Zambales Food Trip 2010

photos by MIEL BANARES DAVID and KATRINE BANARES SALES

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Early Saturday morning, my nieces Miel and Kats, my sister Rose and i left the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila for a weekend getaway to Candelaria, Zambales. For those not familiar with Candelaria, it is a piece of heaven waiting to be discovered. It is a town endowed with beautiful, calm beaches, fertile soil and friendly people.

After breakfast at DeliFrance along NLEX, it was a quick drive through Subic and the other Zambales

breakfast at delifrance

towns (with a quick stop at the residence of former President Ramon Magsaysay for a speed tour of the museum). We arrived at the beach house of Senator Nene Pimentel (who graciously loaned us his beach house through the intercession of my sister ruby and brother-in-law Councilor Mario Sales) around lunch time and we were met by my sister Ruby and brother-in-law Mario Sr. We were hungry when we arrived and we were served with a hearty lunch of sinigang na baboy and inihaw na bangus.

We spent the afternoon going around town and buying stuff in the public market and trying out the local flavors (i particularly loved the fish balls of this one vendor). I was actually craving for some Frank's Burgers but ended up eating the delectable fish balls instead.

We bought a case of beer and went back to the beach house to await the arrival of my sister Ruth ,brother-in-aw Vic and their son Dan. While waiting, we entertained ourselves by singing (my brother-in-law rented a videoke machine). Come evening, my sister Ruth and company arrived and we were treated to some home-made fried chicken with gravy (move over, KFC), picadillo and sisig na bangus by Manang Gaya, the cook.

vodka night

Later that evening, we drank some vodka while singing ourselves hoarse. around midnight, we ended the session and slept until morning. The next morning, i drove my nieces, nephews and sister to Dawal in Bgy. Uacon, where they would rent a boat which will take them to Putipot island, an uninhabited piece of paradise with white sand and crystal clear water. I agreed to pick them up later in the morning.

I went back to the beach house and after a couple of hours, my sister Ruth and husband Vic joined me to pick up the group that went to the island. We waited for them at Dawal Resort, and while waiting my sister and brother-in-law sampled the fresh fruit halo-halo while i tried the pastillas de leche.

The group met us at the sports bar of Dawal resort and we all went back to the beach house just in time for lunch. Lunch was a seafood buffet consisting of giant prawns cooked in tom yam broth, prawns cooked 'halabos' style, crabs and grilled barillete (tuna).

seafood galore

After resting, we started packing our bags , and before we left Candelaria, we were treated to some turon. We left Candelaria around 4:30 in the afternoon. We were held up in traffic by a Santacruzan

ben's burger at xtremely xpresso

parade somewhere in the area of San Felipe which ate up 30 minutes of our travel time. It was night time when we arrived for dinner in Subic, at Xtremely Xpresso, where we had some pasta, a giant pizza and an oversized burger enough to feed 8 people.

We arrived in Metro Manila around 11:00 pm.