The 'house' you'd want to go visit

I'd been curious about The House of Mantou ever since it opened on Quezon Ave. near Banawe in 2011. It's on my route going to work, that's why I've seen it everyday and witnessed how its patronage has grown over the two years of its existence. Although it took me so long to finally visit this foodie place, I'm glad I did last Saturday together with my eldest and youngest kids. This Chinese restaurant offers good food at fairly reasonable prices. Well, okay..some menu items are a bit expensive but the flavors and huge servings make up for it. 

Consider these:

Beef Brisket Noodles, P128. 

Pork Siomai, P78.

Chicken Teriyaki, P118.

I thought this was really cute -- heart-shaped rice. :-).

Lechon Kawali Rice, P118.

Black Gulaman, P48.

Triple Berry Shake, P148.

The House of Mantou on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City

The first thing that impressed me when our orders were served was how huge the servings were. My Beef Brisket Noodles could easily feed two persons! I was only able to finish half of it and took home the rest. My son finished his rice but left about half of his Chicken Teriyaki. My daughter munched on her Lechon Kawali slices after she ate all her rice. I tried my kids' food and drinks. Yummy, everything!  I liked that the lechon kawali didn't have a lot of fat and though fried to a golden crisp, it wasn't oily. The chicken teriyaki was a tad too sweet for me but still, I liked it. I finished it for my son. Hehe. Meanwhile, I was all praises for my beef noodles - very flavorful, with a lot (I repeat, a LOT!) of tender beef chunks. 

My only complaints were that it was quite hot inside The House of Mantou and the space was cramped such that the tables were too close to each other. As to the service, it was efficient and quite friendly. All in all, I had a good dining experience at The House of Mantou. I intend to go back whenever I can to try their mantou (It's Chinese steamed bun/bread, by the way.) and Tamarind Iced Tea. Probably their brewed coffee, too. :-)  

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.  :-)

Dinner at Lola Idang's

Lola Idang's on Visayas Ave., Q.C.

Interiors

Pancit Malabon

Tapsilog (above); Lechon kawali with rice (below, left); Iced tea and Calamansi juice (below, right)

Pancit sa bilao sizes

 

They also sell foodstuff like bottled laing, sweets and puto. The latter is so good, the perfect partner for dinuguan and pancit!

I celebrated last month my 8th year in my present job. Our agency holds office on Visayas Ave. in Quezon City so I could say that this stretch of road has been my second home for the last 8 years. During this period, I, my officemates and my kids - who I tag along to work every now and then - have tried various restaurants on Visayas Ave. and one of them has become one of our favorites - Lola Idang's. This restaurant serves really good Filipino food and among their offerings are Kare-Kare, Lechon Kawali, and Dinuguan. However, their specialty is Pancit Malabon, which, I can honestly say, is the best in town! It's perfectly seasoned, and with the right texture and moisture (pancit malabon in other restaurants tend to be dry). And that food in Lola Idang's is reasonably priced is a plus, plus, plus! Yesterday, my teenage daughter AJ came with me again to the office after I mentioned that I wanted to eat at Lola Idang's and so there we proceeded for dinner after work. After much contemplation (it was hard to decide what to eat because of the many yummy choices..teehee..and we were torn between our old favorites and the others we have yet to try), we ordered Tapsilog (P65), Lechon Kawali with rice (P75) and a plate of Pancit Malabon (P65). For drinks, we asked for Iced Tea (P20) for AJ and Calamansi Juice (P25) for me. After finishing our rice meals, we laughed at ourselves for having Pancit Malabon for dessert. Haha! To say that we were full was an understatement. What a lovely dinner we had, capped with a good cup of coffee minutes later at Mr. Donut in Trinoma mall. :-)