BALUT - Filipino Favourite

On the 2^nd day of Hari raya I went to town for my lunch instead of visiting a friend who text me to come to his house on the second day of Hari raya. I went to Beverly Hill town ship at Jalan Bundusan and most of the restaurant was closed except for a few. I was at the Melimewa supermarket undecided whether to eat at home or eating fast food. I was lazy to cook and decided to look for a restaurant which was opened.

I was told by my nephew (having Filipino blood from his father) that they had tried a Filipino dishes at one of the restaurant around Beverly Hill and recommended me to try it. The restaurant was just beside Melimewa supermarket and I decided to have lunch there.

As I entered the restaurant a woman greeted me in English with thick Filipino accent.

Woman   : Welcome to Tambayan restaurant. Can I help you?

The name of the restaurant was Tambayan but I forget to ask the meaning of it. There were rays of already made dishes and I decided to pick three dishes which look familiar to me. I ordered Egg Plant omelet, Fried fish and Dice Cow’s stomach stew. I ordered Buko salad for my dessert and lemon iced tea for my drink.

I didn’t like the dishes that I picked at all because the fish still had the scales on, the stew was still have the strong smell and I ate eggplant only discarding the omelet. The Buko salad was good, a bit sweet but regrettably I didn’t taste the young coconut flesh. I happened to make this salad when I saw it posted by some blogger which is so simple to prepare and thought that it was the same. The fried fish was not really bad but having the scales in my mouth was something that was alien to me and it was also topped with somewhat like omelet also. I remembered the ‘ikan terubuk’ or milkfish that was fried with the scales still on as suggested by a Sarawakian friend and it was crispy and nice to eat.

When I asked for the bill, it was a whooping RM32.00 for one person lunch which was high compared to the taste and presentation. As I was looking around the restaurant I saw a sign of Balut sold for RM5.00 each. I was contemplating of buying one and wanting somebody to really eating it in front of me with the duck egg in the process of changing to a chic already. I cannot imagine how the taste would be like.

It is not the last of my visit to Filipino cuisines as I want to try the crispy pig knuckles on my next visit to a Filipino restaurant. Any one likes to recommend a good Filipino dish?