3 Pig Snouts! (Photo by: RS)We can’t help but get sentimental about Cathy’s Fastfood as we mentioned in the previous post.
It is located on Diego Silang Street. For those people like me that aren’t always familiar with street names, Diego Silang is the street where the ukay ukay sells high-end bags. It’s the street behind Jollibee Session Rd if you’re coming from Harrison road, and the street behind Mcdo Session if you’re coming from Mabini or lower Session Road.
Upon entering, we found ourselves next to the cashier and curiously peering into the kitchen that is located at the bottom of the staircase. The walls used to be covered with vintage posters and old ads of Coca Cola but are now bare revealing the old wood panels. To the left of the entrance, there is a seating area with a good street view. Our favorite spot is on the second level and in the corner above the lower dining area. This is the best place to people-watch because you have a view of the whole upper dining room as well as the lower dining room. The mix of people in Cathy’s cover a wide range, cowboys coming home, students cramming over lunch, drunks having a last drink before heading home or families celebrating a birthday or baptism. The lovely mix of people provides a great ambiance and also good conversation material. Now, let’s get down to business.
Fritson checking out the menu and prices. (Photo by: FP)The prices of the rice meal range from 80-65 PHP. Upon entering we already knew that we were going to order Lechon Rice! But friends, Gino, Marian, Shanti and Fritson looked over the menu first to see the other options. Gino opted for a Cathy’s rice, standard in most places that sell lechon rice. This dish changes name depending on the establishment but has basically the same things in it -- EVERYTHING. Cathy’s rice has a fried egg, fried chicken, fried beef, a few pieces of lechon and a lot of vegetables. Marian opted for the chicken mushroom rice, a simple dish that is practically self-explanatory. Shanti decided on the classic lechon rice and we were hungry and set to order.
Da Guests! Nope, they're not rating! They're just excited. (Photo by: FP)We explored the drinks list and the condiments while waiting for our food to arrive. It’s the usual soft drinks and canned juices but they do have fresh (plus points!) calamansi juice that you can order either hot or cold. The beer, Pale Pilsen and Red Horse (the only 2 we really care about) cost 35PHP and 40PHP respectively. Good price for beer! If you ask nicely the waitress will give you soy, a platito, calamansi and a bottle of vinegar with more sili than vinegar in it. The mixing of these condiments are usually done by one person and the order in which they are mixed varies.
Fritson inspects the meal (Photo by: FP)The arrival of our meal caused a visible and audible wave of excitement. The steaming cup of rice surrounded by a moat of vegetables, sauce, and lechon was a quest we were all ready to conquer. The lechon rice had five pieces of pork and two kinds of vegetables, namely carrots and petchay. Free beef soup with onion leeks also comes with the meal. We scrutinized the crunchiness of the meat, the fat content, the parts of the vegetables used, the quality of sauce. Gino and Marian discussed their chicken as well but the lechon was the main topic and Fritson kept note of our comments and helped us remember them later on. Our total bill for 5 people’s drinks and meals was 430 PHP.
LECHON! (Photo by: FP)We gave Cathy’s Fastfood three snouts! The meat wasn’t that crunchy because it was drowned in the sauce and the vegetables were made up mostly of the white tips of the petchay. It was still quite tasty, the serving size was huge and besides, Cathy’s definitely still holds the crown for sentiment, for being the establishment where we were first initiated into the pleasures of lechon rice.
