Remember how I venerated UP Diliman for all the beautiful and picturesque places it has inside its campus (it's just an article away, go read 'All the Diliman Feels' :D)? Now that my eyes have feasted on these sceneries, it's time to give my belly the gastronomic treat it deserves after all that walking.
This list will probably grow in the future as these places are the ones I frequent the most whenever I'm in UPD. Prices of items in their menu might probably change when I update this entry when I return to these places and find the effects of price inflation. Also, I am no food connoisseur but simply someone who loves to eat.
Without further ado, let's now check out the places inside the campus where you can munch.
Rodic's
 |
| (My) Line of thinking be like: UP Diliman --> SC --> Rodic's (c) anotsopopularkid.com |
You've been roaming senseless around the campus grounds under the high noon sun and have stumbled upon the Shopping Center. As if on cue, your stomach protested with a not-too-subtle rumbling. Your brain suddenly remembered a famous place inside the building that serves a wide range of silogs even past breakfast hours. As you trudge the hallway of SC, your eyes lit up with the sight of the two similar eating places facing each other. Rodic's Diner or simply Rodic's is perhaps the most known eating place in Diliman (at least for non-Diliman people like yours truly), where they serve their famous beef tapsilog for 85 pesos. Located inside the University Shopping Center, people have frequented the place that despite opening two stores that face each other, both are still filled with hungry diners especially during lunch break.
I rarely deviate from this item in their menu and only do so when they run out of it (at least in the short-lived Rodic's kiosk in our quaint little campus in Manila). Those tasty tapa fibers around a serving of sinangag (garlic rice) then sprinkled (I prefer to bathe them) with vinegar partnered with a sunny side up is worth every peso of a college student's tight allowance.
 |
| Definitely worth it. (c) kleypas.wordpress.com |
I will try other items from their menu....if they run out of tapa which might not happen for a very long time (or not at all, even HAHAHA). Rodic's Diner is located at Store No. 9 (near the UP Coop Canteen end) of the Shopping Center, Masaya Street, Diliman, Quezon City.
Lutong Bahay
If your frugal self still finds the need to express its frugality, Lutong Bahay provides a selection of meals to satiate your hungry stomach and get approval from your tight-lipped wallet. Fifty pesos can get you a decent breakfast of luncheon meat, a sunny-side up and fried rice. I have yet to discover cheaper meal combinations from their menu since I frequent this place for the said breakfast combination as a post-run meal.
Aside from rice meals and affordable viands from which you can choose from, Lutong Bahay also offers a wiiiiiiiiiiiide range of fruit shakes. Fresh fruit shakes, mind you. From simple ones like mango and strawberry shake for 45 pesos to complicated combinations like strawberry-banana or avocado-buko for 50 pesos, they have all that in their arsenal. However, as the Law of Supply and Demand puts it finely, resources are finite (hopefully the price for the good remains the same...as of now) so better enjoy the variety of choices early in the day because I have the misfortune to buy in the afternoon when most of the fruits are not available. Lutong Bahay is located at #133 J. P. Laurel Street, Area 2, UP Campus, Diliman, Quezon City, a few walks away from the ever-glaring yellow post office inside the campus.
 |
| Fresh. Fruit. Shakes. Hello, healthy living (just turn your head the other way when they start scooping the sugar, ok?) (c) travelibre.com |
Snack Shack
A literal stone's throw away from the said blinding yellow post office is Snack Shack. I was first introduced to this burger joint one chilly Lantern Parade night when my heart was empty and my stomach was emptier. For 70 pesos, you can enjoy their juicy quarter pounder. Or if your stomach is really compensating for the void in your heart (by filling it with more cholesterol), you can try their half-pounder for 135 pesos which has double the patty and double the cheese ergo double the fun (forgive my faulty logic here, yes?)!
 |
| Haven't really tried their free hugs, though. Maybe next time? (c) travelibre.com |
Because of their apparent fame in the burger arena, Snack Shack has a lot of customers during their store hours from 11:30 in the morning down to their closing hour (or more of last-order hour) of 7:30 in the evening. So you better buy your drinks (Paulo Tip: buy one of LB's fresh fruit shakes ;)) before ordering and you can sit on the bench and chairs provided nearby and enjoy the waft of freshly grilled burgers while you wait for your name to be called. It is located at Roces Street corner Laurel Street, Area 2, near UP Post Office.
P. S. For those who can't travel to Diliman (WHO WOULDN'T?!), fret not for you can still enjoy Snack Shack's fresh grilled burgers in their branches in 9 V. Luna Extension, Sikatuna Village, Quezon City and General Ordonez Street, Concepcion Dos, Marikina City.
Mang Larry's Isawan
No visit in UP Diliman is complete without a visit to Mang Larry's Isawan. For as low as 3 pesos for their infamous isaw to 6 pesos for their special isaw baboy, you can bet you'll be spending most of your extra allowance (if there are any after photocopying all those readings that remain unread) here. Their special sauces, as you can see in the picture below, are in gallons so you can enjoy your gastronomic treat with an excess of spicy vinegar or sweet sauce of your choice.
 |
| Started from the bottom, now we here! Mang Larry's through the years. circa 2008 (c) catchlyts.wordpress.com circa 2010 (c) ivanhenares.com circa 2013 (c) pinoyroadtrip.com |
Countless Fishball (and other tusok-tusok - ugh, so conyo) Stalls and Ice Cream Carts dotting the Campus
Aside from the said staple food joints, you can enjoy fishballs, kikiams, chickenballs and other tusok-tusok (ugh, still so conyo) in the many stalls that bedeck the campus. From the stalls in front of the Shopping Center that sells a paper plate-ful of fishball for 10 pesos (besides the kikiam, squidballs and 'dynamite' that they also sell) to the ones in front of Vinzons Hall, you can have your fill of affordable and clean street food (the vendors are members of the Samahan ng mga Manininda sa U.P. Campus, Inc. so you can bet that's clean!) while you walk from one of the above-mentioned store to another.
Having an attack of sweet tooth? Calm it down with an ice cream from one of the many ice cream carts that wander the University like Myrna's among others. These heaven-sent ice cream vendors will surely stop that sweet tooth at its track. And for affordable prices, you can bet you can treat your crush to a cone or two.
Alas, this blog post will not (and not ever, I guess) do justice to the unmentioned and unnamed food stalls around the campus. I have yet to try you so wait, my darling. I shall search the campus high and low to locate you and eat from your place (and write a good word for you). You just wait there, Unnamed Food Stall. Just wait.
I guess this ends this post. If you know of any place that serves quite a dish or an interesting item in their menu, don't hesitate to comment it here so I can visit it myself and try whatever they offer my (almost always) hungry tummy. Ciao!
- Paulo
 |
| Choose a tusok-tusok (c-o-n-y-o). Choose your sauce. Eat. Repeat until full. (c) nakisnanay.blogspot.com |
 |
| More of 'Kain na dito', amirite? (c) tusoktusok.wordpress.com |
 |
| The ice cream cart near Mang Larry's I mentioned above (c) travelibre.com |
 |
| Myrnaaaaaa's (c) theblacktwig.wordpress.com |
I guess this ends this post. If you know of any place that serves quite a dish or an interesting item in their menu, don't hesitate to comment it here so I can visit it myself and try whatever they offer my (almost always) hungry tummy. Ciao!
- Paulo
0 comments:
Post a Comment