Cabalen has been around the country for 26 years and has become a standard for excellent Filipino Cuisine. It has kept it’s patrons coming back for more through the consistency in taste and quality of it’s dishes served in the buffet style.
Cabalen, which literally translates to a fellow Capampangan, is a group of casual – fine dining restaurants known for authentic Capampangan dishes and different Filipino specialties, originating from Pampanga.
I had a chance to dine-in with fellow bloggers,Ted Claudio and Azrael Colladilla of www.azraelsmerryland.blogspot.com, to this leading all time family buffet favorite which is celebrating its 26 years of existence, Cabalen. The lunch date held in Cabalen Glorietta branch was headed by Mr. Rico Maullon, Marketing Officer of Cabalen chain.
According to Mr. Rico Maullon, Cabalen family started in 1974 in San Fernando, Pampanga as a small Bahay Pasalubong Restaurant selling specialty food dishes then grew into a restaurant called “Ituro mo, Iluto ko” which is kinda like the usual Dampa nowadays. In 1986 they first opened Cabalen Eat all you can, Eat all you Want Restaurant in West Avenue, Quezon City then later on expanded to more branches.
Aside from West Avenue branch, currently Cabalen have branches as well in SM Mall of Asia, Robinson’s Place Manila, SM Megamall,Trinoma Mall, Ayala Mall Subic, SM City Clark, Robinsons Starmills Pampanga, Market-Market Taguig which opened last August 6, 2012, and offcourse Glorietta branch which we visited and dine-in for lunch.
There are two types of Cabalen Restaurant, the All Filipino Buffet which costs P298 per head and the Asian-Filipino Buffet which costs P398 per head. But It will again vary on the restaruat branch you visited, like in SM Mall of Asia, which is a bit pricy for P468 per head. You could check out there website (www.cabalen.ph) for more details about Cabalen Branches and Pricing.
What good about Cabalen is that they serve an All day Buffet, meaning what food they serve in the morning will also be the food you could eat before it closes. According to Mr. Rico, they needed to refill the dishes as long as it has been emptied, not like in other buffet restaurant that if a dish run out of supply for that day, it will not be refilled. One more good thing that I learned is that they don’t give a time limit for the dinners, so you can enjoy the food as long as you want without hurrying to taste everything with limited time. Its really giving the customer an ultimate satisfaction in dining. Cabelen also has a scheduled Cycle menu wherein every month additional menu is being added.
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Here in Cabalen Glorieta branch, a total of 56 dishes is serve up to dessert, they are open mall hours, from 10am to 9pm but can extend until midnight depeding on the bulk of customers. You can also avail their function room with no extra charges for four hours.
It’s now time to eat, I started up with some appetizer. For my first plate, I picked Crispy kangkong, Tapang Kalabaw, Cabalen’s lumpiang hubad and Lumpiang bangus. I personally love the Crispy Kang-kong perfect with the white creamy sauce. It was also the first time for me to taste Tapang Kalabaw which has as sweet and sour taste, according to Sir Rico, that’s really how it tasted, but I still prefer Cow’s meat instead. hehehe
And because Cabalen Glorietta Branch is an Asian-Filipino Buffet, I tried for my 2nd plate some of their Japanese Cuisine.
Main Course for my 3rd plate. And because Japanese Cuisine are a bit heavy for the stomach, I just get small amount of some viands to taste some of it. For the 3rd plate I picked some Lechon Paksiw, Kare-kare which one of their best sellers, kalderetang Baka, and Beringhe Rice, which is sticky rice with vegetables and chicken strips cooked like Paella Valenciana.
I’m already full by I needed still to take in and taste some dessert. So I actually rested for a few minutes before drowning my self to their dessert line-up. Mr. Rico said that one of their best sellers in the Dessert section was the Tibok-Tibok whihc is a cheesecake made from carabao’s milk, with a resemblance with the texture of a lecheflan.Here in Glorietta Branch, they have a Halo-Halo bar where in you could pick any of the following mixture which includes Gulaman, Gelatin, Beans, Mongo, Saging na Saba and Rice Crispys. To taste, you could pick either of the available Evaporated milk, Coconut Milk or Sugar Syrup. Other desserts are some kakanin specials like Maja kalabasa, Pitchi-Pitchi and Rice Cake.
Drinks are not included in the buffet but you can avail the unlimited Ice Tea for P70 only, Fresh Juice Variety for P80 or a choice of Softdrink for P50.
Cabalen Main Office:
#54 JP Rizal St. Cor Aguado St., Project 4, Quezon City
Tel. No.: (632)911-1584 Fax No.: (632)437-0296
Email: feedback@cabalen.ph
visit www.cabalen.ph
