Meal in the City: "Bacon, Eggs, and Rice" from Hungry Hippo, Timog Avenue, Quezon City

I love bacon, I love eggs, I love tempering all that grease with a shot of plain rice, and I love the plate garnishes of tomato and cucumber.

So, yeah, breakfast again, out in the city again. I once spent a summer interning at a sort of little techie start-up along Katipunan Avenue (fronting the Ateneo de Manila campus), and one of the things I loved about the work was that if the boss-man wasn't cooking for his employees (or we weren't cooking for him - that happened several times), we'd have free rein to run around Katipunan looking for a new place to eat.

The nearest place - one where we all inevitably stopped at least once a week - was a neat little breakfast-and-diner place called Hungry Hippo. I think the thing I loved most, after the excellent food that is, was the reverse-image mural painted on the wall - you could only make sense of it when you looked at it in the mirror opposite. Then you'd know that there was some funny text on the various depictions of printed matter, such as books and even a rallyist's placard.

Anyway, I was sad to leave Katipunan when the internship was over, since it also meant I had to go well out of my way to eat the delicious bacon and eggs at Hungry Hippo.

However, a branch has opened up near my current office - and I am a happy eater once again.

The thing about Hungry Hippo is their consistency. I've had this particular meal twice - once in the morning, once for an early dinner - and both times the bacon has been amazingly tasty and crisp. It's not all fatty, either. The eggs are always good although sometimes they can be a bit dry; but that's easily remedied by the fresh veg crunch. And as I mentioned in the first paragraph, I love the fact that the rice is plain steamed - so you don't have to fret about consuming extra oil, if for instance it was served in its garlic-fried version.

Anyway - bottom line is, I'm so happy there's a Hungry Hippo in the Scout Area. I love this place.