Nope, this is not a post about an old girly tv show. I just wanted to talk about a little visit I made to a place in New Manila called the “Gilmore” area. It is a place full of interesting things that I look for: food, and gadgets. One lazy day, I was thinking about shopping for an external hard drive and was craving for something nice to eat for dinner. I thought about Gilmore. I was not that far from this area, maybe like 2 miles? Right at that area you would find most of the stores that sell computer-related stuff at prices unmatched anywhere in the City. You would find here known bargain computer shops such as PC Gilmore, PC Options, and PC Express to name a few. In this area there is a whole mini-mall full of computer stores complete with elevators and escalators to help you move around easily from store to store.
Another interesting discovery in this mall is a mysterious shop called “Our Big Little Store“. Actually, it was really so unnoticeable that I only found out the name of the store after I went out and already bought stuff from it. Going inside, reminded me of small Oriental or even Filipino stores abroad, stores we call “Tokos” back in the Netherlands. It was also a surprise to see that they were also serving food deli-style and that there are dining tables hidden to the right of the store. Their menu includes some of the most interesting I’ve found in a while: they have Balut Soup, Pigeon Soup, soups with Chinese-sounding names I don’t recognize, Adobo Egg, huge siomais, huge fresh Lumpias, wrapped takeouts of barbecue, sushi, siopao A (Asado) and siopao B (Bola Bola) funny I was even that stupid to ask what A and B where. hehe. Let’s just say, they will see the likes of me again sooner than later. At first, it was kind of chaotic for there were too many people ordering but I was patient enough to wait and I took the chance to observe a bit. Next thing I knew, a lady already approached me to take my order (somehow reminded me of the Apple store in New York haha) ! Wow! I’m impressed 
A few blocks away was my next stop. It was the JT’s Manukan Grill I have long been hearing about. I’ve heard and read good reviews of their Chicken Inasal. By the way this store is owned by renowned Filipino actor Joel Torre. When I got there, I saw that the store was in a corner and lit up well. It was open air — beer garden style. Anyways, I looked at the menu and was pleasantly surprised how affordable it was: 88 Pesos for a Pecho! That’s the size of half a chicken. It did not include rice but still, it still is a bargain. I ended up ordering Pecho and Chicken Wings to go. The wait took longer than expected (about 15 minutes?). While waiting I noticed that there were several interesting stores next to it. Next door is Ferino’s Bibingka — a favorite of me and MrC and the one next to that is a mom and pop cake shop and another one in front was a Pancit Malabon. It is also interesting to know then that it was the same area where I bought our Christmas Lantern (Parol) last year. What an interesting place!
Tags: Gilmore, New Manila
