April 2, 2011

Carinderia Buffet

verabear Food Trip 25 Comments

The Carinderia Buffet is located in the corner of V.Luna and Mabilis Streets in Pinyahan, Quezon City. I have not been around that area so much in the last five years so I was surprised when a colleague at work told me about it. Since the boyfriend was away on Thursday, I got the chance to have lunch with a different group – King, one of my TLs, Patrick, a Trainer, and four other agents. They were going to Enchanted Kingdom after shift that day but decided to hook up with me for lunch before they set out for adventure land.

Carinderia Buffet boasts of a 99-peso Eat-all-you-can buffet of carinderia staples. A carinderia is a neighborhood/corner store or eatery that sells cooked meals at very low costs. People would eat at these places, or buy food to take home. Some people, mostly A/B crowds, try to stay away from eateries or carinderias though because these places are not subjected to government inspection for health/safety standards.

That’s what the Buffet is capitalizing on – they offer the usual carinderia fare while guaranteeing cleanliness. The price isn’t necessarily targeted for the C & D market, but for an eat-all-you-can arrangement, 99 pesos is very cheap.

Upon entering the establishment, I couldn’t help but note the roominess of the place. There were plenty of seating avaialable, and at around 1 that afternoon, there were very few empty tables. It was well-ventilated. No fancy furnishings or décor.

The second thing that caught my attention was this sign:

Well, with the number of people dining there, I wasn’t surprised that they had this rule. Besides, it was the only way they can regulate how much people could eat. Haha. Also no sharing of leftovers.

So how was the food? They had a lot of veggie dishes, but then not a lot of variety for the meat/fish section. On the set above, the left photo are all veggies, compared to all the ulam dishes to the right. One would think there should be more selections on the section to the right. I tried their por binagoongan (not special), pork sinigang (yummy, but very fatty), fried chicken (ok), adobong kangkong, ensaladang mangga/talong, and squash with string beans dish. Everything was okay, but non really WOW’ed me.

There was only one dish for dessert and we thought it was sweetened banana – it turned out to be sugared sweet potatoes.

Drinks are not part of the 99-peso fee. A refillable drink costs about 40-45 pesos.

Will I be back? If only so the boyfriend could sample the food, yes. But there’s really nothing there to pull me back.

Would I recommend it? Why not. It’s an experience. It’s affordable and you can eat-all-you-can for one hour. You can take your friends or colleagues here and treat them out to lunch without having to break the bank or taking out cash advance online. 🙂 They have clean toilets too, with tissue and running water.

Have you tried Carinderia Buffet? What’s your favorite restaurant?