Armed with a meager daily budget, I’m always on the lookout for cheap places to eat around the Makati area. While jollijeeps and fastfood restaurants are lifesavers, they get old quickly if you eat there every day. One might suggest that it should be cheaper (not to mention healthier) to just bring food from home instead of buying lunch but that’s not really an option for me, I can’t cook to save my life.

This is why I’m glad to have discovered Yoo-Hoo Bar-B-Que along the busy road of Makati Avenue. When most restaurants in the area require a budget of 150-200 pesos per meal (it can get pretty expensive if done on a daily basis for us working class citizens), you can eat like a king at this barbecue stall with a reasonable budget of 50-100 pesos.

Yoo-Hoo is most famous for their meaty barbecues (whoddathought?). At 36 pesos per stick, their barbecues are larger than your average barbecue and seasoned with a special blend that keeps the meat juicy and tasty. I personally like their blend better than most other popular barbecue stores, the meat itself is tasty without too much sauce slathered on it. I also like that they put the fat bit at the end, instead of in between the meat, like other restaurants do.

A side order of itlog na maalat with fresh tomatoes for only 15 pesos made the meal even better. Although salted red eggs aren’t all that unusual and can be easily brought from palengkes, not many restaurants in the city have it on their menus (and if they do, they usually charge an exorbitant fee). Yoo-Hoo offering it for cheap is a very welcome change.

Not on the menu, but definitely something to try, is Yoo-Hoo’s T-bone Steak meal. The steak comes with a cup of rice and gravy and is priced at a dirt cheap 75 pesos. Where else can you get a steak for that much? It’s not on the menu though, but just ask the cashier for it if you want to order one. It’s actually filling and tastes pretty good too.

Yoo-Hoo Bar-B-Que is a no-frills diner that serves good food at price more reasonable than most. (They also serve beer, btw. Yoohoo?!) Besides the one along Makati Avenue, they also have a branch at Metrowalk in Ortigas, another one in P. Burgos in Makati, and also at Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong. Go try it for lunch tomorrow!