Army Navy

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Payday is my “no brown-bag lunch” day. Twice a month I eat out, allowing myself this little indulgence so as not to be overwhelmed by bitterness caused by obligations. It’s a rule I created of late to which I receive tremendous enjoyment.

My latest conquest was the Army Navy burger joint at Solaris One building, in Dela Rosa street, Makati. I went there with two of my co-trainees, Kean and Jacqui.

Army Navy to my delight is a military-themed resto. The interiors assumed the utilitarian, minimalist, and masculine approach of the military; tables were surrounded with wooden stools, the walls were painted in white, and no tiles or wood on the floor, just plain cement. What I found most striking are the decorations particularly the warning signs on the right wall and the corrugated steel hut reminiscent of Quonset that emphasized the counter.

Quonset, according to my little research, is a prefabricated structure made of steel which can be used as barracks, storage or supply units, or as medical facilities. It was used in 1941 by the US Navy.

I was excited to say the least; Army Navy is the first themed restaurant that I’ve ever been to. Amusement may also stem from the fact that I worked in a military agency for six years.  

Now let’s get to business by starting with the burger; the Army Navy’s specialty. I picked a regular burger for only Php 135 and paid Php 25 for cheese. Other available toppings are bacon (Php 25), jalapeño and sautéed onions (both Php 15). Anyway, the burger was wrapped with aluminum foil and served on aluminum plate. The buns were swathed with toasted sesame seeds, inside were the beef patty, lettuce, onions and tomato. The burger didn’t win the approval of my friend, Jacqui. She described it as soggy and a little bit dry. She even pulled a sheldon, complaining that the toppings were not arranged in the right order (LOL).

In my opinion though it wasn’t all that bad well at least it was better than the one you can buy from Burger King. Compared to Brothers Burger though, Army Navy’s burger could use a little improvement. Kean was kind enough to share with us the onion rings that he ordered. It is by far the best onion ring I’ve ever had, crisp, sweet, and made me forget that I was actually eating onion. Just a little advice though, if you are planning on kissing someone at the end of the day, skip the onion rings. No matter how good it is, it’s still onion darling, bound to make your breath funky.

For drinks I ordered vanilla milkshake (Php 99). It was sweet and frothy, delicious but not as good as the milkshake that I had in Spaghetti Factory.  

I’d still rate Army Navy four out of five if only for the experience. I liked the whole military feel to it, the cleanliness of the place, and the fast service. Definitely worth trying and a place you'd most likely visit again. 


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Army Navy
Solaris One, Retail Space
1B, Dela Rosa Tower 1
Solaris Bldg. Dela Rosa
Makati City
Tel no: 836-3333
Business Hours: Open 24-Hours

Mang Inasal at MRT Ayala Station

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Recently I had a free facial in a posh derma clinic in Makati courtesy of my friend who works there. In return, I bought her dinner but since I was low on a budget, she suggested we just go to Mang Inasal at the MRT, Ayala station.

Mang Inasal presents good alternative on fast food dining. Say you’re tired of Jollibee, McDonalds, Chowking, and KFC but couldn’t afford to eat at Max’s Restaurant, try Mang Inasal. It offers great tasting chicken barbecue called “inasal,” an authentic Bacolod recipe.

Just like in other food chains, Mang Inasal has package meals, making ordering a less of a tedious task. I ordered “PM1” which is chicken leg with rice and iced tea (Php 97). I liked it, the chicken was sweet and juicy. 

Inasal tastes better with basting sauce or soy sauce with calamansi as they enhance the flavor. If you happen though to prefer vinegar or fish sauce, they are also readily available.

My friend and I shared a glass of halo-halo (Php 45), a famous Filipino dessert. It was good but it could use more ingredients.

To those who can’t get enough of rice I am happy to report that Mang Inasal offers unlimited supply. Each meal also comes with free soup, not sure if they change it but in our case we had sinigang soup. By the way it was good; spicy, sour and a little bit salty, just the way I want it.

So there you go, for a piece of Bacolod in the city, try Mang Inasal. 

My pink little devil

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I’d been having an on-again, off-again, love-hate relationship for three years now. She’s fun and exciting to be with, she makes me feel good, satisfies my cravings, tides me over, and helps me realizes some of my wildest and expensive dreams. But before you jump to conclusions, let me clarify that I haven’t give up on men (at least not yet) and gone lesbo. I am talking about this pink little devil which I like to call, my Paris Hilton. It’s my BDO credit card.

As you can see in the picture below I just recently cut my precious (yes, read it the Gollum way). My credit card, in some sort of way, gave me feelings that the famous Lord of the Rings’ wrinkled character felt when he gained possession of the ring. I felt powerful, envious, and yeah, a little evil. It enabled me to buy things I could only afford after a considerable time of saving (example my first laptop). It gave me access to places I used to fear entering just because they looked expensive and posh (example, fashion boutiques inside Greenbelt). Suddenly I wasn’t merely staring through the glass doors, I was inside the store, grabbing stuff with little concern on the price tag, all the while telling myself that I could just pay them all off in my payday.

That's how it is with owning a credit card. You feel invincible and gets this illusion that you have money when in fact you don't. 

Once every month I'm reminded of this cold hard truth in the form of a billing statement. There I get a great dose of reality; I haven’t gone rich, I am indebted to the bank. A great part of my salary goes to my CC payment. It has become a part of my monthly responsibility, alongside food expenses, electricity, water, and phone bill.

In my latest billing statement dated February 10, 2011, my outstanding balance already reached P28, 084.07. It includes my previous statement balance (P19, 306.55), recent purchases (P7, 616.90), finance charges (P785.62), membership fee (P75), and late charge (P300). I couldn’t emphasize enough how much it hurts! As I posted in my FB wall before, “Responsibility makes adulthood a sucky thing.” It’s the exact reason why I wasn’t able to enjoy my first pay from EMCI last February. Much to my disappointment, bills had to be attended before anything else.

Last Saturday, just before I went to the mall I took one last look at my credit card and cut it in half. Actually this was the third time that I did this. The first two (note: they’re of the same card account it’s just that for some reason, BDO replaced the first card that they sent me) I broke last year to save myself from too much shopping. For like six or so months I just focused on paying the bill. BDO seems to have noticed I hadn’t been using their card so one day they sent a messenger with a new card. As I signed to receive it I was thinking, “what kind of a sick joke is this.”

Like an addict, I slipped and went back to old habits. I went to the mall and splurged. Before I knew it I’d use over seven thousand pesos to clothes, accessories, beauty products, and food. Excitement soon wore off when I got the bill in the mail few weeks after.

Here I am, 28 years old, with almost 10 years of writing experience under my belt yet still no decent amount of money in the bank. I long for that day when my trips to the bank means depositing money to my savings account, not paying dues. A dream that will remain so unless I clear my CC debt.

You may suggest, “why not just call the bank and just cut it once and for all?” Well I’d like that, it’s just that doing so will entail me to pay my outstanding balance in full. Given the fact that I have a little over a thousand in my savings account, the idea is not exactly feasible.

Let me just make it clear that CC is not entirely bad. It really depends on a person’s will or ability to pay. In my case though, until I’ve learned to control the compulsion to spend, I will never be an ideal card holder. 

Anyway, cutting my card literally, will do for now. I will continue paying until my balance goes to zero. I just wish that if by chance BDO decides to send me another replacement, I’d have the courage to just send it straight to the trash without giving in to the urge of swiping.

Krispy Kreme donuts from Maggie

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Last Friday we were pleasantly surprised when one of our trainers, Maggie Harris arrived with four boxes of Krispy Kreme (KK) donuts. It was her last day with us and man she sure knows how to make a memorable exit. 

One box contained assorted donuts while the other three had the most popular Krispy Kreme’s honey-glazed donut. When she told us to grab us some sugar, we were gone from our seats in a second. For my first donut, I grabbed the mango kreme cake, a delightfully sweet piece of heaven with bits of mango toppings. I later learned that it’s the latest KK’s flavor; it even has a mango shake version.

I helped myself with my second donut, the honey-glazed flavor. KK’s version is by far the best one I’ve ever had. I like it that the donut is soft, sweet, and that it goes well with coffee.

My first KK experience was some time in 2006 at SM Megamall with two of my girl friends. My bestfriend Tina was so crazy about it, she bought two dozens. That’s how much she missed KK’s donuts; she used to have ‘em when she was still in the States. It explains her excitement when finally, the first KK branch opened in the Philippines.

KK did not become accessible for me though until another branch opened at SM San Lazaro. I just wish though that it’s not that expensive, the honey-glazed flavor is Php 32 while other flavors go at around 40 pesos.

Okay going back, we were really grateful for Maggie’s thoughtful gesture. She literally made our morning beautiful, making us feel like we’re important.

To Maggie, thanks for everything, we sure learned a lot from you. I am so happy to have met you and I hope to see you again someday…and yeah, thanks for the donuts. 

TOSH! at Glorietta 4

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If you want a diverse food selection in a single area, food court is the place for you. It is one of those places that bank on variety and convenience. Even so I was never a fan, simply because it’s always swarming with people especially during lunch time. It doesn't help that there's this popular myth about foodcourt; they say that they serve recycled food (ewwness!).

Last Friday though, I gained a new perspective. After office hours, I went with a few of my EMCI co-trainees at Glorietta 4’s Food Choices; not exactly the place I had in my mind to enjoy dinner (did I mention I’m not fond of foodcourts?). Even so, I decided not to let protest escape my mouth and just go where the majority wanted.  

Surprise, surpise… the place did not look like your ordinary foodcourt. It is well-kept, spacious, with food stalls that you wouldn’t ordinarily find in most foodcourts. I was particularly curious about Tosh! by The Old Spaghetti House. One look at it and I knew I had to blog about it. 

It didn’t look like a store in a foodcourt meaning the owners made an effort to make their stall pleasing to the eyes. I liked their small kitchen, specifically the pastas inside the glass jars displayed on the top shelf, the wooden cabinets painted in muted green color, and this small glass shelf that held the pizzas placed on top of the counter.

The “by The Spaghetti House” following the name, Tosh! did not escape my attention. I dined at The Spaghetti House (Robinson’s Otis branch) several times before; the food is a bit pricey but totally worth it. I figured if they are affiliated then I am in for a treat. 

The menu offers rice meals such as salisbury steak (Php 85), pork barbecue (Php 65), fried chicken fillet (Php 75), brown sugar chicken (Php 115), and shepherd’s pie (Php 95); pasta dishes like seafood alfredo (Php 155), lasagna (Php 115), gambasetti (Php 115), etc.; sandwiches such as grilled chicken and pesto panini (Php 110) forest ham, cheese & tomato panini (Php 110); and appetizers such as nacho supreme (Php 95) and low carb taco (Php 130).

I ordered spaghetti pesto (Php 85), one of my favorite pasta dishes. It comes with a small piece of thin-crust pepperoni pizza. With drinks, in my case a glass of iced tea, I only added another 10 bucks. I am happy to note that despite the small serving (which is understandable considering I only had to pay a small amount), the meal delivered. The pizza was okay, I liked that it’s thin so it was easier to chew. The pesto on the other hand was good, with strong nutty flavor without being too salty. I just wish they’d go easy on oil because by the time I finished, the plate looked like I could fry something in it.

I spotted a few stalls (like the one that offers Greek food) that I want to try soon. I’m also not over TOSH!, I’d definitely try some of their other dishes when I get a chance. This means it’s likely you’d see me in Glorietta 4, particularly at Food Choices one of these days.     

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TOSH! by The Old Spaghetti House
3rd Floor Food Choices
Glorietta 4, Ayala Center
Makati City
Tel no.: 519-0460