Cycle 5 – Item 53

27 (Thu) February 2014

Lamb Stew

2.0

at Molly Malone’s Irish Bar

(Tune Hotel)

-Malate, Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines-

with CAL, JR + KR, MK, et al.

Molly Malone’s Irish Bar is a western pub/restaurant.  The menu offers typical western fare, like burgers and fish & chips.  But no Guinness – on the menu but rarely available – so it can’t really be considered Irish, right [see GK’s comment below]?

For reasons yet to be determined [see JR’s comment below], it’s a favorite hangout among people in my division.

The lamb stew was, I dunno what.  It didn’t particularly Irish: chunks of lamb, potato, carrot, and onion, braised in a spicy tomato sauce, served in what appeared to be an actual Korean dolsot, accompanied by bright yellow toasted French bread, sorta buttery and garlicky.  Otherwise, it was okay.  But it took nearly 45 minutes to prepare, or to be served, kinda ruining the meals for everyone else, who all insisted on waiting until the entire table was set, by which time the stew came out piping hot and the rest had turned cold.  And maybe, maybe not, something in the pot was contaminated, because I was sick by the time that I got home.  Benefit of the doubt, I’ll rate the dish assuming that it wasn’t responsible for poisoning me.

I’m not against burgers or fast food or even junk food or ridiculously big portions per se.  Obviously, I eat such food myself, and even feed it to my kids, on occasion.  It can be okay, within controlled context.  JR, who’d ordered the Smashing Burger, exercises regularly and is in top shape, and usually eats healthy; he even packs healthful meals for lunch from home; so, now and then, he can handle a big burger; this time, he split the burger with his wife KR, who’s the leanest and meanest of us all.  And presumably, a made-to-order burger in a full service restaurant would have less, if any, chemical crap, like preservatives, anti-foaming agents, processed cheese/sauce, etc., than found in mass-produced fast food burgers.  What I’m against is the glorification of gluttony in mass media and pop culture, as well as the marketing and promotion of harmful products to vulnerable populations (see for example 5.031 Baconator Mushroom Melt).

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See also RESTAURANTS IN PHILIPPINES)