My Ang Pinaka Street Food Experience

If you tuned in to Ang Pinaka last Sunday evening, you'll notice that I was one of the three panelists, along with food critics Ige Ramos and Ivan Henares, in their feature on street food. We were all asked to rank our top 10 street food (we were given a long list to choose from). The results, along with some from surveys and the staff, were collated and the results were the ones featured on the show.

Here's my Top 10, based on availability (by me, at least), what I actually eat and what most of the folks I know eat. Like Ige, I also factored in nutrition and value for money.

1. Taho
My favorite street food. Warm, nutritious and cheap. Good for breakfast when you're on the run.

2. Balut/ meats on a stick
I don't like balut or innards on a stick but everyone else does! They're the poster child for Filipino street food.

3. Fishballs
Cheap, easy to find and yummy. The dubious sanitation of the vendors just adds to the taste.

4. Dirty Ice cream
Nothing evokes summer more than a cone of dirty ice cream. They ave flavors that are simple, yet cannot be copied by commercial ice cream companies.

5. Quek-quek
Cholesterol in a bucket, yes, but also a good source of protein. Plus, it's really tasty.

6. Mais
Cheap, flavorful and nutritious.

7. Mani
Nothing like some peanuts to fortify you during a long bus ride.

8. Banana Cue/ Camote cue
Cheap, sweet and filling - everything a good Pinoy snack should be

9. Puto/ Kutsinta/ Biko
My three favorite kakanins. I couldn't choose!

10. Scrambol
Nothing but syrup and ice but a good way to keep cool on a hot day in the province.

Thinking of Tasty Dumplings

In the mood for dumplings from Tasty Dumplings, which has a branch near the Binondo church. They used to have a branch in Greenhills but it closed down fast. I blame the location.

Anyway, the grownups used to take us here a lot when we were kids. We'd have the dumplings (they have two variants: pork and kuchay - vegetable based), which come with the greatest dumpling suace ever - something in between vinegar and fish sauce.

We'd also have the porkchop noodles, which are noodles served with a side of weird-tasting but strangely addictive pork chop. You can ask for some kuchay (pickled vegetables) that you can eat your noodles with. And to ash it all down, a glass of warm soy milk. They have great soy milk, though (and I'm not sure if this is fact or nostalgia) it seemed to taste better when I was a child.


Here's a photo of their dumplings from my last trip.

Cookbook Kitchen

One of the things I am grateful to Ang Pinaka for is for finally directing me to Cookbook Kitchen. The location of this immensely popular restaurant has eluded this directionally challenged eater – until now. The most surprising thing about it – it's really near where I live!

Much has been written about this little restaurant, to how it was conceived to how it got its name, so I'm not going to go int that here. What I will go into, however, is the food.

I liked their Wasabi Soy Fish (P250), soft yet firm fish, pan-fried ad topped with a sweetish (not hot) wasabi emulsion; but what I really liked was their Parmesan-crusted White Fish (P260), which is fish and cheese baked until it has a nice golden crust. It's what the restaurant is famous for, and with good reason. Its warmth and creaminess is what I think embodies the true essence of comfort food. This is the kind of dish you want to take home to curl up and watch TV with. A little red wine (yes, yes, seafood, I know) and you're good to go.

The Pasta al Adobo (P200) is a nice, oil-based pasta topped with adobo flakes. It's the garliky-est (I just invented a new word!) dish that I've ever had that does not have that garlicky sting.

My second favorite dish is dessert. Kittin's Scarlet Cake (P130) is a blood-red grownup cake with a butter and cream cheese icing from childhood. It's not terribly sweet and it's incredibly moist. I wanted to hoard the whole thing for myself but... I... must... share.

If someone were to ask me what I wanted for my last meal, the Parmesan-crusted White Fish and Kittin's Scarlet Cake would definitely be on top of my list.

Cookbook Kitchen
8 Socorro Fernandez St., corner Luna Mencias St. (near Shaw Blvd),
Mandaluyong City
Tel. +632 724 3595

Taumbayan

Evoking a college tambayan (hang out) but with a really god sound system is Taumbayan, whose name is a play on both tambayan and taong bayan (citizen). The restaurant was put up by a group of theater majors who wanted a place to hang out in.


The inside is sparse and white, with pictures of the proprietors and friends on one wall, a couple of corkboards filled with community announcements, and whatever exhibit is going on at the moment. The restaurant is a couple of class announcements away from being an actual college tambayan, though sometimes, it is exactly that too, as the upper floor can be rented out for seminars, classes and exhibits.

But I digress. The reason we are here is because of the food, and the food does not disappoint. It's all Filipino comfort food, stuff that you can find at home but better, and with more flair.

The Inihaw na Adobo (grilled adobo – P160) is liempo that's been stewed adobo style before being grilled. The result is soft, fatty barbecued pork infused with sweet adobo goodness. It needs nothing except simple salt and pepper to bring out its flavor.

My favorite dish is the Pssst (P160). Described as “pusit na may dahong sumisilip” (squid with leaves peeking out of it), the dish is basically a whole cephalopod stuffed with aromatic leaves. Admittedly, part of the reason I like thi dish so much is because it looks like a cousin of Cthulhu. You get one whole big*** squid that's juicy, but in a savory way, and so soft you can cut it apart with a spoon. Now, I am very skeptical when it comes to grilled squid, as its texture makes me feel like I'm eating part of an old tire and I usually have o hide the seafood taste under copious amount of rice, then again in sauce. But this squid I can eat by itself,and without sauce. It's soft and easy to chew, and doesn;t taste like its related to Cthulhu, not that I would know what the relative of an ancient sea god would taste like mind you.


Another favorite of mine is the ridiculously simple Ensalada Platter (120). Steamed string beans, okra and eggplant served with bagoong balayan. I eat this at home and can't get enough of it. Stands to reason that I'd enjoy it outside as well, especially since the vegetables aren't soggy from overboiling.


If you're in the mood for soup, I suggest you try Monggo in D Chiti (P120) – mung bean soup loaded with pork, flavored with smokey tinapa and topped with whole chicharon. The monggo has a distinctly meaty flavor and is slightly spicy. The tinapa takes the soup from special to extra special. The chicharon tends to get soggy fast so I suggest you eat that first.

If you're going to eat here, it would be best to arrive early, as the place tends to fill up fast. Oh, the restaurant has free WiFi, so you can play Farm Town on Facebook and eat your vegetables too.

Bad metaphor, I know, but I couldn't help it.

Taumbayan Restaurant
40 T. Gener cor. K-1 Streets (near Kamuning Road), Quezon City

Thinking of Shabu-Shabu

In the mood for hot soup. I miss Gloria Maris' shabu-shabu. I love how you get tons of hot soup, get to choose what goes in it, and can come up with different flavors depending on what type of sauce you use. Gloria Mari's sauce selection includes sate, garlic and chili. Am salivating just thinking about it.


Unfortunately, it's not the sort of meal that you can't eat alone.

Mom and Tina's

One of the restaurants we visited for the Ang Pinaka episode on food that I was a panelist on was Mom and Tina's. I had already tried the restaurant's Makati branch but had never dined at the original branch in Pasig.



Everyone knows Mom and Tina's as the go-to comfort food place. How can it not be? Between its cozy cottage-inspired decor and ample servings of food that's sure to fill the stomach, it;s hard not to come to this restaurant and think "home."

My favorite was the Chuck Steak (probably because it was steak to begin with). Even though this is traditionally the cheapest cut, this steak tasted like a winner. Chewy, easy to cut and infused with a smokey flavor, this beef goes down well with mashed potatoes. The ones it was served with tasted instant, but for some reason, the reconstituted taste only served to highlight the down home feel. I'm weird like that.



I also liked the Salmon Pasta, a complex-tasting cream-based pasta punctuated with salty salmon bits, dill and capers.



Those looking for something closer to home can try the US Beef Tapa. Served with garlic rice and egg, the beef is sliced so thinly we first mistook it for bacon. It's got the sweet, beefy taste associated with tapa though, so you know you weren't served something else by mistake.



For dessert, opt for the Mango Torte, a frozen dessert cup made with cream. What I liked about this is that I could taste the cream cheese in the mix. For me, cheese is always a good thing. I also liked their lemon cupcake, which was a light butter cupcake with lemon-flavored icing.


Forgive my badly-lit pictures. The don't do the food justice.

Mom & Tina's Bakery Café
FRDZ Bdlg.
106 E. Rodriguez Jr, Avenue Ugong, Pasig City
(Front of SM Hypermart-Pasig)
Telephone: (63 2) 571-1540 to 41