6.161 TEIBR 9 : Manggang Hilaw at Bagoong

6.161

15 (Mon) June 2015

Manggang Hilaw at Bagoong

2.5

at Bistro Remedios

-Malate, Manila-

with RK, JL, et al.

TEIBR (Try Every Item at Bistro Remedios).

A highly regarded landmark restaurant that serves excellent mainstream Filipino fare, I’m attempting to eat my way through it.  Everything on the menu (except desserts, unless someone else orders it).  75 items in all.  While spending the vast majority of last year in the Philippines, I didn’t take substantial advantage of the opportunity to get fully immersed into the cuisine, much to my retrospective regret.  TEIBR should lead me down the right path—a higher purpose.

5 new items tonight, 37 items down total, 38 remaining, 9th visit to the restaurant, averaging 4.1 items per visit, on pace to complete the project at TEIBR 19.

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BLUE: highly recommended / GREEN: respectable / YELLOW: okay / ORANGE: better avoided / RED: never again

The masochistically gluttonous “Try Every” series :

  1. TERRP (…Restaurant in Robinsons Place) (see completed 5.247 TERRP 85 KFC : Original Recipe Fried Chicken…)
  2. TEITY (..Item at Tao Yuan) (see completed 6.095 DONE)
  3. TERNWPPD (…Restaurant in New World, Pan-Pacific, Diamond) (see completed 6.081 Lobster, Baby.)
  4. TERSK (…Restaurant in St Kilda) (see completed 5.339 Roasted Squid)
  5. TEKREM (…Korean Restaurant in Ermita/Malate) (see most recently 6.141 Bon Jovi on Fire)
  6. TEIBR (…Item at Bistro Remedios) (see most recently 6.070 Chicken and Pork Adobo)
  7. TETRITSA (…Thai Restaurant in the International Terminal of Suvarnabhumi Airport) (see most recently 6.069 Spicy Stir-Fried Shrimp & Seafood with Basil)
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Hipon Binondo (2.5) — deep-fried baby shrimp, just like ko ebi karaage; not bad.
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Tinolang Manok (3.0) — one the most simple and classic of Filipino soups, chicken and vegetables in a ginger broth; usually too heavy on the ginger for my taste, but nicely subtle here.
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US Top Blade Bistek (2.5) — not unlike bulgogi (see most recently 4.218 Hanwoo Bulgogi…).
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Adobong Pusit (2.25) — too much ink, not enough vinegar, making it more like a Spanish en su tinte than a Filipino adobo,

Manggang hilaw at bagoong is a Filipino fruit dish.  Consists of green mango (manggang hilaw) topped with shrimp paste (bagoong).  Served as a salad as part of a meal or just as stand-alone snack.

At Bistro Remedios, the manggang hilaw at bagoong was … interesting.  Never having tried the dish before, I didn’t know what to expect, though I wasn’t looking forward to it, given my general dislike of both green mango and shrimp paste.  To my pleasant surprise, however, the anticipated intensity of the sour-salty juxtaposition was balanced out by a touch of sweetness in the bagoong, which had been mixed with mashed fruit of some sort into a jam, plus the delicate sweetness of the not-entirely green mango, which was still crunchy but had been allowed to ripen just enough for some sugars to develop.

Exposing myself to these kinds of experience is exactly what TEIBR is all about.

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