Tags: Exotic Food, Food Establishments, Seafood
By Alexander Villafania
QUEZON CITY, METRO MANILA – Fish head soup, locally known as ulo-ulo, doesn’t look especially appetizing, not with the entire head of a big fish served in fish stock soup.
But look past how mangled the fish head looks like and just take a sip and nibble. For sure your taste buds would be a better judge in appreciating fish head soup.
Taste is exactly what one hole-in-a-wall restaurant in Project 6, Quezon City has relied on when it started selling ulo-ulo nearly four decades ago.
This restaurant, which never bore a name but conveniently applied the name Ulo-Ulo as its own brand, does not look like any restaurant at all. In fact, it’s just a gated corner house that was transformed into a carinderia-style restaurant.
Ulo-Ulo is located right behind Veterans Memorial Hospital on Road 10, which is probably one of the narrowest street alleys in Quezon City.
There is barely enough space to let most vehicles pass, let alone two small cars. This road becomes even tighter during midday when cars turn one side of the road essentially into a parking lane.
Still, there is a compelling reason why people flock to this hard-to-reach place; they seek the famed sinigang na ulo-ulo (sour broth fish head) and they’ll move through time and parking space just to have a taste of this sumptuous seafood meal.
It does earn its reputation for selling the best fish head soup anywhere in the metro. The fish head is cooked in a traditional manner. The fish head is cooked in a huge soup pot where it is simmered in a supposed “secret soup recipe.”
The main ingredient can be a variety of large fish such as salmon, maya-maya (red snapper), talakitok (trevally), and tuna mixed with half-sliced tomatoes, leeks, whole green chili, chopped cabbage, onions and garlic.
The sourness of the soup itself could come from the use of tamarind, although miso can also be used as alternative. The sour flavor is not overly intense but is rather light on the tongue, even spicy at times due to the presence of some pepper.
The fish head absorbs a lot of the flavor, which is captured into what remains of the meat, which is surprisingly few. It is then served with rice and a dash of seasoning (either patis or bagoong).
It is, in fact, the soup that people are craving for. While the cost of one whole bowl of sinigang na ulo-ulo could reach P130, diners can knock themselves out with free refills of the sour soup anytime.
Currently owned by Mila Deyto, the Ulo-Ulo restaurant is a popular hangout mostly by employees from the adjacent Veterans Memorial Hospital and the nearby government offices.
However, according to Deyto’s sister Belen Alvar, the restaurant is also frequented by office workers as far as Makati City. While it becomes problematic to find parking during lunchtime, most diners nevertheless wait for their turn to park and to sit at the tables.
“Ever since this restaurant started, ulo-ulo has always been the only reason why people eat here,” Alvar said in Filipino. “However, we’ve started to serve other meals to offer something different.”
Indeed, there are a few items in their current menu of a dozen that are not common in other carinderia-style restaurants. Among these are laing with a lot more coconut milk (gata),adobong itlog ng isda, and ginataang pagi (ray). There are still the usual staple of food such as adobong baboy, beef steak, roast pig, barbecue, and ginataang langka (jackfruit).
Alvar said that despite lacking the visual flair of a more respectable restaurant, she said the food that Ulo-Ulo serves is what puts it at par with other food establishments. “It’s ok that we stay here in this street. We just want to keep our customers happy.”
Get more information about Ulo-Ulo
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