Banchetto on a Friday

I first about Banchetto on Bandila on ABS CBN. By definition (vocabulary.com), Banchetto means a party of people assembled to have dinner together. Being a foodie myself, I immediately said yes to my former officemate when she asked us out to sample the food there. Banchetto is held every Friday at 12 midnight (technically, it is Saturday already) until wee hours in the morning of Saturday. We were there around past 11:00 and the people and the food sellers are already gathered around the street of Emerald Ave. in Ortigas Center. On one lane of the street are makeshift tents that will stand as food kiosks. I think it is our attempt to have our own version of Singapore’s hawker center.
The stores won’t open up until 12 midnight so we waited patiently at Mc Donald’s in Strata 100. None of us wanted to eat anything at Mc Donalds for we are saving some space in our tummies to accommodate the delights we were anticipating in Bachetto.
Twelve midnight stroke and at last, the feast started. People we like hungry wolves trying to get a head on their prey. I do not sweat easily but the heat coming from the sellers’ stoves added big time to the heat coming from the people that we literally rubbed elbows with. It is like shopping in Divisoria during the holidays or riding the MRT during rush hour.
Our mistake was that, we arrived early but we did not save tables for ourselves so we ended up sitting on the stairs of PLDT building.
We decided to rest for a while before picking our choice but time was flying so fast and we could actually feel the acids building up in our guts. So we decided to brave the sea of hungry wolves.

Our pack decided to go on our own ways to get what we want to eat. I was really hungry and sweating hard so I decided to get Thai Rice from a store and Chicken Kabab from another. I tried to squeeze myself in a huge pack of people and successfully made my way out to the stairs. We ate peacefully not talking to one another until I felt something crawling on my foot. For crying out loud, there were roaches on the floor! I freaked out big time and lost my appetite.

Here are my takes on the Banchetto thing:
1. It is a far shot from the SG’s hawker centers although food is good and affordable
2. They should allow the sellers to set up ahead of time so they will not rumble and stumble with the customers.
3. Tables should be set up earlier and they should not let the customers do the setting up. More tables please so that we will not sit on stairs near the manhole.
It is not a fail grade but with these suggestions in mind, they could probably be at par with SG. Fact of the matter is, we’re planning to go back but we’ll be there a little bit late.