60-Peso Food Trip

The air is cool, Christmas decors are up, and a big old man is somewhere up North starting to check Naughty and Nice lists. What does this mean? This means that December, the season of Christmas and over-spending, is happening really soon. How do you prepare for that? By saving up as soon as you can.

Here is the deal: from a Financial point of view, December is one of the best months. During this month, most people spend a lot, but they also make a lot. The common partyphile however, may find it a wee bit difficult to maintain their hedonistic tendencies while still trying to put a cap on their budget. Obviously, the partyphile’s budget for alcohol and partying shall be left unchanged, thus finding other ways of pinching pennies is inevitable. So where can one partyphile cut costs? I say: on transportation, fashion, and of course, food.

And that brings us to this article’s topic: food. But not just any other type of food, cheap food. Why am I writing about this on a party column? Because again (if you didn’t get the intro to this article), it is the perfect time to cut costs and partyphiles may find it difficult to do that. Moreover, my affordable food finds taste expensive and hit you in the right spot; making eating in my suggested food establishment a pleasurable (albeit affordable) experience; and we all know that hedonism is one of the more recognizable of partyphile traits.

The Challenge: To find affordable meals for sixty pesos.

The Venue: Within the vicinity of the Ateneo de Davao University Jacinto Campus. Why? Because cheap food establishment are in abundance near schools.

The Requirement: Great taste. Decent establishment. Good service.

The Candidates:

1. Harley Boulevard Motor Café (Php 60.00): This quaint resto is popular among the cool kids in the University because they serve alcohol. However, the reason why students and non-students keep on coming back is because they have really good American food that is served hot and fresh and for a measly price. The resto is decorated with different relics of modern Americana and makes the place inviting, interesting, and quirky. Their menu consists of comfort-food like Shepherd’s Pie, Sloppy Joes, their ever-popular Extra-Large burger, Buffalo wings, Chilidogs, Mashed Potatoes, Spaghetti ad Meatballs, and other American favorites. To cater to the local crowd however, they also serve some food with rice. My affordable choice from Harley’s is the Chili Cheese Bowl—a bowl of steaming-hot white rice topped with a hefty serving of Harley Boulevard’s signature Chili con Carne and some grated cheese. This meal is very satisfying and very comforting. The spices in the chilli complement the sharp flavour of the local cheese that top the dish and the white rice mutes the flavours and lends some sort of hominess to the dish making it both novel yet familiar to the palette. An order of Chili Cheese Bowl goes for sixty pesos. If you are into spicy food, you will enjoy the fact that Harley’s has their own signature hot sauce that they place in used Rum bottles and serve with every meal. Oh, and if you do not have enough moolah for drinks, do not fret—they offer purified water for free. Find Harley’s at Juan Luna Street corner Juan dela Cruz Street

2.) Star Bistro: Meals, Coffee, and More (Php 60.00): This food establishment is just one of those places that you’d want to stay in for hours and hours. It is cozy, cool, and quite conducive for conversation. More importantly, their menu is filled with surprising offerings like waffles, pancakes, their signature Bistro Chicken, pork chop, breakfast food, Filipino favorites, English Muffin sandwiches, tarts, cakes, cookies, and a lot of other affordable gastronomic treats. I ordered one of their set rice meals when I was there and went for their Cheese sausage. It came with a cup of rice, a small serving of buttered corn and carrots, and some mayonnaise ad ketchup. Obviously, this is a very Filipino way of enjoying sausages, but I find nothing wrong with it. Moreover, they serve a whole piece of sausage for a quarter of the price as coffeeshops would. Although they do not actually create their sausages (but seriously, who does?) they have mastered the art of cooking it perfectly: with a slightly oily and toasted outside and an extremely soft and juicy inside. They also offer some water for free, and drinks that range from about 12 to 20 pesos. If you have a little bit more than sixty bucks, you could even enjoy some dessert after your meal. Find star bistro at Juan Luna Street.

3.) Khash Persian Kebab (Php 60.00): Khash or “Kebab” as more popularly known in the area, has been in operation for years and years now. In many ways, Khash has been imbedded in the culture of AdDU and thus reminds me (and many others) of very fond memories in the place. Although it has already survived a couple of renovations, the same old Khash Kebab vibe is still there; and hordes of students still eat up at this establishment for lunch or some merienda. Because I had a sixty peso budget, I decided to order a single Beef Kebab which is a long strip of ground beef that is expertly seasoned and grilled to mouth-watering perfection, a cup of steamed white rice with a dollop of butter on top, some of their home made gravy (which costs thirty-seven pesos), and a roasted tomato (which I ordered separately and costs three pesos). As if that was not sinful enough, I also order a serving of their slightly spicy mashed potato drowned in their glorious gravy for only twenty pesos. The meal is satisfying as heck and is kind of exciting as well. The beef kebab goes perfectly well with the buttered rice, and the grilled provides a fresh contrast to the heavily spiced main course. The mashed potato is silky and smooth and quite addictive. Find Khash Persian kabab at Jacinto Street.

Thanks to Dorothy Falcon for the photos. Tune in to Confessions of a Partyphile on the radio every Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 in the PM. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile, log on to http://party.i.ph or follow the columnist on twitter.com/zhaun