a bite of brownie

After placing our order at Alejo's lechon, we took a short ride towards Rustan's Labangon to visit this little hole in the wall inside the establishment.


For a small diner that has very little space, this hub never runs out of customers every hour, likely from the the neighboring BPO center a few steps away.

 I found out that they serve meals that are typical pinoy favorites such as batchoy, arroz caldo, pancit palabok.

For starters, we ordered arroz caldo and fresh lumpia, to be followed by binagoongang baboy, caldereta, salpicao, pancit puti and pancit palabok.


We also had additional orders of inihaw na bangus and sisig.

The service was pleasant enough, and the server was polite and let us buy a bottle of water in the supermarket for our consumption while we eat at their space.

Yum Yum Tree

Labangon

Verdict:

A: 2/5

Most of the dishes were salty, as if sprinkled with Knorr seasonings. The sisig had very minimal meat and was served with a big heap of pork rind.


There was no semblance of ambiance, as it just shares a space in Rustan's.


The pancit puti looks like a weird combination of rice noodles and vegetables with thin slices of chicken meat while the palabok was swimming in sauce.


The bagoong in the bibagoongan screams of food coloring.

Rather than eat out and partake in Max's chicken all you can celebration, we attended my sister's monthly eat out with her officemates. Black Iron is located within Ginza compound, a few ways off before you reach Gaisano Country Mall. The compound is semi secluded, with very few vehicles passing by and also houses Ginza and Patio Isabel, among other things.

The ambiance of this place feels very cafeteria-like, which reminds me somewhat of Big Tom's with all the chalkboards at the sides. Several restaurant memorabilia are also plastered on the sides. The menu is limited to a few items that fit at most two sheets of paper, presented on a clipboard for our inspection.

My sister got a serve of Angus beef sliders with additional cheddar cheese, smoked bacon and sautéed mushrooms. We also got a bowl of fries topped with mozarella cheese. I had a large plate pork chops the size three quarters of the sizzling plate. To down it, i had a can of root beer with chunks of cubed ice.

Black Iron

Verdict:

A: 3.5/5

The pork chop is definitely the best order here, with that size and despite being well done, you won't be disappointed. They added steamed corn, peas and carrot on the side. The Urban fries order was okay, could use more cheese though.