An Easy Dinner at Burgoo Podium

Another day, another dinner.

While the statement may seem bleak, dinners are actually meals I look forward to the most. They (my mom) keep(s) telling me that I should eat heavily at breakfast and lunch then eat light come dinnertime but that never happens with me. Somehow I always end up doing the opposite, barely eating in the morning and then gorging making up for it at night.

Conversation over crayons over beer

It's unhealthy I know, but dinnertime is my relax-and-sit-back time. It may sound old-fashioned, but I like having long dinners over easy conversation. I'd rather be doing that than shouting to be heard in a dark club with neon lights flashing all around me. That's why I like having Burgoo dinners at The Podium.

My Mini Banchetto Date

No, my date wasn't little (or underage). This post is entitled as such because it will be all about that one Friday night spent nomming the grub at the very famous Banchetto Street Food Fiesta. 

Because I had to be home earlier than usual that particular night to take care of my recently adopted, super cute, ten-week old puppy that has yet to be housebroken, I thought that a Banchetto trip would be out of the question (because it starts at midnight). Then I came across their website where it says that they have an extension branch that opens shop much earlier at nine o' clock and is situated closer to the Makati CBD (favorable if you're from the South like me) along Pioneer Street in Mandaluyong City. So off we went.

Banchetto, the now famous Ortigas street food market

Classic Pinoy Desserts - Turon

The turon is a classic Pinoy dessert. Fried saging saba (cardava bananas) enveloped in egg lumpia wrapper sweetened with brown muscovado sugar. They're best eaten hot off the fryer; either as merienda or as dessert to cap off a nice meal.

While hot turon is widely available every afternoon in nearly every corner of Makati, Taguig is a different story altogether. Since transferring to the Taguig office, I haven't been able to satisfy my cravings for these sweet treats. And that is why I'm happy to have gotten some good ones the last couple of weekends. 

Jay-J's Inasal, Timog

I got my first turon fix last week from Jay-J's Inasal at Timog, Quezon City-

Jay-J's turon (p0)

The best thing about these sweets is that they're free. Yup, you read that right, these treats cost nothing. As long as you dine at Jay-J's, they'll give you and your party some of their special turon for dessert on the house! The wrapper was a bit thicker than I'd have preferred, but other than that, Jay-J's turons are pretty good- they're sweet, bite-sized, and nicely served on top of a banana leaf.

Jay-J's Inasal also has a branch at Ortigas, near the Home Depot along Julia Vargas street. Incidentally, Ortigas was where I was able to try the turon-gasmic turons of Oh Wow Turon!

Oh Wow Turon!, Banchetto

My second turon fix came from Oh Wow Turon!-

"Have a Turon-gasm now!" is Oh Wow Turon!'s tagline

They can be found at Banchetto, that Friday night to Saturday morning food market along F. Ortigas Jr. street. They have three kinds of turon- plain (p20 for 3pcs), with langka (p25 for 3pcs), and turon valencia (sprinkled with pinipig, p25 for 3pcs). All fan-tas-tic! Turon Valencia is my favorite. They're neatly wrapped and have just the right amount of sugar, the bananas inside were perfectly soft, and the pinipig sprinkles added a nice crunch.

Try them and you won't be disappointed for sure. I'll have to go back to Banchetto again to try some of the other stalls there, there are just so many interesting ones! I'll write about it on BaconTunaMelt soon enough, watch for it. ^^,