Return to Ikabud: Crispy Buntot

This article has been delayed for almost 2 weeks now.... But friends, the long wait is over.

Hah! I knew we would be back to this place and this time, that Tuna delicacy will not escape our salivating mouths. Order what you want, this one is OURS! bwahahaha!

It was a feast as usual as the whole family was there to take lunch. Orders of grilled chicken, kare-kare, gising-gising and crispy pata were common. The waitress confirmed that the BIG ONE is available to my delight.

Here's a tip when you order this dish: Make sure to have it sliced open so that the meat gets fried all the way down, unless you prefer medium rare. This ain't a fine dining resto, dudes. :)

Also, request for additional calamansi and some chili. Oh my.... this is going to be sweet! I mean spicy! hehehe

Here's my take: As expected, the dish is superb as the deep fried Tuna tail for me is a perfect fit for lunch. Add some gising-gising or chop suey to your menu and you have a feast. The crunchy skin is tasty but should some part of it lose its crispiness, I suggest that you dunk in down that chili-toyo-mansi condiment. Uhmmm... hmmmm! Oh, make sure that you wash it down with buko juice or pineapple if you ordered one.

Heaven... But don't take my word for it. Try it. :)

At Ikabud Clark...

It was another Sunday lunch out, this time together with my wife, son and in-laws. After the mass, we headed directly to SM Clark to fill our empty and now rumbling stomachs with gustatory gusto. Watta word, huh?

We agreed that we should head to Ikabud to have a taste of the supposed Kapampangan cooking. It's not the cooking style we are after but the taste. My mind was already developing this illusion and smell of the "Piniritong Buntot ng Tuna"(we had previously tried this delicacy and it was soooo darn good if you are into Seafoods).

Unfortunately since the demand is sooo high, the dish was no longer available for ordering. Too bad, it should have been the centerpiece of today's blog if I had the chance to taste it again.

Well, we have to move on..... here's what we had and my thoughts on them....

Let's start with the Kare-Kare: It tasted good, particularly the peanut sauce. The vegetables were cooked right and complimented the texture and flavor of the peanut sauce. Noticed that I praised the peanut sauce? hehehe... well that was the good part. The not so good part is the meat serving. It was mostly pigskin and fat, and to be honest I was disappointed as I was looking for proteins... hehehe. The bagoong (shrimp paste) that came with it was also good. I just made sure the sauce was scrapped to the last drop.


Next is the Sizzling Chicken Sisig. Now, the term Sisig is synonymous to Kapampangan as Buko pie is to Laguna. There's a Sisig Festival in Angeles City which happens sometime during the holidays or during that quarter if I'm not mistaken. There are a lot of flavors and ingredients to choose from, but for this place and this day we opted the Chicken variation. Here's a tip: make sure that you mix the chili and the calamansi evenly on your dish and eat while it's still hot. It was, well.... it tasted plain for me. The chunks are a bit bigger than usual. Maybe you need to check it out.


Last in our menu is the Gising-Gising. It's like Chop Suey but has prawns instead of shrimps and slices of squid and scallops, all loaded in a Sizzling plate. It has lots of green chilis too so for those who are not fond of spicy foods, watch out for the chilis. After tasting it, I would recommend the same dish in Mr. Frosty's instead (there's one at SM Clark too) and you would be happy with the bigger serving. hehehe


Well, if you ask how's the overall eating experience.... Since the dish I was looking for was not available, plus the meat in the Kare-kare made me frown.... I indulged myself with a tall Mocha Frappe at the nearby Starbucks outlet. That's where I cooled down. hehehehe

A Sunday Lunch at SM Pampanga Foodcourt

Here we go.... as any normal catholic citizen would, after the Sunday mass, people would go to the malls or drop by fastfood centers. We opted to go to SM Pampanga to buy school shoes for the kids, among other things. What a way to charge up.... have a good meal which so much choices! Well, we picked up the Foodcourt and I was craving for a Sizzling Plate.

Before we went to the 2nd floor, we bought some California Maki from Tokyo Tokyo.

We ordered: Sizzling Porkchop, a meal with chuckwagon steak (burger) and chicken (I forgot the name) and surprisingly "Sizzling Kangkong". I grinned at my wife when I saw what was on our table. Here's what it all tasted like....

With the Sizzling Porkchop, it was a no-brainer. It was an easy satisfaction that would rival the Porterhouse or T-bone Steak. I mean the taste was its grilled best. And the gravy used complemented the yellow rice (it that StarRice? LOL!) and the buttered veggies. Nice....


Now the burger thingy with the chicken... Hmmm.... Errr... Ummm.... the burger seemed salty and it's not the gravy. I tasted the gravy separately that's why I know. It's with the burger mix. The chicken was somewhat dried due to overcooking and the side veggies was, forgive me for being true to my tongue, not good. Period. It tasted like it was prepared early morning and smelled that way too. huhuhuhu


So I turned my attention to the Sizzling Kangkong, and to my surprise, it was darn GOOD. It saved my usually remorseful taste buds from condemning the place. Heck, it was just a simple dish, right? But there is some sense of sweetness to the dish and the garlic bits were just right if not perfect. I ended up eating the whole dish.


With the full meal done, I was feeling okay and ready to go jogging, I mean shopping. Wait, there's still the Maki at the table. My wife was just finishing her plate and was ready to grab one. I had the first crack at the Japanese dish and..... .... .... .... ....


What happened to the Maki? Worse, is this Maki?

Sad to say, the usual sophisticated taste and feel of the dish went down. First, the rice lost its usual stickiness. The grains seem long and hard. I just hope this is not NFA rice for crying out load. When we usually eat Maki the rice is somewhat round and soft. Then the fish was like half it's usual serving and it appeared that the mango filing was used as an extender or trade off of some sort. Another knockdown, the Wasabi included in the box was like 2 pea sizes. It was weird, and I just thought that if the reason behind the drop in quality was the price, there should have been a disclaimer at the counter. We were robbed, if I may say.

And then I looked at the Kangkong plate and found two stems left. My wife smiled and knew what was on my mind.... If I were to wash down my taste bud revolt, I need to satisfy them. Slurp! Hmmm... yum.... oookay.... let's get going!