A Reunion with Old Friends

Okay, I’m not really a fan of the mall but this is my second post about MOA so perhaps I’m beginning to like it there.

My old neighborhood friends and I marked December 4th as our reunion after some years of not being completely together. Well, we were still not complete that day cuz one was in Dubai, the other was in Camarines Sur, and the other one’s 5-year-old bumped his head a few hours before the time we agreed to meet.

Okay so, the original plan was just to have dinner at Gerry’s Grill cuz one of us still had to go to work at ten. But when we learned that she took the night off, we immediately changed plans. The supposed dinner became a night out of beer and sounds.

Having not gone to a night-out for quite some time, all of us didn’t know what was the in place to go. So we decided to just go to MOA’s Sunset Strip and just choose from there. With all the bars lining up the strip, we were sure an establishment or two would attract our attention.

We first looked for a place to dine, since all of us haven’t had dinner yet cuz we were supposed to meet up just for dinner. After much walking inside the mall and arguing over Mann Hann or McDonald’s (weird choices), we settled for Kalye Juan (the signage of which, by the way, was written in jejemon).

The small resto was full we were just so lucky that a group of diners decided to leave just as we were entering the establisment. From the name of the resto, we were expecting to have a very Pinoy dinner - you know with sinigang na baboy, kare-kare and all that. They had those in their menu, alright, but uh, I know I could cook better than their chef.

To add to that, their service was so slow we wished we lined up at McDonald’s instead. At least there, we would know what to expect. And don’t get me wrong with that, I love McDo very much.

Anyway, after the Php1,840 dinner (not bad considering we were a party of 8), we headed to the Sunset Strip. And since it’s our first time in years to go out together, there was much picture taking. What with all the Christmas decorations MOA had put up for the eyes to feast.

There was the giant Christmas tree…

The wreaths adorning the light posts…

And Manny Pacquiao’s statue among others.

It was just so funny that the statue didn’t look like Pacquiao at all. After much pondering on who the statue’s face reminded me of, I laughed when I realized it looked like the boxer’s big fan Mark Wahlberg. Really, you should take a closer look.

Anyway, after more picture taking and walking, we ended up at the resto-bar named StarDish. My friends chose that bar cuz it’s one of the only two that had live bands performing. And for that, we sat nearest the side of the stage.

It was almost midnight when we started drinking, and since I am really not much of a drinker, I only had a couple of bottles. Two bottles that lasted until about 2:30 AM. Beer was cheap. We had four buckets plus a couple order of finger foods and we only paid Php1,340. Well, Rachel dropped 500 so the rest of us only spent around 120 pesos each. Quite cheap for a very fun stay. I must say, it’s really the company (and not the place) that makes a night-out fun.

Anyway, I don’t really recommend StarDish to those who want fine service. But hey, if you’re like me who don’t wanna spend a lot just for drinking, it’s the place for you.

Arrived home around 3:30 AM to a waiting mom and an ecstatic-to-see-me Princess.