Cycle 16 – Item 149
Post 5,628
3 (Tue) June 2025
Chicken Adobo with Rice
2.5
from Food Market
(Nino Aquino International Airport – Terminal 1)
-NAIA Compound, Parañaque City, National Capital Region, Philippines-
with the Family
Triumphant Return to the Philippines: Day 5 of 5
-
- Day 1 (16.145 Alex’s Fried Chicken)
- Day 2 (16.146 Set D-2: Sizzling Burger Patties)
- Day 3 (16.147 Pork Adobo)
- Day 4 (16.148 Deep-Fried Crispy Cod Fish with Supreme Fish Sauce)
- Day 5 (16.149 Chicken Adobo with Rice)
In the Philippines! First time since we bugged out during the pandemic in 2020, exactly 5 years ago tomorrow (see 11.147 Bulgogi). The schedule is packed, including stops in BGC, Anilao, and Malate.
TYING UP LOOSE ENDS
One major objective of the trip was to close out my PHP account at Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). Can’t recall why I hadn’t done so before we left (as I had with my USD account). It had gone inactive, so I couldn’t verify the account balance, which I couldn’t remember, but believed to be a sum worth the trouble of going to the bank and looking into it. I was right, and then some – let’s just say enough to fund the next 5 trips to the Philippines.
Afterwards, I went across the street to WHO WPRO and dropped in to see some old friends, former colleagues whom I hadn’t seen since the office reverted to WFH mode in March 2020, at the start the pandemic (see generally 11.071 Bitokes à la Russe). Unfortunately, the bank had taken a bit longer than expected, and our flight was leaving soon, so I didn’t have time to see everyone.
Which also meant no time to sit down for a quick bite in the cafeteria.
LUNCH
Food Market is a Filipino restaurant. Offers a range of Filipino classics, cafeteria-style, for takeout only.
As far as I could tell, other dining options inside the departure hall included Subway, Starbucks, and a couple shops selling pre-packaged sandwiches or rice meals. The NAIA website lists 53 (see generally New NAIA – Discover Restaurants), albeit mostly outside of the departure hall (including Tao Yuan Express!!), although I’ve never seen a hint of such places in the dozens/hundreds of times passing through Terminal 1.
We’d arrived at the airport 3 hours ahead of departure, partly in anticipation of the notoriously long lines at NAIA – which I used to bypass as WHO staff with my quasi-diplomatic UNLP (United Nations Laissez-Passer) passport – and looking forward to a nice lunch at the restaurant on level 2, as well as a long massage.
Good news: we were happy to find that the lines were short and moved quickly, especially at customs, thanks largely to the absence of local travelers, who are now processed through automated kiosks, something I’d noticed on the way in.
Bad news: we were unhappy to find that both the restaurant and massage parlor were no longer in operation. After a few minutes buying pasalubong in the duty free store, we still had more than 2 hours to kill.
The chicken adobo was okay. Reminded me of the one in the WHO WPRO cafeteria. Nice little farewell meal.
SNACK
-Philippine Airlines PR468-
We were served meals on the plane. DJ ordered the fish option (cream dory – ugh), took a bite, spit it out into a napkin, covered the container and pushed it aside (see for comparison 3.244 Steamed Crab in Chili Sauce). I ordered the chicken (caldereta, maybe) and gave it to DJ; he took a bite, didn’t spit it out, but covered the container and pushed it aside (see for comparison 6.252 Chicken Calderata). Sorta heartwarming to see that PAL is still serving crappy food, like in the good old days!
I am definitely coming back soon.
(See IN FLIGHT)
(See RESTAURANTS IN THE PHILIPPINES)
(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)
(See BOOZE)