Bulalo and The Rain

(07 June 2013) One rainy and uneventful Friday night, my friend and I got a little hungry. We originally planned to have some drinks at a nearby cafe or a beer place. We had to change plans because of the rain and finally decided to scout for a bulalo place. Given our limited budget, we decided to find a place that would fit our 500-for-two-persons budget (roughly around US$ 12). We first went to Tomas Morato where we always grabbed a bowl of mami after our late night massage sessions. But to our surprise, the Mami-Pares-Bulalo place was no longer operational.

After some time, we thought of our usual after-booze bulalo sessions. We typically go to only one place. We hailed a cab and went straight ahead to Project 3. The place is called Tapsi ni Vivian. Its address is No. 6 Lauan Street, Barangay Duyan-Duyan, Project 3, Quezon City. As earlier mentioned, it wasn't our first time here. In fact, this was our nth time visiting the place.

Tapsi ni Vivian is not very easy to find, though it's very accessible to commuters. Their lighted sign is not that well-lighted and it will definitely give you a hard time noticing the place. The semi-darkness (given that the area is mostly residential) of the area also makes it hard for people to locate the place.

Facade of the place

 When you go inside, you'd experience the opposite of what's outside. No more darkness!

This is what the dining area looks like. (2 photos)

 We were a bit lucky to have arrived early at the place, around 15 minutes past midnight. There were only a few people dining in the restaurant. Perhaps this is really an after-booze place and it is not only our group who considers this place as so!

The menu of their silogs

Tapsi ni Vivian, as its name suggests, offers a variety of silogs (sinangag and itlog - Filipino garlic rice and an egg cooked the way you like it) including tapsilog (tapa, sinangag and itlog). Aside from their silogs, they also have varieties of viands (ulam). But these viands change daily and are not always available since most of them are subject to the availability of the ingredients.

Their food display, carinderia style (2 photos)

As one may have guessed, we really went here for the bulalo. This beef bone marrow soup is a good partner for the bed weather that night. One order of bulalo costs about 225 pesos (US$ 5.35). Not bad for their serving is generous! The broth was plain and ordinary, nothing so special. But if you're after the marrow in the bulalo, Tapsi ni Vivian is where you should go. As far as I know, they offer the most generous amount of marrow in a single order of bulalo. Their bulalo also comes with a slice of corn, several stalks of pechay (Chinese cabbage), bok choi, a few strips of string beans, and about a quarter of a cabbage.

The big bowl of bulalo

For the sides, we had an order of battered shrimp and chicharon (crispy pork intestines), both at 100 pesos (US$ 2.40, more or less) per order. The battered shrimp was tasty and fresh but was a bit lacking in crispiness. On the other hand, the chicharon was divine! The right amount of crispiness, the strong calamansi (Philippine lemon) taste and the hot-off-the pan state of the chicharon made it easier for us to feast on this delectable Filipino snack.

Battered shrimp

Chicharon

Our bill totaled to 491 pesos. With our 500 peso budget, we had a very delectable complete meal (rice, viand and drinks). This was exactly what we had in mind - a delicious meal that fits the budget!

How to get to Tapsi ni Vivian:
Landmarks - Petron Gas Station, One Beatriz Tower, NCBA Cubao
LRT - From any LRT 2 station, alight at Anonas Station and ride a trike. Tell the driver to bring you to Petron Gas Station along Aurora Boulevard corner Lauan Street. (Across the gas station is NCBA Cubao.)
Jeepney - From EDSA-Cubao (Aurora Blvd.), ride a jeepney to Antipolo/Cogeo/Katipunan and tell the driver to bring you to Petron Gas Station in Project 3, just right after Anonas Street. The gas station will be on your left. ***