- Good morning everyone, it's Mark Wiens. I'm in Manila, Philippines
and today I'm going a group to go on an extreme food tour in Pampanga which is a little north of Manila. And Pampanga is known for it's food. It is one the culinary,
one of the food centers of the Philippines. And by the way, right now I'm in bathroom because the baby is asleep in the room. (playful music) One of the main reasons that
I came to the Philippines this time was to join this event, and this is put on by the
World Street Food Congress with KF Seetoh from Singapore and his team which is called Makansutra. It's preservation of
local food in the country and so it's gonna actually
be a pretty big group that's gonna be on this food tour. So I'm gonna do my best
to get as many video shots as possible and I'll be filming myself but it should be fun. And I just saw on the release form that it's a 15 hour food frenzy safari. So we're gonna be eating a lot
of local Filipino food today. Ah! Oh, that coffee is terrible. This is from the hotel. Oh wow, I don't even
taste the coffee in there. (playful music) So actually our first
stop is right in Manila. We haven't driven yet to Pampanga. And we're stopping at a place called Bulaluhan sa Espana. And we're here to eat
a dish called bulalo. Got the bulalo, there is some fried fish, some other kind of deep fried thing and then the other main
dish is an eggplant which has been flattened
out into a complete flat almost like pancake omelet looking. - So where are you from? - From Thailand. - Thailand, oh we've been
in Thailand last June. - Good, good. - And you are from? - [Woman] From Thailand also. - We're gonna have a lot of food today. So I'm gonna just pace
myself, I'm gonna have, I'm starting off with
just a little bit of rice. I'm gonna start with this eggplant and there's egg in here too right? - [Woman] Yes. - It's like a ... Oh that's awesome. Mm, it's like a crispy fried oily omelet. But then the eggplant
inside is really creamy and really soft. Oh that broth. That is a really rich
meaty meaty flavored broth and it's quite salty as well. Okay next I'm gonna try these little fish. Oh yeah, those are just
crispy all the way through. They're salty, they are ... Any kind of deep fried fish
like that are fantastic. - [Woman] Take all, take all. - No, we gotta share it, we're
gonna share it though right? Who wants a healthy bone marrow? Bulalo is known for it's bone marrow. And so that's the main
part of eating bulalo, so I got the bone here, the bone marrow and I'm just gonna pick this up. Oh ho ho, look at that bone marrow. Yeah, it's awesome. It almost taste like, it
almost has that texture of scrambled eggs but
more, more soft and like, aw it just melts in your mouth. Oh bone marrow is just one of the, the ultimate meaty things to eat. Oh and a hanging piece of beef as well. That was absolutely delicious. I actually really liked the
eggplant, the eggplant omelet. That was wonderful but in
addition to that bone marrow, what a wonderful gateway to start the day. (upbeat music) Just made it to Pampanga
and we are stopping off. This place is called Atching Lillian. And this is a heritage, a legendary, she's owns a private kitchen restaurant. Really nice place, I think
it's her house as well and then she opens it as a restaurant. I think you have to call ahead and reserve kinda like private dining. - These things have become iconic. They are flavors that represent a country. So this to me is heritage
culinary culture. - They have all the food
setup open face style. You go through the line and
get all the food that you want. I'm hanging out with Bowling. - Hi.
- She's also from Thailand. - Yes.
- And what's your Instagram? - Eat and shout.
- Eat and shout. You gotta go check out her Instagram. And she also loves to eat. - Yeah, but Mark always hungry. (laughing) - And this is very
traditional Pampangan cuisine. I got one of everything,
so there's different types of cuisinos. There's a blood dish. This I what I'm looking
forward to eating most, which is a Pampangan tamale. - Mm hmm, tamale. - Do they call it tamales also? - Just about.
- Okay, and so I've eaten Mexican tamales many many times. But what's unique about
this is that Mexican tamales normally made with corn
flour and then it's also normally wrapped in a corn husk before it is steamed and cooked. But for the Filipino tamale
it is made with rice flour and it's wrapped in a banana
leaf and then steamed. So this is what I'm looking
forward to eating most off this whole plate. You want to taste it too? - Please go ahead. - Alright, oh there's like a thick outer, well there's like 10
layers of banana leaf. That's a lot of banana leaf there. It feels, oh there's egg in it too. Aw check that out. It feels kinda like jelly,
it feels a little like jelly. - Eat it. - Yeah okay. I think I just pick this up. Mm, it has a very jelly texture. It's kind of mild in flavor but really really
gelatinous and almost like yeah, like jelly. Compared to a corn
tamale, this is very very light and kinda like refreshing almost. And another thing that
I'm very interested to try from this plate is a,
is it a type of tocino? - [Man] Yeah, I think it's carabao. - Carabao.
- Carabao meat. - Okay, which is water
buffalo, a water buffalo. And looks kinda like skirt steak kinda sticky in texture. And very red in color. Mm, oh it's really really rich. It does have a sticky texture to it but then at the same time you
could taste like the meat is, is pulled. And it also has a nice sour taste to it. That was really good. And that's really some
heritage traditional recipes that she's cooking here and
she's preserving the culture and the food which is really awesome. She's really nice. Thank you very much, that was very nice. I enjoyed it very much. (playful music) - Awesome man. - Yup, you bet awesome. If you don't have local friends you will never never find this
little gem of a spot. - Definitely.
- I have no idea where I am. I just got out of a bus. - (laughs) Awesome to be
hanging out with Seetoh today. - Yay. - And we have made it
to the next restaurant which is called Taldawa. - Taldawa. - What are we eating here? - Look at this, it's like a little, I don't know, somebody's house. - Oh this is very good.
- Or somebody's courtyard. Or somebody's village, check around. They even have a basketball court here. - [Mark] Love the atmosphere already. - And it's a small little charcoal kitchen down here. You gotta take a look. It's so authentic, it's so charming.
- They'd take your cooking? - Yeah she's on there stewing
this jet black pot of a, she does a lot of stuff
with goat and duck. - I'm gonna see if I can
take a look in the kitchen real fast to see the cooking. (chattering) This is sinigang? This entire area just smells like goat. Oh it's a wonderful aroma. I love it.
- You know when you put goat into a sinigang soup, which is a national soup,
it's a very sour soup. Feel the beauty of how
the gaminess of goat is reduced with this charming sour soup, it's so beautiful. Have it over rice and you'll
be crying in a while there. - My mouth is watering thinking about it. - Ah let's do this.
- I can't wait to try it. - [Woman] This one goat, yes. - I'm gonna try take adobo first. And this is adobo with duck. Wow, oh that is so tender. Aw, it's salty, it's a little bit sour, and I think I could really
taste the garlic in there. (laughs) Okay next up I'm gonna try the sinigang which is goat, it's a goat sinigang. Oh yeah. I got a little bone shard in there, mm. That's the type of dish
that you know it's goat. Yeah there's no denying
the goatiness of that and it is wonderful. It has just a natural
goat kinda taste to it. The broth is a little bit sour and you can also tell
that it's just been boiled for many many hours so
that the meat is tender. And then the flavor of
the meat has just sort of completely gone into that broth as well. So it's really rich and a little bit oily and delicious as well. Then the final dish is the kaldereta. Oh yeah, oh that goat is so tender. It does tastes like a
stew, like a tomatoey stew. There' carrots in there,
there's potatoes in there but it's all about that
goat that's just so tender and so meatily flavorful. Oh yeah, oh yeah the heart is awesome. It's a little bit, just has a slight rubbery texture to it. You like the heart also? - Yeah, this is the first thing I'd take. - Oh yeah, there's a
couple of hearts in there. - Yeah right. - The heart is one of
the best single bites of the entire bird. What do you call it in tagalog? - This? Balunbalunan. - [Mark] Ba-lune-ba-lune. - Balunbalunan. - [Mark] Ba-lune-ba-luna. - Nan. - [Mark] Balunbalunan. - Yes.
- Okay. (giggling)
- Gizzard. - Gizzard, mm, delicious. - You know, you can find great restaurants anywhere in the world but this, only here. And her dish is distinctly Philippines. So this is why I celebrate
humble home cooks like this. - This is the highlight of
this food tour for me so far. Really good food, love the
atmosphere, this type of place. Oh I better not get hit by a car. But it's also one of
those successful meals where it feels like
you're wearing lip gloss because of that natural
oiliness of that goat. (playful music) - Next restaurant we're
going to is called 25 Seeds. And this is a Filipino restaurant but it's a modern Filipino restaurant. The chef who owns this restaurant
who is a really cool guy, he's been with us on this food trip and this is his restaurant
that we're gonna try out next. (native tribal music) (cheering) - Well this is organic corn. And then we added some designated coconut. And a little bit of salt. That's it, so pure so you could
taste the real corn flavor. You're really focusing on the ingredients. Yeah, and this is a dying recipe. - Oh so this is a traditional-- - Very difficult to find this one. - It's a traditional Filipino recipe. - Yes, they want to bring them back. - Cool alright. Wow! Okay next up, this is
the Filipino soft tofu. And it's so soft that you
can drink it with a straw. (live instrumental music) Chef Sau is getting ready
to prepare his paella sisig which is a combination of paella and sisig and the first time ever presented. - We gotta review the
caramelization, the sweet flavor of, and then we use margarine. - [Spectator] Woo! - And then we put all the pork. Some more pork. - And then he tossed
in the rice, coated it, mixed it with all the rice. Then he topped it with banana leaves and it steamed and baked
sort of at the same time. The smells, the porky smells
are just unbelievable. Chef just dished me a portion. I came outside here on the balcony to get some better lighting. Oh that's beautiful. And I'm gonna just quickly to begin with I will squeeze on that kalamansi. (room chattering) And I want to take a bite
with everything in it. Get some of those chillis in there. Wow. Oh what a dish. The rice is gooey but then it's broken. The texture is broken by
the little bits of pig face which are slightly cartilagey in texture. And then you've got the chili in there, the freshness of the kalamansi. That is just like a casserole
but a glorious casserole. I had to get another scoop of the paella. And then also got some of the chicken, some of the other dishes, some shrimp. And then they also have kare-kare, a Filipino peanut curry with seafood. And I will begin actually
with this mussel, I added some of the kare-kare
sauce into the mussel. So I will drink and slurp. (live guitar music) Mm, that's quite a sweet peanut sauce. Hello, how are you man? Nice to meet you. That was an absolutely amazing dish. And we are now walking through Pampanga on our way to the next restaurant. - We here for a 15 hour. Hey why, join me, join me. - Next up, we are at Susie's Cuisine and this is another legendary
restaurant in Pampanga. We are eating mostly a
selection of desserts. They have most of their signature desserts laid out on the table. I'm not hugely into desserts
but I will take a bite of a couple of their signature desserts. This is one of their signature desserts, it's called tibok tibok. And it's kinda like a pudding, it think it's made from goat milk. Oh yeah. Oh wow and it tastes of coconut too. And then it's like a
really really thick sticky pudding like consistency. Next one I'm trying is call sapin-sapin. Sticky consistency, it's pretty sweet. A couple bites of sweet desserts for me and I'm just about good. That was a little too sweet for me but you have to try some
traditional desserts. We're walking back to the bus now and we are driving back to Manila and gonna eat some more food. (upbeat music) Traffic was an absolutely
nightmare coming into Manila. Uh but we just came to
this gigantic Mega Mall. And we are next going to Makansutra which is Seetoh's project
and his hawker food court. I'm hungry, it's been
so long since we ate. Look at all of this amazing
food and a lot of it is Singaporean Malaysian food. There's some clay pot rice. What's up, yeah. There is some um-- - Hello! (room chattering) I'm gonna try this satay
right here, right now. Oh yeah. Oh the cumin on there is wonderful. Clay pot rice is one of
the ultimate comfort foods. Oh yeah, oh indeed. That is ridiculously comforting. All the smokiness, that's
really really good. And really hot and fresh. (playful music) We are walking now to
the final destination on this extreme Filipino food tour day and saving the ultimate for the last. - Whoa, oh look at that. (pigskin crunching) - The sound of love. (crowd awing) Everybody, one, two, three. - [All] Whoa! - Everywhere in the
Philippines they have their own version of lechon
which is the roast pig. And each region I think
has their own recipe and their own style of cooking a lechon. But one of the most famous
and the most beloved in all of the Philippines is in Cebu. And so this is one of the best
places to eat lechon in Cebu but they have just opened
a branch in Manila. - [Both] Cheers. - Hmm mm.
- Ho ho ho ho. - Kra-maa!
- Oh mah! - Crunchy. - Oh it's ridiculously crunchy. - Mm mm. - Oh, oh that's insane.
- Unbelievable yeah? - That's insane.
- Mm. - It's so crispy, it's actually like one of the crispiest things
you could possible eat in the whole world. It is just insane. That's like a crispiness that
you never want it to end. (laughing) - He's suppose to tilt his head. Yeah, and then close his eyes. Okay close eyes, that's how good it is. Oh man. (Mark laughs) - Wow, wow. (Seetoh groans) (laughing) - You gotta tilt, you gotta tilt. (laughs) Let me taste the meat real fast. How is the meat? - [Seetoh] Oh it was also the meat. - I haven't even made it to the meat yet. (Mark giggling) - [Woman] How? - You could just taste all of those herbs. You can taste the lemongrass
just embedded into that meat. This is one of those pieces of meat that you just actually wanna,
you barely even wanna chew. You just want to leave it in
your mouth and just suck on it. (Woman laughing) The contrast of the most crispy thing you could possibly put in your mouth with the most creamy tender thing you could possibly put in your mouth both together at once. Yeah, it's insane. It's juicing in my mouth right now. - Thank you my friend. You survived, you did it, you did it.
- Yeah. The Commando Foodie. Survived the food challenge. - [Seetoh] No kidding huh,
no kidding the real deal. - 15 hour food frenzy. (Seetoh laughing) That was awesome.
- Bravo. - The baby is sleeping again
so I'm in the bathroom again. But I want to just say a
big thank you to Seetoh, to the whole Makansutra team and the World Street Food Congress and everyone who helped
put that food tour together and organized everything. That was fantastic. And it was a lot of fun to
meet a lot of other food lovers and to just hang out and eat. A big thank you to you
for watching this video. Please remember to give it a
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