Photo courtesy of Happy Tables

The trendy food hubs in Manila is quite a lot since it became popular lately. It’s now one of the perfect dining destinations to satisfy your food cravings. In Quezon City, a recently-opened food destination is Happy Tables at Congressional Avenue Extension. It’s not exactly a food park but a food hub.

It doesn’t look like the usual food parks with open spaces, gravel parking lots and trailer trucks but it looks more like a more modern and beautifully-designed food court. The concept of the owner is to have a food hub that welcomes both families and friends, instead of just the usual Friday night hangout for millennials. It has a couple of tables surrounded by 17 different food stalls. It also has a mezzanine section at the end where drinkers and smokers can hangout
A couple of food stalls at Happy Tables include Amelito’s, Hong Kong Foodie Street Food, The LIFE Lounge, GOngpauco’s Krispy Pata (Yes of Barrio Fiesta), The Creamistry, Wings Central, Cartel’s Cali-Mex Grill, All Day Breakfast: Five Forty Five, etc. There’s only one restaurant that is air conditioned which is the Blue Sparks Cafe + Deli.

We tried the Spanish kiosk called Amelito’s where we ordered Gambas de Catalonia (Php175) and Calamares Ala Marbello (Php170). The serving isn’t big for their single order but good enough for us since we also wanted to try other food at Happy Tables. If you want to have a bigger serving, you can buy their full serving instead of the solo serving which we ordered.

The Gambas de Catalonia was delectable with its fresh shrimps, its freshness was quite surprising coming from a food hub. We weren’t really a fan though of the Calamares Ala Marbello as it tasted a bit different from the usual. Though we love its crunchiness and the serving was more proportioned to the rice.

We also tried Hong Kong Foodie Street Food’s Lobster Balls (Php40). It’s quite pricey for two pieces per stick though. It’s pretty good but the thing is, it also tasted the same as the ones you can buy frozen from the grocery. They also have Scallop Cake, Fish Tofu and Crab Claw Sticks, all for Php40 per stick.

There is only one bar kiosk here which is The LIFE Lounge where you can buy both liquor and other drinks. We ordered their Long Island Iced Tea (Php98) and Green Mango Shake. The Long Island Iced Tea is quite strong but it’s pretty good and cheap for the price. They also have delicious Green Mango Shake for those who aren’t alcohol drinkers.

There are still so much other food stalls we haven’t tried yet so we’ll have to come back again to try the others. So far our experience was good as it’s a great venue for a nearby neighborhood dining destination with a chill ambiance, good food and affordable prices. The HodgePodge Lifestyle recommends the Happy Tables. We were certainly happy after dining here!