Tags: Food Establishments, Food Preparation, Truly Pinoy Food and Drinks
By Anna Valmero
CAMILING, TARLAC— For people who love Ilocano dishes but does not have time to travel, there is always the famous chicharon sisig of Camiling Ilocano House Specialty.
The unassuming food stall is one of the rare gems you can find when visiting the ‘food village’ of Tiendesitas along C5 Road in Pasig City. The restaurant is named after Camiling, the hometown of the stall’s owners.
Camiling also earns its place in local history and birthplace of Jose Rizal’s first love, Leonor Rivera.
Aside from serving the typical Ilocano pinakbet, pinapaitan, and lauya, the restaurant added a different twist to the famous sisig from Pampanga. This is done by deep frying pork meat to achieve the crispiness of chicharon and sautéing it in their secret sauce to become a mouth-watering delight.
My friend and I did not intend to eat at Camiling but curiosity got the best of us as we read ‘chicharon sisig’ on the menu. At 130 pesos for an ala carte serving for two to three people, the dish seemed worth trying for lunch. If you are dining solo, you can get the 80-pesos value meal with rice.
To avoid long queues, better head to this small restaurant just before it gets busy for lunch or dinner to get a good table and have your order served fast. Since community dining al fresco is the typical dining style at the food village, be sure to get a good spot where you can dine peacefully.
After five minutes of ordering our lunch, our dish arrived. The dish is not very dry nor is it moist like you would normally find in most sisig houses and bars. There is nothing fancy in terms of its presentation, except for the sliced green chili (siling panigang) on top of it.
The epiphany came after my first bite and it was both heart-stopping and mouth-watering. I don’t know how they did it, but they maintained to keep the bits both soft and crispy at the same time. The only lowdown of course is that the dish is oily and if you are fond of eating the crispy fatty parts, then you may be in for some artery-clogging delight.
Bite after bite, I came to the realization that the simple ‘chicharon sisig’ does not need any of those extra mayonnaise or fresh egg on top to appeal to your palate. A bite of the crisp and soft bits of meaty chicharon (as opposed to the brittle and airy chicharon peddled in the Metro) is enough to satisfy a hungry stomach or delight a beer drinker looking for an above-average pulutan.
Instead of the usual pork head and ears, the meat used for the pork chicharon are choice, meaty cuts which could explain the crispy and tender meat goodness of the pork. But this is only a guess since is the recipe is well guarded secret of the restaurant.
Even without the addition of toyo-mansi (soy sauce mixed with calamansi), the sisig is already flavorful. You might opt to mix the chili bits into the soy sauce for an added zing. The restaurant serves cold house water but make sure to partner your dish with iced tea or softdrinks to wash off the taste as you get ready for your next bite.
If you love sisig and chicharon, then this dish would be a sure hit for your taste buds and it would not rob your pockets, too. Make sure to partner your sisig with a hearty serving of vegetables to counter the high cholesterol from the dish.
Get more information Camiling Ilocano House Specialty
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