Manang's

Every school undoubtedly has a food stall so popular and well-loved by generations of students that it has become the stuff of campus legends – you know, the kind of place your older friends or cousins insist you try within your first week of school, or the place that, according to your freshman orientation, completes your college experience. So, at the risk of divulging too much information on our educational background and perhaps our age, we’ve decided to return to the alma mater for a scrumptious lunch of inihaw na liempo. It’s daunting to grasp how a humble piece of liempo can carry with it so many memories of classes cut and papers passed, and the nostalgia of four or more years spent on blue soil, but it is true that Manang’s at the Ateneo’s college covered courts has the capacity to transport us to the good old days when getting a C+ on the Accounting test was our primary burden in life.

Going back to Ateneo for lunch required some serious re-acclimation, because a couple years outside the Katipunan campus meant that we were no longer accustomed to walking, talking, eating, hanging out and basically spending the entire day under the sweltering heat of the sun. Now Manang's liempo is definitely not the stuff of culinary genius; it is after all just grilled pork belly. But there is something intangible and psychological about it that makes us crave for it, even at the risk of getting skin cancer on account of the twelve o' clock sun. Manang’s is located just outside the college covered courts, so the crowd here is composed of mostly freshmen and sophomores coming from PE class, or athletes who have business in the area – which, for us oldies, made the venue optimal for people-watching. The midday sun helped a great deal, because it allowed for semi-stealthy social observation (i.e. wearing sunglasses) without us looking like blithering idiots. And the perfect alibi for this is feigned busyness whilst scarfing down a plate of soy sauce and vinegar drenched pork.

The Legendary Liempo from Manang's

But we digress; back to the liempo. Manang’s specialty is liempo, succulent and perfectly seasoned. And depending on your side dish of choice, the liempo tastes even better with pork chop, longganisa, or even vegetables. We know what you’re thinking – liempo and pork chop? But then again, if you’re already indulging in grilled pork belly, why not make it a round trip ticket on the calorie express and pair it with even more pork? At least you’ll have a cup, or a cup and a half, or maybe even two cups of rice to make sure you do get full.

Back when we were students at the Ateneo, a healthy lunch of two viands, rice and an old-fashioned glass bottle of Coke would have amounted to a whopping student-pocket-busting 70 Pesos. But alas, times have changed, and the same meal at Manang’s would cost you around 100 Pesos. Or maybe they knew we were no longer students and didn’t give us the student’s discount? We are proud to report though, that even though inflation has taken its toll on our Manang’s dining experience, the food has not changed one bit – the liempo is still juicy and tasty, and the rice is still as fluffy as you can get for ten bucks. Nothing else has changed, for even the cutlery and plates are still the same.

Perfect Manang's Meal :)

It’s nice to revisit the past every once in a while, because for that brief hour sitting in Manang’s, it felt like we were college kids again, lugging our gym bags from one end of the school to another. Only this time, we could quietly make fun of the frantic freshmen poring over their Algebra notes with the knowledge that X and Y are nothing more than the 24th and 25th letters of the alphabet. But at the end of this trip down memory lane, after the liempo has been consumed, and after all the students have headed out to their respective classes, one thing applies to everyone at Manang’s, regardless of batch or degree – "clean as you go".