Tag Archives: Bicol Express

Expressing The Bicolana In Me: BICOL EXPRESS

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It’s been quite a while since I last posted about food (I love food but I hate gluttony thus striking the balance)  and I bet it is time I post one of my recipes. Not exactly my recipe as this is a traditional dish from my hometown in the Bicol region. Thus, where the name Bicol Express was derived.

You will commonly see this dish served during meal time in our home in Bicol. My Mom and Dad always make this as a side dish which perfectly partners with any viand. There are now a lot of variations of this recipe including the one with coconut milk which contains more meat and less green chilies.

I grew up getting used to this dish prepared and cooked having only 3 main ingredients: lots of green chilies, fresh shrimp paste, and pork meat. It’s also very easy to prepare as you’d only need to saute the pork meat along with garlic, add the fresh shrimp paste until cooked and lastly, put in the green chilies. Then wait until the aroma of the chilies come out and it’s ready to be served.

To give you a background on my cooking experience, it was only when I was 20 years old that I started learning how to cook. I am the youngest among 5 siblings and I have 3 older sisters who are amazing in the kitchen – I ended up being the dishwasher and the kitchen assistant (prep the ingredients). lol

My sisters though knew I needed to learn sooner or later as time will come we’ll all go our separate ways one by one and I need to hone my cooking skills to be able to live and survive independently.

They’ve been such great teachers who raised me to who I am now in behalf of my Mom as she and Dad stayed in our hometown in Bicol starting when I turned 16 and came here in Manila to study in college. The cooking skills I’ve acquired from them proved to be of great help now that I am married – got to please my hubby’s tummy. *wink*

It is, therefore, with such gratitude that I give back to God for blessing me with awesome siblings and to my sisters for teaching me the art of cooking and with everything else.

Bon appetit!  ❤

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Bicol Express

BAGNETO is “The Villain” Who Saves Your Tummy

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Not your ordinary villain.

We all know that Magneto is one of the greatest villains who ever grazed the world of Marvel Comics. But no, he is not coming to life in this article but another unique character who is a villain but not exactly a villain.

So without any further ado, please allow me to introduce to you…BAGNETO. Yes, the name came from bagnet (deep fried pork’s meat) and of course, Magneto, the villain.

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Bagneto

But then again, he is not your ordinary villain. For what he has to offer is a gastronomic adventure that is beyond measure. That is, in terms of being tagged as the restaurant that offers the best bagnet here in Manila.

And the reason is that the owner of Bagneto is also a bagnet lover himself. The restaurant was put up out of love and passion for bagnets. Let me then give you the meal offerings they have all having one common ingredient which is bagnet.

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Menu

First on the list is Kare Kare. I liked the consistency of the kare kare sauce. The peanut flavor is not overpowering and the vegetables are cooked just right.

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Kare Kare

Next is Bicol Express. This is not extremely spicy as typical of the original Bicol Express.

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Bicol Express

Another dish they have is the Binagoongan. The shrimp paste has that perfect blend of sweet and spicy flavors and not too salty.

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Binagoongan

Then they have the original Bagnet dish which is plain deep fried pork’s meat and it is usually paired with a sauce and vinegar. I loved the vinegar they used for this dish which is similar to that of the popular Iligan vinegar called “sukang pinakurat.”

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Bagnet

And of course, I will be saving the best for last – sisig. The first time I tasted sisig was in Bicol and the texture of their sisig is crunchy compared to the usual sisig being sold in other restaurants. And I was brought back to that first love moment when I tasted Bagneto’s sisig – it was all crunchy in every bite.

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Sisig

And what I loved about the bagnet in all their dishes is that they stayed crunchy though they’ve been exposed for quite some time already after they were served.

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Superb bagnet dishes.

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Coke on the spot.

My first dining experience at Bagneto prompted me to give it a 5 with 1 as the lowest and 5 as the highest. It was because of this that I urged my bf to accompany me when I visited the place for the second time. And his experience? He became a sisig lover instantly though he used to hate sisig. True to it’s name, Bagneto indeed offers the best bagnet in the Metro.

Bagneto is located in this cluster of restaurants set along Malingap Street called ‘D Zone.’ Each restaurant has no particular seating restrictions and you can occupy any table of your choice even if it is in front of another restaurant.

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Bagneto

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Art on the pavement.

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What I particularly loved about the place is the fact that its ambiance is so laidback which kind of reminded me of Italian restaurants at night wherein old chairs, benches and wooden tables fill a small nook lit by small yellow hanging lamps. There are also milk tea shops, Japanese restaurants, Mexican restaurants and a whole lot of various restaurants around the area.

Yes, if I can have bagnet everyday I really would. But I’ll stop here for now and let you do the judging. Head on to 33 Malingap St., UP Teachers Village, Quezon City and have a blast with Bagneto’s special bagnet. I know you’re going to call “him” your superhero afterwards. 😉

(Thanks Sheena, Becky and Jeanne for the invite, the photos and the great company!)