UNUSUAL ang specialty nila, hanging chicken,” Jojie A. described in her text that was supposed to be inviting me over to try a new restaurant that a friend of a friend told her about.
“Sa may likod ng MacDo sa Bajada where Blue Carabao used to be,” was how Jojie described the restaurant. To those who know where Blue Carabao was before it moved to Monteverde Avenue, it’s at Sobrecarey Street (the street behind McDoBajada) where the rows of turo-turo are.
But on Friday night, when I just have to try some place new whether I want to eat or not, Jojie said she can’t tag along.
Her yayabelles (househelp) all went home for the New Year holiday, she said.
“They brought with them your legs?” I asked.
No, she said, but that means she has to babysit her not-baby-anymore daughter.
Uh, okay. Point taken.
I did gather a small crowd to try the place with me: Peter, Dengdeng, Imee, and Maian. That should be enough to try whatever it is they have.
The place is called Espetada, it’s a tiny place as compared to the two giant turo-turos sandwiching it. But it’s there all right. On the other side of the street is a sign that says, “Blind Massage”.
Espetada is a “Portuguese dish made usually of large chunks of beef rubbed in garlic and salt,skewered onto a bay leaf stick cooked over hot coals or wood chips,” Wikipedia says. But in Espetada, they use chicken which they serve hanged on its skewer.
Peter, Deng, and I arrived first and we ordered everything they have: Cheesy Cheese, chicken liver, breaded chicken, espetada, beef kebab, and sisig.
Amy and Maian came next and ordered everything as well, except the breaded chicken.
Now, what Peter and Deng didn’t say was: they don’t like chicken liver.
They also do not like spicy food.
Thus, the chicken espetada, which by default is served spicy, (you have to tell them you don’t like it spicy like Imee did), was really spicy and caused Peter to break out in sweat and in the process scared Deng from taking even a tiny bite.
Thus, I was also having the espetada all to myself.
The kebab had a lot of cumin in it, which these non-spice eating friends also didn’t like, and so I also had the one piece of beef kebab left after we all tasted the other stick (one stick with rice is P60, P75 for two sticks; best to buy the two sticks). I prefer the real yogurt dip that goes with kebabs, the sour creamy white sauce along with a load of chili sauce, and not the sweet white sauce that they serve. (To be honest, I absolutely cannot understand why Pinoys love sweetened mayonnaise and white sauces).
The sisig that Peter was waiting for wasn’t something you would praise to high heavens. It’s ground meat with sisig ingredients, but not sizzling. It was just too finely ground, the chewing experience that goes with eating sisig isn’t there.
Deng had the breaded chickenthat came with French fries.
The appetizers were good, and I liked the espetada and the vegetable sidings that went with it, although I wouldn’t mind some interesting sawsawan as well. We’re Pinoys, we need our sawsawan.
The best part of the night, however, was being entertained by a stray kitten who shared the chicken liver with me.
I wanted to top the meal off with orange mojitos, but they ran out of mint leaves. Deng and I made do with an eight-ounce bottle of Coke shared between us. The “bullfrog” described as a combination of white spirits intrigued me, but I wasn’t really up to any heavy liquor drinking that night, and so I passed…
For the experience, it’s a must-go. Their prices are very affordable.