Ribs at RUB's

For the past year, Kapitolyo has built a prominent name for itself when it comes to food business. Along its quiet streets are modest diners, cafes, and restaurants all with one goal: to delight and indulge your inner foodie. My first sight and taste of Kapitolyo was last year when Borgy and I decided to try out one of the area's most popular (and cheap) restaurant, Three Sisters--famous for its barbecue and Inihaw na Liempo. This year, we've set foot in this food strip again to try a similar craving: barbecue ribs.

RUB Ribs and BBQ is located just at the end of a steep road along East Capitol Drive. Identified with a simple signage, the building stands unobtrusive and can easily be missed by passers-by. (I do realize that RUB has other branches outside Pasig that are probably more accessible to us, but because I was going to pick up an order at CookieBar that day, we've decided to try RUB's branch in the area.)

East Capitol Drive, Pasig

The place is smaller than your ordinary dining establishments. Bedecked with framed quotes and red and white stripes, the interior gives off a "diner" feel.

For a small place, their menu was a bit overwhelming. It boasts of cheap ribs, entrees, and intriguing desserts. As you can see, the BBQ ribs are at a rather low price point--an apparent edge over high-end rib joints. However, I do think their service could be improved. We've encountered one particularly restless server (no, he's not the one pictured above) who, while we were browsing the menu, seems to be in such a hurry to take our orders while Borgy and I are still trying to decide. Nevertheless, that was just a minor setback.

Obviously, Borgy and I ordered their Raki's BBQ Ribs. That's what we came there for anyway. We decided to order the Super Duo, which serves two people with two (2) sides of our own choice. For the sides, we chose the Roasted Garlic Mashed Potato and the Sprice (Spiced Fried Rice). For our starters, we ordered their Onion Rings with Aioli Dip.

Their Onion Rings were what surprised me the most. At P160 pesos, they will give you a heaping basket of it. Aside from that, the onion rings themselves are pretty HUGE. They're not coated with the crunchy batter variety I'm used to, which made them harder to eat. They fall off limp when you pick them up, but they taste better than they looked. Since it is covered with only a thin amount of batter, you can still taste the sweetness of each onion ring. I found that I liked it better without the Aioli dip. The dip washes out the sweetness and replaces it with sour, sharp taste.

RUB's Onion Rings

Onion Rings' Aioli Dip

The mashed potatoes and sprice sides are, for the most part, okay. I wasn't crazy about their mashed potatoes. They serve it without gravy and sure, it tasted fine on its own, but I'm still used to having yummy gravy mixed with it. Without the gravy, it tasted dry. Their Sprice was, for me, the better choice. :) I didn't get to ask what "spice" exactly was it that was on the fried rice, but it tasted similar to Cajun.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potato

Sprice (Spiced Fried Rice)

I'm really not sure but a quick resesarch showed me that "Raki" is a Turkish alcohol drink. I'm guessing this is used as marinate for the ribs (Note to self: verify this next time). The Raki's Super Duo BBQ Ribs consists of an entire slab covered in their special BBQ sauce (or rub) in a huge platter; the potato on the side and the fried rice on the other. It's a pretty simple setup. The meat was so juicy, smoky, and just divine! It reminded me of Canto's. What lacked in RUB's ribs was the fall-off-the-bone tenderness of the meat that we found on Canto's tenderloin ribs. Borgy was not a big fan of their rub but, I loved it! It was tangy, sweet and spicy and complemented the ribs with my every passionate bite. Though, even with that huge slab of ribs, Borgy and I cannot help but think that we can do better. Maybe next time we'll each order a Super Duo! Haha!

Raki's Super Duo BBQ Ribs (P390)

RUB's special patented rub

It is no secret that my boyfriend loves meat (and by some extent, I do too). Grilled meat, in particular. I still remember our Baguio vacation last year when we've tried the life-changing BBQ ribs of Canto! Those ribs set a pretty high standard for us! Ever since, we've been searching for a BBQ joint here in Metro Manila that can serve ribs on par with Canto's in terms of taste and price. Yes, we are still searching, but we found this one place in Kapitolyo--already growing famous for its delicious and affordable BBQ ribs--that came very close: RUB ribs and BBQ!

A lunch wisely spent at RUB!

We shelled out no greater than P800 for our bill. That includes the Super Duo BBQ (good for two people with our choice of sides), two (2) extra plain rice because why not, a heaping basket of onion rings, and a pitcher of their preeeeetty awesome House Blend Iced Tea! Not bad, eh?

I seriously envy those lucky few who has easy access to Kapitolyo. The reasonable prices of RUB alone makes me want to frequent the area every week! Not to mention, the colorful foodie adventures I'll surely have at this hallowed food strip! I guess I finally have this as a motivation to learn how to drive. Haha!