These past couple of years, the popularity of all-you-can-eat restaurants has boomed that such places opened up here and there all over the Metro. First were all-you-can-eat buffets. Then came those all-you-can-eat specialty restos. There's all-you-can-eat pizza, all-you-can-eat dessert, all-you-can-eat ice cream, all-you-can-eat Japanese food, all-you-can-eat pasta; you name it and there is surely one in Metro Manila.

When you think of all-you-can-eat buffets, one household name comes to mind. That is Cabalen. Cabalen, originating from the province of Pampanga, is known for its authentic Filipino dishes. Its first all-you-can-eat restaurant opened in 1986 in Quezon City.

Being a fan of foreign cuisine, mostly Chinese, Japanese, and Italian, I have never tried Cabalen until very recently. Yes, you can harp on me all you want for this, but hey, to each his (or rather her) own, right? But let us go back to my blog post. My family and I tried the branch in Glorietta. Check out the photos I took. And sorry in advance for the crappy quality, I did not expect that I would be needing my camera so I only used my phone.
 just some of the dishes on the buffet table
my plate (oink!)
 thank goodness they have sushi
 biko, my fave, which is a form of sticky rice cake in the Philippines
my mom's halo-halo

My faves were the tocino (sweet cured pork), tofu sisig, and the lechon (roasted pig). They also had kare-kare which is a Philippine stew made from a base of oxtail and beef tripe, but I was disappointed because it only has the beef tripe. I don't eat beef tripe because I honestly find it disgusting (sorry). They actually have more dishes and a lot of them have veggies so I did not try them at all. I, however, was delightedly surprised to find out that they have maki which is one of my faves. For dessert, there are marshmallows which you can enjoy with chocolate sauce. You can make your own halo-halo, with shaved ice, milk and an assortment of toppings like beans, jello, and fruits. But I also don't like halo-halo at all so I didn't try it. They also had biko, which is the only kind of kakanin or rice cake that I like. 

Overall, I'd give Cabalen two thumbs up for the good food. Even though I only tried a few dishes, all of them were tasty and satisfying. And for only Php.368 per head, one can surely get value for their money. For more information, check out their website here.