food and dine in legazpi city

i was looking forward to actually taste the authentic bicol food, like the spicy bicol express which is almost all over the philippines already. i would like to know if the bicol express i had tried came close to the original.

Bicol Express and Pinangat

bicol by the way is the region where albay belongs to, the region that is famed with their spicy food and most food are with coconut milk.

LCC Mall's Food Court

 Kusina ni Pay's Combo Meal with Pinangat and Batchoy

i don’t know if tasting the local food in combo meals in a mall’s food court will do. lol we only had really small portions of bicol express and pinangat which are both cooked in coconut milk. due to our pressing hunger and an empty battery which i didn’t bother to change, we failed to take a photo of the bicol express. i found the spiciness of the bicol express to be just right although i can tolerate more -- i think. i wonder if they also have levels set on how spicy the bicol express can be.

pinangat is made of taro (gabi) leaves in coconut milk and i’m biased since i have a penchant for food in coconut milk. their batchoy was also flavourful and was perfect for the cold weather!

the small portions that we had was enough for me but not for my brother! haha the only fast food that we saw that time was the japanese siomai sold in a small stall. it's japanese because the siomai is wrapped in nori (seaweed). the siomai is not a good pair with rice because it's rather sweet and the nori gives a distinct taste which i however liked.

Street Food

 Daraga's Ginamsan

although this is not in legazpi but in daraga, where the cagsawa ruin is. another advantage of taking a walk is one can observe things more closely. this food wrapped in a banana leaf caught my brother’s attention as we were heading back to the highway. too bad that the food was already sold out and we only managed to take a glimpse of the last two pieces bought by two women. :(

good thing though, another woman was kind enough to share her uneaten banana. yes, it’s made of sliced banana, dipped in flour and fried. it was something new to us since bananas in cebu are deep-fried in whole although there’s also another way wherein banana is sliced like a fan (but still whole), similarly dipped in flour and then fried.

Legazpi's Whole Fried Chicken

however a different whole is deeply fried in legazpi and that’s a whole chicken! i’ve only seen these in max’s restaurant but not in cebu’s streets. in legazpi, chicken skin is conveniently sold in a to-go brown paper pouch, much like peanuts. talk about eating easily with guilt!

Small Talk Café

this café is highly recommended by tourists who have been to legazpi and this quaint café received quite a lot of raving reviews.

its location is in a residential area hence, it’s a house conveniently converted into a homey restaurant. the address i got from the net was it’s in doña aurora st. in brgy. ilawod but our tricycle driver was not familiar with the place. again the advantage of google map, i told him to direct us to STI school instead. i remember small talk café to be just near the school.

as always trusting my feet and instinct, we finally found doña aurora street and eventually small talk café. it's just a short walk from the intersection of rizal street and in front of evangelical church.

the café is owned by a former teacher who gave the local food a different taste by turning them into pizza, spaghetti and among others.

Small Talk Café's Pork Chop

Small Talk Café's Bicol Express Spaghetti

since my brother was in the verge of  collapse due to hunger, he quickly chose the usual pork chop while i ordered the spaghetti version of bicol express. maybe i’m too used to spicy food that i found my spaghetti not that spicy and those with allergy must be wary of the tiny shrimps in the pasta. too bad that our stomachs could no longer accommodate the café’s other unique food fusions. i must say that the café is a must try when in legazpi.

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