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Alam mo…

The phrase alam mo literally means “you know” in the Filipino language and is used as an informal introduction to stories (usually gossip) told verbally to friends. Often times, the phrase is said when the person telling the story is excited to tell it. So, I start this story by saying alam mo…

When Boktor and I arrived in Legazpi, Mr. Ketel told us that he made reservations at a popular restaurant for lunch.   According to Mr. Ketel, this restaurant is usually full and we cannot get seats without reservations.   So, I turned around and excitedly told Boktor that we were going to a restaurant that not everyone gets to go to.  Then, I asked Mr. Ketel the name of the restaurant but he could not remember what it was called.  I was intrigued.

On our way there, Mr. Ketel told us that the restaurant was actually an eatery in a house.  Boktor later told me that when he heard that the restaurant was in a house, he assumed that  the place we were going to was like a Sonia’s garden or that house in Urdaneta where Chef Laudico serves gourmet food.

As we got closer to the restaurant, Mr. Ketel informed us that the owners of the house were the cooks and waiters. When I asked him what kind of food was served, Mr. Ketel said that the food is lutong bahay (home cooked food).  After hearing this, I had a strange feeling that this restaurant was not at all what Boktor expected it to be.

After a few minutes of driving through narrow one-way lanes, our driver stopped at a non-descript area full of small houses built side-by-side like jigsaw puzzles. Mr. Ketel then led us through a narrow alleyway, and before the dead-end, he pointed to a door to the right that had a sign that read “Alamo’s Eatery Please Come In”.

When we entered the house, we were led to our table, which was beside the living room and kitchen.  One of the sons of the owner was siting on the couch in the living room watching the noontime show Eat Bulaga. When I looked out the window, I noticed an area that looked like it was previously used as a garage. In that area, there were other tables filled with customers. No doubt, the place is really a house and people live in it.

As soon as we sat down, one of the sons of the owner laid before us a dish called Cosido, which is red-snapper cooked in a tamarind-based soup. Fish in Tamarind-based soup is a common Filipino dish. What made the Cosido different is that it was cooked with the flesh/meat of young coconut. The other dishes laid before us were grilled prawns with butter and garlic, Bicol Express, which is sautéed pork cooked with coconut milk, bagoong (Filipino caviar), chilies and pineapples, lechon kawali (deep-fried pork belly) and twice-cooked squid.

After wiping my plate, spoon and fork with tissue paper to ensure that they looked clean, I loaded my plate with the food (except the Cosido as I do not really go for fish in soup) and ate everything with rice. Yum…

I have had Bicol Express before but never one with pineapples. When I bit into a piece of pineapple, I noticed that it absorbed all the spicy-salty flavors of the dish and added its own sweet acidic flavor. On the other hand, I did not detect the flavor of pineapple in the rest of the dish. You could only taste the pineapple when you eat it. It was amazing.

The squid was also a revelation. I know for a fact that if you over-cook squid, it gets hard and rubbery. The squid served to us was very tender and I could not even determine what spices or sauces were added to this dish. Of the very little that the cook told me about how this dish is prepared, I learned that the squid is marinated for a day, boiled in the marinade and deep fried right before it is served. I was really intrigued. I now have a standing request for the cook to share with me the secret to this dish. I am not, however, hopeful that she will ever tell me how it is prepared. After, all this is the signature dish of Alamo’s.

The trip was starting to get exciting…

For those of you who will visit Legazpi, these are the numbers you call to make reservations for Alamo’s – (052) 480-7258, 09152199980 and 09216547993. I highly recommend eating at Alamo’s.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 21st, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under Palate Pleasers, The Adventures of Boktor and Pandora in Legazpi, Albay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.