First Sip: Recession Coffee

The pay what you want scheme doesn’t seem to be a very sound business model and it takes a lot of guts to implement one here in Manila. And to have multiple branches with such payment scheme takes more guts than when Maximus Decimus Meridius fought for his life when he was pitted against a tiger. Anyway, you get it; pay what you want empowers the customers to pay whatever they feel like for what they are getting or ordering. And with great power comes… abuse. Some would pay way below than what is expected. The upside though is that since it’s unconventional, it gets attention. 

Hello, Recession Coffee. 

I first heard of this café when it opened its first branch in Eastwood. A few foodies posted their experiences with some being pleasant and some ending on a sour note. I took note of the common thing I saw in each post… that the coffee was just so-so. The stingy bone in me wanted me to muster the courage of just paying PHP1 for my coffee; but I simply couldn’t if I were to buy a cup on my own. And so, when I dropped by its newest branch in S Maison, I ended up paying PHP20 as my next smallest change was PHP500 and I don’t want to ask for PHP499 as my change. (Well, it was a crisp bill.)

Second Bite: Pound

I never waited for food for over 2 hours until that Pay What You Want promo. I don’t know what got into me to make me wait for so long. Well, I guess the idea of just spending whatever you feel like for your burger or slider is attractive. Okay, okay! It was tempting as ice cream for a person who has sore throat! But just when I said I will never ever wait that long… it happened again after 4 days. Darn it!

So hello again, Pound.

Yes, I have been lured to this place again after my new looloo friends R and W expressed interest in the very tempting promo.

R was the first to arrive around 6PM and she was already on the second column of the list. That means over 20 diners were ahead of her. Unbelievable! My officemate A also had her sister B reserve a table and given that she’s ahead of R, I had the seat reservation up by two more to accommodate R and W.

And then the wait game began.

We almost ran out of topics to talk about as we waited 3 hours this time. At least, it was more enjoyable than my last visit where I waited alone.

We quickly ordered as soon as we got settled. R and I decided to share two slider meals—Bacon and Egg Sliders (PHP200) and T.E. Crispy Chicken Sliders (PHP195) while everyone else ordered Amsterdam Burger and T.E. Burger.

Service was quick and in less than 10 minutes, everyone’s burger arrived—except for our sliders. R and I were literally drooling after getting a sniff of the burgers in front (or beside) us.  We had to follow up and overheard that the staff overlooked ours. Whaaaaat???

Anyway, they did make up for it and our sliders were served in 5 minutes or so. Or so I thought.

Love at First Bite: Pound by Todd English

There's a new burger joint in town and it sure knows how to get attention. Presenting #paywhatyouwant.Yes, you read it right. The new burger place is offering most of its burgers (except for the Pound Burger priced at PHP999) at any price that you are willing to pay for a limited time. And if you're curious which burger place I'm talking about, it's Todd English's baby, Pound.

Hello, Pound!

I was not aware of Todd English's new restaurant till I saw a post on Instagram promoting it's Pay What You Want promo. I giddily told my officemates about it and asked if anyone would be interested to visit the place with me. (Two officemates said yes but they had to leave before I managed to get a table. But I'll get there in a while.)

The talked about promo of Pound has been on my mind since lunch and I was so excited to head to the place and pay for my meal at a really friendly price. But I was not the only one who saw the Instagram post as there were a lot of people waiting outside when we arrived at 6:25 PM.

I looked for the hostess right away and I was horrified by the long list of diners waiting to be served. One even had a party of 16 guests! But since I wanted to take advantage of the really attractive promo, I gave in and had my name listed. I was 28th. 

*tick tock tick tock* 

Eventually, I was left all alone come 7:15 PM as my officemates had other plans. And I was still at #23. To entertain myself, I went to the supermarket for some cold air and escape from the pesky mosquitoes. But alas, when I got back, I was at #19.

I was starting to get impatient as it was already an hour wait. I was debating with myself if I should wait more or not as I was turning hangry. But I opted to wait. And wait. And oh, Krispy Kreme. *munch* And wait some more.

After 2 hours and 15 minutes, I finally heard name and I got a table... for one. (Alone but not lonely. :D)

The place has a Your Local kind of vibe and Todd English darkness touch. It was really dark and I had a hard time reading the menu! I was also seated closest to the A/C and when the diners beside me complained on how cold it was, the server adjusted it and the cold breeze went straight towards me! Brrrr. Minus points! (It kind of made me want to sing Celine Dion's song Alone.)

To take advantage of the promo, I went for the most expensive burger included in the promo which is Amsterdam Burger (PHP280). I wanted to go for the bacon and egg sliders but figured that this might be bigger. I didn't go for any beverage anymore as they were only offering sodas and iced tea. 

Despite the crowd, service was fast and I got my burger in less than 15 minutes.