One Sunday night, Rex and I decided to head to "eat out". Usually, we spend hours deciding where our "happy compromise is". I prefer eating isaw while he'd usually love to stay at home and just order pizza. We were so sick of our tambayan: Central Malugay 2 (the one near Cash and Carry) and El Chupacabra, so we finally settled for Malate.
Malate will always have a special place in my heart. Nothing screams "backpacker in Manila vibe!" than this place. It has side street inumans and hole-in-the-wall eateries. Nevermind the girly bars nearby (reminds me of Pat Pong and HCM). My friends and I back then would gravitate towards our usual tambayan: Silya and Cafe Adriatico.
Like any place in the metro, the Malate today has its own "Korean section". Korean groceries and restaurants, we sampled a few but Rex and I weren't that impressed until...
E: look there's this cute cafe that has Koreans.
R: Ayoko nga
E: kasi pagkakamalan ka na namang Korean? Let's go check it out. If the beer's too expensive, we can always walk our way to Silya. Plus, the logo has a chicken holding a beer. For sure it has chicken.
R: (Sighs), fine.
Inside was like a trip back to Seoul. The place's interiors resembled Hyewa's quirky cafes. Wooden interiors with cute adornments on the walls, to add to the place's authenticity the place is full of Koreans (except for that Chinese guy in the back)
On to their food (and alcoholic beverages):
Draft beer or soju? At P80, you can get this "large" pint of San Mig beer. They also offer beer towers at P1200. Rex and I agreed, the soju's a better choice (and a cheaper way to get a buzz). Chum Churum can be mixed with cider or beer. We had it in shots. You can find this at your neighborhood Korean grocery store with your Melona.
We got the first one on the right. For P350, you can get sweet-spicy chicken that has a good batter and a sauce that ain't your usual gochujang or Sunshine. You can also get the fillet version for P400.
Only in Korea where veggies are acceptable pulutan food :) They even have an entire menu for those wanting to be pahealthy (and gulping a tower of San Mig beer at the same time).
The P150 rolls on your leftmost side goes perfectly with the beer (and the free soup!) Will definitely come back to try their bibimbap. Cheapest I've seen so far in a Korean Restaurant (had those cheaper ones in fast food chains and it pisses me off if they're charging extra to have it placed in a stone bowl). Like ordering your sizzling sisig and having it placed on styrofoam.
Normally, Korean restaurants would give it those P250 Korean pancakes as part of their free banchan. Must be the reason why I never bothered to order them in establishments. And I've never ordered edamame, just because I've never had a penchant for munching on them while waiting for my non-veggie orders.
I have to hand it to Korean establishments, even bars serve veggies for pulutan. Or I might be missing something here. The last time I was here, someone ordered chopsuey to go with their Red Horse. I wouldn't might eating those free coleslaw salad, roasted peanuts and soup. Back in Seoul, I find this idea appalling. When drinking, I usually pair beer with pizza and the fattest/greasiest/deep fried item you have on the menu. I love those heart-attack inducing Filipino favorites: sisig with egg and extra rice, chicharon bulaklak at Silya and BSM"s flavored fries. And you can never go wrong with grilled food. This restaurant/bar is a refreshing alternative. A good excuse to wake up the next day not feeling EXTREMELY GUILTY for having too much of the sisig and fries. :)
