Rub

Rib restaurant.  If you think about it, you don't get much of these around the metro, in comparison with pizza places, steak houses and burger joints.  Probably because smoking meats takes a little more expertise and patience?  Last Saturday, Vicky, Monique and I were in the Tomas Morato area, and we decided to have an lazy afternoon merienda cena at Rub, along Scout Rallos, very near the corner of Tomas Morato.  The place has a cozy country feel, and entering the restaurant made me feel I stumbled onto a hidden kitchen shack in the middle of some pine forest in Baguio.

Monique asked for a chocolate smoothie while Vicky ordered her favorite appetizer--onion rings.  This came in hot and crunchy, and Monique thought it was better than some other more expensive onion rings that we tasted in the past.  My mushroom soup was thick and flavorful, the buttery taste made it distinguishable from instant preparations.

We ordered a trio of meat dishes.  Obviously, we had to try the house specialty, baby back ribs.  This was nicely browned, slightly sweet and well seasoned.  The burger wasn't bad, but this was cooked like a regular burger, and didn't have a distinct smokey taste that I had hoped it would have.  The beef roast came in fine strips, which allowed the marinade to seep in.  And seep in it did; the beef was marinated to the point that one would have to eat it with some rice or potatoes, as it was on the salty side (I wanted another cup of rice, but my waistline was already complaining).

Although you can get by with P250 per head, prepare something like P500 per head to enjoy the menu.  The restaurant gets full even at odd hours and street parking is tight so you have to be a bit patient (we were there at 4pm and several seats were already taken).