together with a new food-trip partner (who shall remain nameless to protect her reputation and her weight), i explored the menu offerings of the ballyhooed Aling Lucing's , most likely the first Authentic Sisig restaurant in Metro Manila.
having grown up enjoying the best sisig my San Fernando/Angeles, Pampanga hometown had to offer, i've made it my mission in life to try the sisig in every damn bar and restaurant in MMLA, and even in towns and cities all over VizMin and the rest of Luzon. To paraphrase Saving Private Ryan's tagline: THE MISSION IS THE MANyaman! (note: manyaman is capampangan for dabest delicious delight!)
it's been a depressing search. from the crumbled chicharon or chopped up deep fried unidentifiable pork parts or the blasphemous mushy sisig with mayonaisse that masquerade as sisig abortions in most restaurants, it's been practically futile. the proverbial needle in a haystack indeed.
i'm pleased to announce that Aling Lucing's really is the real thing: charcoal-grilled pig ears and cheeks chopped up finely and mixed up with their secret spices and condiments. the only concession to the urban lifestyle? they serve the sisig on a sizzling plate. other than that, it's definitely worth wading through the insane Makati traffic to reach its unassuming location at Pasong Tamo near the corner of Buendia.
the restaurant staff were shooting weird looks at my companion and i, as we most likely breached their family restaurant image and turned a sisig joint into exactly what it should be: a Happy Hour place to drink beer and enjoy great pulutan!!!
so for three hours, we tackled two large orders of sisig, liempo, and even a "kids can tell" jumbo hotdog as our pulutan. too bad though: San Miguel Beer products are not served in Aling Lucing's. maybe that's their strategy to drive away beer drinkers such as myself. Nevertheless, i managed to swallow down and get slightly tipsy three bottles of Colt 45. The only other beer available is ULTRA, that weird low-carb/low-taste/Lagerlite pretender from Asia Brewery. All beers are at P35 each.
and yup, i actually counted the customer traffic in the restaurant: counting those who came in for take-out orders of sisig, over a hundred people enjoyed the sisig last night. Pretty Damn Great for a restaurant only a week old!!! there even was a quasi-celebrity sighting: JunJun "Son of Sonny" Cabatu, La Salle player (real high school grad, mind you) and the franchise player of the forthcoming Welcoat team in the PBA.
aside from the Sisig, here's what's on the menu: combo meals ranging from P69 to P89--- sisig and rice with either chop suey, barbecue, pork chop, jumbo hotdog, OR for the non-carnivorous amongst us, boneless bangus and fried catfish. you may also either these viands individually, as pulutan, of course!!! The house specialty is the BigShot Sisig sizzling platter at P130.
Not bad at all!!!
so what are you waiting for?
make a mad dash for Aling Lucing's Sisig: Grand Slam Winner of the 2005 Angeles City Sisig Festival, besting 176 competing sisig recipes!!!
ALING LUCING'S SISIG
G/F CENTERPOINT BLDG,
PASONG TAMO near the corner of BUENDIA
(right across the former Urban Bank Building)
