Bagoong Club

I've been wanting to dine here at Bagoong Club for the longest time, but I reside at the opposite end against  the resto's location (Quezon City). So blame it to distance why only now. I was so late and it hurts cos I'm a certified bagoong lover :))). On the other hand, I guess, those who are yet to try Kanin Club ( which is in my neighborhood _Alabang) and live in the north could relate.

The resto looked like a house to me and could have been one. The lobby was a usual sala (living room) of a house.

This area had lots of photos of the celebrities who had dined in here. Famous faces that validated how late I was.



Trivia on the paper plate mats.
I just wonder how would you smuggle, (which means to transport something secretly cos it's illegal), a dish as smelly as bagoong, haha.

Settled in a table, a complimentary sampler of two of their bagoong concoctions was served and yes came with singkamas slices. One version was called bagoong pag-ibig (love) which was a sweet blend and the other one was bagoong umaga (morning) which was spicy.

The menu was an announcement of Bagoong Club's original concoctions of our Filipino dishes which they dubbed in playful new names. For instance _ pork dishes were under the category of puro kababuyan which literally translated in English as all pigs and well, didn't sound so bad after all but in our native language it meant another thing which actually is interestingly funny!

It didn't take more to fill up our table with plated dishes.

So started with this crunchy ukoy ( shrimp-veggies fritter). Dipped in a vinaigrette, everyone in the table enjoyed munching this, except for one - ME! I don't know, but I'm quite sensitive about the cooking oil. I easily could detect  strong taste -other oil, I use corn oil at home which to me doesn't alter the original flavor of the dish.

Ofcourse, we had the sampler plate with four other versions - europa ( with parsley/basil?), the one with crab aligue (forgot the name) and the kids requested for a repeat of the pag-ibig which was the sweetened one and the umaga for husband chili tooth.

I was not sure if it was a good or bad thing, but the kids learned to eat bagoong ! One thing I was sure of, it was much better if they learned to eat one new vegetable dish.

Blissful marriage - bagoong and green mango, only this mango plate was not so green. almost ripe, but just the same , took less than 5 minutes to get lost.

Ginataang hubad na kuhol ( coconut creamed snails out of shells). Very tasty and quite interesting. Highly recommended.

Inihaw na pusit na busog sa bopis (grilled squid stuffed with bopis-sorry no translation ). Another must try dish, something different form the regular grilled squid.

Krispy's karekare. My girls are self- proclaimed kare-kare experts. Bagoong Club prided itself with award winning kare-kare version. Let's see. . .
First of all, we had a major problem here. They didn't have beef kare-kare, which my expert girls' only choice of  kare-kare. They don't eat innards. so the only option was the crispy pata. On the other hand, cuz' Bianx doesn't eat kare-kare at all but loves crispy pata. The solution was to separate the crispy pata from the kare-kare sauce. Everybody's happy! Bianx enjoyed the crispy pata and my gils mixed their own kare-kare.

Their version was on the sweet side so my girls loved it! Personally, I found it too solid. Too much peanut. I would prefer a milder one but I like the idea of crispy pata kare-kare, It was crunchy and peanut-ry.



Service was quick and attentive. Value for money was fair. Yet, I was not so sold on their bagoong concoctions. Nothing to rave about, just regular sauteed bagoong with twist not so surprising. I expected more and quite not delivered to.