G/Lvl. Robinson's Place Novaliches
Quirino Highway, Quezon City
+63 (02)332-6294
08 January 2012
Hello, foodies! How was your weekend? Mine was quite eventful - Went to Wawa Dam with friends Jeff and Nathalie (of Halie's Kitchen) with her husband last Saturday, and yesterday, I was out with my favorite girls - that's mom and sister - because it was the last day of the tiangge outside Robinson's Place Novaliches and we wanted to take advantage of the sale. We were able to buy clothes and stuff at affordable prices, but because it was the last day, there weren't much stalls left.
Carrying quite a lot of bags, we decided to just eat at a food place inside Robinson's Place Novaliches, and one place to eat affordable food was Mang Inasal. It's been a while since we last ate there, so might as well try their new dishes. Mom said this food trip will be sort of a celebration for dad's birth anniversary (for 09 January), because the family will not be complete on the actual day - sister is at work and I might be going out as well.
My sister and I went for their Chicken Inasal as our main meal - sister went for the PM1 (Paborito Meal) with unlimited rice, I just went for the SM1 (Sulit Meal) which had one smaller cut of chicken and one serving of rice. Before we ordered, the leaflet/menu indicated SM1 meal with Leg/Thigh, so I went for the thigh, but we were told that they only had the wing part. I basically had no choice but to go for it, and eating my meal I was a bit disappointed because the chicken was a bit rubbery and it wasn't juicy anymore. Sister thought the chicken was already cooked for quite a long time before it was served. Anyway, considering my sister went for their leg quarter meal, I was sort of wondering why did they tell us the thigh part wasn't available (for my meal), yet my sister was able to get the leg quarter. Oh well...
Anyway, sister's meal has "unlimited rice," but getting extra serving of rice was quite difficult as we have to go look for the staff carrying the rice container, and that they don't offer the free soup right away - should the customer want to have soup, they have to ask a wait staff to give them some. We weren't complaining that much, but we just felt the quality of the food and their service sort of fell shorter. We used to love eating at Mang Inasal, now we were second guessing if we will eat there again. Well, maybe at a different branch, we will.
Pancit Malabon. This is something new on the menu, and my mom loves eating Pancit Malabon / Palabok, so she went for this. I loved that the pork barbecue was served alongside the Pancit so the flavor would not mix with the "normal" flavors of the noodles. I got to taste this and I loved the overall blend of the flavors - I love how garlicky it was and how it wasn't drowning in sauce.
Ginataang Kangkong. Mom loved this a lot; sister and I weren't big fans of it because we felt it was somewhat "fishy." Mom said maybe they used bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste) to season the dish.
Lumpiang Sardinas. I don't know if you notice it, but I do love eating the crunchy lumpia - regardless of what was inside it. When I saw this on the menu, I knew I wanted to taste it and I wasn't disappointed. I am not sure, but by the looks of it, they used mashed canned spicy sardines (in tomato sauce) added with grated carrots. Served with the sweet-and-sour sauce, this was something I think I will do at home. :)
Turon Split. I loved the concept of this dessert - it's like having two desserts on one plate. Definitely good for sharing - one can eat the turon (which didn't have extra sugar), the other can eat the ice cream... or they can have one turon each and dip it on the ice cream.
My mom had the Saging Melt (Saging con Hielo) for her dessert; I didn't go for one, I just ate one of the turon and one teaspoon of the chocolate ice cream.
Us three girls appreciated Mang Inasal's "The More, the Many-er" slogan. Seeing more dishes on the menu will definitely attract more customers, should we eat at any Mang Inasal branch, will definitely try their Bangus Sisig and Tuna Inasal Pie.
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So... what did you have last weekend? If you're new to the Weekend Eating meme, you can read the rules and get the badge codes HERE. My heartfelt thanks to everyone who joined last week.
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my