Gelorific!

words by Yas Ocampo
illustration by Frytz Razal
photos by Gelo Reyes

Friends and Tumblr “veterans” Gelo and Frytz one weekend discovered for themselves why this place called Rodic’s and their Tapsilog generated such a buzz. Tapsilog is a popular Filipino dish composed of beef strips or flakes, fried rice, and fried egg, thus the coinage of the local terms for these food items. The two had heard about it by word of mouth and could no longer stop wondering why this was so. Since I had been there several times, and I was a fan of Mang Larry’s Isaw, which was near the place, I readily said “F*CK YEAH!” to the invite. 

Rodic’s is one of the most sought after hole-in-the-wall shops inside UP Diliman. The place is so famous that the demographics and frequent flyers of the Tapa specialists range from students, alumni, rock stars, office workers from within, around, and even outside Quezon City. And that spectrum is quite wide. Heck, this isn’t even the first blog post ever written about the restaurant in all its existence since 1949.

As of this writing, the Rodic’s Facebook page has 8,766 Likes and counting.

It’s a little hard to direct those who seldom go to the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman to Rodic’s location. We could say it’s located inside the campus’s “Shopping Center”, but the humble shopping center is a little hidden in plain sight, unless there’s somebody familiar with the campus accompanying you. According to this site, though, the University Shopping Center is “Located near the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice and Infirmary, the Shopping Center in UP Diliman caters to UP students and the UP community”.

encircled is the UP Shopping Center

Take note that “humble” is the word for the Shopping Center, since it’s very much unlike the Shopping Centers of establishments such as those of the Ayala Malls (Just saying. Hehe). The place is a one story building with souvenir shops, computer and internet cafes, photocopy centers, and frozen goods vendors inside. Of course, these are only among the amenities, since at the time we went there, there was a beauty parlor inside.

Gelo and I arrived first. And, having spent almost an hour in transit from Guadalupe in Makati, we decided to meet Frytz and another friend, Liz, at the Shopping Center. When Gelo and I got to Rodic’s, we immediately ordered off the counter; I was thinking this was to speed up the order instead of having to wait for someone to ask us what we wanted. Gelo and I had one Tapsilog each, after less than 10 minutes of waiting. We figured out later from orders by other customers that the service is quite speedy, since the waitress only had to shout from upstairs to the kitchen below how many orders to prepare to be picked up.

The basic Tapsilog plate is reminiscent of a military meal set. The plate is an oblong stainless steel, while the Tapsilog creation is multi-layered; rice at the bottom, the tapa flakes peppered on top of the rice, and a sunny-side-up egg on top.

While already privy to how the Rodics Tapsilog tasted, I asked the servers there for some catsup and the magical vinegar mix, which is half the experience. I then told Gelo to try the Tapsilog without any condiments.

Primarily curious, Tumblogger Gelo of Gelorific! chewed, closed his eyes, and then said, “Now I understand.” We laughed because the Tapsilog was that good.

After the meal, Frytz arrived, and we asked him to order the same. While we waited for the order, Frytz checked in at Foursquare, and the posts there generated reviews about the Rodic’s Tapsilog. This increased the anticipation.

When the order arrived, Gelo told Frytz to do the same thing: try the Tapsilog first without any sauce. After his first bite, Frytz tasted the sweet meaty, dry tapa flakes and said, “I think I just remembered my entire childhood” ala Ratatouille. The three of us laughed again.

Another reaction to the Rodic’s Tapsilog ala Cooking Master Boy

The verdict

We unanimously vote Rodic’s Tapsilog as the best Tapsilog ever tasted by these three bloggers. Gelo and Frytz agree that the Rodic’s Tapsilog tastes better than that of Sinangag Express (SEx). I also agree; the Rodic’s Tapsilog beats Davao City’s Taps, although there is still a certain charm to eating there (apologies to friend whose family owns the place).

The Tapsilog meal costs less than P70, which is what we would call locally as sulit.

The experience at the small Tapsilog shop was so intense that Gelo and Frytz restrained themselves from coming near the counter to avoid being tempted to order another serving.

But the certain thing was this: This was only Part I of the UP Food Trip, while Rodic’s was only the first step among five of that day. Another certainty was obvious: We would go back to UP for a Part II of the Food Trip, with Rodic’s again starting the experience. 

The interior of the 2nd floor of Rodic’s

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Gelo’s Note:

(360/365)
February 26, 2011

Let me just put the date and the number for my project 365 here. hehe. Thanks for those who are still following me here even though I didn’t post anything for some time. 

Here’s a treat for you. My friends and I did a collaboration for our UP Food Trip. I did the photos, Frytz of mgadrowingniprits.com will do some illustrations and Yas will do the words since he’s a professional writer for publications. I hope you guys like it! Watch out for the next post: Mang Larry’s Isawan!