FOOD TRIPPING IN ELBI
we went home to elbi on saturday with my younger sister and cousin potatochips in tow to celebrate my mom's birthday. di pa kami nakuntento sa pagkain sa bahay (mmm...crispy pata from nagcarlan is the best!).
after watching some anime on dvd, Other Half and i suddenly felt some hunger pangs that propelled us to scrounge for food outside of the house. potatochips was also with us. halatang matatakaw.
went to grove for the addictive papu's siomai but they were already closing up for the night. too bad. if you're in elbi i recommend that you try papu's. unfortunately, it's literally a hole-in-the-wall affair so you'll have a very hard time locating the eatery.
kung di ako nagkakamali less P60 itong lahat nang ito. P12 per serving (3 pcs). ang sarap isama sa kanin. for P16, may student meal na (solb na solb sa mga estudyanteng wala nang pera lalo na pag byernes.
so dahil nagsasara na si papu's, binalingan namin si doner durum, a few feet away from papu's. nagsasara na rin (at 11 pm). natira na lang yung spicy shawarma nila. si Other Half na lang ang bumili. bigo si potatochips.
sarado na rin ang mcdo, naghanap na lang kami ng burger. walang burger machine...sabi ko eto na lang:
ayaw daw ni potatochips mag-try ng di nya kilala ang lasa (bugel's burger). dito tuloy ang bagsak namin.
buy one, take one po ang drama nila. pinatos na namin. kaso ang sama ng lasa. ok nang pantawid-gutom. midnight cravings, tsk tsk...
the next day, Other Half and i went to the famous/infamous batcave to eat a "healthy" dose of lechong kawali with unlimited servings of sarsa ni mang tomas...only now that sarsa is conspicuously absent. nagtitipid?
to the unitiated, batcave is where students go to eat greasy affordable lutong-bahay. yupielbi grads go to batcave for the sake of nostalgia. Other Half goes there for the cholesterol (lechong kawali and chicharon). if you're not from elbi, you'll have a difficult time finding the place since it looks like an ordinary two-storey apartment at the back of the hospital. another hole-in-the wall eatery, hence the name batcave. actually mga estudyante na lang nagpangalan ng batcave dun kasi ang hirap nga hanapin.
since bigo si potatochips the night before, we had to buy shawarma at doner durum before leaving for manila. she bought two and wolfed these down inside the car. until the next day, the car's interior smelled like garlic sauce.
to other people, these foods (doner durum, papus, batcave) are not exceptionally fantastic or something you can consider the best you'll ever taste. but for us people who have lived in elbi, be it only for a year or for an eternity, these taste like home.
i wish i could have included DTRI freshmilk and kesong puti, the vietnamese resto in the former agrix compound (the one the late doreen fernandez has written about), joe's (the expat hangout), kwek-kwek and other stuff that some yupielbi grads and residents have been craving for. didn't have enough time for that for one weekend. perhaps next time.
i miss elbi. 
