Remembering The Good Old Days At Cafe A nd X

cafe a nd x rice dishes

During my good old days with the IMPI account in a BPO company that I worked with located in Cainta, Junction (to those in the know, this is already a give-away to which company I'm referring to) I only visited Cafe A nd X only two or three times. Yes. You read it right. That's the spelling of this carinderia place. The carinderia that I visited the most would be Mang Larry's and his LK (Lechon Kawali). But I do remember liking each visit here, most especially the food. If I remember it right, I first enjoyed the budbod rice here in Cafe A nd X and then to my colleague's (Kervy) restaurant in Taytay, (Gosh! I miss that place so much. If only I know how to get there by myself). 

My return visit to this carinderia place was an accidental one. I made acquaintances with two young ladies (Jinky and Mary Ann) during the course of my gruelling, hellish, abominable (Oh! We could go on and on) line-up to process my NBI clearance in their branch here in Big R Cainta, Junction. The Dean Koontz paperback that I brought and later on The Morning Rush Top 10 book that I bought at the Mini-Stop store located near the entrance of the mall proved to be my most helpful companions. And of course lots and lots of water. 

I was able to chit-chat a bit with Jinky and Mary Ann during the first few hours of our wait in that long queue. Occasionally, they would asked me to guard their place so no one would intervene or interloop while they wander off to buy burgers from Angel's or bottled waters from a convenient store. As we inch our way through the queue ever so slowly, our conversation became free-flowing and jokes were thrown around. Mostly perpetrated by me and Jinky. But alas! Mary Ann and I didn't get our clearances that day after that whole rigmarole we went through and was asked to be back on the specific date stamped to our claim stub. Bummer! 

inside cafe a nd x

On the day that we finally claimed our clearances, Jinky and Mary Ann coaxed me to treat them. "Ok na yung cheeseburger ng Angel's. At least, buy one take one pa." They chimed jokingly. I almost agreed to buy us burgers from Angel's when I suddenly remembered the carinderia place perpedicularly across Big R on which I shared good meals with some of my colleagues years ago. I told them, "Wag tayo sa Angel's. May alam ako na mas masarap na kainan." I led them across the street to ARDI Commercial Complex where Cafe A nd X is located.

cocktails painting w/ jinky & mary ann 

a smokeless grill contraption (?)

tire tables

posing w/ the tire tables

The carideria place made some changes on their interiors, most noticeably were the two large tires fashioned to become tables but its still the same old, small, homey eatery that I remember. Aside from the tire tables that my two new friends were so fond of, I was also taken with this antiquated piece (see second photo above) that I would assume is a smokeless grill. I wonder if it still works.

our rice dishes

cheese sticks

baloney

tapsilog

lechon kawali

We didn't wait long for our meals to arrive. All simple rice meals and dishes yet hearty and filling. Our appetizer of cheese sticks was very much the same as what my Tita sells to students  (We do have a small sari-sari store in our house where there is a public high school nearby), complete with ketchup-mayo dip. My order is the Baloney-Sinangag-Itlog combo where the baloney pieces where cut cross-wise before it was fried. To me, it resembled like birds in flight. 


Mary Ann ordered the Tapsilog and Jinky ordered the Lechon Kawali combo. I was surprised that Jinky was not fond of sunny-side up egg, most especially the yolk part. If only I'm not afraid of being judged of savagery and lack of propriety, I would have snagged all the yolks from her egg and put it on my plate instead.

healthtea

sisig

dip

Aside from the rice dishes, I also love our drinks, Magnolia's Healthtea Apple Flavor. At least with this drink, it reminded me that we're still taking something healthy amidst all those fatty foods he-he! Very refreshing! We also had Cafe A nd X own version of Sisig. This version was more eggy in form and was done omelette style placed on a sizzling plate. Nevertheless, this sisig appealed to all of us and it has that right amount of zing that I like provided by the chopped green chilis or siling espada.


We also enjoyed our dipping sauce, another spicy component which consists of soy sauce, spritz of calamansi and dried red chilis. I even saw Jinky and Mary Ann pouring some of that liquid redolent of spice on each of their mounds of rice. Daredevils to heat are these two and I cannot compete with them. 

mary ann & me

jinky & me

Thanks again, Mary Ann and Jinky for the wonderful time that I had with you while waiting in line to get our NBI clearances. Without you guys, that day would have been one boring, sluggishly-slow wait. 

And to Cafe A nd X, thank you for bringing me back to those days of good meals shared with my previous colleagues. I'm glad to report to them that you still have that magic touch to your meals. 


CAFE A ND X


Ground Floor
ARDI Commercial Complex
Junction, Cainta Rizal