Pinoy favorites every weekend at Club C

Want to indulge on your favorite Filipino dishes but don’t have the time to cook on the weekends? Then try Club C’s latest promo—Beerkada Fridays—which begins tonight, to satisfy your cravings.

Bicol Express, pork stew made from coconut milk and Serrano or long chilies; Crispy Pata or deep-fried pork knuckles; Kare-Kare, ox tail and beef tripe in peanut sauce; and Pinaputok na Bangus Belly are the initial dishes prepared by chef Gardo Merencila.

Club C’s latest buy-four and pay-three promo, a concept by its staff led by food and beverage manager Anita Go, allows diners to only pay for the three dishes with the fourth one free. Peter Stewien is Club C’s general manager.

“The menu will change every week. Next week we will be offering a different set of Filipino dishes. But customers can still order the dishes upon request,” said Go.

“We thought of the promo based on our clients. Chinese and Filipinos—especially affiliates at Tan Holdings—are our regular customers here at Club C. They come here to unwind and for the entertainment,” she added.

Rice is included in all dishes—cooked the traditional Filipino way—and is good for up to six people. The bangus (milkfish) belly is first marinated before being filled with chopped onions and tomatoes while the pork knuckles are pressure-cooked before being deep fried.

For the beer, Club C offers San Miguel Pale Pilsen and Miller Lite.

Mercenilla, whose previous work includes being a waiter and steward, added that although Filipino dishes are his specialty he also learned how to cook Chinese and Japanese food after watching his former bosses when he was still an apprentice in a restaurant in Aklan province Philippines.

“I started from the bottom and worked my way up. I didn’t ahave any formal training in culinary arts but I just love cooking and I really wanted to learn how to cook,” said the hotel and restaurant management graduate at the Panay Technological College.

“I applied what I see from other chefs and whenever I watch cooking competitions. I was still in high school when I was introduced to the food industry after working for a school principal that has a catering business in our province,” added Mercenilla, who also worked as a housekeeping staff at the Manila Diamond Hotel in the Philippines.

Merencilla also worked previously at the former Saipan Diamond Hotel, now Saipan World Resort, as a kitchen helper before transferring to Shirley’s Coffee Shop. He moved to Kanoa Resort before being hired as one of the chefs at Club C.

For more information on Beerkada Nights, call Club C at 234-0088.