Food, Restaurants

Merienda Break at Serye

When a place is known for a particular item on the menu, you seldom find any other reason to try the rest. Such is the case with Serye. Because of its close affinity with Aristocrat, also of Reyes fame, diners look forward to the ever popular Chicken Barbecue and Java Rice combo.

So it was that the fam trooped into Serye Café Filipino at Santana Grove one Sunday, quite hesitant at the thought of having to eat Chicken Barbecue for merienda (obviously, we are blessed with such foresight that we were already thinking about dinner three hours later!), but we were willing to make the supreme sacrifice if we had to.

Fortunately for us, they had several tempting all-Filipino merienda items on the menu that whet our appetite. Plus, since it was four o’ clock in the afternoon (and everyone else was thinking “Why on earth would we want to eat merienda at Serye?”), we had the whole place to ourselves—which was cool, bright, and very spacious. There were rows of tables, upholstered seats set against brick walls, and on a raised level, a more intimate set-up of ala-Starbucks chairs and tables—for those coffee and cake afternoons. In fact, Serye is well known for its specially siphon-brewed coffee and collection of yummy cakes.

But we were here for merienda. And when you say merienda at Serye, you automatically think of their famous flying saucers. (Or, if you’re gluttons like us, you still think of the Chicken Barbecue with Java Rice combo!) Well, guess what? They’ve apparently stopped production of those little round sandwiches. Something to do with how the machines don’t work anymore, or so I’ve heard. We offered a moment of silence for the departed dish, then shocked the pants off the waiter (you know that’s just an expression, right?) when we all erupted into a cacophony if “Isa ngang…” and “I’ll have the”s.

We eagerly ordered everything on the merienda menu. My mouth was watering when I saw Suman sa Latik (P75), but it was unfortunately not available, and so I settled for the next Pinoy favorite—Bibingka with native hot chocolate (P85). I had my fill of the fluffy, generous bibingka portion (though Via Mare’s bibingka remains undisputed), and took my time chugging down the delicious tsokolate, but still had some space left so I did the rounds of “patikim nga.”

I immediately passed up the Dinuguan at Puto (P165), which the hubby ordered (to keep me from eating off his plate, I suppose) and nibbled on the Lumpiang Ubod and Pancit Canton (P155). I ventured further down the table to a cousin who was obviously very happy with her Banana Langka Turon with ice cream (P120) and to an aunt who was slurping away at a very colorful serving of Halo Halo. I almost forgot that the Chocolate Lava Cake was my sister’s but I just couldn’t resist the warm chocolate as it contrasted with strawberry ice cream.

So, why indeed would I want to eat merienda at Serye? Well, now I know why.

(And I also know now that you can’t eat at Serye and NOT have the Chicken Barbecue. So we did. So there.)

Serye Café Filipino
Ground Floor Santana Grove, Dr. A. Santos Ave., Parañaque City
8258-4691 / 826-9317
10:00AM to 10:00PM

Festival Walk, Level 2, Festival Supermall Alabang, Muntinlupa City
850-3759 / 850-3734
Mon-Thurs: 11AM to 9PM
Fri-Sun: 11AM to 10PM

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