Sab-atan II, Two Snouts

Sab-atan II, Dangwa Bus Station, Baguio City.
(Everybody knows that Dangwa is across the public market and predates the Center Mall, right?)

Sab-atan in the rain. Sigh, wishful thinking. (Photo by FP)

HRO Karl Willem and PA/PR Gromit graced our Sab-atan lunch with their presence, escorted by their ever-loyal chronicler, the Nashman. For Fritson and us girls, the fine company of the dawgs and the Nashman were the highlight of the meal.

Fritson with the Dawgs (Photo by FP)

We got 8 chewy pieces of lechon kawali on a bed of vegetable scraps (some of which were brown around the edges), sitting in a gelatinous cornstarchy sauce.

Lechon with gulay and Rice (Photo by FP)

Bonus pieces of pork in the vegetables (Photo by FP)

The rice toppings came with free soup in a lovely melanin -- er, MELAMINE bowl. The soup was so saturated with instant boullion cubes, we were reminded of suspension antibiotics. Nevertheless, we have to say the food was edible.

In a word: appetizing. (Photo by PP)

We found the prices for the rice toppings to be reasonable in Sab-atan II, ranging from 85-95PHP. The lechon rice is 85PHP. (But you get more for 65PHP in Cathy's.) A pale pilsen is 40PHP. Extra rice is 20PHP, and fried rice is 25PHP.

Lechon Ampalaya Rice (Photo by: FP)

Sab-atan II's ampalaya lechon rice was a lot better than the regular lechon rice, and a fair deal at 85PHP. No matter how delicious a restaurant's lechon rice variations are, however, we reserve our ratings in each place for 'D'Original Thing.

(Photo by FP)

Fritson sadly proclaimed that pork had seen better days and our guests of honor agreed. We decided to give Sab-atan II's lechon rice 1 snout + the benefit of the doubt-snout = 2 snouts. (Maybe the cook was just having a bad day?)

Fritson and the Dawgs rate Sab-atan II (Photo by FP)

So what's to like at Sab-atan II? The joint is just dripping with o-ten-tic kordi koboy ambience, and we are suckers for that sort of thing.

P with o-ten-tic koboy in the background (Photo by FP)

ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTE: To tell people not to worry, you are koboy, is to raise their expectations of you and your threshold for pain, dugyot-ness, alcohol, and your ability to work hard and laugh harder. The higher your tolerance for pain, alcohol, filth, and back-breaking work of the rustic mountain living kind, the better. The lower your threshold for laughter and fun, so much the better. To be called koboy in these mountains, especially in Benguet, is to be given a compliment of the highest order. It's almost like knighthood but better because you don't have to wash up and dress for the part.

Fritson and the Dawgs. Note Miner and Koboy meeting in the background (Photo by:PP)

Instead of sating your hankering for lechon rice here, you're better off soaking up the ambience in Sab-atan II while sipping a satisfying cup of Benguet brew and tucking into a wonderfully creamy, almost-too-decadent-to-be-koboy slice of egg pie. Now THAT is good stuff!

(Photo by PP)

We are Fa-mi-ly!

We received an email from one of our most-loved foster mothers on the other side of the globe that immediately had us ooh-ing and aah-ing and awww-ing over a loveydovey story about a depressed tigress in a California zoo who accepts and suckles piglets as replacements for her premature cubs. Oh so purrfect for this porcine blog! For we sisters were born in tiger years and we love pigs! That is, we love to eat pigs but this tiger doesn't.


But on searching further for images and information so we could give credit where credit is due, we learned that (YES, THE PHOTOS ARE REAL!) the photos were taken in Sriracha Tiger Zoo in Thailand. The Sriracha Tiger Zoo apparently specializes in interspecies love, because the tigress who adopted the piglets was herself suckled by a sow when she was a cub.


But like all good stories, this one has a dark side. Sigh. Interspecies love isn't everything it's made up to be. (We still really love the photos though. Guilty admission. *nervous giggles*)

Pig Love

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYBODY! HUGS!!! SNORT!

WE LOVE PIGS.

"The climax of pig love is incorporation of the pig as flesh into the flesh of the human host and of the pig as spirit into the spirit of the ancestors."

From Harris, M. (1974) 'Pig lovers and pig haters,' in Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches: The riddles of culture. New York: Vintage Books.


FRITSON LOVES BEING A PIG.

Ayuyang Bar and Feliz Restaurant: 3 Snouts

Ayuyang Bar and Feliz Restaurant, 26 Governor Pack Road, Baguio City.

3 Snouts! (Photos by: FP and PP)

Most commonly enjoyed with wonderful live music and beers on cold nights, Ayuyang Bar and Feliz Restaurant possess a wonderful daytime secret. It was a meeting there that led to the discovery of their lechon rice and of course we could not let their version escape the attention of our triumvirate.

Ayuyang is located at the bottom of Baden Powel Inn, right next to the old bus station on Governor Pack Road. A flight of stairs beside the entrance of the inn will lead you down toward the garden and to the restaurant’s entrance. The first thing you see upon entering the restaurant is a fish tank and beyond that the kitchen. (Ornamental fish. Not edible.) As you move further in you’ll find yourself beside the bar and facing the two dining areas. It’s nice to sit by the windows looking out toward Burnham Park. The place is very quiet during the daytime and is a great place to spend the afternoon. Now let’s get started on the food.

Fritson inspects the menu (Photo by: PP)

The price range is from 115-78PHP for rice meals. We originally planned to order our usual but we got so excited at the sight of Binagoongang Baboy (pork cooked with okra, sitaw, eggplant and bagoong -- a fermented fish sauce, in case you didn't know) that we almost forgot that we were there for lechon rice. Fortunately, our friend Shanti came along and willingly ordered a lechon rice. The lechon rice was 95PHP and the binagoongang baboy was 85PHP.

Fritson luuuuvs the heavenly iced tea. (Photo by: FP)

While waiting for our meals we sipped at the delicious Iced Tea (P55). The condiments of soy, calamansi and chilies were automatically set on the table but in our hunger we forgot to fix that up and just gobbled up our meal with out the usual condiments.

Making sure the right condiments are served. (Photo by: PP)

Both the lechon rice and the binagoongang baboy arrived sizzling on a hot plate and the rice was served on a separate plate. We immediately tucked into our meal and discussed the quality of Ayuyang Bar and Feliz Restaurant’s lechon rice and binagoongang baboy.

Binagoongang Baboy (Photo by FP)

We’ll leave the Binagoongang Baboy for another review. This is just a teaser. (Any excuse to go back and have it again!) But it was very delicious!

Fritson levitates as he checks on the quality of the pork. (Photo by PP)

Ayuyang’s version of lechon rice is interesting because it’s different from most lechon rice around Baguio. Aside from the presentation, the dish contains red bell peppers, carrots, Baguio beans, petchay and cabbage with 5 big pieces of lechon soaking in a sweet lechon sauce. The lechon was crunchy but some parts were a tad overcooked making them difficult to chew. The service was a bit slow but it was well worth the wait!

YUM! (Photo by: FP)

Over all we award Ayuyang Bar and Feliz Restaurant with 3 snouts! (Oh no, we're not biased by the restaurant's name AT ALL!) Total bill was 430PHP for 3 starving people. We say the prices are very reasonable for what we got. Extra rice costs 22PHP, garlic rice is 25PHP. They also had a few special preparations of rice for slightly higher prices. Beer is 40PHP for a Pale Pilsen and 50PHP for a Red Horse. Brewed coffee checks in at 25PHP. Sweet sweek, sweek! Signing out until the next blog!

Fritson with piglet sis Freeta (Photo by PP, styling by FP)