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This website defines the Filipino word lamon as “to eat with gusto - more like a swine.”  Lamon is exactly what Monk and I did at Cavite after a grueling work morning.

As usual Monk played a bad trick on me. He told me that he would pass by for me at 5:30 a.m. because of the traffic in the Southe Express Way but he arrived well past 6:00 a.m. Grrr… We concluded our business in Cavite by lunchtime, and before we headed back to Manila, we ate at LZM.

For months Star, Monk and a host of other friends have been raving about the bangus (milkfish) at LZM. Although I am not a fan of fish, I was curious to try this bangus that people were raving about.

By the time we got to LZM, Monk and I were starving and poised to pig out. I suppose sleep deprivation makes one want to pig out. We ordered the boneless bangus, Bulalo (boiled beef and marrow with vegetables), salted red eggs and a mountain of steamed rice. I wanted to order the lechon kawali (deep fried pork) as well but that was a bit too much.

While waiting for our food to arrive, Monk and I started making our own sawsawan (dip). Monk mixed calamansi, which according to this website is a “small, very round citrus fruit that’s ubiquitous in the Philippines”, soy sauce and sili (tiny hot chili peppers). I mixed patis (fish sauce), calamansi and sili.

The bulalo was fine but I think they popped in some beef bullions, which altered the taste of the broth. I prefer bulalo without the enhanced flavoring as the beef shanks, when boiled for a long time, can adequately flavor the broth.

Now the bangus did not disappointment. In fact, it was so tasty and tender that I ate half of the giant bangus served to us. I ended up eating the bangus with rice sans the sawsawan because the fish needed no extra flavor to enhance its taste. Monk and I barely spoke while we were eating the bangus like swines. This bangus is definitely something worth coming to this place for specially if your are in the mood for a lamon.

Dearest Uncle G,

After I told the concierge at our hotel that I had a hankering for food that was not sweet (many Javanese dishes are on the sweet side), he laughed and said he is from Sumatra so he would know where to find food that is not sweet.  (I am told that Sumatrans are accustomed to food that is spicy and not sweet.)  The concierge recommended we try a restaurant called Iga Bakar and promised that the food was not sweet at all.

On our third evening in Jogjakarta, LS, Danang and I ate at Iga Bakar. 

Iga is the Indonesian word for ribs while bakar means grilled. It therefore came as no surprise that, at Iga Bakar, the main dishes served were grilled beef ribs basted with various sauces, which true to the Sumatran concierge’s word, were not on the sweet side. (more…)