About Us

The Original Manila Foodistas is the brainlove child of a conversation between Joey and Bong on the 11th of March 2008. Their original idea was to start a food blog about food that can be found in and around their campus, University of the Philippines, Diliman. Later on, they decided that there was so much more food to be had and to be shared, and expanded their food selection to anything and everything edible.

They pulled a couple of their friends in on the idea. Hannah, Pats and Kat (all three baking fiends), Harrell (a Nutrition major), Tiffy (who adores Japanese food), and Mark (a foodie ever since and, like Joey, enjoys taking photos of food). Soon, they were in business.

Figuring out a name for themselves and the blog was a long, long, looooong process, and, ironically, the name Manila Foodistas was cooked up by Joey, who was then starting and fixing up the blog, as a placeholder name until they figure out their final one. Bong and Harrell saw the name and liked it, and, soon, the name just grew on everyone.

They were all students of the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Guest bloggers are welcome.

Contact us for inquiries, guest blogs, event invites at manilafoodistas [at] gmail.com :-)

The current Foodistas are also from the University of the Philippines, Diliman. They all met in school and have since went on to do different things!

Meet the Foodistas

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Bong is an up-and-coming chef and bartender, passionate in his activities. He is calm assertive according to his friends. He dreams of entering media or politics to do something great for the Philippines.

Likes. writing poems, his MacBook, his dogs Jade, Debbie, Sophie and Kirby, playing Ultimate Frisbee, the beach, swimming, traveling to new places, coffee

Dislikes. insects, people who don't know when to be serious, pineapples, crowded places

Favourite cuisine. Italian, Japanese and Chinese

His version of comfort food. mint chocolate, pistachio ice cream, chocolates

Danne is a young graphic artist / psychology graduate based in sunny Manila. She takes pleasure in creating beautiful things and believes that anything and everything could be made aesthetically delicious!
Likes. Coldplay, Tinkerbell and Disneyland to name a few.
Dislikes. Uncertainty.
Favourite cuisine. American when I'm hungry, Japanese when I feel like eating tasty food and Mexican for pigging out!

Her version of comfort food: French Fries. Best ever!

Marielle is a sweet and sunny girl in the city. She is an art enthusiast and loves to travel to beautiful and interesting places. She collects interesting erasers and carries a handkerchief everyday. Don't be fooled by her dainty demeanor, because she can finish a steak faster than you can say "I'm flabbergasted!"
Likes. food, travel, shopping, music, and art.  
Dislikes. Insects.
Favorite cuisine. Southwestern, Italian, Mexican
Her version of comfort food. Anything cheesy, cookie dough ice cream, and chicken!
Personal blog. http://iranoutofink.blogspot.com/

Nicole is an ailurophile and a Spanish major who has just finished her undergrad this year.
Likes. Classical music, history, vegetables, tea, sushi, kimchi, home-cooked meals
Dislikes. Loud music, littering, too much sugar
Favourite cuisine. Anything Asian, Italian, and of course her mom's cooking (ahem!)
Her version of comfort food. Carrots, noodles

Therese is a recent graduate, and is currently in Taiwan for her master's degree. People's first impressions of her are either "shy" or "serious". While she is both, she also knows how to have fun, especially when she is with her close friends. She likes to watch cooking shows but of course, she prefers to eat!

Likes. Food, taking pictures, traveling

Dislikes. Crowded spaces, liars, obnoxious people, heat

Favourite cuisine. Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Italian
Her version of comfort food. Ice cream and chocolates!

Tiffy loves yellow and orange and Hello Kitty. Aside from being a workaholic, she enjoys playing video games which keeps her from succumbing to the insanities of life.

Likes. The environment.

Dislikes. Hamsters.

Favourite cuisine. Chinese and Japanese (Wasabi... Yum!)

Her version of comfort food. No-brainer philosophy: stock up on Yakult ♥
Contact. tiffychua [@] gmail [.] com

Former Foodistas

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Hannah is a budding musician and writer, cannot draw to save her life, has problems with unnaturally coloured drinks, scared of small screaming children, annoyingly stubborn, walks on the wild side, dreams what she wants to, and tactless in most occasions.
Jane Austen rocks her socks.
Likes. KFC's french fries, professional soccer players, movies where there are any of the following: kissing in the rain, airport terminal scenes, and men who speak in british accents
Dislikes. Taco Bell, leeches (the human variety)
Favourite cuisine. Japanese, Thai, Persian
Her version of comfort food. minute tapioca pudding and Nissin seafood cup noodle

Harrell is an emerging computer genius who spends most of his time at home in front of his laptop or PC. He enjoys tinkering with electronics that he can understand and assembles PCs in his free time -- sometimes. He likes eating and is currently interested in installing a Mac on a PC.
He makes friends easily with virtually anyone -- as long as they're friendly too.
Likes. food, computers, PC games, Naruto, Heroes, Smallville, his electronics, apples, good movies, good conversations, friends for keeping
Dislikes. moochers, pretentious people, cockroaches, fingernail scratching the blackboard, being asked to do handyman chores around the house, disorder
Favourite cuisine. Japanese, Italian
His version of comfort food. anything yummy available in the fridge

Joey enjoys taking photos, but also being taken photos of, because she complains that since she's usually the appointed photographer, she's in so few of the pictures. She thinks differently and thoroughly enjoys it. She loves eating, and is willing to try anything at least once, as long it won't make her sick.
She dreams of one day saving the world in her own big or small way.
(She's also wondering why everyone above her began with "is a frustrated [whatever].")
Likes. fruits, cereal, shopping, good music, eastern teas, books, seafood, dancing
Dislikes. freeloaders, pretentiousness, things that are too sweet, "Filipino-style" spaghetti sauce
Favourite cuisine. Asian and Mediterranean Cuisines
Her version of comfort food. ginataang halo-halo, home-cooked food, cereal (Special K!) ♥


Kat spends her free time watching the telly, shopping and pampering herself, and is the Friends trivia guru. She makes some of the best crinkles you'll ever have, and can bake up a storm, if she has to. She's sweet, but quite unpredictable.
She has surprising taste in music.
Likes. shopping, the idea of being in the same area as her favourite Hollywood celebrities, enjoying all things sweet while she still can, and her dog, Faffy
Dislikes. sweet pasta, hidden fees during sales and Chuck Norris
Favourite cuisine. Chinese, hands down
Her version of comfort food. ice cream and Chinese food

Mark is a person whose many interests are scattered all over the place. He is adept at answering general trivia about a wide range of obscure topics. He is also obsessed with Gordon Ramsay, and downloads all of his British shows. His hard drive contains over 20 gigabytes of british food shows from Channel 4 with everyone from Gordon Ramsay to Jamie Oliver to Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall.
Likes. basketball, food, photography
Dislikes. math, insects, public speaking
Favourite cuisine. All of them
His version of comfort food. chocolate milk, been drinking it as long as he can remember.

Pats may easily be one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet -- which doesn't mean he's a pushover. He has an affinity for mecha (Japanese robots), and movies and shows of the comedic variety (not so much standup comedy though). He may be the fittest out of all the foodistas, as he actually has the discipline to work out regularly.
His "sex" cookies are extremely popular among his friends & orgmates.
Likes. Gundam, badminton, basketball, eating! :D, hanging out with friends
Dislikes. math, definitely, and, most likely, chemistry real soon
Favourite cuisine. Italian, Japanese and Chinese
His version of comfort food. tomato based pastas and dimsum