My Top 3 posts for 2013: Whitemoon Bar, Aling Banang's, Amber

This is my first post for 2014 so however late, let me greet you a Happy New Year. I wish you blessed days and months ahead, with your needs and heart's desires granted by our awesome God. Well, my 2013 was a good one, especially when it comes to this foodie diary. After a year and a half since its inception, The Awesome Grind had over 20,000 visitors at the year's end. I know it was no big feat but it made me very happy, to think that I almost gave up blogging at the start, sad that nobody seemed to read my posts apart from my husband. So to everyone who visits my blog, thank you so much! Mwaah! Truth to tell, I really don't consider myself a true-blue blogger. To me, I'm just a hobbyist. Though I'm a writer and editor by profession, I'm a mere amateur when it comes to photography. Also, I'm no geek and so I've no idea how to "beautify" this blog. Given these reasons, I know I can't be lined up among the "legal" bloggers, and I certainly am just happy there are people like you who read my posts in this blog of sort. Hey, before I move you to tears, let me share with you the Top 3 posts in The Awesome Grind last year, based on the number of hits or visits. 
Here they are:

3. Amber on a Black Saturday  (March 31, 2013)

I had two posts about Amber last year and the first one made it to No. 3. My first visit to Amber was on Good Friday. Lucky for me (and family), their Tomas Morato branch was open. Since then, I'd visited Amber two more times till the year's end, both occasions at their T.M. Kalaw branch. My family loves Amber because of the superb Pinoy food that they serve, at pocket-friendly prices to boot. No wonder this resto is a popular Google search, and the reason it's one of my most-visited posts. Amber is famous for its delicious Pancit Malabon and Pichi-Pichi plus a lot more of our favorite Filipino dishes.

2. Aling Banang's: Over eight decades of glorious carinderia food (July 3, 2013)

Aling Banang's is a carinderia that started inside the San Juan Public Market in the 1930s. After some 80 years, it now has some 14 branches around Metro Manila, though their FB page says only 11 are authentic. It was my husband, who grew up in san Juan, who first brought me to Aling Banang's, boasting about how good their ice cream halo-halo was. You see, this refreshing and sweet dessert at Aling Banang's is unique because it has no ice - only homemade ice cream. Well, they also serve regular halo-halo with ice but it was the ice cream halo-halo that made Aling Banang's famous. Last year, one branch of this carinderia opened just a stone's throw away from our office in Quezon City. Needless to say, I'm always there. Haha! Their pancit bihon is too die for, with the crunchy-skinned lechon kawali on top. For just P45 per serving (which is huge, I never finish it in one sitting), it is such a joy! There was a period before the year ended that I ate pancit bihon at Aling Banang's everyday. Haha! But before I discovered their pancit, I ate lechon kawali with fried rice at every visit. Check out Aling Banang's for some down-to-earth yumminess.

1. Whitemoon Bar: Where sunset tops the menu (February 12, 2013)

We (my two daughters and the eldest's beau) were at Whitemoon Bar February last year. What a bliss to be at this place at the Manila Ocean Park in time for sunset. For lovers of the sea and dusk like me, this bar is pure bliss! You get to eat, drink and just chillax while enjoying nature. No better way to unwind and shake off all the stress at work. We enjoyed their baked mussels, nachos, tacos and carbonara. The spaghetti with meatballs was not so good, though. Prices are steep but the cool ambiance makes up for it.
This 2014, I look forward to more foodie discoveries to share with you, guys. Hope you visit my blog in the weeks ahead. Together, let's enjoy good food and just have a good time. 
God bless!

Aling Banang's: Over eight decades of glorious carinderia food

I've known about this carinderia Aling Banang's since my hubby brought me and the kids to one of its branches in San Juan some 15 years ago. Our youngest son had not yet been born then. The hubby was kinda excited as he drove us there, moreso when he finally got to eat his childhood favorite, the halo-halo ice cream. He'd been eating at Aling Banang's since he was a schoolboy, he said, and always, he was there for the halo-halo ice cream. This cold dessert only available, perhaps, at Aling Banang's, is quite unique because while it has the usual halo-halo ingredients, it doesn't have shaved ice, only ice cream! 

Aling Banang's might as well be the oldest existing carinderia nowadays. Owned by Urbana Silva Santiago, it started out as a small stall inside the San Juan public market in the 1930s,  serving only halo-halo. As the business grew, the menu expanded to include noodle dishes like palabok and pansit bihon. Today, Aling Banang's is perhaps the most "sosy" carinderia you could find not only because it is aesthetically a notch higher than the other small eateries, but also because it has many branches already - 14 in Metro Manila, 7 of them in San Juan. It offers a lot to the hungry whether for breakfast, lunch/dinner or merienda. There's dinuguan, fried chicken, sisig, tapsilog, pansit, goto, mami and a lot more.

Last month (June), I was delighted to see a branch of Aling Banang's open very near our office in Diliman, QC. Of course, I didn't wait long before I went there to get reacquainted with Aling Banang. Together with two of my kids (my youngest I brought with me to to work that day while his ate came visiting later in the day) and my friend/officemate Pam, I was there right after office hours. These were our orders: 

Lechon kawali, P45. with fried rice, P12.

Sizzling pork sisig with rice, P65.

Barbecue, P20/stick with plain rice, P10.

Palabok, P42.

There's free soup!

Aling Banang's famous Halo-Halo Ice Cream, P45.

Sago't gulaman, P15.

Inside Aling Banang's-Visayas Ave. That's my son playing invisible piano. Hehe.

I loved my lechon kawali so much, specially the crispy pork skin. Yummy! My kids loved their orders too, the sisig and barbecue. As for Pam, she wasn't all praises for her palabok, saying it was just "okay". I hope to try this myself soon, palabok being one of my favorite pansit varieties. Anyway, the halo-halo ice cream was good but not something to rave about.  In truth, I still go for plain ice cream or the usual halo-halo. By the way, I was there at Aling Banang's for the second time today, again having lechon kawali for lunch. Hehe. I was by my lonesome though because Pam was sick and absent from work. Sigh... It doesn't mean, however, that I had a lonely meal. I was happy to have my lechon kawali again.  :-)