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2024-07-21
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ok so, i came across this restaurant on the social media story of a mutual. in the story was a pandan-looking dessert, it looked so good that i dm-ed for the name of restaurant, turns out it's Bedana's! (this is beside the point, but can we normalise dm-ing social media mutuals on things like this already?? i mean, what happened to the days when we see someone holding a gorgeous bowl of soup and sauerkraut on the street, and you'd nonchalantly ask: "hey that looks gorgeous, where can i get that?
so the name of the restaurant is acquired, i had to reach out to one of my favourite people to try it out (turns out they know of the place already, which was like: rude, you didn't care to bring me here before??). we got here on a really rainy sunday night and luckily got seated right away. it is a short menu, which is always a great sign. the friend suggested longanisa and laeng, i also picked the kare-kare, but honestly, i was preoccupied with the dessert that turned out to be mango pandan, and i was just sort of waiting for us to get to that part of the meal. the longanisa was served in about 5-8 mins, it was good food. the sausage had a good balance of sweetness and saltiness, it was meaty-chonky but the fat and spices were there- i couldn't tell what were the spices, but they cut through and it was real flavourful. the egg was also fried nicely with little craggily bits. rice? fine. slice of cucumber and tomat? thank you.
then, the kare-kare and laeng arrived. you know how sometimes you look at certain food and despite haven't had it before, you'd think to yourself: i probably know what it tastes like? I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO, which caught me, in the most pleasant way possible, very off-guard. i had a spoonful of the kare-kare. the first obvious note was the peanut, but there's also an immediate unidentified creaminess / sweetness / umami-ness that coated my mouth (note: i swear i could still taste the stew the day after when i was telling my colleague about this place, it was that crazy). i should at this point make the disclaimer that i don't know anything about filipino food, but i am almost certain what i was tasting was a really rich bone broth, and as my dear friend put it, the broth tasted like it took time. it also reminded me of instant noodles broth / tinned corned beef - the way they are PACKED full of flavour in an ethically-dubious / questionable production way, but also of fond childhood memories, eating a forbidden food; this kare-kare tasted like it took time and care, and painted a history that i would love to learn so much more about. the pak choi was a good move (and apparently is the traditional move). the tripe was great. the oxtail was y.u.m.m.y., i tore off the morsels of meat easily and slurped that bone marrow clean. aubnergine and green bean was so good too.
in a way, the kare-kare over-shadowed the rest of the meal. i mean, don't get me wrong, the laeng was also a beautiful plate of food. it was creamy, to me it had an almost smoky quality to it? an incredible addition to the meal for sure. but i was at that point flabbergasted, a little bit like that shaking face emoji. the mango pandan got here and we also got a banana roll. the banana roll was top notch. the roll was thin and the caramelised sugar was delicate, combined with the sweet and tangy fruitiness from the banana and a little bit of the cold and creamy mouth-feel from the ice cream, makes for such a great combo. the mango pandan was also very nice, but it wasn't as mindblowing as the other foods, and i will just say that i don't think it really calls for the ice cream (or it could be a taro ice cream? i am guessing the restaurant didn't make their own, which is absolutely fine, but in this case i don't really need it, not shade). but i cannot complain at all. i LOVED the food here.
i continued to rave about the food to my friend when i was having the leftovers the day after, and they were like: ugh, why don't you leave me alone and just write a page of this *somewhere else*. so here i am. would recommend.
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