Food, Restaurants

Amber’s Famous Pichi-Pichi

“Here’s what’s cooking, good looking.”

That’s what it says on Amber’s brochure and menu list, and I find it an absolute riot. Not that one needs a brochure to know what’s cooking at Amber. This place is best known, after all, for its Pancit Malabon and its can’t-eat-just-one Pichi-Pichi. But hey, having someone refer to you as “good looking” is never a bad thing *broad wink*.

Though the brochure says Amber has been around since 1988 (almost unthinkable that they now put years from the 80’s in the usual since 19xx… but it has been almost 20 years, so that’s nothing to sneeze at), I only discovered it a few years ago, when one of my then-co-workers had some food delivered to the office for her birthday. I remember enjoying the Pancit Malabon and the Golden Fried Chicken, but what really struck me was the Pichi-Pichi, which I kept coming back for (I believe I went as far as taking one of the Styrofoam containers and hiding it in my cubicle). I now notice the delivery guys on their bikes, and when I see them, I think longingly of those days shared with friends… and the shared food, of course.

Since we at Southbound decided October was a good time to revisit classic Pinoy food (on the street, or at least very near it), we figured this was a good excuse as any to go and try out Amber’s famous Pichi-Pichi at the source. We knew the store was somewhere in Muntinlupa (there’s another restaurant in Makati near the Cash and Carry area), but we hadn’t been there yet, so we ended up calling up some friends as we descended the Susana Heights exit to find out where to go (said friend was very helpful, not only giving directions, but texting us the phone number of Amber—he obviously patronized their delivery service as well).

We discovered the restaurant on the right side of the road, next to a bus terminal driveway, across a machine shop also named Amber (pancit and spare parts, wonder what the connection is there?), already very near the Alabang viaduct. Luckily, we had made it right before they started closing up shop (they open at 8AM and close at 7PM), so instead of eating there (which we were loath to do since some guy with questionable mental stability was walking up and down the highway in front of the store, chanting a strange mantra), we had our stuff to go.

We had a single order of Pancit Malabon (P40), two sticks of Pork BBQ (P12 each), and—of course—some Pichi-Pichi. Unfortunately, rather befuddled from our drive (oh, all right, no, we were just really clueless), for some reason we assumed that each box of Pichi-Pichi had a hundred pieces, so thinking we were just splitting that into four, we had them prepare four boxes with 25 pieces each (turns out it was the sign that got us: it’s 2.50 per piece, and 100 pesos per box, not 100 pieces). Needless to say, we ended up with obscene amounts of Pichi-Pichi, more than two people could hope to finish in one evening (an important point, since the Pichi-Pichi doesn’t keep at all even if refrigerated; one night is the best you can hope for, though you can theoretically freeze it if you were really determined).

We enjoyed what Pichi-Pichi we could in the car on the way home, along with the BBQ (the pancit was just way too messy to eat one-handed). If you haven’t tried Pichi-Pichi before, it’s a small starchy ball made from cassava and coated with grated coconut. It doesn’t taste much like cassava cake: the flavor is milder, and the texture is much softer and smoother, almost gelatinous. They are terribly addictive, especially since you just keep popping them in your mouth, and you don’t even need to make much of an effort to chew (ay, grabe, the ultimate in katakawan and katamaran, hahaha).

The BBQ was very good, too, and that’s coming from a person who doesn’t like barbecue very much. Their version was soft, tender, and very savory: it felt like the meat had been marinated for weeks. (Here’s a weird analogy we came up with: if it were a color, it would be orange, unlike other versions of barbecue, which would be red, brown, or even black—the carcinogenic ones, anyway.)

Finally, when I got home, I was able to try the Pancit Malabon again. It wasn’t quite as good as I remembered, but perhaps that was because there were less toppings (I’m one of those evil people who get more toppings than noodles from a bilao of pancit) than I was used to. I guess this is one thing you need a whole barkada to order so you can get a bilao (the smallest bilao is P200, good for 5 persons; the largest is P650, good for 25. You can also get a bilao worth P750, which they split into three kinds of pancit; they call it the Pancit Trio).

Further review of their brochure shows that they’ve got lots of other party / barkada Pinoy food available, some at the restaurant, and some for ordering ahead of time. This is the sort of place you call when you’ve got a bunch of hungry people to feed and not that big a budget. Take it from me—I’m most appreciative of a delivered feast from Amber… as long as there’s a lot of Pichi-Pichi for dessert.

Amber Golden Spoon Restaurant
South National Highway,
Between Km. 26 and 27,
Brgy. Bayanan, Muntinlupa City
862-0017, 862-1924, 862-0022 (telefax)
Restaurant hours: 8AM to 7PM daily
www.amberestaurant.com

Tags: delivery, filipino food, food stores and suppliers, muntinlupa, pancit, pichi-pichi, restaurants

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