What comes to mind when you hear someone say Katipunan Avenue (in Quezon City). Universities and schools like the University of the Philippines (UP), The Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU). Miriam College. Santa Clara Church, more famous to those with special intentions. The underpass where Valdolph and his car fell into. Sweet corn. Restaurants and food destinations.

Among the gleaming and nice restaurants sits a group of out-of-place structures. Out of place carinderya, if you will, yet comfortable and proud. One is the Countryside Restaurant, famous for its barbecue.

It’s nothing much to look at. From the direction of Libis, White Plains or Corinthian, it’s the end of the line of restaurants before reaching the Katipunan flyover (that means if you’re coming from U.P., Ateneo or Commonwealth Avenue, you have to take the nearest u-turn before the traffic light).

Cars park along the curb in front (the difficulty of looking for a parking slot during peak hours speaks of how popular this place is). Under the aging restaurant sign sits the grilling area that never seems to rest, the charcoal bright red and sending culinary smoke signals.

Cooked, uncooked and half-cooked pork and chicken barbeques sit ready beside the grill, waiting for the hungry customer to take his/her pick. There’s gizzard BBQ, too, for the adventurous.

The chewy dried squid is tucked inside a sealed plastic container. Makunat, just the way I like it. The white container sits with the non-BBQ meals — lechon paksiw, sinigang, lechon kawali, dinuguan, igado, to name a few.

The igado sounds new. And weird, which is a good reason to try it. Not now, though, because we’re specifically for the BBQ. It’s

The BBQ takes a few minutes to cook, time well spent on small talk or reading the interesting handwritten notices.

Pakiusap po, huwag halukayin ang ULAM!

Pakiusap lang po!! Umorder muna bago umupo . . .

Kapag natakal na ang ulam hindi na pwede ibalik. Salamat po.

Lahat ng order na BBQ ay lulutuin pa. Ibibigay na lang sa inyo kapag luto na. Salamat po.

There’s a lot more, from the tables to the restroom, and I was half-expecting to find, “Huwag po.”

Despite how the place looks like, cars still line up in front. Hungry clients patiently wait for the BBQ (no arguing with the handwritten notices). Families with children (I counted 4 families having dinner) frequent this place, so there’s more to this place than the usual hang-out place for those, like us, who appreciates a nice ice-cold beer. Really, there’s more to this place than meets the eye. The BBQ is at the heart of it.