The Saturday Pampanga Food Trip

It was another sunny Saturday, which means family day! We decided to head out to San Fernando, Pampanga to hang out with my wife's cousin and his family.  I knew that there was going to be some shameless gluttony. It was inevitable. When we arrived, we devoured some home-made tacos prepared by Knorr (delicious photo above) in the morning, and after that we drove to Marquee Mall in Angeles City around lunch time to try out IKABUD, a Filipino restaurant on the ground floor. 

The place was full when we arrived, so we ordered ahead and waited for a table to be available. 

I checked out the menu and saw that the prices were not bad. But of course, that would depend on the quality of the food they would be serving us that day.

The Seafood Salpicao, which was highly recommended by my wife's cousin Bojok, was tasty and there was a unique combination of shrimp, mussels, hot dog (yes, hot dog), isaw, mushroom, baby corn, and assorted vegetables. It was smothered with a nice sauce on a sizzling plate.

We also ordered the Tokwa't Baboy (Tofu and Pork), which was just okay. The pork was a little rubbery and had more fat than meat. But what would you expect from this dish? I love Tokwa't Baboy no matter how it was prepared.

I liked the Spicy shrimp fried rice. It has the right saltiness and spiciness. It went along well with the main dishes. 

The other rice dish that we ordered was just plainly called the "Family Rice", and it was basically fried rice with shredded carrot and hotdog on top. I didn't eat much of this because I was enjoying my Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice, and I couldn't eat that much rice.

The fried chicken tasted like, well, fried chicken. The gravy was tasty but sinful of course. 

How could you not order Pork Sisig while in Pampanga? It was kind of salty, but blended well with the rice. 

The Kaldareta, or beef stew, I found out later was not beef at all, but Kambing (goat). I don't eat Kambing so it was good that I only ate the vegetables, and not the meat.

Another spicy dish came - the Bicol Express. It was a simple preparation of pork, pepper, and onions in coconut milk. It was not bad, although the pork was fatty. But who cares? Saturday is no diet day.

Overall, we had a good meal at Ikabud, and had bursting tummies afterwards. To fight off the sleepiness due to an overworked digestive track, we walked around the mall for a couple of hours. What happened next? Yes, you guessed it. More food.

Our arrival was met by a big pizza. A 30-inch pizza to be exact.

As you can see, the pizza was bigger than my son.

We enjoyed eating the pizza. I couldn't eat more than one. I was already bursting. Tomorrow is definitely cleansing day.

And to end all this gluttony - tadah! Home made blue berry cheesecake. Although I wanted to taste more of it, I could only eat a teeny tiny bit.

So the Great Pampanga Food Trip has come to an end. Til the next food trip.