Food Bliss Reviews: Red Mangkok Bistro Series #1
A good restaurant for students were located in Marulas, Valenzuela City and it is called Red Mangkok. It first started near the main building of the Our Lady of Fatima University or OLFU in Valenzuela City in the year 2015 and at the same year, another branch near the other building of OLFU was established and it became the main branch of the restaurant. The marketing of Red Mangkok is for students and it is the main reason why they established the restaurant near the university. The restaurant serves a lot of dishes which were classified to different types of meals. They have these desserts like Nero Jelly, Banana Con Leche, Ube Halaya, and Halo-halo wherein the price ranges from 35-55 pesos only. Cold and hot drinks like Gulaman, iced coffee and hot chocolate wherein the lowest price costs 25 pesos only. They also serve very affordable rice meals which they called Mangkok Rice Meal in where the rice together with the viand served in a mangkok: Shanghai Rolls, Steamed Siomai, Adobo Flakes, Chicken Fillet, and Crispy Liempo. Mangkok Rice Meal costs 30 up to 55 pesos only. They also have Supreme Rice Meal in where there were 2 cups of rice and more serving of the viand, Supreme Combo Meal in where the Supreme Rice Meal have desired side dish of the customer. Side dishes were Lumpiang Sariwa, Kangkong with Bagoong, and Pancit Canton. Crispy Liempo was the favorite and most-ordered dish in the restaurant. The Red Mangkok was known for their Lugaw in which they called “The LOL” or “The Lugaw Over Load” in where the lugaw has egg and chicharon together with their desired toppings: Crispy Liempo, Chicken Adobo, Arrozcaldo, and Siomai. The price starts from 49 to 59 pesos. They also serve Plain Lugaw with chicharon which costs Php 15.00.
I tried their Kare-kare Supreme Rice Meal since Kare-kare is one of my favorite Filipino dish. The food was great but I was not very satisfied because the peanut butter was not enough for the dish, I think they need to put more peanut butter since the Kare-kare was known because of the tastefulness of the peanut butter. The amount of the bagoong is not enough for the two cups of rice that they served. I also ordered Iced Tea but the ice was too much and the powder was not well-mixed. The price of the food was very affordable especially for the students like me. For only Php 75, I can already feel like my stomach is already full. The food was great but the service of the staffs was a disappointment for customers. Also, they gave me wrong amount of change. After that, I discussed it with the cashier and then she apologized to me which is a good thing for me as a customer. I recommend the Red Mangkok students because they are the one who will definitely enjoy this restaurant for their affordable meals that may satisfy their hunger but I do not recommend this restaurant for people who can afford more.
Article by Thea Gaviola, Aug 6 2017.