Very expensive commute

Homemakers, we should start hoping and praying that the 300 percent increase in toll fees will not come to pass. From the P60 we have been paying for the past years, with the fee hike we would be doling out more than P200 each way. Sum it up and you’d get a return ticket costing as much as a kilo of suahe or a can of baby milk. With limited funds, homemakers are left with a few choices: feed your family with proper food and avoid traveling where the toll stations are, or use alternative routes, which every commuter is likely to do as well. This means side streets and village roads (charging passage fees) will suffer horrendous traffic jams. It’s a Catch-22, actually.

We must be thankful, really, that a wet market-cum-restaurant row has opened a few meters away from our base on Daang Hari, just off the Ayala Town Center. But, while it is convenient and needs no traveling on the highway, prices of a few items are far from competitive. Dressed chicken is sold at P160 a kilo, bangus at P180, squid at P240. The paluto restaurants behind the fresh section charge P150 to P200 a dish. Aling Tonya’s with its main branch on Macapagal Avenue Seaside and Sis from Ortigas Metro Walk are among them, much to the delight of their “regulars“ who live in the area. An interesting item on Aling Tonya’s menu is the corkage fee for rice (some diners bring this in instead of buying from the restaurant). Sis allows patrons to bring their own main ingredients (meat, seafood) to be cooked.

We got the results of the table setting competition conducted during the recently concluded Manila Food and Beverages Expo (MAFBEX) at the World Trade Center. For the interschool category, first place was won by “Silverworks” done by students of the University of Santo Tomas, second place went to De La Salle-Lipa for “Majika Primera,” while third place was awarded to “The Lireans” of De La Salle-Dasmariñas. For the contest organized by De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, team winners are “Midnight” first place; “Wizards of Waverly Place,” second, and “Royal Kingdom of Table Setters” third.

Newly-wed Nara is an enterprising lady. After meticulous research on what quick foods have great appeal, she went to work, so to speak. She made a loss and profit study, found the right supplier and franchisor and selected the area to set up her first business endeavor – a cart called Dimsum Republic selling Hong Kong-style fried noodles. The day we visited her, a line of shoppers was quickly forming in front of her cart. The noodles on her menu are Oriental, Mongolian and dimsum blend, with a variety of sauces to choose from, including sweet, teriyaki, sate, sweet chili and chili garlic, from P28 to P35 a cup. She also has jumbo siopao at P100 for a pack of five; siomai, P25 for 3 pieces; the refreshing black gulaman for P10. Nara’s Dimsum Republic is located in the Ever Supermarket in San Antonio Shopping Center, San Antonio Avenue, San Antonio Valley 1, Sucat, Parañaque. For us, Nara typifies a new breed of emerging entrepreneurs. We wish them luck!

Now here is something new: 3-cup chicken, one of the specialties served by the Lam Dynasty Restaurant (tel. no. 353-7890) in the Pacific Center building on Quintin Paredes Street, Binondo. Our friend who brought us there for lunch said this chicken is cooked with a cup of soy sauce, a cup of wine and a cup of a third ingredient, which, no matter how we cajoled the restaurant staff, would not be revealed to us. We surmise adding a few drops of oyster sauce (not a cup) would approximate the flavor. It is actually a cross between asado and tinoyo-an. However, we detected a rather gamey taste in the chicken. Their lomi is super. We have a friend who once was craving for the old Chinese dishes she used to enjoy in the past, like camaron rebosado, pata tim and chopsuey. They are all there, and more. They’ve got Korean ice cream as a choice for dessert. The meal tab is very easy on the pocket, as dishes are priced between P90 and P200.

Have a good meal today.

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