Edgardo’s Sinangag Plaza (Con. Pequena, Naga City)

Hello everyone! So, I’m back again with my discoveries of what’s new and what’s good value for money in the land of sili and gata, Bicol. You’ll notice that I haven’t really gotten farther than Naga City lately since, as always, I’ve been tied to work. Hopefully, in the coming weeks, I will get to explore more of Bicol so I will have more exciting stuff to share with you guys.

So, like two weeks ago, Rovi and I checked out this newly opened tapsilogan near our office. By the way, a tapsilogan is a Filipino term for eatery or resto wherein the menu is basically composed of Tapa (cured meat), Sinangag (fried rice) and fried Itlog (egg). If one does not prefer tapa, they also offer fried chicken, pritong bangus (fried milk fish), tocino, hotdogs, lumpiang Shanghai  (Shanghai rolls) and porkchop. Every order is always paired with fried rice and one fried egg. Even better, each order only costs P80!

As with the ambience, it was very clean and newly renovated. We actually only wanted to have lunch when we went there but upon seeing the improvements of the place, we just had to take pictures. From the outside, it didn’t seem like much but once we entered, I silently thanked the heavens that there was finally a decent place to eat at near our work place. By the way, I said improvements because the said establishment was previously occupied by this restaurant called Global Kitchen which didn’t do too well and eventually closed down. The previous resto looked gloomy and sounded expensive while this new Edgardo’s Sinangag Plaza seemed more warm, welcoming and humble or what we call masa (for the majority of people) in these parts. The interiors though are pretty sassy compared to a usual tapsilogan.

As with the food, Rovi ordered Porksilog (fried porkchop) and was surprised she was given two pieces instead of just one. She said they tasted good. I remember she mentioned there were tough parts of the pork chops, I believe it was the pork rind.

My order was bangus (fried milk fish) but thing is, I didn’t know I had to say I wanted the head part. Turns out you either get the tail part or head part of the fish. I wasn’t asked. So, they served me this (below) – the end tail of a very big milkfish! I mean, it must have been a very big fish that there was only a smidgen of bangus belly left in the part they served me (the most delicious part). I wanted to send it back and ask for the head part instead but I got shy and thought that they’ve already fried the tail, so I had the tail. Being the opposite of assertive definitely has its drawbacks as you cannot believe how many sneaky fish bones I had to deal with. So, the next time I’m eating there I’m telling them my specs before they fry my food!

That was basically my experience. After a few days, my co-workers have ordered take-out food and so far, we were all impressed with the portions. For instance with Lumpiang Shanghai, there were a heaping ten pieces of rolls and the serving of the fried chicken was not to be underestimated as well. However, this is not for everyday eating or for those who have an aversion for fried food because in this eatery, everything they have on offer is fried.