Untangling Messy Norte

Apparently 9pm signals the clearing of the battlefield known as Mezza Norte—with tables finally floating into the line of sight and vendors finding the time to breathe in, and out. It’s amazing how much smorgasbord of gastronomic treasures these tents hold, amidst the smoky haze and a diversity of aroma depending on where you sit. Fine weather also permitted setting up more tables under the stars, UP Technohub lights and closer to the Commonwealth traffic.

We were stationed in El Poco Mejico—otherwise known as Mexicanto—and sat alongside simmering corn chips and cheese. However I was craving for another continent’s produce, so off I went and found the wraps place.

As it turns out, the wraps place has a proper name: Wrap Battle. While deciding between Tofu with Asian Dressing or Grilled Eggplant with Balsamic Vinaigrette, the Chicken Pesto was being assembled. With a thick smear of pesto, cabbage, cheese, onions and chicken strips—that pesto’s grassy allure was salvation to the famished and in less than a minute it was mine to behold.

At P100, it was a gigantic wrap, quite the steal and the ultimate hunger buster. A bit hefty on the cabbage side, this I did not mind (okay, I loved it). If given a next time, I’d like to try that tawilis (that’s fish) number or maybe the grilled eggplant. Or maybe both.

As much as it shames me, I had a photo taken. Twice. Were my pupils dilated? Dying of curiosity, the stalker in me found Wrap Battle’s Facebook page and one heck of a hazy photo. La fee verte from pesto.

Bumble Tea is always queued but I found one second of emptiness and went for the Pulpy Aloe Juice (Mango) at 25% sweetness. At a quarter, 25% or just ¼ of the original sweetness, my drink seemed more like 125% syrup. The opposite for my friend whose dark chocolate-rock salt and cheese at 50% was bland. I propose an assembly line for the vendors, or better yet, a shot of red bull. That should help with the math.

Lastly, Merry Moo never fails to disappoint. This time, the Strawberry Shortcake unraveled fruity sweetness with awesome chunks of cake in between. A better form of ice cream cake, bathed in my favorite strawberry goodness, not even Mochiko’s Oreo Bestseller (I had that too) could offer such gourmet dessert delight.

This time, the cat bows to the cow.

P.S.

My earlier Mezza "Messy" Norte post was written during the horrible Habagat season, which is why references to hair, tangles and anything disturbing are abound. You'd do the same thing too if caught in a hurricane on a bad hair day.

 

Saved by the Bon Chon

The fact remains that almost everyone has probably eaten at Bon Chon Chicken in Manila, so there's a possibility that any reader would hit the close button.

Or try to look at the photos, then close the window.

So, for the sake of novelty and aversion to chicken cliche, let's skip the ambience, service excellence, cleanliness and cluck-cluck chicken goodness and get on with the other menu items.

Bon Chon does serve fares other than chicken, and I'm not just talking about the rice. If rice is your main concern, you're probably better off knocking on Mang Inasal's door.

The Caesar Salad (with extra chicken) came as quite as a surprise with its pepper-studded and thick dressing. It wasn't the watered down, purely mayo magic kind, making this one of the better tasting Caesar Salads for its price range. With only Romaine lettuce and croutons to make up the salad, many will find this a tad too plain - which, on the contrary I found appealing since for the first time, I didn't have to say: No bacon, please.

The Chap Chae's glass noodles were slippery perfection, and I couldn't get enough of this Korean creation. A bit too sweet, I'd prefer it to be more bland and with sesame seeds and chili. However the sweetness level can be waived as this dish is doused with chicken, green and carrots and loads of those lovely glass noodles. Enough as a meal, it still went perfectly with my salad. You'd probably find that combination as rather queer, but then again, I like to include go, grow and glow foods in one meal! 

Balancing 2 Chicken Chops in between what seemed to be an oat bun, the Chicken Sandwich makes one chunky feast, with fries on the side. Between chicken chops with rice or that sandwich bun, the latter seems to be the more attractive option. And there's that dip as well. Don't expect the bun to be French bakery goodness, but all right enough so as not to sidestep the chicken highlight.

Of course the Chicken Chops will always be a staple for the so-so diner.

Bon Chon's frozen yogurt (Korean Yogurt) had to be the fitting finale for this grand meal, but I already had my advance dessert c/o Merry Moo from Mezza Norte. Next time though, that Blueberry Torte ought to be the next buy. Just looking at the poster was torture enough. 

How I ended up in Bon Chon can only be explained by Mezza Norte's seating scheme (which was close to nil) and properly explained in my previous post: Mezza "Messy" Norte. In the dim haze of UP Technohub, Bon Chon's cheery presence seemed to be the guiding light for diners who refused to eat on the floor or steps. 

This is is really one of those rare instances when we can thank the chicken. Saved by the Bon Chon Chicken.

Mezza "Messy" Norte

If you have not heard of UP Technohub, chances are you belong to the lower side of the Metro where Greenhills and BGC are enough sources of entertainment and food splurge. Where words like Commonwealth, Balara or "Winter is coming" make no sense.

There was a time when Mercato was once the distant gourmet-landia, requiring one heck of a road trip with a siding of patience.

Well thank you for finally noticing QC's rather hefty occupancy on the map. And yes, there are a lot of hungry people living in Quezon City with population I-don't-know, but certainly large enough to devour Makati, Mandaluyong and Pasig.

Mezza Norte, the newly established "Mercato" for the northern dwellers, is located at this place called UP Technohub, along Commonwealth. As for proper directions, you're better off with Google Maps, since I bear no tourist navigational perspective, living minutes away from this tent mania.

Pretend you're the persistent type and try to prod me for info, the best I could come up with is: Quezon Circle, right at Commonwealth, U-Turn somewhere, then follow the cars moving slowly and making a right at this hazy joint. Oh yes, mind the weird barriers on the road, meant to trip swerving buses, they can be a pain to the disoriented driver.

Before anyone can beat me to it, I would like to lovingly refer to Mezza Norte as Messy Norte. It's new, perhaps the talk of the nearest schools and villages, so everyone in the nearby vicinity decided to skip market day and have dinner at Messy Norte.

Flocks of cars and ID-wearing blokes came in violent throngs and forbade me from even sitting on a monoblock chair, not even to rest my tired toes. People looked at me as if I was trying to cut them in line (for a roast beef sandwich? please!) and those lucky enough to bag a table gave us bite-me looks - not that i even wanted a bite of any of them, just something sweet!

For being unlucky or jut plain gracious, we failed to find a table in 30 minutes (this was 7pm on a Friday). That rather long waiting period gave us roughly 3 rounds of the place and thus I concluded:

1) No way are we finding a table in this sea of hawks, moms and ID flashing peeps, 2) No way am I eating on the pavement, stairs of Mini Stop, and 3) Time to scout for grub outside Messy Norte. Boo-hoo.

This is how we ended up in Bon Chon, still in UP Technohub, which will be actually my next post, thanks to Messy Norte's seating scheme.

However, I did get what I initially came for, a taste of Merry Moo Ice Cream!

The only place that was free from grief stricken tasters and manned by gracious ladies who patiently waited on our orders. The Earl Grey was divine but put off in the meantime for fear of insomnia bouts. Milo was comfort food material, but I opted for Dark Chocolate, because it matched my already dark mood.

[caption id="attachment_2218" align="aligncenter" width="614"] Sea Salt Caramel and Dark Chocolate[/caption]

The Sea Salt Caramel managed an "oohh" from my brother who was already blinded by the inihaw haze It was on the buttery-caramel smooth side. Next time I shall try that Berry Trifle or Strawberry Shortcake.

Or why not both?

Getting stuck in a spot while walking, these 3-for100 cakes finally got to me, and so to at least buy something to-go from Messy Norte, I decided to give in: Revel Bars, Turtle Cake and Oreo Cake.

For P100 these should be a steal, but if you're looking for Parvati-variety these won't make the cut. However again, for the price, they make quite an extravagant pasalubong.

The secret is not to tell the recipient the price of the cake/s. Just shove it in their face and watch the glow of gratitude.

You're welcome!

Nearly giving in to this hyped up Tuguegarao pancit, that seems to be the Pad Thai of Northern Philippines, the queue was already long, not to mention the waiting period. Oh and we don't have a table.

Too bad.

I spotted 2 Chap Chae Joints (unfortunately they both have pork), Manang's, Bumble Tea, the ever present Mochiko, Mio Gelati, the Roast Beef Lady, that Shabu-Shabu Place, Taclings, Takoyaki, Medchef, etc. Nowhere in sight were (from Mercato) that ravioli place, Panzarotti, Messy Bessy, Human Nature, Anita's cupcakes, Low Cal, dumplings and that place that sold kefir.

Should we return for a take 2, I do wish that Messy Norte would be more organized or would have more tables or just courteous diners.

If not, I could always lend you a comb, er, a hand.