Bulalo is a dish of boiled beef leg, with the marrow included. Boiling usually takes many hours, but the job is faster with a pressure cooker, though I think it still takes more than an hour to get that fall-off-the-bone goodness. Compared to Nilagang Baka (literally translated also means boiled beef), Bulalo hardly has any vegetable accompaniments. Mostly just the leg and the soup, which when done right gives a “milky” taste mostly because some bone marrow mixes with the soup. Nilagang Baka uses mostly the upper beef shank and is usually very lean with small amounts of fat and collagen for flavor. Vegetables are added to nilagang baka for better sustenance. But the bulalo is just plain food hedonism. All the goodness of the beef and fat mixed with marrow in a delicious steaming bouillon. And I drove 45 kilometers to Tagaytay City in Cavite to sample this wonderful dish.

I will not recommend a particular restaurant for great bulalo in Tagaytay City because I know most of us have our own favorite bulalo houses in Tagaytay. I ate at the Bulalo House beside the old cinema near the former location of the Tagaytay meat market, before they moved to their present location, by the slaughterhouse. At P350.00 (US$8.00) per serving, three people went home happy that day, including yours truly. Of course, I just couldn’t resist ordering another favorite, inihaw na liempo, or grilled pork belly.

This one cost P180.00 (US$4.10) per serving. It was soft and tender to the bite.

This part is the same as used in making bacon, only the cut is different and rather thick. In the Philippines, the pork belly is one of the most well-loved and prized part. It is not healthy because there are fat deposits in between the lean meat, but this only makes it taste good.

As in bulalo, the marrow is always the prized part, though the most difficult to retrieve because you will really have to get your hands dirty and go the extra mile to make it pop out in one delicious glob. In some fine dining restaurants, there are tools and implements that allow a diner to get the marrow out without having to use their hands. However, I think it’s always good to use your hands when eating. The lesser the pretension, the greater the pleasure.

After the marrow, deal with the meat.

Yes indeed, bulalo is truly the ultimate Pinoy comfort food.

Related posts:

1. Hidden foodie destinations in Tagaytay: Bawai Vietnamese Kusina

From there, we proceeded to Ilog Maria, a honeybee farm that also produced toiletries and beauty products, all infused with honey. Noreen complained after using the facial scrub that she bought. She will have to travel to Tagaytay to buy more of it, because it works so well on her face. She has decided to stop using Aveeno, and switch to the Ilog Maria Honey Facial Scrub. I actually loved using the Spearmint Oatmeal soap they gave us as part of the freebies pack. With these alone, I will definitely go back to Tagaytay before I run out of the soap.

But because I’m a foodie, this post will talk about the wonderful lunch that we had. We had lunch at Bawai Vietnamese Kusina. It’s a very hidden restaurant and because of its location, not all are aware of this foodie gem.

The place was never meant to be a restaurant. Upon entering the place, I knew instantly that it was meant to be a cozy home for a closely-knit family. The decor is non-commercial, and this can be observed from the cutlery and tableware they used to serve the food; they only used the best as if they were serving house guests and not customers, which was exactly how we were treated. The name means “grandmother” in Vietnamese and the lady of the house is Vietnamese. She married a Filipino, which is why she is now a member of the Tatlonghari clan (yes, the name is so Pinoy).

For starters, we had Vietnamese spring rolls or Goi Cuon containing fresh noodles, shrimp, pork and veggies wrapped in Vietnamese rice paper (only P145.00 or US$3.50),

And a choice of either shrimp in sugar cane…

Or Vietnamese pork sausage (homemade!). This is what I got.

And I was so happy with what I got!

Then, we were served a noodle soup dish called Pho Bo. Pho means soup and Bo means beef. It’s flat noodles with thinly sliced beef cooked in hot beef broth topped with cilantro, spring onions, saw leaves and scallions. This is the best I have had thus far. The best. According to the menu, this big bowl only costs P195.00 (US$4.70).

The beef was so tender. So very, very tender. Of course, all of this goodness wouldn’t go down without some refreshing Pandan iced tea (P50.00 or US$1.20 per serving).

Yes, the bottom is kinda green so you have to mix it well before gulping it down. Lastly, dessert. Sadly, I don’t know what it’s called. All I know is that it’s not on the menu but you can order it. It tastes like our local kutchinta with some bean custard in the middle, and smothered with coconut cream and peanuts!

Like what you see? This is definitely better than dining at usual tourist traps (how many mushroom burgers can you eat in a lifetime?). So when you troop to Tagaytay, you may want to have lunch here. Or better yet, impress your date by bringing her here. The place is open for lunch and dinner, on weekends only and by reservation. You may call Bawai’s at 0920-9722924. It may be a bit of a hassle but believe me when I say, it’s all worth it.

Related posts:

1. Bulalo-happy in Tagaytay City