Coffee Pot. This resto was basically a barbecue house or a place very well known for its barbecue. Located across Gate 3 of Ateneo, it was the haunt of Maryknollers and Ateneans alike. My sisters would always bring me to the place whenever I’d visit from Negros. Then, when I studied in Ateneo myself, I had a few barbecues in the place. Then I think it burned down. Pity.
Yamy House. Another barbecue place. Barbecue here was cut thinly and served with Java rice. Sometimes my college best friend and I would go to Cubao to eat this delicious barbecue and no more. These days, whenever I see the sign YAMY, I feel nostalgic.
Jollibee in Coronet or was it Remar Theater in Aurora Boulevard, Cubao. When we’d watch a movie, suddenly the waft of cooking hamburger would assail our senses. That was the time there were rumors Jollibee burgers were worm burgers. I guess it was so successful rumors against it were circulated. Apparently no one believed them nor cared. Look at where Jollibee is now!
Hong Ning. Another resto along Roxas Boulevard. Chinese food. Good Chinese food, cheap too. Our barkada ate there once or twice while we were in college.
Magnolia Ice Cream Parlor along Aurora Boulevard. One afternoon, when our Stat class sensed that the teacher was running late, we as a class, decided to leave the classroom by another route and traveled to the ice cream parlor for some sundaes. Being college students then we paid for our respective orders and the waiter was flummoxed. He had to collect the payment from each of us and give us change. I think there may have been some 20 of us.
Kowloon. Beef Tenderloin, chicken with cashew nuts, shrimps with cashew nuts, pancit canton, siopao, siomai. How I miss them. They are no longer made the way they were then. Oddly, this was where I had my college graduation dinner and my husband his. But we didn’t see each other there.
Barrio Fiesta. Then as now, it was best known for its crispy pata and kare-kare. Crab rice too.
Aristocrat. It has since morphed into Serye or Reyes Barbecue. We frequented the one in EDSA Cubao near Farmer’s Market. We hied off to the place after a difficult Math long test once.
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Now for the restaurants in Negros. My all-time favorite then was Roli’s for its chicken sandwich, pork sate, pancit guisado. Then there was Bob’s Big Boy which served really good pizza (still tastes the same now) and cheeseburgers. Noble’s — we didn’t actually eat there but bought 10 to 20 sticks of barbecue, some of them marinated but uncooked for cooking at home. How I miss those because of course trips to those places were made with my mother. We often went to Noble’s when she’d pick me up from school so we could get some barbecue for me. In my home town, diagonal to our house was the inasal of Prito (yes that was the proprietor’s name). Back then, I liked the pecho because though that meant chicken breast, it was tasty. These days, chicken breasts aren’t as tasty. Maybe because the chicken then were free range, rather than bred professionally in huge numbers? I also enjoyed the spare ribs in Bacolod Supermarket, the fresh lumpia in Capitol Supermarket.
