taste list were the pasta/noodle dishes. The Calamansi Tuyo Pasta was so fragrant (citrusy and garlicky) that I could smell it even from the other end of the table. The dish had chunks of our native dried salted fish (tuyo) sauteed in garlic oil, tossed into al dente spaghetti noodles topped with cheese and calamansi. I love this to bits! For those who want more tuyo in their plate, Hyphy added a whole fish to satisfy this craving, while those who want to offset the saltiness of the pasta, they can take a bite of the pimiento bread sticks (yes, the bread sticks are not just for decoration). Chowmien, on the other hand, has a very subtle flavor -- organic and earthy -- with a hint of sweetness from the julienned carrots and the mild spice of the sweet-chili sauce.

Chowmien

At this point, I felt full already but for the sake of writing this entry, I took bite-size portions of the remaining food while making a mental note to skip dinner.

Dapa Fillets

I thought the Dapa Fillets are a variation of the 'pinaupo', 'pinaputok', 'nilasing' and other action-named dishes. It turned out the 'dapa' is actually the name of the fish, otherwise known as Pinoy sand dabs. The fillets were breaded and pan fried to golden brown color, topped with calamansi cream sauce and served with rice and buttered vegetables. One bite revealed a well cooked fillet seasoned perfectly.

Bangus Steak

The Bangus Steak or deboned marinated Milkfish is meaty and obviously fresh. The fish was marinated using Chef Bruce's grandma's special sauce, pan fried, and served with rice, buttered vegetables and pickled papaya (atchara) -- a perfect dish for pesco-vegetarians who crave for tasty meals.

Roasted Chicken

Next on the list is the Roasted Chicken that was slow roasted with Pinoy herbs and topped with gravy. The chicken meat, cooked tender but firm, has a mild ginger flavor which reminded me of the taste of tinola. The Grilled Chicken is a backyard barbecue chicken that is juicy and tender, and tastes of herbs and spices.

Grilled Chicken

For a taste of honest-to-goodness Pinoy pork barbecue, the aptly named Kanto Pork BBQ is it! The street food bbq flavor is perfectly captured and when eaten with spicy vinegar, rice and atchara, this is the ultimate comfort food (just throw calorie-counting out the window).

Kanto Pork BBQ

Another must-try offering on the menu is the intriguing Japanese-sounding Spam Masubi. I haven't encountered this fare before so I was willing to try. True enough, the dish looked like a giant Japanese maki -- slices of spam topped with rice and egg, wrapped in seaweed and served with sweet soy sauce. Chef Bruce used fuji rice with a special sauce to simulate Japanese sticky rice, whicc is more expensive and will need the use of rice wine for flavoring. Spam Masubi is a complete and heavy meal by itself.

Spam Masubi

To close the wonderful lunch, we ordered three desserts for sharing as well. When the Choco Chip Sandwich was served, it elicited expressions from us like children seeing a yummy giant choco chip cookie for a giant cookie jar. The homemade cookies sandwiched in vanilla ice cream with warm chocolate sauce was truly a sweet temptation but we had trouble in trying to cut it into nicely sliced portions because the cookie was thick and hard. So we ended up eating jaggedly cut pieces but we didn't mind because we devoured it the way kids would, crumbs and all.

Choco Chip Sandwich

The Bread Pudding is a melt-in-your-mouth delight, topped with raisins and banana slices caramelized in sugar.

Bread Pudding

Tablea Chocolate Duo Pudding is a dark chocolate creation, swirled with white chocolate, topped with whipped cream and dusted with freshly grated tablea. This dessert was the first to be finished on the table, proof that it was really good. A superb, bitter-sweet delight that really hits the spot.

Tablea Chocolate Duo Pudding

Fun catch-up lunches with friends are a treasure in this busy world so I am so happy to have spent a few hours with them during the long weekend. A balikbayan friend will be in town next week and will have dinner with us so watch out for my next food blog.