beyond toxicity

My wife, Tina texted me this afternoon while she was on-way home from her 6am to 2pm shift in the Operating Room of a private hospital in Quezon City as a clinical instructor, to ask me if I wanted to try eating snacks at PenPen. We’ve been reading about this “comfort food place” from other blogs & we’d like to experience it ourselves. Since I’m enjoying the last day of my off from work, & my son Gabby also wanted to eat out (he’s craving for chocolate frapuccino of Starbucks Coffee, one of his favorite at his age of 4), we finally gave it a try.

I found PenPen as an upscale carinderia . The place can be spotted easily. It is a small airconditioned eatery located in a corner of a street from Tomas Morato in Quezon City where we live few kilometers away. The entire place, I guess, can only accomodate 30 to 40 people at its first floor (I’m not sure if they also allow dining upstairs) with 6 to 7 palo-china tables & chairs, which I like, they’re homey!  The yellow-painted walls are nearly bare except for few frames of the house specialties. Do not expect interiors similar or at par with other restos along Morato, you won’t find it in Pen pen. But as I have stated, it’s homey & comfy, perfect for barkadas (friends), small families who are looking for an affordable daily dining place.

PenPen offers Pinoy staples like pan de sal with choices of palaman (filling), crispiest liempo (deep-fried thinly sliced pork belly), & spicy bicol express (pork cooked in spicy coconut milk) to name a few of their specialties & other usual favorites. It’s owned by the wife of the veteran Philippine actor, Mr. Pen Medina (hence its name!) & their son, Ping, who’s a character actor in TV & most indie films, also helps out.

We tried PenPen’s crispiest liempo, PhP 125.

It’s cripiest, yes! but don’t expect that it’ll be served in a huge platter, LOL.
C’mmon, with prices of a kilo of pork & cooking oil nowadays, what can you expect from its serving?  You get what you pay for, of course. But I cannot say anything bad with its taste.  It’s saltiness is best dipped in vinegar & you’ll be sky-rocketted to the seventh heavens! Just be  careful with atherosclerosis, hypertension & other cardiovascular disorders that may result from too much intake of these fatty & salty foods. Ouch!

Then we ordered pan de sal which were so affordable at PhP 45 each.
I had the pan de sal with special home-made ham…

I like it ! It’s a breather from the usual hamburger of commercial fast foods.

But my wife Tina was a bit disappointed with her pan de sal with kesong puti (white cheese). The bread was good, but the slice of kesong puti was so thin she barely tasted it. Plus it was described in the menu to be served with pesto, but there was none. =(

Nonetheless, PenPen is better than other eateries around.
They also accept catering.
and to my surprise, Pen Pen  also offers wi-fi access!

Burp!

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PenPen
105-C Scout Castor Street,
South Triangle, Quezon City.
411-41-57.