Star Cafe: Four Snouts

A gaping hole where Mountain Studio once stood.

(Photo by PP)

Mountain Studio is gone -- another Baguio institution, gone. In the face of impending change, it's always good to eat comfort food, or to go back to something constant and familiar. We did both. As the demolition of the Mountain Studio building on the corner of Session Road and Upper Mabini carried on in the afternoon rain of May, we seestars repaired next door to Star Cafe for lechon rice.

The old Star Cafe.

(Photo of photo hanging in the new Star Cafe by FP)

Star Cafe still has that old Baguio charm to it, thanks to the presence of icons such as this Benguet cowboy. (Of course NOT the butterfly! Silly.)

(Photo by FP)

While waiting for our orders to come we couldn't help but wonder at the resilience of Star Cafe. It has survived the demolition of its original home, overcome the fengshui-related challenges of moving across Session Road, and withstood visits from the likes of Imelda Marcos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Perhaps this is why Star Cafe is recognized as one of Baguio's "Builders."

Fritson admires the Baguio Builders Award of Star Cafe.

(Photo by FP)

There is no need to mince words over Star Cafe's lechon rice. It's stellar. We are in complete agreement with our dear friend, Martin Masadao.

Four snouts!
(Photos by: FP and PP)

The rice was steaming hot. The vegetables (celery, petchay, mustasa and tomato) were not overcooked. They were fresh and crisp, swimming in a light yet tasty sauce, and cradling five sizable pieces of crunchy, meaty, scrumptious, deep-fried baboy. It may not be as large a serving as you get in other lechon rice joints but for the taste alone it's well worth your P90. Beer is P47. Calamansi juice (with the standard question, Hot or cold?) is P37.

(Photo by FP)

All of this with the smug yet warm service of Star Cafe's mysteriously well-preserved waiters. We were automatically given calamansi, vinegar with chili peppers, and soy sauce just before our lechon rice arrived and this kind of service always makes for plus points in our books.

(Photo by FP)

Fritson thinks it's highly probable that Star Cafe's lechon rice is the Elixir of Youth. The waiters are still the same waiters from across the street some thirty odd years ago -- perhaps longer -- and they haven't aged one single bit!

Sab-atan II, Two Snouts

Sab-atan II, Dangwa Bus Station, Baguio City.
(Everybody knows that Dangwa is across the public market and predates the Center Mall, right?)

Sab-atan in the rain. Sigh, wishful thinking. (Photo by FP)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit graced our Sab-atan lunch with their presence, escorted by their ever-loyal chronicler, the Nashman. For Fritson and us girls, the fine company of the dawgs and the Nashman were the highlight of the meal.

Fritson with the Dawgs (Photo by FP)

We got 8 chewy pieces of lechon kawali on a bed of vegetable scraps (some of which were brown around the edges), sitting in a gelatinous cornstarchy sauce.

Lechon with gulay and Rice (Photo by FP)

Bonus pieces of pork in the vegetables (Photo by FP)

The rice toppings came with free soup in a lovely melanin -- er, MELAMINE bowl. The soup was so saturated with instant boullion cubes, we were reminded of suspension antibiotics. Nevertheless, we have to say the food was edible.

In a word: appetizing. (Photo by PP)

We found the prices for the rice toppings to be reasonable in Sab-atan II, ranging from 85-95PHP. The lechon rice is 85PHP. (But you get more for 65PHP in Cathy's.) A pale pilsen is 40PHP. Extra rice is 20PHP, and fried rice is 25PHP.

Lechon Ampalaya Rice (Photo by: FP)

Sab-atan II's ampalaya lechon rice was a lot better than the regular lechon rice, and a fair deal at 85PHP. No matter how delicious a restaurant's lechon rice variations are, however, we reserve our ratings in each place for 'D'Original Thing.

(Photo by FP)

Fritson sadly proclaimed that pork had seen better days and our guests of honor agreed. We decided to give Sab-atan II's lechon rice 1 snout + the benefit of the doubt-snout = 2 snouts. (Maybe the cook was just having a bad day?)

Fritson and the Dawgs rate Sab-atan II (Photo by FP)

So what's to like at Sab-atan II? The joint is just dripping with o-ten-tic kordi koboy ambience, and we are suckers for that sort of thing.

P with o-ten-tic koboy in the background (Photo by FP)

ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTE: To tell people not to worry, you are koboy, is to raise their expectations of you and your threshold for pain, dugyot-ness, alcohol, and your ability to work hard and laugh harder. The higher your tolerance for pain, alcohol, filth, and back-breaking work of the rustic mountain living kind, the better. The lower your threshold for laughter and fun, so much the better. To be called koboy in these mountains, especially in Benguet, is to be given a compliment of the highest order. It's almost like knighthood but better because you don't have to wash up and dress for the part.

Fritson and the Dawgs. Note Miner and Koboy meeting in the background (Photo by:PP)

Instead of sating your hankering for lechon rice here, you're better off soaking up the ambience in Sab-atan II while sipping a satisfying cup of Benguet brew and tucking into a wonderfully creamy, almost-too-decadent-to-be-koboy slice of egg pie. Now THAT is good stuff!

(Photo by PP)