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)

Cathy's Fastfood: 3 Pig Snouts!

Cathy’s Fastfood, 24 Diego Silang Street, Baguio City.

3 Pig Snouts! (Photo by: RS)

We can’t help but get sentimental about Cathy’s Fastfood as we mentioned in the previous post.

It is located on Diego Silang Street. For those people like me that aren’t always familiar with street names, Diego Silang is the street where the ukay ukay sells high-end bags. It’s the street behind Jollibee Session Rd if you’re coming from Harrison road, and the street behind Mcdo Session if you’re coming from Mabini or lower Session Road.

Upon entering, we found ourselves next to the cashier and curiously peering into the kitchen that is located at the bottom of the staircase. The walls used to be covered with vintage posters and old ads of Coca Cola but are now bare revealing the old wood panels. To the left of the entrance, there is a seating area with a good street view. Our favorite spot is on the second level and in the corner above the lower dining area. This is the best place to people-watch because you have a view of the whole upper dining room as well as the lower dining room. The mix of people in Cathy’s cover a wide range, cowboys coming home, students cramming over lunch, drunks having a last drink before heading home or families celebrating a birthday or baptism. The lovely mix of people provides a great ambiance and also good conversation material. Now, let’s get down to business.

Fritson checking out the menu and prices. (Photo by: FP)

The prices of the rice meal range from 80-65 PHP. Upon entering we already knew that we were going to order Lechon Rice! But friends, Gino, Marian, Shanti and Fritson looked over the menu first to see the other options. Gino opted for a Cathy’s rice, standard in most places that sell lechon rice. This dish changes name depending on the establishment but has basically the same things in it -- EVERYTHING. Cathy’s rice has a fried egg, fried chicken, fried beef, a few pieces of lechon and a lot of vegetables. Marian opted for the chicken mushroom rice, a simple dish that is practically self-explanatory. Shanti decided on the classic lechon rice and we were hungry and set to order.

Da Guests! Nope, they're not rating! They're just excited. (Photo by: FP)

We explored the drinks list and the condiments while waiting for our food to arrive. It’s the usual soft drinks and canned juices but they do have fresh (plus points!) calamansi juice that you can order either hot or cold. The beer, Pale Pilsen and Red Horse (the only 2 we really care about) cost 35PHP and 40PHP respectively. Good price for beer! If you ask nicely the waitress will give you soy, a platito, calamansi and a bottle of vinegar with more sili than vinegar in it. The mixing of these condiments are usually done by one person and the order in which they are mixed varies.

Fritson inspects the meal (Photo by: FP)

The arrival of our meal caused a visible and audible wave of excitement. The steaming cup of rice surrounded by a moat of vegetables, sauce, and lechon was a quest we were all ready to conquer. The lechon rice had five pieces of pork and two kinds of vegetables, namely carrots and petchay. Free beef soup with onion leeks also comes with the meal. We scrutinized the crunchiness of the meat, the fat content, the parts of the vegetables used, the quality of sauce. Gino and Marian discussed their chicken as well but the lechon was the main topic and Fritson kept note of our comments and helped us remember them later on. Our total bill for 5 people’s drinks and meals was 430 PHP.

LECHON! (Photo by: FP)

We gave Cathy’s Fastfood three snouts! The meat wasn’t that crunchy because it was drowned in the sauce and the vegetables were made up mostly of the white tips of the petchay. It was still quite tasty, the serving size was huge and besides, Cathy’s definitely still holds the crown for sentiment, for being the establishment where we were first initiated into the pleasures of lechon rice.

For the love of...

This blog begins here. This is Cathy’s Fastfood, our first lechon rice love.

Photo by: PP

And this is Fritson the multilingual pig. We bring him with us because we like to be reminded where our food comes from so we can send gratitude in the right direction. Fritson likes to come along because he likes living life on the edge… of the plate. Hahahaha! But seriously, he likes the fact that we’re so appreciative of what pigs do for humanity. *Bu-hii, bu-hii* (Japanese pig squeal)

Padma: When I was in high school we would go to Cathy’s on special occasions. Meaning, when we were flush.

Fifi: Lechon rice at Cathy’s was always an expedition because we would forget about if for months on end then suddenly remember and obsessively plan the next lechon rice session. The troops had to be called in and the timing had to be right.

Padma: Yeah, for the longest time Cathy’s was the only place we would go for lechon rice.

Fritson: *Snort snort*

Fifi: We’d call in our own personal gang of nasty Baguio Boys to feast with us and finish our leftovers (if there were any).

Padma: And if the mood was right we’d order a round of beers. YUM lechon rice and beer. BURP. There’s something definitely comforting about eating lechon rice in Cathy’s. Whenever I come back from spending a long time away from Baguio, a meal in Cathy’s is part of my “Things I Have To Do When I Get Home” list.

Fritson: Oink?

Padma: Once on my way home from spending six months (or something like that) in the Netherlands, during the layover in HK I noticed two men in jeans, cowboy boots, cowboy hats and leather jackets. Definitely from Benguet. Confirmed when one of them shook his head as an attractive young thing walked by and muttered to his companion, “Ukinana, napintas! Huu!”. When we boarded the plane to Manila, I found myself seated by the two manongs. So we struck up a conversation. They were on their way back from six years – six years! – working in South Africa. They were building roads and dams, if I remember right. They complained that people hardly ate vegetables in South Africa. It was always meat, meat, meat. We got to talking about what we would do when we got home and all 3 of us had Cathy’s on our minds! We parted ways after picking up our bags in the airport. I finally made it to Cathy’s two or three days later and wow, one of the manongs was there too, already tucking into his plate of lechon rice! We waved to each other and laughed in recognition. We were home!

Fifi: The comfort of Cathy’s made it a fitting choice to be the first stop for our new lechon rice reviews. Over the years, we have found other spots through friends or as a result of a hunger that needed immediate satiation. Watch this blog for reviews of these other lechon rice hotspots. It’s all part of the Baguio experience.

Padma: Yeah, “Fly The Butterfly”.

Photo by: SP

Fifi: Yeah, “Be Proud. Be Baguio.”

Padma: Yeah, we’re doing our part, “fostering a culture of caring”.

Fifi: Yeah, for lechon rice. Through this blog!!!

Fritson: Sweek (Dutch Pig Squeal)