An apple a day keeps the doctor away. I’ve read and heard that this is true, so I try to regularly eat an apple a day even if apples are not endemic in the Philippines. I’ve also heard that bananas have pimple-fighting properties — because, ahem, as one funny scientist said, monkeys love to eat bananas. Monkeys have no pimples.
Anyway, what do we get when we combine a joke and a fact? I mean, when we combine a banana and an apple? We get Banapple Pies and Cheesecakes.
-
- Fat and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie from Banapple
We recently wrote about Restaurant of Choice (RoC), including its banoffee, and someone wrote a comment that her favorite banoffee is Banapple. We don’t shrink away from discovery, culinary or otherwise, so we chalked Banapple in our list of to-visit food places. The other day I saw the Banapple branch in Katipunan; yesterday we came to attack and conquer.
The branch is modest in size and looks really simple, with the lush-colored logo and signage of yellow, red and green outside easily drawing attention to the place. Three parking slots in front fully occupied, which is ok, I thought, because there was a Banapple personnel up front who helped us find a place to park.
-
- Banapple boxes ready to be stuffed with goodies
-
- Banapple signage in Katipunan
-
- Cookies at Banapple
[We later realized that just at the other side of the road, there's another branch, this one with a second floor. Branches: 206 Katipunan Ave. Blue Ridge, Quezon City (4382675), and 225 Katipunan Avenue, Blue Ridge, Quezon City (4392675). There's also one at the 2nd Floor Il Terrazzo, Tomas Morato corner Scout Madrinan, South Triangle, Quezon City (4132675), between the Boy Scout Circle and ABS-CBN.]
Grab a cake or two, leave and eat at home, that was the plan. We thought that would take just a few minutes. The moment we stepped inside – surprise, surprise — we knew it would be a good test of how bad we want the food. The five or six tables, each table good for three, were fully loaded with people looking happily satisfied with their pasta, cakes, cookies and other Banapple goodness. I wondered how good the food is, considering that they look like they’re going to sit there forever.
There were around six people waiting on the wings to be seated and there were around five of us queuing up to get our quick orders, to go.
I’m an impatient person. Sugar and all the dessert in view, however, seem to have hypnotic properties that made it all bearable. “Are you lining up? Ok, please go ahead.” Giving up a place in the queue? I’d ordinarily raise hell to protect my spot. Here, in dessert heaven, I was letting people go ahead in line.
-
- Banoffee at Banapple
-
- Cheesecake at Banapple
-
- White Chocolate Truffle Berry Cheesecake at Banapple
“Hmmm, what shall we order?” This is Banapple, so there must be something like a banana-apple combination. But that’s not why we’re here. The banoffee, where’s the banoffee? Ah, there it was. My search mission is done. It’s time to order.
“One slice of banoffee please.” We’re done.
Wow, cheesecake. That looks delicious. “And one slice of cheesecake please.” Now we’re really done . . . must leave.
“And one Fat and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie.” The pasta, too, the pasta looks really delicious. We should also try the pasta . . . wait, this is getting out of control.
-
- Banoffee at Banapple
The verdict? Before I say anything, remember that this is my opinion. My ordinary taste buds are not representative of others who might have more sophisticated taste. The banoffee’s combination of crust, sweet banana, coffee, cream and chocolate toppings is just beautiful. The banoffee is definitely much sweeter than, say, ROC, but there’s nothing wrong with that. This is supposed to be dessert. It’s supposed to be sweet and we’re supposed to eat only a small serving (for those who’ll say nakakaumay). In my younger years I’d really dig that, but I want my dessert nowadays to be not too sweet (have my coffee black, controlling sugar, which means I prefer the lighter ROC banoffee). To maintain the form (and, to a certain extent, the taste), I suggest you eat it on the spot or refrigerate it right away.
If there are new branches now open, or if you want to express your opinion, please let us know through the comment section below.
Loading ...
I’ve been a fan of your restaurant ever since it opened, the fact that I live near by and I studied in a nearby school, I go there a lot.
I had brunch there and I would say that today was the only bad experience that I had.
When I was ordering Tocilog, I said to the lady “Tocilog”, and she just gave me a blank stare. I called her attention twice and then she finally replied, “alin po doon? Tocino”. Then I said, “yes, yun ang order ko.” Then aside from that I ordered ribs and choco peanut butter pancakes. As the food came, I wondered why the Tocilog took so long. So, I asked her if they were able to punch it in, and she said no, she thought I was just inquiring about it. And I was suprised because I mentioned it 4 times to her.
Then I gave her my card again, and she said “sorry minimum of 300 for credit card”. I told her, that it shouldn’t be my problem because I ordered something worth 450, she just wasn’t paying attention. So after that, she swiped my card anyway.
As I mentioned, I ordered pancakes as well. It was my first time and I found it really good, one of the best in the metro. However, when we finished the small teacup of syrup on one pancake, I asked for another. It took her awhile to come back and tell me that you were out of syrup (at 11 in the morning). So, halfway through my pancakes, it didn’t feel good eating it anymore because there was no syrup. When, the other table ordered pancakes, that’s the time they bought syrup lang.
Lastly, for my friend’s order of spare ribs, when she was on her 2nd piece, she spit it out because the meat had a foul smell. It was “maanta”, and she’s the type who’s really particular with meat because she’s a chef as well. The supervisor was nice enough to change 1 piece of the ribs, we even made her smell it.
I still visited the restaurant after, and I was still disappointed.
So, my friend and I ordered Choco peanut butter pancakes, Penne pasta, and Chicken breast Parmigiano. My friend was halfway through her pasta already, and I was still waiting for my Chicken. I ordered at 11:00, and at 11:30, I noticed that my food was taking way too long and I’ve ordered that before, it used to be really quick. I asked the lady to follow it up, and she was a bit stunned. Apparently, Joan punched it in, made me pay for it but did not order it. Joan did not even apologize, I just heard their conversation, she told the girl that we didn’t order, and the other girl told her that she punched it in.
The waitress approached me and told me that they would just “rush” my order, which I told her to cancel… because I did not have time to wait anymore, and I didn’t want to eat a dish that was “RUSHED”. They gave me the refund, and not even a word of apology.
Another thing, while we were eating, a cockroach all of a sudden crawled on our table. I called the attention of the waitress (Joan) and whispered “may ipis”. She just told the other waitress, and they both continued with their work. I called her attention again and that’s when the other waitress came by, slowly, and got the cockroach.
They have GREAT food and an awful staff.
can this establishment provide a better parking for their client, and besides the customer specially at night create traffic jams at katipunan area. do the owner have any consideration for the motorist?
I agree. It seems all the owner thinks about is profit. Grabe, the traffic goes all the way to white plains because the Banofee are becomes a choke point. One lane na lang passable. Siguro pag wala na bumibili diyan eh mag-iisip silang ayusin ang traffic.
super love this!!! the best banoffee pie, reese’s pie, honey crunch cake and apple pie. i like their pasta too!