Chelsea's lunchienda

Saturday is perfect for a trip to Serendra. I always associate Serendra and High Street with a sunny Saturday and pet dogs. Maybe later when I enter a parental state of mind, I will associate it with a sunny Saturday and tiny kids.

Saturday in Serendra is made more perfect with lunchienda at Chelsea's Market Cafe. Lunchienda stands for lunch + merienda, or late late lunch. We picked a table by the window in order to people-watch. The nice thing about being in Serendra in between meal times is there aren't many people which makes people-watching easier, and the people tend to be interesting since interesting people don't follow regular meal times. I spotted my film professor on what looked like a brainstorming meeting, and model Isabel Roces that afternoon. Because she was there eating stuff that came from the same menu, and even ordered dessert no less, I felt less bad about finishing my order that turned out to be enormous.

I like restaurants that give bread baskets. For some reason I've come to take it forgranted that I get surprised when a restaurant I'm in doesn't have it, and I have to remember where I am to appease my disappointment. Probably due to hunger, I don't remember what Chelsea's bread basket came with, but I do remember that there's nothing worth mentioning about it.

What's worth mentioning are the steep prices on the menu. After reviewing it, B and I agreed that we should've gone to Mamou instead. Of course, we didn't know how big the servings were at the time, but taste-wise, it's still not justified. I ordered the vegetarian sandwich which was rye bread with roasted eggplant, peppers, mushrooms, onion, lettuce and feta cheese. It came with potato wedges, salad and couscous. B ordered eggs benedict sandwich with turkey ham, which was topped with asparagus, and came with potato wedeges and a salad as well.



Since I like vegetarian sandwiches in general, I enjoyed my meal as I usually enjoy vegetarian sandwiches. I realized, however, that it's time to move on to other types of sandwich as I tend to fall back on the vegetarian everytime. The couscous salad was ok; its lemony flavor providing a nice balance to the rather oily sandwich. The potato wedges were thickly sliced and plenty, and I ate about a third because I wanted to get the most out of my money. The entire thing is about Php 350. B said his eggs benedict were so-so, but there was something about the hollandaise that he didn't like. His order was Php 450+.

We were so full after the meal so we walked around Serendra and along High Street. The place started to get full around 5pm. Chelsea's dishes are most likely loaded with MSG as we got awfully thirsty a few hours later. The next day, B and I discovered that we could've gotten an appetizer or a dessert for free with his Amex card at Chelsea's. Normally, we'd shrug and say, "Oh well, next time." Although I'd look back on our lunchienda fondly (the place does have a relaxing and perfect-for-brunch ambiance), next time wouldn't be anytime soon.