Saturday, May 10, 2008
Pasil spice
By Clint Holton P. Potestas
Pasil has never lost the good old spice.
LOCATED within the stretch of seaports, food stalls in Pasil have a common menu: the larang, a spicy authentic Cebuano dish.
Larang, or linarang is a seafood viand, which could be cooked with almost any kind of fish. But the all-time favorites of most cooks are sting ray, blue marlin, indung, bakasi, and barracuda.
It would take approximately 25 minutes to prepare the dish.
Comparing it with the native tinola (or tinuwa), larang has more ingredients — and sophistication.
“Yes, it has the same preparation with tinola. But linarang should have complete spices to achieve the taste we like,” says, Efren Abregany, the chief cook of Binugoy — a restaurant in Mabolo at the corner of the Ayala access road.
Abregany resides in Pasil and used to cook in one of the food stalls there. According to him, the main components are tomatoes, tawsi, green mango, spices, and a well-kept secret.
“What Cebuanos like is the spice of linarang,” Abregany continues.
“We want to bring the cuisine of Pasil here,” explains Tom Buño, Binugoy’s managing director. “Every morning, we go to Pasil to buy fresh-from-the-catch fish. I make sure they’re really fresh.”
Cebuano and Filipino dishes, broiled or raw, are also served along with native desserts.
Micky Fenix, a food critique and columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, who made an “unplanned” visit to Binugoy, wrote:
“I like eating places like Binugoy — unpretentious, serving home-style meals on plastic wear set.”
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 10, 2008 issue)
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