Afternoons at Madge

Madge Cafe is easily one of my most favourite places in the entire city. As I’ve mentioned before, Madge is easily the oldest kapihan in Iloilo, having been in business for around 70 years. I know they’re called Madge Cafe, but using the word ‘cafe’ suggests an air of fanciness, which is definitely not Madge. I love that when you come here, you go back to basics - there are no frills, no whipped cream, no grossly expensive tiny cakes with silly names, no slightly burnt gourmet sandwiches from the microwave; just coffee. Good coffee.

They give you a nondescript mug, and your only choices are hot black coffee (P20), hot coffee with milk (P22) and iced coffee with milk (P30), and the coffee is their own brew.

I’ve spent several hours at Madge, with different groups of people, and each visit was memorable. I especially loved my mini reunions with high school friends that I don’t see enough of, in which we realise how much or how little we have grown up. For one, we gossiped less and actually debated about world economy and sustainable energy and whatnot.

Madge can be found in the bowels of Lapaz Public Market, and you can’t get any seedier than that. Like, seriously, if at one point a rat had shown up I wouldn’t have been surprised. Plus, you get all the general pungent smells of a market, and all its noise, too. Also, street kids abound, who won’t leave you alone until either you’ve given them money or you’ve sufficiently convinced them that you have no money to spare (which never happens).

But, honestly, all that is worth it for a cup of Madge coffee.

Later tater!

Patricia

4 April 6 Permalink

Hungry Ninja, Iloilo

I delayed my coming to Hungry Ninja ever since it opened last year because someone told me that the food wasn’t good. That someone is wrong.

Hungry Ninja is an Asian cuisine fast food restaurant that opened a few months ago. They serve a variety of dishes that inspired from neighbouring Asian countries and oh my god can we just go to the food now?!

These were the Banh-mi sandwiches that Poch and I ordered. She got the Pork BBQ (top) while I got Chicken and Onion (bottom). Each costs P39.00. There wasn’t really anything special about the sandwiches, but they were pretty okay. That said we did like that they used actual Banh-mi baguette bread.

An abundant amount of cassava crackers were also served with the sandwiches, which is awesome because I absolutely loved them when I was still living in Indonesia. I suggest that they sell these individually like what ChowKing does with their Chicharap, because I’m certain people would be into that. I, for one, would probably buy like 20 bags in one go.

My other roommate, Jill, had already eaten so she only opted for dessert. She got Mango Float (P25). I didn’t try it but Jill says it was really good. Well, honestly, I’ve never actually even eaten bad mango float in my life. This one gets sooo much plus points, though, for presentation. Look at how amazing that looks! That’s how a P85.00 mango float served in a hotel would look like, not a P25.00 one served in a fast food restaurant.

Poch also ordered Kung Pao noodles (P65.00). It was actually pretty good, but I didn’t have enough of it to really remember how it tasted. Maybe next time.

Ok now seriously, listen up. That thing right there is the Pork Gung-Ho (P49.00) rice bowl and is quite genuinely one of the best things I ever had the pleasure of ingesting. It’s doused in liberal amounts of a sweet, Asian-y sauce (hahaha) and  the pork is cooked just right. It wasn’t chewy or anything. Guess what is the absolute most incredible thing about this is: it is legitimately spicy! If you’ve ever read any of my other articles (which you should!), you would know that I am often disappointed with food here in Iloilo that claim that they are spicy but just fail to live up. Well, finally, something that satisfied me, spice-wise!

Ok, have you even seen those prices? Some of the meals even have a can of soda inclusive. That’s probably why in the few months that Hungry Ninja has been open, they’ve already got tons of loyal customers. With good food and good prices, how could you not?!

I also saw in the menu that they serve Nasi Goreng (Indonesian or Malaysian fried rice), which I’m still iffy about ordering because I’m *cough* well-versed in nasi goreng, and I’m afraid of being disappointed just because I love the place so much. Maybe next time.

Hungry Ninja can be found along Gen. Luna, directly across St. Paul’s Hospital.

27 March 2 Permalink