Everything seems fast-paced except for the stressful heavy traffic.  In the busy business district of Makati, I found refuge for comfort at After All Bar & Grill.

My young apprentice has been having financial, family and health problems so  I thought I could bring him here to chill out a bit. 

He shared that it was his first time ever to stop by the City of Makati.  He has passed through Makati but never actually visited it. 

After All has a bar but...

that's not really what we went after.  My apprentice is a musician.  Even at his teenage years, he plays in a church band and earns a living as a guitar tutor.  After All lets guests play if they want to.  I tried to encourage my young trainee but he was too shy.

Food
So, we just got on with the food.

Mains

Filipino Fiesta

♥ Crunchy Pork Sisig (280 php)

We started off with their After All's best-seller: Crunchy Pork Sisig.  We loved this!  He even had extra rice just for this!


Tapas

♥ Romanian Deviled Squid (210 php)

I found the Romanian Deviled Squid really interesting.  And, it was cooked perfectly tender too!

♥ Glazed Balls of Fire (210 php)

My favorite for the night is actually and surprisingly the Glazed Balls of Fire.  The buffalo sauce complemented the tender and succulent meat balls well.

Beef Salpicao (330 php)

Now, steak lovers will surely be delighted with their Wagyu Beef Salpicao.

Crispy Shrimps (250 php)

The Crispy Shrimps is a superb beer match.

Calamares Fritos (240 php)

And, last but not the least of our order is the Filipino favorite Calamares Fritos.

Drinks


Rum

 

Calibre (150 php)

For drinks, we tried the Calibre which is Cuban libre infused with lime and sugar.  It was pretty smooth. 


Tsinoy Foodies Verdict
The pricing and food quality at After All Bar & Grill has exceeded my expectation.  Being located at SM Jazz which is a highly commercial and prominent area, I expected it to be more pricey.  I also loved the ambiance with great music.  The only thing that didn't satisfy me was the service.  Albeit having a few customers, we found it difficult to call the attention of the servers.  And when I told the server that the dish was a bit rare, he didn't say anything and just went away.

It's been a few months since we first discovered about Tous Les Jours and we've been huge fans ever since.  Whenever we go out and spot a branch, we'd definitely go in and go out with a large paper bag filled with Tous Les Jours pastries.  I have to admit, we always to tend to buy more than intended because the staff is so friendly and they always advise us of their hidden promo like buy 300 php worth and get a FREE macaron and stuff. 

So when I was invited to Tous Les Jours' opening at SM Jazz Mall, I was ecstatic to come!

*P.S. The new Jazz Mall is a foodie's haven with lots of restaurants that are soon to open!

Tous Les Jours is a French-Asian Bakery that originated in Korea with over 1,000 branches around the world including the United States.  Jazz Mall branch is bigger with lots of pastry display and a dining area.  They offer FREE wifi too.


The shelvings are consistent with the other branches.



It's my first time to visit them in the morning so I'm quite amused that the selections are more bountiful than it is during late hours.

Belgian Waffles
The Belgian Waffles are their new product. 

Blueberry Waffles (48 php)

I chose the Blueberry Waffles. Their version was thin, golden brown and crispy on the outside but slightly fluffy with blueberry bits on the inside.  It was like a hybrid of Holland waffles which is thin and crisp cookie-like waffle and the fluffy American waffles that we Filipinos are well-accustomed to.

Strawberry Waffles (48 php)

Chocolate Waffles (48 php)

Belgian Waffles (48 php)

Cakes

I've always dreamed of trying their cakes. =)  TLJ's cakes are so cute!

Each cake is created with passion by their pastry chef.  I was able to witness how they decorated their Rose Inspiration Fresh Cream Cake (498 php).  Check out the video if you want to learn to how to cake decorate (cake decoration 101).  But seeing how much skill it requires, I feel so lucky that I can just purchase them at an affordable price at TLJ. =)

Classic Chocolate Cake (598 php)

The first I tried was the Classic Chocolate Cake.  I really like Tous Les Jours light icing consistency.  This is probably the lightest chocolate cake I've ever had in terms of texture, consistency and taste.  Too bad, I'm more of a bitter-sweet chocolate lover.  
 

♥ Blueberry Berry Light Cheesecake (598 php)

The Blueberry Berry Light Cheesecake had the exquisite lightness yet still rich in cheesy flavor of a Japanese cheesecake.  It was delicious! 
 

Cookie Cream Cheesecake (798 php)

I'm naturally biased towards everything with Oreos.  So I can't help falling in love with this Cookie Cream Cheesecake.

So this is the dining area.  You enjoy your beverage and pastries here.

I tried the Iced Citron Tea (88 php).   It was a bit diluted compared to those served by other Korean coffee shops.

Almond Kouign Amann (78 php), ♥ Mango Bagel (78 php), Milk Bun (48 php) and Madelaine (38 php)

I already have my own favorite at Tous Les Jours but I took the opportunity to try something new. I tried the Almond Kouign Amann, Mango Bagel, Milk Bun and Madelaine.  I'm adding the Mango Bagel and Madelaine to my favorites list.

It's actually my first time to try the Breton originating cake called Kouign Amann.  TLJ's version was different from what I expected.  According to my research, a Kouign means "cake" and Amann  means "butter" in Breton.  It is a round crusty cake made with bread dough containing layers of butter and sugar folded in resulting into layers like a puff pastry i.e. croissant.  The Almond Kouign Amann was a thin-layered pastry glazed in thin crisp caramel coating with almond bits.  It was good albeit the sweet coating.


Tous Les Jours Patisserie Connoisseur Card

Tous Les Jours Patisserie Connoisseur Card

With the Tous Les Jours Patisserie Connoisseur Card, you can get 2% rebate with a minimum of 100 php worth of purchase.

Tous Les Jours Patisserie Connoisseur Card

How to avail and activate this card?
Step 1:  Purchase a minimum single-receipt purchase of 500 php and get this new Tous Les Jours Patisserie Connoisseur Card for FREE.  
Step 2: Activate by registering at www.tlj.ph

Macarons (28/38 php/piece), Tofu Chips (68 php), ♥ Sweet Black Rice Bread with Cream Cheese (48 php), ♥ Cream Cheese Walnut Bread (128 php) and Pumpkin Muffin (58 php)

Of course, my family will not forgive me if I didn't bring home some pastries for them.  Like I mentioned in my previous post, I love the Cream Cheese Walnut Bread!

♥ Sweet Black Rice Bread with Cream Cheese (48 php)

The Sweet Black Rice Bread with Cream Cheese is now our ultimate favorite!  This is a must buy for us in every visit. 
 

Macaron de Paris: Classics (28 php) and the Premiums (38 php)

We also love their Macaron de Paris.  Aside from being affordable, it's delicious too.  There are two types.  The Classics and the Premiums.  For the Classics, our favorite is the ♥Green Tea as the other variants are too sweet for us.  For the Premiums, we like Grape, ♥Korean Cherry and Green Apple.

Aside from their already reasonable pricing at great quality, the additional incentive of the Tous Les Jours Patisserie Connoisseur Card will surely make us frequent TLJ more.  It's also great that they continue to offer more pastry offerings so we can try something new every once in awhile.