An app a day keeps hunger away

If you’re battling lateness — not because you have a problem being punctual, but because you just can’t find the venue where an event is taking place — there is hope.A writer friend wasted 15 minutes of her precious time driving around Bonifacio High Street trying to locate URBN Bar and Kitchen, where the launch of the newest flavors of a popular ice cream brand was taking place.

When she arrived at the venue, the place was already packed so she just settled near the reception area. Had she installed the Looloo app on her iPhone 5, which I did, things would have been different. Instead of standing, she could’ve joined me on the couch and indulged in luscious, chocolate-dipped strawberries and chocolate brownies while watching stylist Liz Uy enjoy her strawberry ice cream bar.

The Looloo app, now available at the iOS app store and best enjoyed with a Globe PowerSurf plan, is an indispensable tool not only for epicureans but also for food writers like me, whose days are marked with product launches, food tastings, and restaurant openings.

Looloo helps you find great restaurants in your area and share delicious food items with others. To get started, you’ll need to sign up via Facebook. I use Globe PowerSurf so I can enjoy browsing on my iPhone and explore all the apps that I want whenever, wherever! 

The best part is, using PowerSurf lets me surf worry-free on my phone, and I am not scared of bill shock. I can even choose the plan based on my needs. Awesome!

Going back to Looloo: Looloo will ask you to enable your location services so that the app can do the work for you! Once your location services are enabled, Looloo will allow you to add contacts, explore nearby restaurants, read reviews, create lists, and even a customized profile. The Explore page features a large map of your current location, with icons showing the location of restaurants on a map. You can zoom in on the map and look at surrounding streets to make sure you know exactly where you are going.

If you already have a particular restaurant in mind just search for your restaurant on the Explore page, type the name of the restaurant and/or address and voilà, your query will pop up on the screen.

As I write, I’m salivating just by looking at photos of food on Looloo, particularly the Cheesy Garlic Wings and Chocolate Waffle at Smokey’s Wings and Waffles. The restaurant is at Skygarden, SM City North Edsa, which, according to Looloo is just 0.9km from my home. If not for this handy app and my iPhone, I wouldn’t have known that such a restaurant existed!

A shelf full of cookbooks on your phone

Epicurious, Evernote Food, and Big Oven are definitely the best iPhone apps for food lovers, food writers, and busy moms like myself.

Big Oven, for one, lists more than 250,000 recipes, with a powerful search engine that offers a host of options for finding a recipe you’d like. It even creates a grocery list for you! How cool is that?

The homepage looks like a glossy food mag but the “cover,” which shows photos of delectable dishes, changes every second. If a particular dish teases your palate, just tap the screen and you’ll get the recipe, how many people each recipe serves, food reviews, down to the calories per serving.

The huge database of recipes (mostly Western dishes) was uploaded by Big Oven users and yes, you may sometimes find one that you don’t like or one that takes an expert to prepare but you can definitely get ideas for your next meal at Big Oven.

My favorite recipe app so far is Epicurious, which contains thousands of recipes from the original Epicurious website, coming from “professional sources.” 

The homepage boasts 21 food categories — Oscar Party Snacks, Lunar New Year, Oscar Party Drinks, Mardi Gras Cocktails, Healthy Breakfasts, Healthy Lunches, Healthy Snacks, Healthy Entrees, Weekend Brunch, Lunches Kids Love, Winter Cocktails, Kid-Friendly Mains, Low-Calorie Mains, Vegetarian Mains, Simple Pastas, I Cook Like A Pro, and I Can Barely Cook — to help you narrow down your choices.

Party planners will definitely have a heyday browsing this app for themed-party food ideas!

As for me, I make it a habit to check out the Lunches Kids Love category on my way home from work. You see, preparing breakfast and packed lunches for my 15-year-old son is a major production. While kids his age settle for cereal, eggs, or toast to power themselves up, Karl prefers sinigang na bangus, nilagang baka or pork a la beans with steamed rice for breakfast. So I wake up as early as 4:30 a.m. to prepare his preferred meal for the day.

With Epicurious’s Kid-Friendly Mains, I get to try a lot of easy-to-prepare meals that are not just yummy but packed with nutrients as well. This also means less 4:30 a.m. mornings. Whew!

You might also want to check out the 20-Minute Meals by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver for a totally different recipe experience. You just have to shell out US$7, or approximately P280, to download the app on your iPhone.

And while you’re busy preparing these meals, be sure to keep your iPhone or tablets at a safe distance to avoid accidental spills.

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Are you a food lover like me? Power up your iPhone and download these apps with Globe PowerSurf, the mobile Internet plan that gives you full control over your mobile browsing usage. To register, text POWERSURF to 8888. For more info on apps perfect for your iPhone, visit http://surf.globe.com.ph.