Shabu-Shabu at the New Divisoria Mall Food Court

We forgot the name of the place because really, our dining experience at this establishment needs to be forgotten. Maybe not before relating said experience.

I'm talking about the Shabu-Shabu food stall right next to Juan Sarap. It's the first food stall to your left when you step off the escalator fronting Tabora St., on the third floor of the New Divisoria Mall.

It's still cold on mornings that we decided soup was still in order when we found ourselves at the food court of the mall  My sister decided on a set meal of siomai, rice, shabu-shabu and gulaman. Maki Mi for me.

The soup of their Shabu-Shabu is spicy, the first time we encountered such. Sissy didn't get a say on what went into the soup as it's part of a set. There's crabstick, squidball and, weirdly enough, maki roll, two pieces each.

Their Maki Mi is a bit sweet. They dusted their Maki Mi with ground pepper before serving but even that barely registered over the sweetness. There was a generous amount of pork but they're starchy.

What got to us was the fact that they dare serve my sister's rice on a broken plate. We only uncovered the crack at the center of the plastic plate when my sister was halfway through her rice.

To everyone in the food business out there, never ever serve your customers food on any broken, cracked, chipped dinnerware. Never assume that just because your establishment is located at a place frequented mostly by masa, those who don't belong to the upper economic classes, it's okay to not care about your dinnerware or service. Especially if your pricing is not naman pangmasa, not exactly cheap. Because trust us, if it's something you can control, we will care. To come back or in this case, not.