Let Floring’s comfort you on a rainy day

Some curl up in bed on a rainy day. Others head to a restaurant in search of comfort food. Hyperbole notwithstanding, my friends and I dash to SM City Taytay in the middle of thick sheets of rain just so we can have a serving of piping hot sinigang na tadyang ng baka at Floring’s. It seems like an overkill to travel that far — considering that the very affordable restaurant has branches near our place — but wait till you find out that Floring’s in SM City Taytay is our dose of sunshine on a rainy day.

Yes, when the world outside is covered with rain, the mood in the restaurant is up, what with upbeat Filipino folksongs being played. So, as I sip from my bowl of sinigang na tadyang ng baka (which is sour enough that I can still taste real tamarind pulp), my body sways to Lawiswis Kawayan, Leron-Leron Sinta and Pipit. By the time the bistek Tagalog (US Angus beef), crispy hito, bagoong na isda, adobong pusit and baboy arrive on our table, my feet have already happily tapped to the tune of Cariñosa and Kabilugan ng Buwan.

When Granada is played, I remember my folk in Laguna as I fork the mouthwatering pineapple juice-injected fried chicken. I guess that’s one secret of the restaurant — the comfort food you eat reminds you of your childhood, of home, of beautiful things that happened in the distant and not-so-distant past. The piped-in music of Filipino folk ditties gives you a semblance of being in a feast in an open field, under a robust mango tree, with cool summer breeze. (Though, from time to time, you hear the trickle of rain outside the restaurant.)

Apart from the sumptuous fare, the murals on the restaurant walls are enough to transport you to a bucolic scene replete with a nipa hut whose landscape is littered with trellis-obsessed vines. The squeaking of pigs, crowing of roosters and quacking of ducks on the murals are heard as you dine.

 “It’s so yummy Pinoy here,” happily says my friend Mike Mina, a food blogger, as he takes shots of garlic kangkong, spicy laing, sizzling sisig and Floring’s famous barbecue. (By the way, the restaurant’s complete name is Florings’ Famous BBQ. It is owned by Florabel Co, the same owner of Florabel restaurant at The Podium and Felix in Greenbelt 5.)

When Atin Ku Pung Singsing, Dandansoy and Sarungbangi are played, we are already having our mais con yelo and mango sago. This time, Mike and our other friends are still running through the menu. We have just finished partaking of the feast yet they are already thinking of what to order on our next visit: sinampalukang manok, dinuguan at puto, crispy pata, inihaw na talong with bagoong. And the list continues.

I’m beginning to get hungry again.

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Floring’s at SM City Taytay is open every day from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It also accepts party orders. For more information, call 286-4426.

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E-mail the author at bumbaki@yahoo.com.