Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt: Served by a Robot

As far as I could remember, the first few times I have tasted a frozen yogurt was year 2009, the time when frozen yogurt craze was still at its peak or at least on my own personal observation. Lots of frozen yogurt house opened here and there, not until the bubble tea craze took place last 2011. Both of which shows that people are now more health-conscious, thus have switched to a healthier dessert alternatives.

Speaking of frozen yogurt place, most of them are full-service type of restaurants where you tell your specific order to the staff and the staff would prepare it for you. Then there are a few that opened as a self-service type where you get a cup, fill in with yogurt and toppings and the cup will be weighed to compute the amount. But self-served frozen yogurt is a bit tricky because there's no way to predict the exact price since it is based on weight (i.e. P20 per ounce) so you need to be very careful in filling up your cup. And now comes the third type, frozen yogurt served by a robot! Wow, cool!

Last Sept. 28, 2013 (Saturday) marked the grand opening of Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt and I am honored to be one of the chosen bloggers to witness this. They celebrated their opening by giving out free yogurts to the first 50 people to get in line by 11:00am.



People were so excited waiting in line to experience this frozen yogurt being served by a robot.

Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt is a kiosk type of business where there is a cashier, a yogurt machine and small area to accommodate around 8 sit-down customers. As I see it, the concept is a hybrid of vending machine and a merchandiser type of arcade machine. To get a better view on this, let's watch this short video clip that I took to show you how the machine works. Click HERE.

Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt kiosk

Here are the steps on how to place your order:
1. First, approach the cashier, pay P125 in exchange of a coupon.
2. Insert the coupon into the slot of the kiosk.
3. From the touch screen, choose your 1st yogurt either Vanilla, Chocolate or a combination of both.
4. Then pick your 1st topping. Choices are: peanuts, sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, muesli, chopped cashews, chocolate pieces or no topping at all.
5. Choose your 2nd yogurt. Same choices as above.
6. Pick your 2nd topping. Same choices as above.
7. Then choose 1 from among the 4 robots: Cid, Irvy, Reis or Rev.
8. Watch as the robot of your choice prepares your order in less than 2 minutes or 100 seconds. This might be shortened if you are fast in choosing.
9. You may get your cup as soon as the slot opening on the left side opens.
10. Get your spoon and tissue from the cashier. Just add P25 for additional 2 toppings to be scooped manually.

 

It's basically a 4-layer yogurt treat.
1st/base layer: yogurt
2nd layer: topping
3rd layer: yogurt
4th/top layer: topping

Snap shots of the different steps to get to your frozen yogurt.

 

As you wait and watch, there's a visual graphics that plays on the LCD screen inside the machine while the robot arm moves around getting the cup, putting layers of yogurt, sprinkling the toppings and serving the finished product into the slot opening. The cup isn't an ordinary paper cup but a plastic souvenir cup which you can wash and keep as a souvenir. They are also selling button pins with the robot designs for P40 each.



Robot designs button pins selling for P40 each.

Based on my experience, here are some thoughts that came up to me.
Pros:
1. It gives a new and exciting experience for adventure-lovers to try this new idea of being served by a robot.
2. You are sure that your order would be free from human errors and tamper-free.
3. The taste is good, same as other frozen yogurt stores.

Cons:
1. It can be exciting at first but not sure if it's still worth the try for a second time because of the price, where the content is just half of what it is seen on the poster.
2. Prone to technical malfunction and if that happens, the operation also stops.
3. No option of fresh fruits as toppings because the machine can only contain dry and non-sticky toppings.

From the looks of their customers' happy faces, it seems that they enjoyed their frozen yogurt served-by-a-robot experience.

Happy customers.

As part of their grand opening celebration, people also had a chance to do face painting with the 4 robot designs to choose from. I find their robot designs so cute! Kudos to the graphic designers from Bacolod! Nice painting skills by Art N Faces Body Art.



I joined the fun by getting painted on my right arm.

Plus a photo-op with Reis, the pink female robot, in human form. In fairness, she acted like a real robot. Good job!

Here's a picture of me with Reis.

Before I end this write-up, I would like to congratulate Robofusion, Inc. for bringing in Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt in the Philippines, the first and only robotic frozen yogurt kiosk in our country as of the moment. It surely gave this frozen yogurt industry a revival with a fresh new twist. Just to let you know, Robofusion, Inc is the leader in interactive robotic kiosk. You may visit their website to know more about the company.

 

Currently, these are the countries that
Robofusion has partnered and expanded to.

 

Here's a photo-op with the US citizen part owner, Ms. Lydia Jones.

 

Watch out as they plan to open their second branch in SM Megamall within the year.

 



To get updates on Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt, kindly visit and follow them here:

Facebook: Reis & Irvy's Philippines

Twitter: @robofusion

Instagram: @reisandirvy

Website: http://www.reisandirvys.com/

Location: 3/F The Block, SM North Edsa (beside Sandwich Guy stall) from 10am to 10pm

Contact: 888-974-4442 (US toll-free number)

 

If I may suggest, it would be a good idea to position their robotic kiosk beside a science museum. What do you think?

 

Mommy Sally

What Inspires Me to Blog

This is The Binondo Mommy's official entry to Moomy Musings "What Inspires You?" Blog Inc. Book Giveaway Contest.

The Binondo Mommy is a fairly new blog that started only last June 8, 2013, almost four months running in the blogging world. It was born to serve as a medium to document my life as a mom, to record the happiness of having a baby, to improve on my skills, to open new opportunities, and to meet new friends along the way.

I got inspired from those mommy bloggers who constantly share their personal stories, learnings and mishaps to help fellow moms avoid falling into the same problem or to hear out another mom's point of view. Reading blogs is fun because you can easily get a glimpse of somebody else's life and get to learn many new things. To my supportive friends and readers who took time to read my blog posts and left comments, they are the ones that kept me inspired to blog more.

I can better express myself through writing than talking face to face that's why I think blogging is for me. I love to document things especially through photographs and videos and all those memorabilia that I would come across with. As of now, I don't have any field of expertise or specialty that I can mention yet because I am still finding my life's purpose. And because of that, the topics that I blog still varies. I have a dream to travel around the world, to dine in different restaurants, to start my own business, to be financially stable, to be able to help and give back to society. And I am very hopeful that blogging could, one way or another, take me to achieve my dreams in life. I learned from a seminar that the more you declare your dreams to the universe, the faster they will come to you. I know it would take time to create a successful blog but I am willing to take the small steps. I strongly believe that knowledge and power is achieved through time.

Got this image from: http://www.beckybedbug.com/2013/06/book-review-blog-inc.html

After reading the review by Moomy Musings on the book entitled Blog Inc. by Joy Cho, the whole book's content got my interest. I'm interested to read Chapter 1: Introduction to Blogging since it best fits my current status in this blogosphere. I want to better understand the blogging terms, blogging purposes and different types of blogs. The second interesting chapter for me is Chapter 4: Blogging Community Etiquette.

I hope to get a copy of this Blog Inc. book by Joy Cho as I really want to see how far my blog would go. If you are interested to create your own blog, you might want to check Moomy Musings' blog for inspiration: http://www.moomymusings.com/2013/09/blog-inc-book-review.html

Special thanks to Moomy Musings for helping me put up my blog and serving as my inspiration. May you inspire many more people to blog with purpose.

Mommy Sally

Superbook Reimagined: Now in Tagalog

I had once attended an event of Superbook, their Bida ng Pagbabago Roadshow. You may read my fun experience here in my previous blog post. I'm amazed by their Facebook page where they already have almost 173,000 fans, to date. And in their every posts or status update, lots of people have been leaving comments and participating making the discussion so alive and interactive. This means to say that Superbook is really a hit to Filipino families. The revived show was very well received and enjoyed by Filipino kids of this generation. I admit that I wasn't able to tune in to Superbook every Saturday because it's too early. I want to let baby sleep some more and wait until she wants to wake up. But I really find Superbook a good TV show because not only does it relives the Bibles stories, the short 30-minute time slot doesn't contain any commercials except for Superbook ads. This means that you can be sure that your kids won't be influenced negatively. Whether you have completed watching the 13 episodes in English or haven't started watching any yet, you can still watch again or start watching because they have a great news to all the fans of Superbook!

Starting October 5, Superbook will now be aired in Tagalog!

"Now that there's Superbook in Tagalog, more Pinoy kids will surely learn from the episodes and relate to the stories portrayed. This time, Superbook will be appreciated by more Filipino families. It's my dream to see Superbook translated to other dialects so that more kids will know about God and His great love for us," says Icko Gonzalez, Superbook Project Head.

 

With Superbook in Tagalog on TV, more children can share the excitement and relive the greatest adventures ever told.

Watch the Tagalized version of Superbook Season 1 and enjoy time-traveling with your favorite Superbook friends Chris, Joy and Gizmo every Saturday, starting October 5, 7:30 a.m. on GMA and will run for 13 weeks.

And of course, their Salvation Poem will now be sang in Tagalog too. So watch out for it at the end of the show and be the first to master their new song! I bet it's as LSS-worthy as the English version.

To know more about Superbook, you may visit their website at www.batangsuperbook.com and LIKE them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BatangSuperbook.

What's your favorite episode among the 13 and why? Share with me in the comments below.

Mommy Sally

Learn, Laugh, Love with Hobbes and Landes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everytime I mention the store Hobbes and Landes to my family or to some of my friends, I would either get a question-mark look, a blank stare or these kind of remarks like:

"Huh? What's that?"
"Ah, they are selling lands, real estate?"
"Calvin and Hobbes?"
"Ah that toy store?"

Apart from those comments, some would get the name incorrectly such as "hobbies and lanes". What a foreign sounding store it is. Way back in 2008, it was my hubby who first introduced and brought me to this store. He loves to window-shop at novelty stores where hard-to-find items can be found. As a family when I was a child, we don't used to shop in high end malls because it's so far from our place and my mom had a notion that everything is so expensive. That's why when I was growing up, I am not familiar with the malls. I only learned to shop through the influence of my friends and on the few occasions that somebody would invite me to hang-out or dine-out.

Anyway, I want to give you a walk through of Hobbes and Landes because I find it so extraordinary. First of all, the store name is pronounced as "hubbs and lands". It is not just an ordinary toy store for kids but a specialty lifestyle store for the whole family. If you are looking for unique finds, rare novelty items, imported and quality products, wholesome and educational toys, Hobbes and Landes is the place to go. The store is subdivided into different departments to cater to different interests.

The different pavilions or departments of Hobbes and Landes as seen from the street-like post by the hall way.

They have:
1. Build City - for constructing or building toys, puzzles
2. Journeys - for novelty items, home & living, souvenir items
3. Noah - for babies, toddlers, kids toys and childcare necessities
4. Handworks - for arts & crafts
5. Petropolis - for your pet needs particularly dog food, toys, necessities
6. Exploratorium - for science, experiments, learning products
7. Boardwalk - for board games, card games, classic games
8. Wishbone - for pet grooming and veterinary service
9. Collectibles - for collectors

To give you a better appreciation of Hobbes and Landes, here's a walk through on the different products they offer.

They have a wide array of LEGO themed sets and products.

They have various Playmobil themed sets and miniature dioramas.



They have jigsaw puzzles such as Educa, Heye. Here you can find the World's largest 24000-pc Educa puzzle! Wow!



 

Schleich collectible figures that look realistic. Meet the Giant Panda here!

Some of their baby products are Combi, Bugaboo, TOLO.

They have Janod kids puzzles, Djeco wall stickers, Sculpey clays and many others.

They have Fred & Friends and Artori quirky gift items. These products are so interesting to look at.

Sugarpova candies for kids and young at heart. There's a Hello Kitty too!



They have various globes, Dunecraft plant kits, science experiment kits and 4D body parts to enhance one's learning.

For astronomy enthusiasts, you can easily grab a hold of authentic meteorites here. Cool!

For fashion trendsetters, try these cute bracelet charms. They have lots of interesting designs to choose from.





They have Mimobot USBs in famous character designs that you can collect.



 

They have educational games and strategy board games for all ages.



They have a big selection for dog owners. Aside from dog leashes,
they even have dog diapers, dog water dispenser, dog boots and more.





They also have shampoo and cologne branded after their grooming station Wishbone.



This is their flagship store, located in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig.

How did you find the store? Full of interesting and never-been-heard products right? Yes, that's what they are known for. Famous brands from different parts of the world are showcased inside one big roof. If you can't easily fly out of the country, you may just opt to visit Hobbes and Landes. It would surely make your shopping experience exciting and memorable.

I would like to share with you my own experience with Hobbes and Landes through the series of photos below.

LEARN



My nieces enjoyed building their tallest tower with the use of LEGO Duplo.
It encourages interaction and cooperation with each other.



LAUGH

My friends and I had a good laugh playing board games such as Taboo.
It's one way to bond, socialize and sharpen our minds through play.



 

LOVE







Baby's first encounter with a Playmobil mascot.





My small Playmobil collection. I find the figures so cute and visually appealing.
It has round corners and smooth edges so it's really safe. Can't wait for baby to play with this when she's big enough.
Great for storytelling and role-playing.



Here's our Schleich collection. I bought these as a surprise to hubby because he loves everything about dinosaurs.



 

We introduced baby to dinosaurs and glad that she is not afraid of them. Haha! :)

And lastly, I bought baby a TOLO monkey to go along with the Five Little Monkeys story book that we always read to her.
I love the quality and features of this monkey toy because it not only makes a clicking sound when the arms/head/tail are turned but also a squeaking sound when the feet are pressed just like jumping. :)

Buying at Hobbes and Landes makes every cents of your money worth it because you are assured of the quality. The value of money is there because you know that the items you bought would last long where you could pass them to your succeeding kids or even the next generation. Although I haven't tried it yet but I believe in their products.

Let's get back to the basics - the real toys, actual board games because it's where learning is at its best. Many skills can be honed such as social skills, hand-eye coordination, motor skills, analytical & problem solving skills, personal interaction and more.

I hope you are able to get a good glimpse of what Hobbes and Landes is all about. And guess what, they have an ongoing pre-holiday sale until October 20, 2013 only so better hurry and do your early Christmas shopping now! :)

 

Let's learn, laugh, and love with Hobbes and Landes here:
Facebook: Hobbes and Landes https://www.facebook.com/hobbesandlandes.stores
Twitter: @hobbesandlandes https://twitter.com/hobbesandlandes
Instagram: @hobbesandlandes http://instagram.com/hobbesandlandes
Website: http://hobbesandlandes.com/index.php

How's your experience with Hobbes and Landes? What part of the store do you find interesting? Share with me in the comments below.

Mommy Sally

Sentro 1771: Unveiling of New Menu

If I would be asked what cuisine I loved most, my answer would be Italian or anything cheesy. I grew up from a family where common Filipino food was not the usual meal served that's why I didn't really get to appreciate those all-time favorite crispy pata, sisig, kare-kare, bulalo, and the likes. But my hubby loved those sinful food so much that he slowly introduced each of them to me whenever we dine out. We have an opposing attitude when it comes to food. My food-connoisseur hubby would usually order something that he had tried and tasted while I try to order the house's specialty or something unusual just to quench my thirst for adventure.

I am very grateful and honored to be enlisted, together with other bloggers, and be among the first to taste Sentro 1771's latest food offerings. To those who are not familiar with this restaurant, let me share with you a brief background.

Sentro 1771 Serendra Fort Bonifacio branch.

First of all, Sentro 1771 is a member of the 1771 Group of Restaurants that includes Chateau 1771 in Greenbelt 5, Café 1771, WineBar 1771 and Sidebar in El Pueblo Real de Manila Ortigas. I haven't tried any of them yet so this would be my very first time. Just a little trivia: What's with the number 1771, you might ask? 1771 was the street number where their very first restaurant was originally located. Sentro 1771 was born on year 2002, serving local Filipino dishes the Swiss-French style. It is headed by Executive Chef Vicky-Rose Pacheco who invented the famous Corned Beef Sinigang and became the specialty of the house. Until now, Chef Vicky continues to innovate with Sentro 1771's new menu which is what I will be sharing here with you.

From their previous menu where items were classified under appetizers, seafood, meat, etc., Sentro 1771's new improved menu is now classified according to their customer's needs. The next four images below are their new menu.

For first-time diners, their Sentro Signature Dishes is a must-try.
New additions under Pica-Pica: Duck Pancakes and B2B Sticks.

For foodies looking for something new and exciting, try their A La Sentro selections.
New addition under Spring Rolls: Macau Chorizo and Cheese Tidbits.

For people with hectic schedule, get your comfort food from their Home Cooking and Filipino Favorites.
New addition under Inihaw: Fish of the Day Pandan.
New addition under Iba't Ibang Adobo: Chicken Adobo sa Gata

For those health conscious and vegetarians, Vegetables and Salads section is for you.
New additions: Camote Cups and Two-Egg Ampalaya Crepe.
One of the new additions in the Rice section is Seafood Bagoong Rice.

Let's see if you won't drool over these innovative creations of Chef Vicky.

Dish#1:

B2B Sticks (P150): Skewered and grilled organic chicken gizzards cooked adobo-style.

In Tagalog, it's called Balunbalunan served in four barbeque sticks. Oops, I am not used to eating internal organs but the idea is so unique. A great match for beer-drinkers or as a finger food.

Dish#2:


Duck Pancakes (P170): Peking pancakes filled with strips of native duck slow-cooked in beer, rhum vinegar, soy sauce and muscovado sugar, served in four scoops.

For duck-lovers, you must try this. The first thing that comes to my mind is that it's like the famous Chinese dish Peking Duck served in 3 Ways.

Dish#3:

Macau Chorizo and Cheese Tidbits (P240): Mini spring rolls filled with Macau chorizo, shallots and keso de bola.

I enjoyed this one because I am a fan of everything cheesy. It's like a new version of Lumpiang Shanghai.

Dish#4:

Seafood Bagoong Rice (P530): Topped with grilled squid, garlic shrimps and hito flakes.

 
This dish is actually part of their rice choices but for me it's a complete meal in itself already. Full of flavors and so mouth-watering!

Dish#5:

Sinigang na Corned Beef (P595): Corned beef short plate and boneless beef shanks in tamarind broth with native vegetables.

Wow it's my first time to encounter corned beef in sinigang soup. The beef is so soft and succulent!

Dish#6:

Two-Egg Ampalaya Crepe (P150): Sautéed bitter melon on an egg crepe, topped with salted duck egg.

Wow, the bitterness of ampalaya was almost non-existent when you eat it altogether with salted egg and crepe. What an ingenious combination!

Dish#7:


Lamb Caldereta (P480): Boneless lamb shoulder stewed with carrots, bell peppers, tomato sauce, and spices.

It's my first time to eat caldereta in lamb and not beef. Its spicy and saucy tomato taste makes it appetizing to eat with your plain rice.

Dish#8:

Chicken Adobo sa Gata (P250): Still retains the vinegar-garlic-peppercorn balance but thickened with coconut milk.

Anything in gata or coconut milk makes the dish delectable and feels homey. In this dish, adobo plus gata results to double yumminess.

Dish#9:


Fish of the Day Pandan (P220 per 100g): Whole fish stuffed with sautéed onions, tomatoes, miso and malunggay, tied with pandan.

It's a Pompano fish. It might not look appealing at first sight, but when you dig into its stuffing, you'll surely finish it in no time.

Camote Cups (P240): Carved sweet potato filled with stir-fried cabbage, Baguio beans and carrots, with 4pcs.

Here's another complete meal. This time with a serving of vegetables and sweet potato as energy booster. Because of its pocket-sized presentation, picky-eaters would be enticed to try this.

Dessert#1:

Keso Flan (P220): a baked but light, no crust cheesecake served with queso de bola and red egg.

Oh, did you see that? A cheesecake with no crust! Try eating it together with the cheese and salted egg and see for yourself.

Dessert#2:

Fried Suman & Mangoes (P180): rolled out suman fried to a light crisp & topped with ripe mangoes and served with sweet coco jam.

I loved the way the sticky rice was prepared wherein I can feel the crispiness in every bite. Coating it with coco jam, it's so Filipino! I would really recommend this!

Dessert#3:

Banana Tart (P150): puff pastry with a light custard topped with caramelized saba banana slices.

It's my first time to see this kind of dessert. It's like a pancake but in a croissant-like base, topped with creamy custard and slightly-toasted saba.

Juice#1:


Dalanghita Juice (P110)

Lastly, if you will be ordering your drinks, go for Dalanghita Juice. It's so refreshing and natural as you can see the pulp.

After the food tasting done at Sentro 1771, I am now slowly learning to appreciate Filipino dishes. I would have more cuisines to choose from whenever we would dine outside. I would definitely invite my family to try this place because I learned that their ingredients are always bought fresh and dishes are cooked to order. Aside from that, they offer dishes that are healthy and diet-friendly wherein the pork is naturally raised and you have an option of either brown or red rice. Whatever Filipino dish that you are craving for, Sentro 1771 surely has something for you to enjoy.

A photo op with Executive Chef Vicky-Rose Pacheco.

So what are you waiting for? Come on over and let's rediscover a Filipino First - first in Modern Filipino cuisine, and first in delivering the fine dining experience that you are so looking for. Invite your overseas Filipino friends, expats, foreign business partners and family members to try Sentro 1771: a house that serves local dishes in a chic and elegant setting. Congratulations and big thanks to Executive Chef Vicky Pacheco for bringing Filipino cuisine to the next level!
 

If you are a fan of their Corned Beef Sinigang, I noticed that they have a T-shirt with that print, selling for P400.

I would also like to share with you some of my findings when I looked closely on their overall set-up, ambiance, and decors. As you enter, you would spot a bouquet of flower arrangement. But there's more to that, to my surprise, it is composed of different real vegetables such as baby eggplants, string beans, carrots, kamatis, chili pepper and many others. It's a good place to bring your kids as you introduce to them local vegetables on the tip of their hands.

Keep Sentro 1771 on top of your mind when you visit Serendra. Connect with them here:
Facebook: Sentro 1771
Twitter: @Sentro1771
Instagram: @sentro1771
Remember to use the hashtag: #firstinmodernfilipinocuisine when you post your pictures.

Sentro 1771 has two branches:
Greenbelt 3
Store Hours: 11:00am to 11:00pm (Monday to Sunday)
Contact: (02) 757-3941

Serendra Piazza
Store Hours: 7:00am to 10:00pm (Sunday to Thursday) / 7:00am to 11:00pm (Friday to Saturday)
Contact: (02) 856-0581

Website: http://sentro1771.net/

Thank you to Ms. Cha Sy and Vannah Santiago for this blogging opportunity.

Dear readers, which dish would you like to try? Feel free to comment below. :)

Mommy Sally