Buddy's

For today's lunch at Buddy's we had sinigang sa miso, sisig, pansit habhab and washed it all down with sago and gulaman.

I think Buddy's has been really known for it's pansit habhab (which is a type of pansit that is served wrapped in banana leaves, so you can eat it without utensils, which the locals in Quezon Province would say "i-habhab"). The good thing about the pansit is that it was served piping hot (which I think is the secret of good pansit). The noodles are firm but cooked. Likewise for the vegetables. I didn't care too much for the meat but that's all right, the noodles, vegetables and the sauce were good enough for me.

The sisig was quite flavorful even without adding soy sauce. Our mistake of letting the food sit on the hot plate and not mixing it together resulted in a crusty bottom for the egg and some of the meats resulting to quite a tastier dish. Talk about serendipity in food. Next time I eat sisig, I will do that again. One complaint about the sisig though is that some parts of the meat still has hair on it which is a big NO NO. Of course, the finicky eater that I am, I had to pick those out and leave them on the side of my plate.

The soup of the sinigang is the best way to start a Filipino-themed lunch. The miso is quite flavorful. The vegetables are still crunchy but cooked but unfortunately the fish still has a strong fishy smell which is a bit of a turn-off. I am not sure how to kill the fishy smell of the fish (can you blame it? It's fish, of course it's fishy!) but a good sinigang would be able to showcase the flavor of the fish while masking the fishiness with some other flavors or spices. Probably more onions? Or even ginger? I don't know.

The cool sago and gulaman is the perfect partner to this lunch. It served both as drink and as dessert. The sago and gulaman chunks were just the right size to fit in the straw so one is able to have bits of both as one sips the drink.

Overall, Buddy's is a good lunch place because it gives you the flavors of a home-cooked meal in dishes that are meant for sharing. So while you're sharing the food, why not share stories, experiences and a lot of fun times?