It rained since Monday and two tropical storms have since entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility. Yesterday, the dourpour was just tremendous, flooding in my place prevented me from going nowhere. I stayed home with my wife and we enjoyed meals of arroz caldo (rice porridge with chicken) and hot cakes. It was a bit late when school was cancelled and a lot of finger pointing happened blaming the timeliness of calling off the kids from leaving the safety of their homes. Hence, last night, the government had announced no classes on all levels the following day. It has been an old joke that whenever the the weather bureau would forecast rains or bad weather, the sun would shine brightly. Today, the weather bureau did it again, the forecasted bad weather never happened, only few scattered rain showers and the sun did shine most of the day, at least in Metro Manila. Tropical storms Cheding and Dodong were on their way out to Taiwan and the coast of China. I believe, the Philippines should invest in people and better equipment to greatly improve the weather forecasting. We call our weather bureau, Pag-Asa which literally means "hope" yet, its forecasts are inaccurate and hopeless. Despite being the laughingstock, the bureau never got a facelift nor a good lashing for not doing properly its job.
Well, so much for the ills and problems besetting the country. Today, I asked my friends and colleauges to have our lunch at Amici. Amici is like a gem for a hole in the whole establishment that serves decent fare at very reasonable prices. It used be run by brothers of Don Bosco until some months ago when its business was sold to some entity that continued to operate it under the Amici name serving the same food and menu with greatly improved service. As a commercial entity, its POS system is now linked with the kitchen and a customer can literally order from a counter, any of its pasta, pizza or refreshments thereby eliminating the queuing up of the olden days when the brothers used to run the place.
We joked around that we felt different before knowing that the profits derived as a result of patronizing the place would redound to the benefit of the brotherhood that supported such programs as feeding the poor, fostering children and spreading the good news to mankind. Besides, we felt like the food we ate were blest by priest that we feel wonderful inside out partaking of the "feast". Today, its different. We know the place is run for profit but nonetheless, the food never tasted this good.
I ordered beef caldereta. It was the last serving from the food station and I should say, it was more than the usual serving. Got a moundful of rice (more like the huge amount of rice an ordinary carpenter or masonry laborer could actually consume after a day's work) and a can of Coke Light. Gentley ordered his favorite, the adobong pusit (squid cooked in its ink). Since the servings were hefty, me and Gentley shared our food. Rene and Maidette could not even hold their forks to try out Amici's beef caldereta.
It was Rene's maiden trip to Amici and he loved the place for its sheer no-nonsense ambience where the accoutrements go to the food quality and not on less substantive form of investments. Gentley pointed out in jest that Amici can be a "date place" as the woman will think you're the man of substance for choosing Amici over the fanciful restos. To me, I'll say, the man will be branded a cheapskate and that will probably be the end of his courting days, hahaha. We talked about the better mix of people dining in, as we saw some caucasian men ordering a bottle of wine and some svelte ladies ogling on their desserts and gelato.
Well, in fairness to Amici, it attracts mostly office workers during lunches and families during the weekends. It is good to know that it opens its doors to diners now even on Sundays. The brotherhood probably will not like much the idea that the new owners of Amici will not "rest" on Sundays. But the shop has made tie-ups with Waltermart, as diners can park their vehicles at the mall while Amici will exchange the parking ticket for a free car pass after spending some Php300 on food. That's a steal.
Well, I loved my beef caldereta. It has a rich texture and aroma, probably from using A grade liver sauce. You can tell the beef was fresh before it was cooked and I almost wiped my plate clean had I have some cheese bread with me. I also enjoyed the squid that Gentley shared and it was a truly filling lunch. However, my trip to Amici would not be complete without sampling the cakes and pastry assortments. I ordered a mango tango and tiramisu. The mango tango was an instant hit. Gentley loved it so much, he ordered half of the refrigerator cake for taking home. Rene even thought of ordering wholesale the mango tango. That's how good this dessert was. A slice would cost Php35.00 plus some VAT and local tax. The tiramisu was good but could have tasted better with more liquer. But at Php35.00, who can complain.
I paid Php175.00 (US$3.90) for my rice meal and coke and some Php80.00 (US$1.78) for the dessert. This is such a cheap place to eat. I called up my wife telling her that Amici is now open on Sundays, hence, we should be eating here this Sunday again. Oh, I missing their thin crust pizza, the quattro formaggi and the one with artichoke. Yummy.
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