The salt - sweet smell of fried dried fish, in this case, galunggung or bulad in Cebuano wafted into my room and memories of home came rushing. Just dip it in suka (vinegar) with crushed siling labuyo (native chili) and eat with your bare hands is enough to satiate one’s appetite.
After a tiring photo op at the Black Nazarene Feast, what better thing to do but eat and recharge. And doing just that at the famous Ma Mon Luk chinese restaurant, indulging in siopao and mami was just too good to pass. I like the food and ambiance of the place: big portion sizes, prompt service, marble topped wooden tables, those ancient ceiling fans… quiant, simple and a no fuzz place that reminds you of a distant past.
This restuarant chain has been featured in various newspapers and TV shows but it faces the danger of being gone in a few years. Already, some of its more famous branches has folded up. But for the moment, its filling offerings still becon.
While ambling around Burnham Park to take pictures, I can’t help but notice some streetfood vendors selling something that I have’t seen in other places before. At first, I thought that these were some local elbow macaroni food concoction, as it was rounded, and white with some bits of meat placed on a big steamer and covered with plastic.
Binatog , as what it is called, is made from white corn kernels that is cooked or steamed until it becomes plump and puffed up, and mixed with grated coconut, sugar and milk. Costing only ten pesos per cup, one can usually find it around streets, especially within Session Road and parks within the city sold on top of carts side by side with other streetfood fare like squid and fish balls, tempura, peanuts, balut etc.
I tried one and its delicious.
Just came from lunch at Cafe Via Mare. At first, I was thinking of having their lumpia ubod (imature core of coconut palm, veggies and meat wrapped in a delicate soft tortilla with peanut sauce) but I can’t just help having again their flavorful pancit luglug. Other than that, I tasted their bibingka. These two items are frequently seen being served that further fueled my curiosity to taste this dish.
Bibingka is a rich native rice cake, mixed with slices of kesong puti (white cheese made from carabao milk) from Laguna and salted duck eggs. Butter melted top can be garnished with the accompanying grated coconut. This is then baked. And, god, the taste is heavenly. The saltiness of the white cheese plus the salted duck egg, especially its yolk blend well with the subdued sweetness of the grated coconut and rich, melted butter soaked and creamy rice cake.
Langyaw EstanCabigas.com blog Simbahan
SUBSCRIBE
