I'm proud to say that I was one of its regular customers when this place began back in the 1980s. :D The photo below was taken one weekday morning last week at GoodAh's Valero Street branch in Makati City.
I didn't realize until I saw the signage above that hung on one of the restaurant's walls (if not its only wall) that the company was marking its 25th year of existence this year. Boy, time surely does fly.
I remember that it was back in college when I became a regular GoodAh customer. It was born out of the desperate need for a very satisfying meal while on a tight budget. I was a student at the time and whatever money I had were those that I managed to save from the allowances I received from my father.
On a sentimental note, it was a favorite place to take girlfriends out to lunch or for a dinner date. As a student going out on dates, I also operated on a rather tight budget. All of the date money I had then were culled from my savings. Not once did I ever ask my parents for money to spend on dates. Aside from an independent streak, I was also careful not to let my conservative parents know that I was going out on dates. But if there's a will, there's certainly a way. I made sure that my romantic operations were conducted with utmost secrecy. :D Naks! Anyway....
The GoodAh restaurants back in the 1980s were not airconditioned as they are now. Dining was of the "al fresco" Filipino-style type. (Naks! That means dining out complete with the ever present langaw or "fly" hovering over one's plate. Hehehe) My favorite GoodAh locations were the ones on West Avenue and in Greenhills. My favorite dish was the Longsilog (with extra orders of both the fried egg and garlic rice) while my girlfriends often preferred the Tapsilog.
Romantic dinners by candle light at GoodAh became possible courtesy of MERALCO, NAPOCOR (National Power Corporation) and sometimes, even the New People's Army (NPA), whenever these folks decided to tinker with the Luzon Power Grid.
Looking back, I was glad that my girlfriends at the time were very understanding of my situation. Given that they were Chinese girls who came from rather well-to-do families, I appreciated the fact that even if eating at such a place must have been quite an adjustment for them, they remained very supportive and didn't mind that I took them to such a place. To a person, not once did I hear a complaint from them. To this day, I give them a lot of credit for that and I remain proud of them for the understanding they showed me. Plus, I give them a lot of credit for dating a less than average looking, middle class Filipino boy like me period. Hehe
Because of those dates, GoodAh brought back a lot of happy memories for me. And by having breakfast with the SO at its Valero Street branch last week, I simply added another event to my list of happy GoodAh-related memories.
Photo Credit: MQ
Monday, June 2, 2008
I Was There
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50 responses:
I don't remember this restaurant at all. I guess it did not have any branch at the University Belt area in the 80s.
hahay. i adore your love for nostalgia and your roots :)
I remember this restaurant and the branch in Greenhills. There are more branches now. I haven't been to one in years.
the goodah day reminded me of the day we pigged out on rice meals. rice meal at 8am then another one at 11am.
i am really amazed at your loyalty to longganisa. it's one of a kind.
Hahaha... kakatawa.. romantic dinners by candle light courtesy of MERALCO, NAPOCOR, and NPA. :)
Hey, maraming sosyal kumakain sa Goodah! What's that Goodah commercial by Gary Lising again? :)
Gee... aircon na ngayon ha? Wow! :)
My friends and I were frequent clients of Goodah-West Avenue during the late 80's and early 90's. We would drop by Goodah for goto or tapsilog at 3 or 4 am on our way home from a comedy bar in Timog.:D Goto, I found out in Goodah, was an antidote for tipsiness.:D
Maria, the one nearestthe University belt is near Malacanang Palace...We frequent that at the wee hours of the morning when we have presswork.
Panaderos, di mo pinalampas yan ha...so how's the tiles? Pinalitan na din ba?Di na mukhang toilet---hihi no offense...
aaahhh goodah. i miss their goto. being that i was a los banos kid, i never got to enjoy goodah until our post college days when we had gigs in qc. the goodah in katipunan was a favorite spot for me and my bandmates, in the wee hours of the morning we would usually have a meal at goodah before we head back to LB. mura, masarap and i hits the spot. ayan, i want lugaw!!!!
Photo Cache,
I don't remember seeing one in the University Belt area either. But according to Giselle, there's one near Malacanang.
Aside from the two places I mentioned, the other branch that I knew of was in Sucat, Paranaque City.
Tinay,
Thanks for the compliment and for the visit. Much appreciated. :)
Em Dy,
There are indeed a lot more branches now and I think this expansion was the result of a change in management. It seems that a new company bought Good Ah from its old owners a few years ago. Thus, they are on an expansion mode.
Mari,
I am what I am. Naks! :D
Seriously, I need to cut down on my longganisa consumption. I guess I really have to given my coming doctor's appointment on Friday. Will keep you posted.
Toe,
You're right about that. I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of sosyal folks were also frequent GoodAh customers. One time, I was having dinner at GoodAh's branch in Sucat when the then Mayor of Paranaque (Mayor Olivarez) got off his van to order dinner.
Yes, airconditioned na sila ngayon. How come they didn't have this feature when I was a regular customer? Hahaha
Luna Miranda,
Goto and any hot soup usually reduces tipsiness. I've had their goto a few times too. The atmosphere over at the West Avenue location was, in my humble opinion, a bit quiet and relaxing too. Especially after midnight. Hehehe
Baka nagkita pa tayo doon pala. I was a regular customer during the years you mentioned. :D
Mirage2g,
Hahaha Red and white pa rin ang motif nila. Naks! Unfortunately, the place I went to did not have those tiles. Thus, I'm not sure if they've replaced them with something better. I doubt it though. :)
Jane,
Sorry at nagkaroon ka tuloy ng craving for lugaw because of my post. Hehehe
GoodAh's dishes do hit the spot. Busog ka na, ok pa sa budget. That's an awesome combination! :D
ohhh...so that's why the SO is sooo quiet :D
hope you're enjoying your stay/visit.... and had I known that you have some longganisa addiction, i'd have brought some of my SIL's products for you... talk about Pampanga garlicky
Mec,
Naging quiet ba siya? Hehehe Siguro naging busy. :D
Thanks, I did enjoy my one-week visit. It was too short though.
And yes, I do have a longganisa addiction. Sayang. Your SIL's Pampanga-garlicky type longganisa sounds very yummy. Next time, will let you know. :) Thanks again.
umuwi ka ba talaga ng pinas boss? akala ko namimiss mo lang. hahaha! hindi pa ata ako nakakakain diyan, dami na kasing naglipana na mga imitation. parang yung hap-chan, hindi ko na nga alam kung alin ang authentic, meron na kasing hapi-chang, half-chan, at kung anu ano pa. hehehe.
try ko nga yang goodah paguwi ko, sa goodies pares pa lang kasi ako nakapunta. hahaha. =D
RJ,
Oo, Pards. Umuwi ako for 1 week lang. May inasikaso lang. :D
Yeah, subukan mo pag-uwi mo. Ok pa rin ang food nang magpunta ako last week. :)
Yum! And what a nice way to share a precious memory!
Tell 'em I sent a happy 25th wish for all!
naw2ala una kong comment, heniways tambay din ako ng goodah nung 80s. mukhang di tayo nagkakalayo sa edad parekoy. pwede ng apala exchange gift este links? andun ka na sa akin
ay andito na din pala ako tnx parekoy. ang tinatambayan kong goodah nga pala yung sa greenhills. tumatambay ka din ba sa greenhills noon?
Liquid,
Thanks. Hahaha Rest assured I'll send them your congratulations. :)
Madbong,
I linked you up na, Pards. Thanks din for the link.
Tumatambay din ako sa Greenhills pero paminsan-minsan lang. Most of the time eh nasa West Avenue ako. My gfs at the time preferred that place dahil tahimik daw.
Yup, mukha ngang magka-generation tayo. Hahaha :D
DB! umuwi ka pla! so kamusta naman ang flight? :)
tc! :)
Hmm, twenty five years and they still haven't gotten around to changing that corny tagline... :-D
Anyways, that's usually the place where I stave off the midnight hunger pangs whenever I go bar-hopping, hehe. :-D
Ah, so you were here during your brief blog hiatus? I shouldv'e know. Man, you should've told me, then we can have that much-awaited chat over a case of San Muguel, haha. :-D
Princess Dyanie,
Yeah, nandiyan ako last week. Sa Makati mismo. :D May inasikaso lang. Masaya naman ang stay ko diyan. Salamat.
Kumusta ka na? Ingat din. :)
Rudy,
Yeah, they seem to love that corny slogan. Hehe
Contacting you did come to mind. I apologize that I wasn't able to because my stay in the country was too short. I would have definitely touched base with you had I stayed a week longer. Next time, Pards, I'll make sure na magkikita tayo.
hi dear :) thank you for droppin by my blog. ei they're my siblings but i am their proxy momma ;) im too young to have a 19-yr old daughter. :D
ingat!
Tinay,
Oops! I'm very sorry about that. Stupid me for I obviously misread your post. Mea culpa, mea culpa. :)
no apologies! :D haha. it's okay, i really look motherly in person ;) kidding aside, thank you for the time.
i tried eating there once and i like their tapsilogs. i didn't know that it started in the 80s. thanks for the info.
Dong,
I like their tapsilog too but I've only had it for a few times. Masarap din it's just that mas preferred ko ang Longsilog.
LOL on the "al fresco" :) Your recollections made me remember when I was a student on tight budget too, taking my dates to cheap restaurants at CM Recto Ave :)
I've never been to Goodah, but during college, we usually bought 3M pizza. Dadalhin namin nang date ko sa loob nang sine plus softdrinks. Solve na.
BW,
Bro, I think you will agree with me when I say that those were happy and innocent times for us. (Although "innocent" can be quite relative, I know you know what I mean. Hehehe)
Blogusvox,
It was a simpler time, Pards. We all managed to have our fun given the resources that were available to us. We made do with what we had and looking back, we learned a lot from the experience. It helped "ground" us as individuals.
I was also a Goodah regular back then. They didn't need air conditioning because the weather wasn't this hot before.
Mon,
You're absolutely right about the airconditioning. Yes, it wasn't as hot back then as it is now. In fact, I liked the West Avenue branch because there always seemed to be a nice breeze going in that particular branch. I rarely needed to be near a fan. Thanks for that insight.
Ay Im not sure if the branch was there in the 80's, I was going there in 1999 na. Basta I remember lapit yun sa Malacanang...or maybe because we were taking taxi at madilim I didn't notice...=D Teka itatanong ko lol...di ako matahimik.
Mirage2g,
Naku po, ayan na! Hala! Hindi na makatulog ngayon. Hahaha
We need an answer! Dali!! Hahahaha
or pasig? wahahahah
Mirage2g,
Hahaha Naku po! Malala na iyan! Hindi mo na maalala kung saan ka kumain na branch ng GoodAh. :D
hahaha! noong mga bata pa kaming reporters, diyan ang tambay namin tuwing umaga. bago magpunta sa kanya-kanyang beat, kain muna kami riyan. sa west av. nasesermonan kami ng deskman namin dahil humahaba ang breakfast at walang nagri-report kahit tanghali na kasi nakatambays a goodah!
Atticus,
Can't blame you. Hehehe Masarap na tambayan talaga iyong West Avenue branch kasi its location is right between commercial/office buildings and a residential area. I think that's why I found that location quite relaxing when compared to the other GoodAh branches. Relatively tahimik eh and medyo mahangin pa. :)
the best talaga goodah, lalo na pagkatapos nyo gumimik sa gabi at nakaramdam kayo ng gutom kaso ubos ubos na pera nyo. =)
Kero,
Totoo iyan. Para siyang kaibigan na maaasahan mo pag medyo ginigipit ka na. Hehehe Ok ang pagkain and nakakasiguro ka na satisfied ka afterwards. :)
Thanks for the visit!
Gee, the part where you narrated about your saving up for the date and appreciating the girls' contentment made me grin. Now, you're probably the first person that I'll thought of when I go to/ hard of Goodah. Nice nostalgia.
WitsandNuts,
Hehehe This restaurant will always occupy a special place in my heart. Naks! I make it a point to stop by a GoodAh branch whenever I'm in Manila. I remain a loyal customer.
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