Last night, Cathy and I spent a good chunk of time at church practicing for Sunday's service. Afterward, we debated on whether to return to our home in Paranaque or spend the night at her mother's. While this idea did seem plausible, her brother was spending the night (from Nigeria), so we opted to go home. Dinner seemed best, so we decided to sup along Tomas Morato. After an ill-fated five minutes at Alfredo's (the steaks seemed well-priced, but for P450, we could find better options), we ended up enjoying the buffet at Alba's.
I'd never dined before at Alba's, and neither had Cathy, apparently, so we were looking forward to the meal, especially because the paella was supposed to be out of this world. We had a buffet meal once at Uno Mas (sic?) in Greenbelt, and did not enjoy it much because the rice was cold and the meats oilier than expected. Would Alba's live up to its reputation?
In a word: Yes!
While no buffet selection stands to beat the Ultimate Buffet of the Triple V conglomerate (c'mon, Dad's, Saisaki, and Kamayan for P450 on weekdays? Yum!), Alba's did provide a welcome respite from the weathered buffet of the buffet juggernauts. I'd go back.
Appetizers consisted of a selection of breads, truly tasty sliced salami's and assorted cold cuts, the hottest spicy sardines Cathy's ever had (so good, we bought a can of it so she could eat it at home!), and wonderfully garlicky button mushrooms! There were also mini-potato tots stuffed with relleno, and calamari, but these were run of the mill.
Main dishes consisted of the paella valenciana and paella filipinas, fish fillets, oh-so-tender lengua, and a baked two-cheese eggplant casserole that drove me crazy. There were also callos, of which I did not partake because I dislike chickpeas and all essences of it, as well as roast beef and suckling pig.
What took the cake, however, was the incredible canonigo. I have never had such delicious, melt-in-your-mouth canonigo in my life! Combine that with the sweet hollandaise sauce, and well, I took four trips to the dessert tray just for that incredible dessert. I'd pay P450 just for the right to polish off the entire tray of canonigo. I'm not kidding. Brazo de Mercedes has nothing on this canonigo. Calling all sweet teeth: you must try Alba's canonigo.
Service was exquisite (the waiters were the most attentive I've seen in a while), ambience was topnotch (it felt like dining at someone's home), and parking wasn't difficult, thanks to valet services offered. It was not a bad experience at all, no, no, no. It was the best dining experience I've had in a while.
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