14.037 Chicken Inasal (+ Beef Bone Bulalo)

Cycle 13 – Item 37

11 (Sat) February 2023

Chicken Inasal (+ Beef Bone Bulalo)

2.5

at Lillie Inasal

-Hannam, Yongsan, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with BP

Lillie Inasal is a Filipino restaurant. The menu offers 4 items, including the eponymous inasal.

Located a couple blocks from the embassy.

For our 2nd get-together (see previously 13.363 Dubu Wanja), the plan was to explore the Filipino dining scene near the Embassy of the Philippines. The scene consists of 2 establishments: KC Philippine and Lillie Inasal, which I’d scoped out on my trips to the embassy during my time at WHO, when I was based in the Philippines on a 9E visa that required annual renewal (and took up an entire fucking passport page). Alas, the former was closed, and so we were left with the latter.

Arriving at 13:20, the place was completely empty – the owner explained that their customers are primarily Filipinos with business at the embassy, which is closed on weekends.

A small selection of Filipino groceries – brought back intense memories.

We were informed that only the inasal was available. Which was fine, because it’s what I would’ve ordered anyway. But suspicious, because why would Pinoy Spaghetti (see for example 5.054 Filipino Spaghetti) – the easiest thing ever – be unavailable?

No real reason why Pinoy Spaghetti, which is simply spaghetti in sweetened tomato sauce from a jar, would be unavailable.

We were informed that the inasal would be made from scratch. Which was fine, because from-scratch is generally better than pre-made. But the food was served after 55 minutes, which seemed way too long, because I’m thinking that I probably could’ve prepared the plate in half the time, even as a home cook, certainly less in a professional setting. Anyway, the leisurely wait made me feel like I was back in Manila – how very authentic.