When In Manila, everybody is back with their busy lives once again! The holidays are over (awww); gone are the days of non-stop food fests and drinking sessions. A fresh new year has ushered in, leading to a plethora of New Year’s resolutions posted all over the Internet. Two of the most very common resolutions listed this year is to start having a healthier diet and saving money. As the newest place where you can grab fresh,delicious and affordable sub sandwiches in the metro, Hoagies is definitely a highly-recommendable place for you to fulfil both of those resolutions!

 

Hoagies: Manila’s Freshest Sandwich Place!

 

Hoagies’ name gets its origins from ‘Hog Island’ in New York. It is said that residents in that set of two islands off Long Island, New York ate unique sandwiches in large loaves of Philadelphian bread filled with meat, and they originally named it ‘Hoggies’. By the end of World War II, the word evolved into how it is pronounced and spelled today: hoagies. Now, ‘hoagies ‘is known as the Philadelphian word for a submarine sandwich.

Being an adventurer of her own, Ms. Kathy Villar, along with her two co-founding partners, were inspired to bring Philadelphia’s hoagies to  Philippine shores. Therefore, in August of 2012, Hoagies was launched in the country, and they have been growing ever since. They presently have four branches (SM Annex North EDSA, SM Fairview, SM Bicutan & SM Southmall) and will open two more branches (SM BF and SM Manila) this 2014. For our trip, we visited one of the Southern Manila Hoagies branches: the one on the 2nd floor of SM Bicutan’s Building A.

Looking at the inside of Hoagies from the outside, the design of the store somewhat gives off a feel of a vintage 80’s American restaurant with floors designed with a chess-like pattern and some walls covered with red bricks. With its store design alone, Hoagies already gives us a glimpse of what it feels like to dine in a Philadelphian restaurant.

Prior to entering the store, we were also greeted by a nice lady who was inviting passersby to try out their 8-inch sandwiches for just P88. Now, onto the sandwiches! We tried out two of Hoagies’ bestsellers: the flagship sandwich Philly’s Fine Cheesesteak and the juicy Backyard Roast Chicken. 

Raffy’s order was prepared first: the Philly’s Fine Cheesesteak. The sandwich artist greeted us and asked us which vegetables we wanted or did not want; it’s cool to know there’s a job called ‘sandwich artist’! So we watched her prepare the 8-inch bread and slowly placed some vegetables like tomatoes, strips of cabbages, cucumbers and pickles.

As you can see from the image above, those are your choices of vegetables and other add-ons that can be included in some of the sandwiches. She then smothered a layer of cheese sauce atop the fillings and finally laid over the beef strips. The sandwich was then toasted for a few seconds and voila, there we had Hoagies’ renowned Philly’s Cheesesteak!

 Meanwhile, I tried out their Backyard Roast Chicken which was really filled with their tender chicken strips covered in delicious BBQ sauce. If you  want to have more beyond just the hoagie, you can also opt to add chips and drinks for P50, or request for additional meat fillings for P65 or double cheese for P20 to any of the sandwiches. Although the Backyard Roast Chicken was a bit sloppy, everything was mmmm good!

While the Philly’s Fine Cheesesteak is Hoagies’ flagship sandwich, the Classic Ham and Cheese(P135) and Backyard Roast Chicken(P150) are their two top best-selling hoagies. Hoagies also have two sandwich variants that represent Filipino dishes: the Chori Special(P130) and the Pulled Pork Adobo(P130).

Moreover, they also have a more ‘wholesome’ set of seafood and veggie choices in the Classic Crab(P140) hoagie, the Hoagie Harvest(P110) (pure veggies) and the Hoagie Catch(P125) (tuna). Lastly, The Rebound (P160), Zesty Pastrami (P155), Hungarian Sausage(P170), and B.L.T. (P120) are the other sandwiches you can enjoy at Hoagies.

Now, besides the sandwiches, Hoagies also offers more non-hoagies options on their menu. Some Hoagies branches even offer creamy mushroom soup and pumpkin soup. Furthermore, they also have a sumptuous-looking set of 4 piece-Philly wings for P199. Philadelphia is really known for their wings, so I bet Hoagies’ version will showcase this with their own Philly wings!

Now, you can really maximize the fulfillment of your diet and saving up resolutions with this promo of Hoagies. The stated six 8-inch sandwiches below are currently available for only P88! 

 

So, When in Manila, whether from you’re from the South or the North, you can always grab a fresh, tasty, and value-for-money sandwich at the four (soon to be six) Hoagies branches located around Metro Manila! Enjoy!

 

 

HOAGIES

 

SM Fairview, SM Bicutan, SM Southmall, SM Annex North EDSA

Soon-to-open: SM Manila and SM BF

 Facebook Page   https://www.facebook.com/HoagiesPhilippines

For deliveries, call 2121212

 

Photographer: Raffy Villanueva

Photo Credits: Ms. Kathy Villar (images of the other four sandwiches)

 

 

Hoagies: Manila’s Freshest Sandwich Place!