Lugawan Republic :@) :@)

So today, I decided to go for some old-fashioned pinoy comfort food. As suggested by some forum members, I decided to pigout in...

LUGAWAN REPUBLIC!!!

45 Timog Ave, brgy South Triangle, quezon city (02) 372-8844

or

Metrowalk, Meralco Ave. Ortigas Center.

The specialty of the house, "Pilo-Gaw" is basically an assortment of ingredients such as: Garlic chips, quail eggs, green onion, chicken, and what seems to be beef innards.

The pork and shrimp roll on the other hand, is your basic dimsum, rolled with what I assume to be tofu skin (I could be wrong).

As you can see, the serving is actually quite big. For 95php (2.3$) you get one big bowl of "Pilo-Gaw". Add an additional 75php (1.8$) you get 4 pieces of pork shrimp roll. But how does it taste?

The "Pilo-Gaw" had a good mixture to its ingredients. Unlike most lugawan restaurants, either the garlic or soup usually over powers the other ingredients. In this case, I can really tell that careful trial and error, and taste testing was made for this product. In addition, I especially loved the texture of the soup. It wasn't too soupy nor was it too dry. Now on a chef's perspective, this is probably a perfectly cooked meal. Ingredients compliment each other, nothing over powers another, texture is perfect, and food is cooked just right. However, though this is just my personal opinion, I fail to find the umph! factor. It wasn't bland, or anything, but for me, it was just...boring.

Now for the pork-shrimp roll, nothing much to say here. It's the typical dimsum with the typical sauce. So as you read on, you begin to realize how typical the food here is...However, one thing that definitly stuck out in my dining experience here is there..........WATER!!! yes!! their water.

This typical looking water, is actually PANDAN water! Somehow, they add pandan essence to it. Not bad, not bad. But wait there's more........You see the tiny little dot somewhere in the ice? thats no dirt, nor is it food that fell down...its.....COCKROACH! Surprise, surprise.

Now being a food fanatic, I understand that sometimes, in restaurants, these insects can not be avoided. Maybe it somehow fell into the glass, or it the crew, didn't wipe it clean enough, it happens, and I'm not going to complain and give back my order just because of one tiny cockroach. However, as I continue to pigout on my pork-shrimp roll, two more cockroaches of the same size came crawling out of my plate.

Now I'm not the type to make a fuzz out of tiny insects eating my food, but when you have three cockroaches running around your food table like its New York City, it gets pretty annoying. And thats exactly how I felt. It was more annoying than disgusting, so I just finished up my lugaw, and just left the remaining two rolls for the cockroach to pigout on.

Finally, the rating:

Taste : A great twist to a favorite home-food

Service : The food came out fast, and the waiters were polite and helpful

Ambiance/Cleanliness :place was nice, seemed clean, but...with three cockroaches roaming around my table, I think they may have some issues here.

Attire: Casual

Price: less than P100 ($2.5)

Other Recommendations: As I said earlier, I just didn't get the umph factor from the Pilo-gaw. However, from looking at the description, the "Goto-Hell" seems pretty interesting. It supposedly is the spicier version of the Pilo-gaw.

Lugawan Republic has several branches around the metro. The one I went to is in Metro Walk, Pasig Ortigas. It is next to Carlo's pizza, and across Bun on the Run.

All in all, I am pretty neutral to this place. Value and Service seems to be the biggest pro's of this place. And for the food, I can understand why people like it so much, but for me, it just seems boring.

Happy Pigout :@

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