Hot Bowl of Memories
Have you ever experienced eating a certain dish and then suddenly, memories of the past rushed in your head? That's what I always experience every time I dine at 'Ma Mon Luk' restaurant in the middle of hustle and bustle of the Quiapo district, Manila. The humble restaurant serves a typical Chinese noodle house menu: their signature and famous chicken noodle soup, popularly known as 'Mami', hot pork bun or 'Siopao', siomai and soda. The restaurant was established in the late '40s and is still operational up to this day. The restaurant doesn't look any special or fancy, it is a typical restaurant with marble tables and a wall full of newspaper cutouts wherein the restaurant has been featured by the local newspapers, magazines or cutouts of famous personalities who have dined there. When I was around 7 or 8 years old, I and my grandparents used to eat at Ma Mon Luk after hearing the Mass at the nearby Quiapo church. I remember myself indulging i...