I FIRST learned about this giant pizza on Facebook. Just a photo really of a friend of a friend that chronicled their 36-inch pizza outing. Hmmmm...

Now, if you've been a constant follower of this section, you'd know that we normally go out in twos or fours. It's because that's the number of friends I can gather at short notice to try out a place we don't know much about. Through the years we've been delighted several times but have been disappointed twice that number of times. Only really good friends can be dragged to such places, and be made to pay for what they ate at that -- whether good or bad.

Now we have to eat a 36-inch pizza, which the Facebook entry said can feed 15. Where will I get 15 people????

Second problem: where is it? All the Facebook entry said was it was a place named Eduardo's along F. Torres. No one among my friends knew where it was, nor could we see any sign that says Eduardo's.

The answer to the first problem turned out to be right in front of me on almost any restaurant table: Dengdeng. More particularly the Barangay Fuentes.

Ehem... Barangay Fuentes is how we refer to Deng's family because the family's big, like really big. I don't know how many they are, I can't even get the pairing right, like who's married to who and whose child is who.

Last week, December 30, it was a date with the barangay at what I recently found out was the former "Red Moon Chinese Restaurant" at K1 Compound along F. Torres Street.

Except that... expecting a pizza and pasta place named Eduardo's at the former Red Moon I saw an obviously Chinese restaurant named K1 Chinese Restaurant. Uh-oh... and the whole barangay was coming.

Inside were waiters in red uniforms with Chinese collars and behind the counter was a handwritten note that lists out of stock stuff like tofu, and several other Chinese food.

"Excuse me, ito ba yung may malaking pizza?" I asked the counter attendant.

Yes, they have that giant pizza, she said, asking further if I was with the group who has a reservation.

As I didn't know about the arrangements (I was just tagging along to be able to taste the 36-inch pizza lest I try to tackle the whole pizza myself) I asked whether the reservation was for the Fuentes family. The one who called didn't leave a name, she said, but they were told it was a huge group, like more than 20.

Aha! That sounds like the Barangay Fuentes all right.

True enough, Deng arrived with high school friend Bernie. The barangay is coming, she said.

It was only then when I found the name Eduardo's. It's in the pizza menu that is handed over to you with the K1 Chinese Restaurant menu. Thus, for whoever wants to experience this giant pizza, don't go looking for Eduardo's just go to K1 and ask where the giant pizza is.

We ordered the 36-inch pizza, but I was starving by then. The pizza would take around 30-45 minutes to be ready, we were told.

And so we ordered dried fish rice, chicken, and ngoyong after debating whether pansit would go well with pizza (It's a Chinese restaurant and thus didn't have pastas).

The barangay arrived soon after and we waited... and waited... for the pizza. In between, we had the chicken, ngoyong and rice.

That was a wise move by Deng...

The pizza was finally brought in through the front door since it couldn't fit through the kitchen door. It was huge, really huge. Picture-picture, smile-smile, and then devour...

Devour is indeed the right word as the pizza was gone in 15 minutes. The waiting took three times longer than the actual eating. Barangay Fuentes being Barangay Fuentes, the 36-inch pizza wasn't enough.

And yes, Deng is a Fuentes, because she seemed to have known we will not get much sustenance from that giant pizza if we were to share it with the barangay. Maybe that's why she made sure we ordered dinner as well.

Verdict? Good. Very thin, chewy crust, four different flavors. And... I'm not sure. The pizza was gone before I could savor it.