Cabalen - SM City Clark — Restaurant in Angeles

After a lengthy discussion over where we were going to have lunch, my friends and I decided on going to Cabalen SM Clark. Keeping our hunger in check, we eagerly rode on a jeepney from Angeles City proper to SM Clark.

We almost changed our minds when we got there, but then decided it was a safe choice. After all, I had a wonderful experience eating at Cabalen SM Pampanga, and at SM North EDSA, and the same went for my gal pal. Our guy friend, a balikbayan from California, was just looking forward to eating halo-halo.

Sadly, though, there was a disappointing buffet spread... if we wanted to go vegetarian, we would have gone to a bona fide vegetarian resto. There was ginataang sigarilyas, labong, ukoy (full of extenders), salad options, sisig options, dinuguan, snail, kare-kare (all tripe with only sitaw and the very rare eggplant... I am not even sure now if there was eggplant since I only got sitaw), lechon, halo-halo, guinataang bilo-bilo, tambakol, fresh pakwan, and a few other things. I was looking for the crablets, tahong, shrimps... and maybe some menudo and asado... and even just good old pinakbet.

When you hear Cabalen, you expect tasty Kapampangan fiesta fare... not dishes that you're better off preparing yourself. But then again, even the simplest dishes, if properly cooked with the right ingredients, can and do satisfy both the stomach and the soul. What we had really didn't. Some of the lettuce leaves in the salad had brown edges... I am all for using what is still palatable, but at least tear that part off. The "kare-kare" sauce had mostly extenders (flour? cornstarch?) and it was more like broth in consistency, and there really wasn't anything impressive or outstanding in what was available.

Good thing we enjoyed our sago-gulaman shakes... that's what the two stars are for, plus a little compassion because we have always been told to be grateful for having food on the table, whether it's at home or otherwise. Please step up, Cabalen SM Clark! Time...

I hit this filipino buffet. As a foreigner, it really is the best and Quickest way to try all the filipino dishes you need to, essentially getting it out of the way in one quick shot like ripping off a bandaid. They had everything, each item more gruesome and foul tasting than the last.

The best tasting item was actually the whole pigs head where you take tongs to rip off parts of its face to eat. The dish everybody raves about, kare kare, can best be described as "slimy stuff in peanut butter juice.".

The second best item could be described as "gelatinous hunks of fat in salty gravy."

The dessert section/halo Halo was pretty good. I usually dont eat that stuff but the whole point was to try everything before. They thankfully didn't have Balut - of i even saw someone eating it while tryimg to down salty fat chunks and deep fried whole fishy fish chunks i would not have been able to keep anything down. But those are available all over the streets.

But i.did it and am glad i got all these items out of the way so i don't feel guilty just eating fruits amd ramen noodles.for the rest of my stay.

I could have saved money walking around town and eating dishes one at a time bur that would have take all day. The buffet is Expensive. 334 pesos (which is $6.40). Worth the extra $2 to do it all at once. Of course now i feel sick but hopefully that wears off in...

Both service and quality of food have witnessed a downward spiral for the Cabalen Buffet Restaurants over the past years. Value wise, no doubt, is just right for those who want a hearty Filipino Buffet without spending almost P1,000 per head. Buffer spread is also good enough for the rate - with its fair selection of main courses, soups, desserts and appetizers.

Timely refill needs a big improvement though as when you are one of those guests who come in after the usual rush hour, you will find yourself with lukewarm food to eat and barely enough servings in in the buffet spread.

One thing I do like about this branch in SM City Clark is made-to-order sisig. We tried both the Bangus and Pork sisig dishes, which did not...