Quick Bites at Best Food Forward 2013

Once a year, budding food entrepreneurs converge for a sneak peek at their tasty creations. And like the food, the people behind the food always make Best Food Forward a much anticipated event. And this year's edition featured some amazing food, and people. 

Cupcakes by Ronna's Sweet Treats at Best Food Forward.

Now on its third year, Best Food Forward 2013 showcases the very best from up and coming food entrepreneurs in a two-day event. Desserts and sweets seemed to dominate the event, and this year's edition of Best Food Forward featured a wide range of cupcakes, cakes, cookies, and chocolate to satisfy any sugar fix. And it's great to see how the usual cupcake has evolved, with a variety of creative and surprising flavor combinations. In case you missed this year's Best Food Forward, here's a quick rundown on some of the cool selections from Best Food Forward's latest edition, all potential success stories...

Ronna Anido of Ronna's Sweet Treats, and her line of home baked specialties from cakes to cookies, eclairs and cupcakes. Bestsellers include her Cookie Dough Cheesecake, Pastillas de Leche Cheesecake, Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes, Chocolate Eclairs...

...and her signature cake, the Apple Streusel Pie with Creme Anglaise Sauce. And a slice or two is all you need to make the day right. This one's seriously good. For inquiries and orders, you can reach Ronna's Sweet Treats at 0917-810-0824. 

Mai Cakery and their line of cupcakes, or "cuppies" and cakes...

...and their signature Spiked Rhum Butter Cake. Rhum and butter, now that's one cool combo. It's always great and comforting to see a family running a food business together, you can just feel the love in their products. Check out their FB page at facebook.com/mai.cakery.

Jes Clemente of Little Louie's Cupcakes and her inventive and playful cupcakes, like Ferrero Rocher, Salted Caramel, Matcha, Mango-wango, Hazelnut Dream...

...and Jack Daniel's. Can't go wrong with JD, my kind of cupcake. Little Louie's Cupcakes are packed in cool boxes, a perfect gift for friends and family, or an indulgent treat to reward yourself. Check out Little Louie's Cupcakes' FB Page at http://facebook.com/llcupcakes.

Cool cookies, cool name. Chocolate chip cookies with Nutella and Reese's? Sounds good. Leave it to Kalookies to come up with a chocolate chip cookie with your favorite chocolate candy...

...from traditional chocolate chip to playful cookie combos with White Toblerone, M&Ms and KitKat. Check out their website at www.kalookies.com.

Margarita Sy of Paella Margarita and her rich traditional paella. Her squid ink paella is definitely one of the best I've tried. Check out Paella Margarita's website at www.paellamargarita.com.

Craving for chocolate? Cocoa Monster features an impressive selection of truffles, like Coffee Truffle, Orange Truffle, Almond, Pistachio, Walnut, Mango, Peanut Butter and even corn flakes. Pure chocolate bliss.

In addition to Cocoa Monster's extensive line of flavors and variants, they can also do custom orders for events and corporate giveaways. As the old saying goes, "moderation in all things....except chocolate." Visit their FB page at www.facebook.com/cocoamonstermanila.

This year's Best Food Forward also featured some of the youngest food entrepreneurs, definitely a good sign. Want some pulvoron with an extra kick? With Little Pepitas Sweet Delights, you can enjoy Speculoos Cookie Butter in many, really cool ways. Liyora De La Fuente, daughter of Dedet de la Fuente of Pepitas Kitchen's famous lechon degustacion, has Speculoos Milk Tea and Speculoos Pulvoron that just hits the spot.

Plus little cups of Chocolate Happiness and Nutella Happiness...all from Liyora's creative mind.

Not to be outdone, Liyora's older sister, Lileya de la Fuente of Curly Pepitas offers her popular Butter Beer, a golden sweet caramel beverage with a creamy head, and the indulgent Speculoos Shake concoction. For inquiries, you can call 0917-866-0662 for any of the specialty products from Pepitas Kitchen.

Then, there's Lush Cupcakes and Truffles, with their line of decadent truffles in a variety of flavors like Salted Caramel and S'mores...

...plus an extensive range of cupcakes in different colors and flavors. Check out their site at www.lushcupcakesPH.com.

Angela Villoria Tolentino's Cinq Dessert Boutique and their signature Dayap (local lime) Tart, with its sharp and refreshing citrus note and sweetness, another must try. Checkout their website at www.cinq.com.ph.

Sweet Mom's cupcakes, specializing in creative fondant and themed cupcakes. Cool cupcake creations. Visit their FB Page at www.facebook.com/SweetMomsTreats.

Mini personalized cupcakes? No prob. Best Food Forward's got that too.

Macarons, cookies, cupcakes and caramel apples from Mrs. Graham's Bakery, you'll definitely find your personal favorite. Macarons for breakfast? Check out Mrs. Graham's Bakery's cool macarons in Pancake with Maple Butter Cream, White Coffee and Cornflakes in Milk flavors. Visit their FB page at www.facebook.com/MrsGrahamsBakery.

Popcorn? Not just any popcorn, how about Chocolate Amond Cashew Crisp Popcorn? Grab a can from from Chicago Popcorn Shop for some cool takes on popcorn. Perfect for a weekend movie night. Check out their FB page at www.facebook.com/ChicagoPopcorn.

Takoyaki? Best Food Forward has that covered too. Fresh off the takoyaki pan, just the fix you need after all the sugar loading at Best Food Forward. Fuji mama offers a wide range of authentic Japanese dishes, including frozen items for take home, just call 0917-837-6364 for inquiries.

It was also great seeing another old favorite, Crunchy Belly from Carlo's Kitchen. Crisp and thinly-sliced pork belly, almost like bacon, can it get any better? Seriously good. Check out their FB page at www.facebook.com/crunchybelly.

Cool wholesale deals for siomai and siopao? Check out David's Fusion International Food Inc.'s great deals for bulk orders. You can call 551-2868 or 0943-6434009 for inquiries.

Outside the indoor exhibit area, various grill stations fired up featuring a variety of grilled meat and sausages, including some grilled sweet corn...

...to sausages, burgers and kebabs. Great food, great people, all in one tent. And there's so much more. It would take at least another day, and a healthy appetite, to try everything at this year's Best Food Forward.

After a couple of hours, and a couple more cupcakes and cookies, it was time to go. It felt kinda funny enjoying all those cupcakes, with cupcakes not being your usual dude food. But man, cupcakes have definitely come a long way. Amazing flavor combos and concepts. Can't wait what these guys will think of next. And you can expect to hear more good things from these foodie start-ups soon. Best food forward? Definitely.

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