My Zambaleño meals expertise was all the time about mangoes, freshly caught tunas, and delectable kakanin rice truffles. However the previous Dinamulag Pageant weekend launched me to greater than the standard desk fares within the province, discovering the extra metropolitan facet of consuming locations in Zambales. From native dishes and Filipino consolation meals, to avenue meals and posh café choices, I used to be pleasantly shocked on the selection culinary locations in Zambales worthy of a facet journey from its seashores and mountains.
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SONSING RESTAURANT & LOUNGE
ADDRESS: GOVIC HI-WAY, BANGANTALINGA, IBA | CONTACT: +63 (908) 819-7274 | OPENING HOURS: 9AM-9PM | GPS MAP: 15.341436, 119.970656 | MENU
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| SONSING RESTAURANT & LOUNGE IN IBA, ZAMBALES |
One of many go-to eating places in Iba, Zambales in terms of Filipino meals is Sonsing. The restaurant is called after the proprietor’s father whose love of cooking was handed all the way down to his son. They really serve greater than the standard Filipino favorites—their menu filled with every part from burgers, steaks, Japanese, Chinese language, and Western dishes. Throughout our go to, stuffed to brimming as our desk was, it didn’t even attain a fourth of their choices.
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| INSARABASAB ~ PHP 280.00 |
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| LARGE TINAPA FRIED RICE ~ PHP 230.00 |
We have been capable of pattern their pinangat na labong sa gata, salmon sashimi, California maki, black fungus soup, crispy pata kare-kare, Zambalyete, insarabasab (Ilocano roasted pork), kalderetang kambing, binagoongang lechon kawali, and certainly one of their particular rice to pair it with, tinapa fried rice.
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| PINANGAT NA LABONG ~ PHP 250.00 |
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| CRISPY PATA KARE-KARE |
Their pinangat, a home specialty with origins from the Bicol Area, stood out among the many relaxation, together with their crispy pata kare-kare—which was actually peanuty and has a really crispy pork—served with scrumptious bagoong. I used to be additionally intrigued by their Zambalyete which gave the impression to be sautéed cubed tuna with a serving to of bagoong, topped with tartar sauce, and skinny strips of mango—it was undoubtedly very Zambales. And let’s not neglect the tinapa fried rice and black fungus soup, which truly introduced every part collectively very well.
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| NACHOS WITH MANGO DIP | ZAMBALYETE ~ PHP 290.00 |
For desserts, two boxfuls of particular cassava cake—common and ube—sealed the ultimate candy notes. Scrumptious.
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OH-BEN BAKED CAFÉ
ADDRESS: GOVIC HI-WAY, BANGANTALINGA, IBA | CONTACT: +63 (998) 549-4797 | OPENING HOURS: 8AM-9PM | GPS MAP: 15.341559, 119.970618
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| OH-BEN BAKED CAFE IN IBA, ZAMBALES |
We want not stray far for our after-meal espresso repair. Proper subsequent door to Sonsing is the Oh-Ben Baked Café. Oh-Ben. Oven. Will get? Lol.
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| CINNAMON BUNS, CAKE, AND COFFEE |
Operated by the identical household, the café is geared extra for the youthful crowd with its black on wooden interiors and coffee-ism wall quotes. Very hipster. We have been capable of check out their cinnamon buns, a couple of slices of truffles, and naturally, their espresso—which was fairly good.
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| HAVING A CUP OF COFFEE AT OH-BEN BAKED CAFE |
Oh-Ben Baked Café is at present closed for renovation, however their cookies and pastries can nonetheless be purchased at The Bakery by S.E.
►NEAR HERE: MAGALAWA ISLAND
LC’S STOP & CHOW
ADDRESS: NATL. HI-WAY, LONGOS, CABANGAN | CONTACT: +63 (949) 155-1998 | OPENING HOURS: 7AM-9PM | GPS MAP: 15.144496, 120.052117 | MENU
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| THE NEW LC’S STOP & CHOW AT CABANGAN, ZAMBALES |
I’ve all the time handed by LC’s Cease & Chow in Cabangan—the outdated restaurant was only a hop away from my uncle’s home—however for some cause, I’ve all the time failed to go to. It took a competition and a change of location for LC’s earlier than I lastly received to have a style of their meals.
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| PINAKBET & KALDERETA |
Nonetheless situated in Cabangan, on a extra spacious parcel of land and with much more trendy restaurant—which jogs my memory of meals locations in Tagaytay, by the best way—LC’s Cease & Chow is a legend in Zambales. The house owners initially hail from Batangas earlier than transferring to Subic, then Cabangan, the place they lastly put up a restaurant. Their menu consists of Filipino fares with a splash of Batangeño aptitude. Visitor their specialty? Bulalo, in fact.
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| BULALO ~ ₱455.00 MEDIUM, ₱570.00 LARGE |
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| CRISPY PATA ~ ₱625.00 |
And together with the 2 bowls of bulalo that got here sliding down our desk, we have been served with pans of pizza, plates of pinakbet, kalderetang kambing, and essentially the most superbly fried crispy pata I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Their bulalo is harking back to the Mahogany Market bulaluhan in Tagaytay—which they aptly declare on their menu—and their pizza choices, particularly the Overload was certainly totally loaded. It was truthfully among the best pizzas I’ve ever tried. LC’s crispy pata,however, is without doubt one of the finest, if not the most effective crispy pata I’ve had. The way in which they reduce and fried it was merely genius, making every part crispy and lessening the effort of knifing the pork into bite-sized items.
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| PIZZA OVERLOAD (₱415.00) & HALO-HALO (₱85.00) |
It actually made me surprise why it took this lengthy earlier than I lastly ate at LC’s Cabangan.
►EAT MORE: WHERE TO EAT IN CABANGAN
THE BAKERY BY S.E.
ADDRESS: J.GONZALES ST. COR. MAGSAYSAY AVE., IBA | CONTACT: +63 (47) 307-2514 | OPENING HOURS: 10AM-12MN | GPS MAP: 15.326600, 119.978515 | MENU
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| THE BAKERY BY S.E. AT IBA, ZAMBALES |
À la midnight snack, we went to the Bakery by S.E. in Iba earlier than retiring for the evening. The burgers are to die for, M—one of many organizers—stored on repeating. Alright, so burger it’s! Plus, errr, a couple of helpings of cookies, cheesecake, pastas, muffins, and an enormous bowl of soup on the facet. Wait a minute, didn’t we simply eat?!
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| STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE ~ PHP 175.00 |
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| NACHOS WITH MANGO DIP |
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| MANGO JALAPENO CHEESEBURGER ~ ₱288.00 |
However sure, The Bakery’s burgers are certainly to die for. Dubbed because the Mango Jalapeno Cheeseburger, it’s about eight inches excessive, loaded with a number of patties, sloppily lathered with mayo and cheese, and set with bits of mangoes and jalapeño chilies. It was extremely good and in addition, extremely onerous to eat with out making a multitude. The mixture of flavors work very well collectively, with the jalapeño bits giving an extra kick. Actually, actually good. I’d should say it once more. Actually, actually good.
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| COMBINATION SOUP (₱208.00) & CARBONARA (₱148.00) |
And to not neglect in regards to the different plates on the desk, I’d additionally should commend their carbonara and spaghetti—the servings have been on the petite dimension, particularly after the burger—however each forkful was nicely definitely worth the energy.
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| HOUSE COOKIES |
~ THIS TRIP WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY ZAMBALES TOURISM
ADDRESS: BRGY. WEST DIRITA., SAN ANTONIO | CONTACT: +63 (908) 456-8791 | OPENING HOURS: 11AM-11PM, CLOSED ON TUESDAYS | GPS MAP: 14.965259, 120.086603 | MENU
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| BIGFOOT RESTAURANT ZAMBALES’ AL FRESCO AREA |
One of many OG eating places in the entire of Zambales, Bigfoot Restaurant has been round since 1979 and was fairly well-liked in the course of the time of the US Bases within the province. Situated within the city of San Antonio, it was the truth is frequented by US personnel from Subic throughout its preliminary outing as a restobar, earlier than it shifted its focus as a restaurant with a videoke—one of many first on the time—which rapidly attracted the native crowd. They’ve since eliminated the videoke machine, retaining solely their scrumptious meals.
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| BIGFOOT RESTAURANT INTERIORS IN SAN ANTONIO |
Throughout a random highway journey from Cabangan, my spouse steered we snack there simply to relive childhood recollections in Zambales. With no actual plan, we randomly ordered their their sisig, pancit guisado, and halo-halo. That final one, an important Bigfoot order, she mentioned. Even their menu declares that it’s the most effective halo-halo in Zambales.
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| SISIG ~ ₱315.00 |
For its value, I discovered the sisig to be on the small facet. It has no mayo and egg, one thing most Kapampangan would recognize. It was crispy and tasted like another good sisig, which isn’t actually dangerous factor. I imply, why repair one thing that ain’t damaged. I simply want it has a extra beneficiant portion and served on scorching plate for added oomph.
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| PANSIT GUISADO ~ ₱210.00 |
Like their sisig, their pancit guisado tasted because it ought to—nicely, for me, no less than, my companions all discovered it to be a tad too salty. I like how contemporary the veggies have been and the way crunchy they nonetheless have been. They served it with a few calamansi, which appeared pointless because the dish already has that distinct calamansi taste.
It’s truly certainly one of their bestsellers, together with their crispy pata, fried hen, kare-kare, and Filipino-style pizza.
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| BIGFOOT HALO-HALO ~ ₱179.00 |
Everybody within the group agreed that the winner at Bigfoot Restaurant was their Bigfoot Halo-Halo. Their ice was finely shaved, ala Razon’s, was combined with an nearly syrupy blended langka, and has a really pinipig taste. It’s topped with two slices of leche flan, and a scoop of ube and vanilla ice cream.
CASA BARAKA
ADDRESS: PUROK 1, BRGY. SAN ISIDRO., CABANGAN | CONTACT: +63 (939) 710-9226 | OPENING HOURS: 8AM-10:30PM, DAILY | GPS MAP: 15.162014, 120.045557 | MENU
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| CASA BARAKA IN CABANGAN |
One of many latest cafes to pop up in Zambales, Casa Baraka, opened with Skarlet of Put3ska skanking like a Manila Woman alongside its huge backyard, has bucolic farmlands as backdrop, has a chef holding a resume for a fifteen-year stint in Boracay (from The Lind, Crimson, and Movenpick), has an Arabic identify which means blessing, and have pet geese that strut throughout their yard. When you’re most likely anticipating one thing eclectic from Casa Baraka, what they really serve is five-star restaurant-caliber Filipino consolation meals.
►SEE: THE LIND BORACAY DINNER
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| AL FRESCO SEATS AT CASA BARAKA |
We visited the casa for breakfast, hankering for the holy trinity of Filipino morning meal—tapsilog, tocilog, and longsilog. That final one, nonetheless, was out of inventory. They defined that they make every part themselves—from scratch. So if they’ll’t procure the correct elements, they merely don’t provide them for the day. Alright, commendable. So, as a substitute of garlic longganisa, we opted for his or her a lot vaunted hamburger.
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| TOCILOG (₱235.00) & TAPSILOG HOME DELIVERY (₱265.00) AT CASA BARAKA |
Their silogs are priced a bit too steeply for me. To be honest, the meat portion is a tad extra beneficiant than common, has two eggs, atchara on the perimeters, fried rice, and comes with a cup of Milano Mix Arabica-Robusta brewed espresso. Whereas the tocino was good, their beef tapa was higher—beef strips with the proper mixture of savory, vinegary, and salty parts—making me want I ordered it as a substitute. I did, however, received the total expertise a few days later when our aunt handled us to a takeaway breakfast from Casa Baraka.
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| BARAKA BURGER WITH FRIES |
The Baraka Burger with Fries, has a quarter-pound of Brazilian beef sandwiched with slices of tomatoes, lettuce, and pickles on a brioche bread. It comes with a serving of potato wedges complemented by a ketchup and a few type of mayo dip. The patty has that distinct char-grilled style, very refined taste. I, nonetheless, want my burger to have a a lot stronger taste and with a softer bun—however I is likely to be the minority right here, as they mentioned it’s certainly one of their best-sellers, and never a couple of individuals I spoke with in Cabangan has nothing however praises for it.
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| CASA BARAKA IN CABANGAN |
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| CASA BARAKA’S BRIGHT INTERIORS |
Whereas having breakfast, we received to speaking with its very animated proprietor—unaware, lunchtime crept up on us and we have been quickly ordering meals once more. This time we requested for his or her mushroom truffle oil pizza and bagnet kare kare.
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| MUSHROOM TRUFFLE OIL PIZZA ~ ₱359.00 |
I’m no truffle knowledgeable, however their truffle pizza was fairly good. The winner for me although was the bagnet kare-kare. Serving dimension is huge, it’s truly good for 2 to 3 individuals—completely justifying its value. It has beneficiant quantity of veggies—pechay, stringbeans, and eggplants, no banana blossoms although—and extra importantly, it has chunks of bagnet. It’s not your common kare-kare—with precise peanuts bits nonetheless swimming on its thick, creamy, and one way or the other garlicky, sauce. Whereas I want that the bagnet pores and skin nonetheless retained its crispiness, it’s nonetheless among the best kare-kare I’ve tried in Zambales, or another place for that matter.
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| BAGNET KARE-KARE ~ ₱339.00 |
