unibersidadngpilipinas:

By:superboink

The UP Foodie in Me

Manila has always been the center of my gastronomical universe. All my fond childhood memories revolved around family vacations, family gatherings and food! My lola was famous for her tokwa’t baboy, and even when she passed away the family has always maintained certain traditions that revolved around food. When I came back for college, I discovered a universe of my own. Of course I would be present at many family lunch and dinners within and outside the home but I started appreciating food on my own. Living withing the campus makes me much of a campus food addict. I would frequent the school carenderias or street food. Here are some of my favorites:

Rodic’s Tapa

No UP student could possibly avoid to at least eat here even once in their whole university life. Almost every sunday I would buy a variety of -silog dishes at Rodic’s for lunch. Then I’d be holed up inside my dorm room until school starts. 

Lutong Bahay’s Fruit Shakes

Served and made right in front of you, you know you’re paying your money’s worth for a handful of fresh fruitshakes. They have a variety of flavors to choose from and I just love how you can mix and match everything. 

Isaw

Aside from the usual chicken isaw, there’s still a lot of body parts to choose from! I usually buy pork, chicken isaw and their chicharon  when I’m studying for an exam and I need something to munch on. It’s also cheaper than the ones sold at Peanut World.

Dirty Ice Cream

Nothing beats dirty ice cream; the price, the taste, the flavors, the satisfaction. (minsan din may romance, specially pag niyaya ka ni kuya mag ice cream, o kaya minsan may free ice cream ang mga orgs!)

Siomai

My favorite Siomai stand in UP is the one located near my laundry shop, across the street from the post office and along Laurel street where Lutong Bahay is located. It`s owned by this young chinese guy who loves to chat up customers. He`s pretty good at sales talk but he`s very nice too. My other favorites are the ones outside of UP. One is at SM North`s foodcourt where there`s also Takuyaki Balls and the second one is Master Siomai, oh my lord I even go to Cubao just to satisfy my craving for their Japanese Siomai. The good news though is that they do sell their frozen siomai in bulk, so you can have your own japanese siomai at home!

Sarah`s and the streetside isawan

Going to Sarah`s will always mean going there for a drink. The company`s good so I don`t mind getting drunk once in a while. However the thing that excites me most is the isawan just outside where they sell dugo-dugo (my friend told me it`s called betamax and I realized I embarrassed myself with my crush when I told him to eat dugo-dugo, eeh conyo si kuya!). I don`t know but it`s the best isawan ever!

 

Mashita

Inside the student center is a japanese-korean restaurant which by far serves the best kimbab and california maki in town. I also love their Bibimbap. Ordering can take a long time and sometimes the ate who attends the cashier isn`t so friendly but when you become a regular she`ll remember you and will be nicer hahaha. I love this place. I`d order so much then as usual go back to my dorm and stay there the whole weekend content with my food!

Of course there`s still so many places I frequent. I miss the Honkong stir fried noodles that I used to crave for everyday. There`s also the street peanuts, tokneneng, calamares and fried isaw at Philcoa. Aside from dorm food, school canteen food (lechon kawali!!!) and Lola Lita`s, my diet mostly consisted of these! There are some food that I may not have placed here or some that I have forgotten to mention but I`m sure the memories will come flooding back when I step foot in my university again. Of course some of these may not be there when I get back but here`s to hoping.

P.S Don`t believe hearsay, dorm food`s not that bad. They just don`t serve that much! Kaya nga payat na payat ako dati!

For more of my food, art, travel rants I store them here.