Dining at Abe Restaurant

Last night, our family dined at Abe restaurant in Serendra. I've heard so much about this restaurant and their place is always full. We assumed that the food is stupendous.

Hubby and Tito Boy were assigned to wait for a table while we, the ladies, are out shopping in Market!Market!

Abe is a Campampangan (from Pampanga) restaurant that got it's name from a Capampangan term for friend, companion and getting together. The place is a combination of old and new interiors. The walls are covered with black & white photographs, the swiveling chairs are comfy and modern. The tables are packed close together so it's a little tight to move around.

After an hour of power shopping, the men called us to say the table and the food were ready. Here's the lowdown on the food:



Crispy Tadyang (P425) is marinated beef ribs and then fried. The tadyang is tender inside and crispy outside. We all liked it. However, the crispy tadyang from Guava is still the best.

Asado Lengua (Ox tongue). For non-adventurous eaters and non-Filipinos, don't worry this is not the Fear-Factor quality tongue. Unlike the Asado of South America, the Capampangan version is not grilled but stewed in sugar and soy sauce. Abe's version had the right sweetness and saltiness. The tongue itself is very tender and is pleasant to eat. It's quite good but, my mom was quick to say "Mas masarap ako magluto". True. The lengua was good nonetheless.


Gule Magalang (P195)is stewed vegetables of kang-kong (swamp cabbages), string beans and pumpkin. It didn't look too appetizing but we tried it anyway. It's nice, but not too special.



Kare-Kare is also not bad. The meat is tender and the bagoong is home made and not too salty.


The Fried Baby Hito is fried young catfish served with balo-balo, or fermented rice. This dish was disliked by everyone. The fish had a muddy taste and the balo-balu is plain yucky...eeewww. When I saw my mom's face squirm when she tasted it, I knew it was really bad.


Steamed rice is bottomless. Sulit for the men dining there.

As we ate our meal my mom and uncle couldn't help but reminisce about the food of their childhood and how good it was. I know what they mean, I grew up too with my lola making special meals for us every Sunday.

Overall verdict?
Tito Boy: "We had much better food in our table growing up"
Mom: "Mas masarap ako magluto! Ang mahal, hindi naman ganun kasarap."

These are the comments coming from the children of Crispina Manalo, the greatest cook of all time. It's no wonder no restaurant could ever pass their discerning palates.

Jay-Jay's 4th Birthday

My nephew JJ celebrated his fourth birthday last week. The family was treated to a simple luncheon and birthday cake blowing last Sunday.

My mom of course was in charge of the cooking. She made her famous Beef Kare-Kare, it's beef or tripe stewed in peanut butter and anatto. Vegetables, ground peanuts and toasted rice granules are also added. It is always served with bagoong alamang (shrimp paste). My mom always makes the best. I have yet to learn to make this one. She tells me that this is super easy to make. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Another dish that my mom made was her famous Embutido. Which is essentially a meatloaf with chorizos, pickles, eggs, cheese and other secret ingredients that my mom told me yesterday but were too many to remember. She doesn't measure anything either so it's gonna be tricky getting the proportions from her. I'll try to post some of her recipes too.

My husband Eric told me not to divulge all the family recipes. Otherwise, people will make money off of it. I already had two friends use my baked mac recipe for business. Oh well.

We also had salad, palabok, tibuk-tibuk (it's like Maja Blanca but made with carabao milk), mazapan (a gooey butter-scotch type balls with nuts), leche flan (milk custard), chocolates and of course the birthday cake. Yummy! Sugar rush to the max.

Anyway, back to the party. My nephew Jay-Jay was having so much fun playing with his cousins and Rama and there was one moment that he went off to another room on his own for a few seconds, when he came out, he managed to get a bukol and wouldn't tell us where he got the bump. He was fine and kinda went to a corner but the grown ups made such a fuss, he started crying and wouldn't allow any of us to put ice on it. There were three of us holding him down so that we can apply the ice pack to get the swelling down. Whew! That little kid is strong as an ox and he's only four!

Finally, we were able to calm Jay-Jay down and he was ready to blow the cake. Here he is with bukol and everything. He even managed to say "cheese!"