... that's what i came up with as a theme for friday lunch outs. :) it's always been my own tradition to go out every friday lunch and just get away from the office. even if i'm all alone, i'd go out and just treat myself after a week of work. now, i've set up a small group - the mommies lunch out. and our theme for this March is the cheapest lunch out there. but i eventually changed to to carinderia coz let's face it, the cheapest lunch is still baon or just have those styo-foam-lunch-boxes delivered to the office.
we first tried petra and pilar which i read about in blogs. it was just walking distance from RCBC so one hot friday morning, we trekked to this high-end carinderia. we ordered chopsuey, kare-kare and adobo... and it's true what they say... it's yummy but also high end. the kare-kare topped with their super tasty bagoong made me think of bringing hane there coz he's a kare-kare lover. i'd go back to that place even for just a taste of their kare-kare. yummy! we didn't try the desserts coz it didn't really sweep me off my feet so we just contented ourselves with a mcdo sunday.
next stop: aling lucing along salcedo. it was really set up like a carinderia just like those in a regular local office. you have a choice of a budget meal or a sizzling budget meal. hehehe! it was funny that way coz you pay more if you want to eat out of a sizzling hot plate. i for one am not really a big fan of sizzling hot plate. the food just gets to a point that it'll become dry. but let's face it, you can't have sisig without the hot plate. we got the budget meals and ordered sisig to share. this is one of the meals that is easily forgetable but hey what do you expect from a carinderia?? the sisig is the kind that's too saucy. even if it was on a sizzling plate, it didn't really get to the crunchy phase. it was just full of sauce and you can taste the taba. after eating 2 spoonfuls, i eventually got used to the taste but i wouldn't go back there, even for their so-called specialty sisig.
3rd stop was sosings. hane and i used to eat here. hane just loves their nilaga and i guess the ambiance. but i remember when we used to eat here, i just went along with him coz i wasn't really keen on having a date in a carinderia. so it was a half-hearted attempt for me to eat there. but last friday, i got the enjoy the experience of it. yup, it's really an experience. not just the eating part, also the waiting, dessert and everything else. first thing you do is wait. yup, wait... wait on tables. as in you have to station yourself in front of the table you want to eat in. never mind that the people who are still eating there are getting conscious coz here are a group of people, with hands across the chest, tapping their feet and just whispering why it's taking so long for these fatsos to eat. hehehe! yup, that's the first experience. once you're seated, you tell the manang what you want to eat... ulam, soup and rice. make sure you have all the condiments: sili, calamansi, suka and toyo, and don't forget the tissue. once your food arrive, wipe your spool/fork with tissue and if you can, wipe your plate as well. surprisingly, the fish dish is more expensive than meat so make sure you ask for the price first if you're aiming to get the cheap meal. my fave has always been the liempo and the bicol express and till now, they never fail me. they're tasty and goes so well with sili and suka. oh, the drinks here are only those softdrinks in glass bottles. you can't have any iced tea, orange juice or whatever drinks you usually order from a typical resto. and to top off the meal, dessert would be a choice of yema, dirty ice cream or fruits sold in the streets. so far, this is my most fave carinderia nearest to makati. let's see how it goes on our next quests...
