Feigning courage at Nueve Cafe

How adventurous can your palate get? What's the most exotic food have you stuffed yourself with? When I was a gawkish teenager in our hometown in Quezon, I "accidentally" ate asuzena (dog meat) and that was the "weirdest" thing I'd ever had..till last Friday. My office pal Pam and I decided to go out for lunch. After minutes of walking under the noonday sun, we found ourselves at Wilcon Depot, inside Nueve Cafe which serves croc meat. Yup, you read it right. Crocodile! Remember "Lolong", the over 20-foot saltwater crocodile that landed the Philippines in the Guinness Book of World Records? Hehe. Pam told me she couldn't and wouldn't eat croc meat out of  respect for the memory of the former world's largest crocodile in captivity. Haha! But I couldn't be at this restaurant without trying croc meat. I had to have my croc! Haha! But before I impress you with having an adventurous palate, let me admit that I was only feigning courage. Hehe. Truth was I shied away from pure croc meat by looking past the Dundee Burger, Croc Katsu and worst, Sesame Croc Ribs (I wouldn't want to be staring at crocodile ribs and scrape the meat off it too and eat it!) in the menu. Instead, I ordered Croc Carbonara because I knew that once I mixed the pasta and sauce all together, I wouldn't taste croc meat in all its pureness. Hehehe.  

Here are Pam and mine's orders:    

My Croc Carbonara, P135. See the crocodile meat toppings?

Pam's Arrabiata, P120.

Tuna Clubhouse, P185. We shared this.

Our drinks: Mango Juice and Dalandan Juice, P40. each.

Inside Nueve Cafe.

Pam and I both loved our pasta and the clubhouse sandwich too. If you're curious how the croc meat tasted, I tell you I'm not sure, I didn't want to concentrate on it for fear of losing my appetite. Hahaha! But Pam opined that it tasted like longganisa and I agreed. Anyway, I asked the server where they get their croc meat and she shared that Nueve Cafe is owned by Wilcon Depot and that they have their own crocodile farm in Teresa, Rizal. By the way, Pam and I "pitied" the server because she seemed to be the lone crew so she also was the cashier and the one who prepared (the sandwich, at least.. not sure if she cooked our pasta too!) and served our food. I cheerily added that maybe, she was also the one who caught the crocodile for my order. Hehehe. (Joke lang!) I liked her though because even if she was multi-tasking, she was still friendly toward us..until she told me I couldn't take a picture of the counter. Grrr..hehehe. The owner forbids it, she said. Oh well, I'm glad I was still able to take a picture of the cafe's interior. (I hope the server doesn't get a memo for this). 

Nueve Cafe has three branches that I know of - Visayas Ave., Libis and Alabang Zapote. I'm not sure if there are others besides these and so is Google. 

Dare munch on croc meat today?

BBB-2

Since I started food blogging last year, there have only been a handful of restaurants that I've gone back to after I tried them. As much as possible, I go to a different foodie place on every occasion so that I would always have something new to share with my readers (if there's any. hehe). Big, Better, Burgers or BBB is one of those few. I've gone here four times since December 2012. No need for further explanation, I guess. Hehe. Those who I've brought here have made BBB their favorite burger place, too - my daughter AJ and friend Pam. They too love BBB hamburger for its thick, tasty patty. AJ loves their pesto pasta too. BBB pasta dishes are quite unique because they have burger patties as toppings. Mmm...I love those too! In my first BBB post last December (yep, this is my 2nd post about BBB, hence the title), I shared how I loved their fish fillet sandwich as well and my son, the burger steak with rice. You see, there are many things to love at BBB. On my latest visit to BBB last week with Pam 
and another co-worker/friend Gloria, these were our orders:

1/3 Pounder with Cheese value meal (with fries and iced tea). I think this was around P175.

This was my burger before I unwrapped it.

BBB Meatballs in Fresh Tomatoes, P122.

Iced tea that went with our burger meals.

     
                 Meanwhile, when my daughter and I were at BBB last May, we had these:

BBB Meatballs in Pesto Sauce, P109.

1/3 Pounder Value Meal (w/o cheese), P163.

So what's the only thing I don't like about BBB? They don't serve coffee! I hope they'd put my favorite drink on their menu soon :-) 
Two branches of BBB that I've visited so far are at Robinson's Magnolia and Wilcon Depot along Visayas Ave. in Quezon City. There are 11 branches at present in Metro Manila.

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.