Quezon City's Friuli Trattoria for Cheap and Tasty Italian

Trekking to Quezon City can be an ordeal, but not when meeting up with friends. We first hooked up at a mall, but finding no restos to our liking, our friend the mountaineer-singer suggested we try out the joints in UP Village. Fine by me, I said, as long as there's beer.

Friuli Trattoria is unpretentious and easy on the budget, like many eateries catering to students from the nearby universities. We tried the food pictured here -- pesto pasta, Viva Venezia pizza and fried ravioli. One taste of the ravioli and I forgot about hankering for beer.

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Puerto Princesa's Tamilok, Buwaya and Ranga Ranga

Between eating crocodiles (top photo) or shipworms (middle photo), I rather go for crocs. I had my first taste of the two at Kinabutch's. The crocodile Bicol Express can be mistaken for springy pork, minced and all, but although the tamilok, driftwood worms that abound in mangroves, taste like oysters, they look quite challenging served fresh. Shipworms are actually saltwater clams with soft, long, naked bodies.

Earlier, at Balinsasayaw, I tried a dish made of ranga ranga (bottom photo), a shellfish found in Palawan. It was love at first bite - delicate in texture and taste, like tender squid.

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Bacolod's Manukan Country for Chicken Inasal

When I heard we were heading for Bacolod, revisiting Manukan Country near SM was on top of my to-do list. We chose Aida's stall. Unlike the usual commercilaized fare in Manila, the chicken here was juicy and cheap. The place was unpretentious, very basic. After washing our hands, we dug in, and all thoughts of dieting flew out the window. We also ordered a plate of talaba freshly caught from the sea.

Update: I got a nasty case of stomach flu the following day, which I suspect was because of the oysters. Note to self, avoid eating oysters at night.

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