After four straight days of being confined in the eight corners of our condo unit and four straight days of eating all things fried, my baby and I longed for fresh air and real food for lunch. My husband is an addict (and an expert at that!) of pork barbeque. But it is Sunday today, so The Beach House in Sunken Garden is out of the question. We are then left with one other option. Aling Nene's. So off we go to South Superhighway, amidst the heavy rain, just to satisfy our cravings for Pork BBQ.
Regulars of this restaurant for a very long time already, we are accustomed to their smoky and not-so-classy dining environment. We don’t eat anything else here (because I don’t trust how they cook the other food) but their specialty – Pork Barbeque. But today, as we enter the restaurant, we have a strong feeling it will be our last time to eat there.
The whole restaurant is in shambles. Dripping water from the ceiling (not to mention that half of that ceiling seems ready to fall off anytime), flooded floors, stale-looking food, and guess what! NO AVAILABLE PORK BARBEQUE!!! Aling Nene’s without pork barbeque. Something is indeed wrong here. (There is a resto in Mandaluyong named During’s Barbeque. We tried eating there once, guess what, the staff told us they don’t serve barbeque. Hello!?!)
But my husband won’t yield that easily. He went to the other side of the corner (yes! there are three Aling Nene’s branches side-by-side in this nook of SSH). Guess what again, the other resto is closed already. What remains is the take-out branch. Thank God! Our trip here won’t be put to waste. Or so I thought. Even the quality and taste of the barbeque had deteriorated. It is indeed our last trip to this restaurant.
We will not be surprised if a month after today, that last and remaining branch will close as well. There were only five people eating there today, us included. That resto used to be full-packed. Like us, most regulars go the distance just to enjoy their house specialty. The staff doesn’t want to comment to my probing hubby’s inquisition, but it seems the root of the snag was crisis between management (well, it was evident even before with the three branches all at the same location, competing for the same market!). It was just so sad. Aling Nene's had become a regular part of our lives already. It is a synonym for Pork Barbeque in our food dictionary. We plan to pass this tradition to our future children as well.
Before we left, I paid a last look at the portrait of Aling Nene and Mang Siding in the corner. At least they are still together. (Our dear MamaBell's recently lost good old pal Daddy Nic’s at her side along Nicanor Garcia St-formerly Reposo St. He was replaced by J&J who now offer’s Foam Parties during weekends. But I still wonder, maybe Juanico is Daddy Nic’s real name?).
Well, as the pop song goes, some good things really never last.
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