Bakeries, Food, Restaurants, Shops and Suppliers

German Klassisch - Sausages and beer at Old Manila

Here we are, Chris and I, driving through BF looking for somewhere to eat. We pass the strip of bars along Aguirre, continue on, loop around the Phase 1 commercial area… nothing calls us. While we wander around aimlessly, we start talking about drinking, a conversation naturally sparked by all the bars around us.

Chris: A friend of mine got picked up at that bar.

Me: Happening place, huh? Haven’t been there yet. Haaay. Lola na e. Come to think of it, I recently realized I don’t enjoy drinking anymore. I can’t even finish a can of beer.

Chris (with requisite haha noises acknowledging shared lola-hood): Same here. Someone actually tried to force me to finish my drink once. One of those big 500mL cans. (Trying to extract memory from lola brain) Hmmm… what was that brand…

Me: German beer? In those yellow and blue cans? Oettinger.

Chris: That’s it.

Me (making a quick detour in response to a lightbulb moment): Hey, there’s a German deli here that serves that stuff.

Chris: No more drinking pala ha?

So it is that we settle on a place to eat: Old Manila, a restaurant and delicatessen along Elizalde and a veteran among BF commercial establishments (though this place now looks sad and dusty, it’s managed to hang in there, perhaps because of the steady stream of foreigners who congregate here regularly… but I’m still posting this as soon as I can to avoid a repeat of the Warung Makan fiasco, heehee). The deli is also known as Chateau Europe, though it doesn’t really matter what this place is called: we just always refer to it as “the German deli” anyway.

We sit outside in the open dining area, a place that would be at home plunked on some beach in Palawan (it could be the tables and their green-checked tablecloths, or the painted bamboo partitions, or the covered pool tables… or it could just be all the expats). We decide to share an order of “Fish in Chips” (P197), a Berner Sausage (P179; what’s a meal at a German deli without sausage?), and a few slices of freshly baked Granary Bread (P139 for a loaf). And of course, we get what we came here for… though tempered by lola-hood, we decide to just split a can of Oettinger wheat beer (P89.75).

The Fish in Chips, a generous serving of baked and breaded Lapu Lapu with French fries, salad, and a glass of iced tea, is soft and tender, and the breading is not too thick and cooked perfectly—browned and crunchy, just shy of being burned, the way I like it.

You can get their classic Potato Mayonnaise Salad (the yummy slightly sour kind) instead of fries, which is what we have with the Berner Sausage, Wienerli stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. Though I normally like my bacon almost-burned as well, this time I make a concession, since overfrying this would melt all the cheese inside. The Wienerli is my kind of sausage—soft inside with a not-too-thick skin, like a tastier version of hotdog.

The beer is excellent, as anticipated. I guess I still enjoy drinking after all. It’s almost fruity, like some orange juice has been mixed in with the beer. It’s a cliché, but there’s no bitter aftertaste, which lets you guzzle as much as you want. They sell the stuff (along with the strong version) in the deli, where you can also get cheap wine, fresh bread, and frozen sausages.

Some caveats: out in the open air as it is, this place has its fair share of mosquitoes, so bring some repellant or katol to stay comfy. The bathrooms are also kinda funky, so this may not be the actual venue for some serious drinking… but you can always buy some cans, take out some food, and head over to somebody’s home instead. (Unless you’re coming here to watch the World Cup sometime in June, which is another thing they’re known for, having shown live telecasts before the hotels in Filinvest arrived on the scene.) Which is the way we used to do it in the “olden” days. Old Manila indeed.

Old Manila / Chateau Europe Restaurant and Deli
142 Elizalde Street, BF Homes, Parañaque City
801-6369
Restaurant / deli hours: 8AM to 1AM daily

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