Alab at Scout Rallos and quick trip to Divisoria

(07/25/2015). I had an errand that I had to run, but I wanted to spend the morning with Thirdy and Chea, so we piled into the car and left the house about 11am.

First, I went to LBC and inquired a few things, since there wasn't much information on their site. Then, we went to Hypermarket so I can pay some bills.

My next errand would be at Divisoria to buy something. But since it was close to lunch, we decided to have our lunch, after which, I'll go to Divisoria, and Chea, Thirdy and Tita Fe would wait for me at Robinson's Magnolia.

So Chea's heard about a couple of new restos. One's a bit far, while the other one was at Scout Rallos. Since it's along the way to the Divine World Columbarium which will be our next stop, we decided to go there: Alab by Chef Tatung.

The place mat

The menu

I remember seeing the this restaurant a few times already since we take the Scout Rallos route sometimes on weekends. It's right in front of H Cuisine (which was the last restaurant I ate with my brother before he passed away), and RUB Ribs & BBQ (which is hard to get seated since it's pretty small and parking is non-existent).

The cashier counter behind us and the stairs leading up

The dessert and drinks counter. Thirdy didnt want his picture taken

It was good that we got there a little before lunch, as there were 3 parking slots in front of the restaurant. There were also just a couple of tables with patrons on the first floor, so waiting for the food wouldn't take long. There's a second floor which I didn't bother to check.

A separate area with foldable door walls

A wall display made up of spoon and forks in the shape of, well, spoon and forks!

The place is pretty roomy. There was a separate area on the first floor with foldable walls, so I guess you can have a private area if you needed one.

Thirdy having fun with Baymax

Yep. He's back to his energetic self

When we got in, there were a couple of people taking videos. I guess they're doing a video coverage of the restaurant. They even took a video of Thirdy in his kiddie chair since he looked like he was having fun (mainly because we bought him a Baymax balloon from a vendor outside).

While we were looking at the menu, groups of people started flocking in. A few tables beside us were placed end to end to accommodate some ladies who looks like were going to have a weekend get-together lunch.

Looking at the menu, most of the dishes are for sharing, hence their prices started around 210 pesos, so it's a bit moderately priced.

I ordered the Adobong pula (280 pesos), while Chea ordered one of their specialties, Pianggang (270 pesos), a Tausug chicken dish. From what Chea told me, Chef Tatung wanted to feature native Filipino dishes with some modern twists. We then ordered Poqui Poqui for Thirdy. It looked like casserole, and looking at the menu, there was nothing there that Thirdy was allergic to. It was mostly Eggplant and kesong puti (Thirdy likes cheese nowadays and would often eat them on its own).

The dishes didn't come with rice, so we ordered 3. I also went with Iced Tea (70 pesos, no bottomless drinks here folks), while Chea and Tita Fe, each had a Sago't Gulaman (70 pesos each). For dessert, Chea ordered their crowd favorite, Bibingka Cheesecake (I cant remember the price).

It was a bit of a wait, but it was ok, since Thirdy was enjoying his balloon and people kept arriving at the restaurant so there was a lot of activity to watch.

The drinks arrived first with all of the dishes following immediately thereafter.

Sago't Gulaman and Iced Tea

The iced tea was minty, otherwise it's like most non powdered iced tea (I think). I never got to taste the sago't gulaman as Chea shared it with Thirdy.

Now that's rice in a bowl

The rice servings came in pretty nifty looking wooden bowl which had the tops come off. I think the servings more than the regular serving you'd get from other restaurants. The rice is a bit plain but you wouldn't give it a second thought since the dishes you'd eat them with are quite flavourful.

Adobong pula

The Adobong Pula isn't the normal adobo you'd eat with a lot of soy sauce and oil. The sauce actually looked like yellow curry, but it's thinner, almost like a broth. It's also has a more distinct sour taste than the regular fare. If I actually bothered reading the description of the menu, it's actually done with a lot of vinegar and none of the usual soy sauce, which was one of the oldest version of the dish as mentioned in the menu.

It's rather distinct, but as a Filipino who gets to eat adobo more than once a month, it just becomes a different spin, but nothing you'll rave about. Not that it isn't any good, it's just that I could have adobo almost anywhere and even anytime.

Pianggang

One dish that we enjoyed was the Pianggang. It's basically grilled chicken with taro leaves (laing). I love laing, and I don't get to eat it quite often, even at home. The chicken tastes exactly like grilled chicken, without the laing covering the flavor. The laing, by itself, tastes pretty good, that I didn't bother with the chicken when I went for a few more spoonfuls of the dish.

Poqui Poqui

The Poqui Poqui was pretty great. The toppings of the casserole as well as the parts that touched the serving dish was a bit crispy chewy and tasted mostly of eggs. The insides were mostly eggplants and some cheese, with a few bits of sausages thrown in. Thirdy enjoyed the dish. We should probably learn how to cook some casserole at home as it helps to hide vegetables.

Bibingka Cheesecake

The dessert tasted good too. It looked like a slice of bibingka especially with the ground coconut served with it and top burnt at places. The base of the dessert looked and tasted like Graham crackers, and the inside tasted exactly like cheese cake.

We ended up with an initial bill of 1,165 pesos for 3 adults (Thirdy just shared the Poqui Poqui with Chea). The Senior Citizen discount came to 100 pesos, but then the Service charge was added afterwards to our final bill of 1,158 pesos. So that's roughly around 386 pesos/pax. Again, like i said, it's a bit moderately priced.

After the meal, I got dropped off at the Gilmore Station of the LRT2, then Chea, Tita Fe and Thirdy went to Robinsons Galleria.

Waiting for the train at Gilmore LRT2 station

It's my first time to ride the LRT2, so it's a pretty nice experience for me. The station is pretty clean, and the train cabs were pretty wide and looked new and well maintained.

I got off at the Recto station, and took a jeep with a signage saying Divisoria. I just went around 999 mall, picked up the stuff that I needed and took a jeep to Cubao via Aurora Boulevard, which was a mistake. Traffic was terrible so it took me more than an hour to get to Robinson's Magnolia.

I met up with Chea, Thirdy and Tita Fe at the Foodcourt. Thirdy was asleep so Chea had a chance to take a longer look at the Dorothy Perkins store. She was eyeing this dress from their Eastwood branch, which didn't have her size.

Taking a helicopter ride

A police car ride

A bit later, she came back and Thirdy was already awake so we took him to play at Timezone for a few minutes. After that, we went home.