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Eats in Cebu: Treat Street Café

After more than a year of delighting customers with delectable cakes and pastries, Treat Street Cafe on the 2nd floor of the Ayala Center Cebu Expansion Wing hopes to invigorate Cebu’s dessert scene once again as it introduces specialty coffee to its offerings.

Treat Street Cafe opened in the middle of 2014 as a natural extension of proprietress Trina Ang Kokseng’s thriving specialty cake business. “We’re very humbled and inspired by the response of the market,” muses Trina. “One thing we often hear from our regular customers is they come back because of the quality of their favorite cakes,” Trina shares. A philosophy which Treat Street Cafe has always espoused from the start is adherence to only the best quality ingredients. Popular customer choices include the Treat Street Pie, Honey Toffee Crunch Cake, Spicy Lechon Pie, and Brownies A La Mode. New cake creations are also introduced monthly so customers have something new to try at each visit.

Treat Street Café’s calamansi cheesecake goes well with Toby’s Estate’s flat white coffee

The Toby’s Estate long black coffee brings out the flavors of the Treat Street Pie

During interactions with customers and just from simply observing customer buying behavior, Trina noticed an opportunity to add more value for Treat Street Cafe patrons. “When we started Treat Street, I knew coffee was always going to be part of the dessert and pastry experience, but I did not realize that it could play this big a role. I attribute it to the growing awareness and consciousness of the entire coffee industry, from sourcing to serving, that has made customers more discerning of their cup of coffee.”

“When I heard about the story of Toby Smith of Toby’s Estate, I was fascinated,” recalls Trina. “I was inspired by his passion,” she added. During one of her trips to Manila, Trina went to one of the first branches of Toby’s Estate Philippines to try their coffee beverages. After that experience, Trina found it hard to find the same level of quality in local coffee shops, so she was motivated to bring the experience to Cebu by making Toby’s Estate coffee part of the Treat Street Cafe menu.

Treat Street Café’s mango black sesame cake is perfect with a café mocha

The honey toffee crunch cake, paired with a Toby’s Estate iced latte, makes for a refreshing snack

Outside Australia, the Philippines is only the third country in the world to have a Toby’s Estate presence. Currently, there are 6 Toby’s Estate cafes in Metro Manila. In Cebu, Treat Street Cafe is the first establishment to offer Toby’s Estate coffee. Aside from the coffee beverages, retail packs of coffee beans will also be offered for sale.

Treat Street Cafe’s cakes and pastries are a perfect pairing for the coffee concoctions of Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters. Both brands share a passion for using only the best ingredients and processes to provide best dining experience for the customer.

TREAT STREET CAFÉ
2/F Ayala Center Cebu New Expansion Wing
Treat Street on IG | Toby’s Estate on IG | #TobysEstateAtTreatSt

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7 Things You Need To Know Before Watching Balangiga: Howling Wilderness

Following its premiere in October 2017, controversies still creep on “Balangiga: Howling Wilderness”.

This one-of-a-kind film with surreal takes on one of the Philippines’ dark times surely deserves our time. The story is seen through the eyes of a boy that uniquely shows humanity’s cry for help.

Before its screening at your nearest cinema weeks from now, here are seven things you need to know about this morbid film about a portion of our history.

It revolves around the Balangiga Massacre in 1901.

During the American occupation in the Philippines, Company C of the 9^th Infantry Regiment arrived on the south coast of Samar Island, Balangiga in 1901. Their arrival was to cut the contacts of Filipino guerrillas to the people.

According to sources, the Americans confiscated all the weapons of the residents in Balangiga, men were detained and were treated badly. They burned down a church and its bells were taken which are still not returned to date.

Under General Jacob H. Smith’s orders, his officers burned towns and killed all who aged ten and above. For historians and people who lived there, the massacre came after the events of Smith’s orders. Americans practiced scorched earth policy and took food and killed people.

The film revolves around the journey of 8-year-old boy Kulas and his grandfather as they fled the town after Smith’s order to kill everyone over ten years old as revenge for the “rebellion” of the people in Balangiga.

Some scenes were limited especially violence on animals.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) mentioned that actual scenes of the film were limited.

The sickening scenes of animal slaughter, corpses and deaths will shock or excite us more.

Its tone will keep you interested

Even with gruesome scenes, the dreamy-feels tone with a mood that will continuously haunt you will surely keep you seating on your chair.

The film has minimal dialogues it will also show beautiful shots in the countryside.

It won awards in QCinema International Film Festival 2017

The film won Best Picture during the 2017 QCinema International Film Festival.

Following its back-to-back awards, it also bagged trophies in the 66^th Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) and Urian.

It will be a part of Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino 2018

Because of its numerous awards in different film festivals, “Balangiga” will be part of the Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino 2018 as a guest entry under Special Features Section.

Under this section are best picture awardees in different independent festivals from 2017 to be shown as exhibition films.

The director of the film is also a musician

“Balangiga” was one of the masterpieces of director Khavn dela Cruz. Surprisingly, dela Cruz’s composition “Katurog Na” sang by folk-rock artist Lolita Carbon won Best Original Song in 66^th FAMAS.

It was intended to be a historical film for children

According to dela Cruz, the film is an unfinished project.

In his interview with ABS-CBN, he mentioned that he focused on adding and re-shooting the film to make it more accessible to a wider audience, especially for children.

History films show us more. “Balangiga” explained and portrayed more on the horrors of the armed conflict between the American forces and Filipino people.

More importantly, it showed that there is no good outcome from colonialism.

The film will be shown starting on August 15, 2018 in selected cinemas nationwide including Robinsons Galleria.

See you there!

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Butch Carungay’s 50th in Neverland

By Emmanuel Hamoy

Cebu’s glitterati came out in full force for Butch Carungay’s 50th birthday bash at EdenClub. It was a fun-filled night overflowing with Pol Roger, trivia games whilst traipsing the light fantastic.