Last Order Sa Korean Grill

It’s been some time since the Fabcasters had time to bond with one another, so on Christmas day we decided to have dinner at a Korean grill near Tomas Morato. Migs, Gibbs and I were the first to arrive, and we decided to order ahead instead of waiting for the others.

For appetizers they trotted out kimchi, pickled onions and a delicious shredded lettuce salad. For our main course, we chose grilled pork and beef belly. To eat them, one takes a piece of grilled meat and put it on a lettuce leaf, add chopped fresh garlic and onion if one so desires, roll the lettuce and eat it with bare hands. It’s a bit high-involvement, but hey, it also seems so healthy. We asked the waitress to grill the meat for us at a nearby table, since we weren’t sure of our grilling skills.

We were nearly finished with our initial batch of appetizers when two more friends arrived and joined us for dinner. So Gibbs called a waitress over.

“Miss, puwede pa bang dagdagan pa ang appetizers? Puwedeng dagdagan yung lettuce?” he asked.

“Ay, leetus? Sige ba, sir!” replied the waiter. Then he turned and shouted into the kitchen, “Isa pang leetus!”

I turned to Gibbs who was beside me, then to Migs. We were all grinning.

After a while the main course was all grilled and ready to serve. The waitress placed the plate in front of us and proudly announced, “Ito na po ang inyong beef billy.”

There was a second of silence, then someone repeated what she said. “Ah, beef billy?”

“Opo sir,” she replied. “Beef billy.” Then she proceeded to finish grilling the pork belly.

“Okaaay,” I said.

Gibbs wanted to order drinks, so he called a waiter over. The waiter took Gibb’s order, then asked us if we wanted to order drinks too. “Water na lang,” Migs said.

“Isang Coke Zero at tow-big,” the waiter repeated our order then left to get them.

Then the waitress placed on the table our last order. “Eto sir,” she said, “pork billy.”

We all nodded. “Aaah, pork billy.”

She walked away, done with her grilling duties.

Gibbs turned to us and said, “At least consistent sila.”

Ho, ho, ho.