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.  :-)

Great barbecue at Ineng's!

Weekend markets are popular these days and a number of restaurants that have made it big were borne of them. One of such is Ineng's, which started selling barbecue at the Sidcor Sunday Market in Cubao in 1999. Apparently, the products they sold were so good that the stall owners, a couple named Richard and Michelle, would always finish selling everything in record time. Their barbecue that grew more popular by the week became known as "Ineng's Special BBQ", Ineng being Michelle's moniker. The husband and wife soon joined other weekend markets until they opened their first mall-based branch at Market! Market! in 2004. The rest, as they, is history.

Earlier this year, I saw an Ineng's branch at the new Wilcon Depot near our office on Visayas Ave. in Quezon City. My friend-co-worker Pam and I had just had lunch at Bigger Better Burger and were about to go back to the office when we passed by Ineng's at the ground floor of the sprawling "mall". What immediately caught my eye was the poster outside with the words "kapeng barako" written in it. Hey! I missed kapeng barako, which I used to brew every morning upon waking up. I had long stopped this routine because of my hyperacidity, which prompted me to cut back on caffeine to just one cup a day, at the office, in the afternoon.  
Anyway, days later, I was back at Wilcon Depot, this time with my youngest son to have lunch at where else but Ineng's? 
Here, take a look at some of what they offer:

Pork barbecue with rice and lumpiang sariwa, P139.

Pinoy chicken BBQ, P129.

Complimentary soup.

Saba at sago con yelo, P49.

Iced tea that comes with our set meals.

Kapeng barako (oops, forgot the price).

The boy and his chicken barbecue.

I can't get enough of the barbecue sauce!

Inside Ineng's at Wilcon Depot on Visayas Ave.

At first bite of my pork barbecue, I wasn't exactly impressed; I've had good barbecue elsewhere. But when I poured some barbecue sauce into it, my rating shot up from 6 to 9 in a scale of 1 to 10. The sauce made a lot of difference! It made my barbecue go from okay to great! As for the fresh lumpia, it was..okay.. there's a lot of room for improvement in its sauce. Meanwhile, my son loved his chicken barbecue and declared he'd love to be back at Ineng's just for it.

Ineng's has several branches in Metro Manila, some of which are at SM North Edsa, Robinson's Place Novaliches, 168 Mall and Katipunan Ave.

Loving lunch-outs at Ninang's Pansit Malabon

My little boy and I have a new favorite foodie place - Ninang's Pansit Malabon, which has a branch near our office on Visayas Ave. in Quezon City. Two weeks ago, it was our place for lunch and it was then that my son professed love for Ninang's sinigang na baboy. Last Monday, it was our second time there but now also with us were one of my daughters and our two doggies. Yup, they were all with me as I went to work.  Talk about chaos in the office. Hehe..
Anyway, all of us enjoyed Monday's lunch. Yep, including the dogs. Haha! The first time, I learned that the dinuguan at Ninang's was delicious and on the second time, I hailed the boneless daing na bangus! It was rightly seasoned (just a hint of vinegar so not too sour)  and had a crunch to it. My son, on both occasions, ordered sinigang na baboy, while the daughter went for pork binagoongan with rice and Pansit Malabon. The three of us shared our food with the four-legged creatures and there was nary a complaint from the doggies. Hehe... With the prices of food at Ninang's, there wasn't a hint of protest from my purse as well! 
The restaurant offers combo meals consisting of a viand (choices of pork barbecue, daing na bangus, lumpiang shanghai, dinuguan), rice and Pansit Malabon, the latter being the specialty here. Some viands are served with only rice plus iced tea. There are also other ala carte dishes such as the Pinoy favorites kare-kare and crispy pata. Meanwhile, Pansit Malabon can be ordered for take-out on bilao of various sizes.  

Pansit Malabon, P55.

Daing na bangus meal, P75.

Dinuguan meal, P75.

Dinuguan is also perfect with puto (which is available at Ninang's too), for snacks.

Sinigang na baboy meal (with rice and iced tea), P75.

Binagoongan (w/ rice and iced tea), P75.

My boy makes himself sinigang rice topping.

I go after him and make myself dinuguan rice topping. :-)

Choose your bilao size. 

Various food items are for sale here too.

Good thing we were allowed to bring our minipins Odie and Tiger Lily inside.  They enjoyed
the food at Ninang's too! :-)

Other branches of Ninang's Pansit Malabon that I know of are in Tandang Sora and Fairview, both in Quezon City and on G. Tuazon St. in Sampaloc, Manila.

Missing coffee breaks at Kopimeyts

Baked Carbonara, P95.  for single serving, P165 for sharing

Tapsilog, P100.

Brewed coffee that came with the Tapsilog. Lovely saucer, isn't it?

Grandma's Chocolate Cake P100. I gotta make mano to that lola!

Cafe latte, P60. Like the leaf art :-)

There wasn't a single coffeehouse in the vicinity of our office along Visayas Ave. in Diliman, Quezon City till Kopimeyts was established last year. So one day, one of my closest friends at work and I jumped at the chance of spending our coffee break there. Since then, I'd been at Kopimeyts a couple of times, with  different company on each occasion. I loved their Tapsilog, a breakfast fare which you could order here anytime of the day. At P100., it already came with brewed coffee. Not bad, you might say. However, I loved their baked carbonara even more. They used penne pasta, which surprised me the first time I ordered it, since most restaurants use spaghetti noodles for this particular dish. At Kopimeyts, baked carbonara was heavenly. It had just the right creaminess. Hindi nakakasawa. Yum! It came with a halved slice of toasted garlicky tasty bread - a plus point for me since pasta is lonely food without garlic bread, don't you just think so? Just before I embarked on a joyful three-and-a-half-week vacation last May, I took two of my kids to work and to Kopimeyts and they too loved the baked carbonara. But when I reported back to work, I found out Kopimeyts was no more, to my dismay! A salon is now in its place. Oh darn, no coffee shop in the neighborhood again! Now all I have are coffee and baked carbonara memories. Sigh!