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Due to the large amount of free time I've recently dawned upon, I have now dedicated myself to finding these little foodie nooks that offer the best bang for your buck. Also because to dwindling funds, I need to find cheaper places to eat. Thus, this place at Libertad. What looked like an empty lot with a huge tent on the side turned out to be one of the best foodie experiences I have ever had. (Probably because of the price being so low!) It totally blew me away! Throw away 1st impressions and judging the book by the cover, this was the bomb!
Upon arriving at the place, I immediately noted the abundant parking space right beside it. Definitely a plus for the place! Someone was actually directing traffic and watching your car while you eat! Although the parking space was not covered, it was still ok since it was free parking.
  Once you enter the main dining area you are immediately greeted by an open flame grill which continuously is grilling liempo and fish. The smoke and smell obviously being blown out into the street by a make-shift exhaust fan. Not only does it serve the purpose of taking the smoke out of the dining area but also blowing the sweet smell of grilled pork unto to pedestrians and nearby offices to entice them to dine. The patrons were diverse as I've ever seen. From long-sleeved corporate attired employees from nearby offices to SWAT team members and military types with M16 rifles slung over their shoulders while they eat, everyone was eating at the same place and the same food. The occasional Taxi driver and Jeepney driver would also drop by.    Definitely a place worth checking out, we started to pick out our viands. We trotted off to the main counter and started lifting lids to see what were the different selections. We ended up with the following:
- Pork Liempo (Grilled Pork Sides)
- Inihaw na Bangus (Grilled Milk Fish)
- Tokwa't Baboy (Tofu and Pork)
- Bicol Express (Spicy Pork cooked in Coconut milk)
      All the meals come with a free bowl of Bulalo soup. One of the highlights of the meal was indeed the Bulalo soup. Also, the meals come with a sauce dish with Calamansi and Red Chili Peppers. Mashed with the juice of Calamansi and soy sauce would be the perfect accompaniment to the Liempo.  Even GF was excited to eat! She decided to dig in right away finishing the entire Bangus on her own! (clap clap!) I would like to take this time to defer from reviewing the Bangus because I didn't take the time to eat it. It was not boneless and I just shudder at the thought of having to start taking out the bones before eating. 
Looking at the first order of rice, I knew I was going to need more!  T he Liempo would be the first casualty! Now for a quick review of the food.
The liempo was sweet and juicy with every bite. The oilyness of the pork was washed away with the soy sauce concoction. The marinade did not over power the taste of the pork. In fact, it just accentuates the taste.
The Bicol Express was one of the best I've ever tasted. With just a spoonful, one could taste the spicyness and hotness of the dish. But whatever the spicyness of the dish was washed over with the unique taste of coconut milk. A must order for me next time! (for sure there will be a next time!)
The Tokwa't Baboy was something I would not order again. Although the texture of the Tofu was a great comparison to the beef and pork , but the saltiness of the sauce it comes with just overpowered the flavor that was trying to be achieved.
Now the meal didn't end there. After ordering so much food and rice, and ordering drinks for everyone, I was prepared to pay around 150-200 per person just because I've learned to judge the price based on the serving size and number of food and drinks we consumed. So imagine my surprise when the bill came and it was just Php 95 per person.
This is what we consumed:
9 Viands
11 Rice
4 Bottles of Softdrinks
2 Bottles of Water
1 Rootbeer
12 bowls of Soup  Imagine my surprise!
Definitely a place to visit again. I have made it a quest of mine to find the best deals in and around the city. Never sacrifice quality for the price. But in this case, definitely, a bargain!
Cheers & Happy Eating!
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disappointed
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The first 2 bowls I made were bland. I decided to just heap everything into my bowl from soy sauce to garlic water to teriyaki sauce. Sadly, I forgot to add brown sugar which made my dish taste somewhat like a piece of cardboard. I quickly gobbled up the 2 bowls (small servings) and went in to give it another try. 
nostalgic
Ok since I only have 
full
The meat was so perfectly cooked that one could literally just feel the mean just melting away from the bones. It was also so tasty, that you couldn't help but avoid not using any condiments such as lechon sauce or soysauce & calamansi. And of course who would not eat the skin? To put it simply, I've been an avid lechon eater as long as lechon was served at any family gathering or restaurant, and by far this was the best skin I've ever tasted. The skin was both crunchy and soft. Not tough to the taste but contained enough texture to satisfy that sensation. It had a thin coat of fat underneath to provide that complimenting taste to the juicy-ness of the skin. One could literally hear or feel the skin go "crrrruuuunnncccchhh" upon biting into it. Sweet with a hint of saltiness at the same time. The joyous celebration of flavors that erupt in your mouth as you start chewing on the skin is to put it simply sublime. The sinfully delicious part of the roasted pig is just unavoidable. With every bite knowingly adding to your cholesterol count, you chug along and for a brief moment, simply just enjoy being alive. Need I say more?
But it didn't end there. As I started digging in, I was looking around for the usual accompaniment of lechon, the lechon sauce or Mang Tomas. I finally summoned up the courage to ask our gracious host and chef, for the lechon sauce, and she pointed at the bowl you see in the picture. This was home made sauce. It was made from pure liver seasoned with spices and herbs. (Due to the complicated nature of doing this liver patee and the fact that it is a family recipe, I didn't want to post here the ways of making it.) The liver patee was heavenly. Complimenting exactly the taste of the meat without overpowering the flavors of the meat themselves. This was 2 food soulmates finding each other. The texture of the liver patee was a bit rough and unlike the usual lechon sauce which usually is a thick liquid, this patee was more of a paste that you slathered all over your lechon meat. It was a little sweet without the usual taste of liver. GF loved this part of the lechon and was the reason she ate a little bit more that usual. 
Due to me being a meat eater, I really didn't find anything exciting about this dish, that was, until I tried it. The fish meat was so soft and the fish was already deboned earlier on. The saltiness of the fish skin complimented the almost milky soft of the fish meat. The tomatoes added a hint of sweetness to the dish as well. The skin was both crunchy and salty. The fish belly was soft and flavorful. Also known as the fish fat, it melted in your mouth. GF loved this dish. The fish was freshly caught from a neighboring town. And it was only caught a few hours before we arrived. This was becoming a pattern. 
Now, I'm not really a big fan of vegetables, but these vegetables were so good that I couldn't keep from getting again and again. The cauliflower, beans, carrots, pea pods, and brocolli were all stewed in chicken stock and was absolutely delicious. Not being a vegetable lover, I was taken back by the different flavors and textures each kind of vegetable had. The tenderness of each vegetable was also just right. They were not soggy, but also they were not tough. They were boiled just right so as to not lose the flavors to the soup. They were not tough or undercooked either, with each bite providing just enough crunch and texture to satisfy the palette. I enjoyed again.
The dessert was a simple fruit salad. With cherries, melons, pineapples, langka, coconut, and a few others which I failed to recognize, all chilled together in cream. It was a bit too sweet for my taste, but as the salad thawed out the sweetness was ok. The fruits were fresh and the ripeness just right (as expected!). It was the perfect end to a perfect meal.
curious
mellow
anxious
bouncy
artistic