My boyfriend accompanied me for a quick errand to Lubao, Pampanga today and on our way we thought of doing a little food trip. We planned on eating at Mila’s somewhere in Angeles as one of his boss’ preference when it comes to Kapampangan food however due to the bad weather we’re expecting to come this afternoon, we limited our options to restos nearby Lubao. 4 years ago, while browsing the pages of flavors magazine, I came across the article which featured different fantastic restos all over Pampanga and one of them was Apag Marangle. I’ve been wanting to try out this resto ever since. They have several branches already but I wanted to try out the main branch which was in an “Isdaan” (fish pond) setting, very native and filipino. Good thing it was just on the way.
Apag Marangle – meaning Hain sa Bukid (Restaurant in a farm) is a restaurant with tables and cottages placed in the middle of a fishpond surrounded by trees. It’s very naturey and filipino.
We ordered Mustasa with Buro (Mustard with fermented Rice) . Very unexpected to me because I never thought mustard is ok to eat raw, I was expecting it cooked or blanched but it was raw like a lettuce and it’s actually good . Yay to first time! The fermented rice (buro) was delicious as well though I’m kind of expecting that the rice will be a little bit in bits/finer or crushed to the point that you won’t notice that it is rice. Well, like the ones in Abe’s (sorry for the comparison) but overall it taste delish.
We also ordered Betute or stuffed Frog which is considered an exotic food here in the Philippines. The frog wasn’t crunchy but the meat stuff was cruchy. I kind of love it hate it.
Lastly, we ordered Tidtad or Dinuguan in Tagalog. It’s a very popular main dish here in the Philippines which usual color is black due to the Pig’s blood (main ingredient) however Apag Marangle’s version of Dinuguan or Tidtad isn’t black but the taste is perfect and really taste like our favorite dinuguan. Well of course it still has pig’s blood in it but it is already solidified or we usually call it betamax here in the Philippines. To cap off our lunch we ordered fresh coconut in shell. Over all we enjoyed the ambience and the food and most of all we enjoyed the price because it’s not expensive like the Isdaan restautant in Gerona Tarlac. Price range is from 50-300 and it’s already good for sharing.
Before heading home, we decided to visit and pray for awhile at the San Guillermo Bacolor Church which was half buried due to lahar on October 1, 1995.
One Step At A Time 