It breaks my heart, while eating, to discover that the Cabalen that I grew up loving has succumb to culinary mediocrity. Okay, I was trying to be kind; it was a "Gastronomic Chernobyl."
I thought eating there would be a nostalgic experience of the glory days; it turned out to be a regretful revelation that some things in life, like the food you grew up salivating for, do change for the worst.
Yes, Cabalen showcases the rich Kapangpangan Culture; but it was supposed to be Chicken in their Afritada, so it was just arresting when they decided to drown the poor fowl on an ocean of oil without a pretentious attempt to include tomato sauce in its murder.
The school of grilled Bangus (Milkfish), Dalag (Mudfish), and Tilapia can likened to a seafood barbecue gone wrong that the only hope for the poor fishes' survival was to hose them down.
Their famous Kare-Kare and Sisig were surprisingly lifeless that it wasn't enough to soften the blow of this outrageous catastrophe.
At the end, my supposed to be dinner down the memory lane was bridged by their stir fried noodles so typical that eating it in their establishment makes the Pancit Bihon at my old school's canteen a million bucks slice of heaven.
I shall never allow this accident happen to me again. read more