Sunday, July 20, 2008

Other features

Food galore
By Stella A. Estremera / Goin' places

IT WAS another night at the badminton court, and another night of starving tummies. Thus Deng and I walked over to the other restaurant that has opened along Mabini Street (the Quirino area Mabini street and not the Boulevard area; why a city will have two streets with identical names is really beyond me, but then that there are two Mabini streets in Davao City isn't only what's queer about the streets here, anyway...)

The place is named Food Galore and has the blurb fun dining below its name, and so we were set to have fun jiggling our collective bilbils.

It's just that, as we walked up the steps to the entrance, Deng stopped, and peeped in asking, "Open pa kayo?"

I looked at her in puzzlement as I pointed to the sign outside that read, "Open."

Deng pointed to the finer prints that say the diner is open only until 9 p.m. It was already past 9 p.m.

A young woman inside, however, assured us they were still open. Hmmm... Must be the owner.

We settled in, browsed through their menu, and quickly noticed smileys on certain entrees.

We learned that the ones with the smileys are the "espesyal," while the ones with the thumbs up are the recommended pica-pica.

We chose among the ones with smileys, of course. Deng went for the ika tempura (squid tempura with mashed potato to go with it, although she said she'd have the mashed potato wrapped to go). Deng added Mom's Espesyal Baked Mac because this is the only one that had a smiley in the list of pasta, panini, and burger, plus the strawberry-mango shake because it too has a smiley.

I went for the humba espesyal. I added tokwa't baboy just to try other dishes and to check on how the ones with the thumbs-up will taste like.

Service was quick. Just right for two starving ladies.

Now the food...

The baked mac is for kids, from the taste to the serving size (not the sidings though). Hungry ladies, don't order this on its own lest you'll starve.

The humba was okay, the meat tender. The tokwa't baboy was too salty (darn, my diet!) and can be better with a tad more tenderness to the maskara. Deng enjoyed her squid tempura; I had my reservation though because the moment I chopped on the tail portion of the smallest of the three squids, the pointy tail hardened by the deep-fried batter pricked my soft palate. Ouch.

The shake was good too. Maybe, it's best for just taking some snacks, not really to gorge oneself with food.

The place is cozy to hang out in; quiet, with colorful details, including knick-knacks and hand-made stuff like some cigarette foil flowers, the types you make as a kid.

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