November!!! Where has the year gone? Christmas is next month and 2021 is barely 2 months away! It’s as though time just raced from September till now – Halloween, bonfire night and now thanksgiving! Like WTH???
I feel a certain type of way when it comes to thanksgiving. I mean it is not a British holiday but the whole world seems to get involved because of black Friday fever ha! Historically, the premise of thanksgiving is somewhat jaded depending on which version of history you get told. Nonetheless, I think the essence of this holiday is gratitude as well as the countdown to Christmas which is about family and loved ones! So in the spirit of gratitude and celebrating family I am taking you back to a time when I took my dear friend to a boodle fight meal.
What is boodle fight? It is when you have a meal by Kamayan which essentially is eating with your hands. The meal is usually a set menu and occurs in a hosts residence. A type of communal style eating common to the Philippines. And if you are wondering what the connection to the Philippines is? I am half Filipina! Ha! Kamayan is essentially 4 steps to eating with your hands – gather, compress, prepare and push; simples!
Right, now that that is all cleared up, the boodle fight meal happened by sheer luck. I was scrolling on IG and happened on Mae’s account. She is a Filipina who cooks and runs supper clubs featuring Filipino cuisine. She had her last summer one planned for Sept 19 and I reached out to her to get tickets and I happened to get the last 2 tickets #winning. Not gonna lie, September ’19 had us eating some amazing food from Tapisco, Local, Restaurant Sala, the best suckling pig (street food) and of course the food halls of Timeout market Lisboa! Phew! Yes, we got our grub on!
I was looking forward to this supper club because aside from the anticipation of the food, it was spending quality time with my dear friend Ronke who is an art curator and owner of Jade Art! The day finally came, and we were a little late (and no it was not black people time kinda late tsk!) we just got caught up with our gist over wine is all lol! I am going to say that the food gods are always on my side because when I tell you Mae didn’t come to play, well she did not. This supper club was a fab collaboration with a fave – Lechon guru (Chef Budgie, owner of Sarap BAon), kamayan queen (Yana of Saloseries) and the brains behind (Luto London)! Yep it was a full Filipino line up and I was here for it.
For this boodle fight we had 7 courses and OMD! Now because we are eating kamayan style, there were no dishes, cutlery and the tablecloth was banana leaves as this is where the food is laid on. We kicked off with Longganisa scotch egg (sweet + garlicky filipino susauge + quail eggs)
and Ukoy (Mung beans sprouts, carrots and shrimp fritter).
When these were being introduced, plated up and what not, we could not wait to dig in! I mean – red cabbage atsara, black + jasmine rice, mang tomas, spice vinegar! Course we wanted to tuck in!
The Sinigang poke was a very interesting twist. This is sour savoury soup which is not possible to eat with hands. But Yana, did her ting and it was so good. It had all the characteristics of a sinigang dish acidic, savoury all from the blend of Scottish salmon, tamarind, heirloom cherry tomatoes and furikake. Not only did the tapioca cracker (yep, cracker) make a perfect bowl, it was delish and a fresh perspective for this well-loved dish.
We were well excited for the lechon! I mean that is like the whole point to being Filipino aside from adobo and rice of course lol! This lechon was slow roasted pork belly (like is there any other way?!), with lemon grass, bay leaves, spring onions and garlic.
Now the best bit of a lechon is the crispy skin aka crackling and this one had it in spades.
Ginataan a gulay was seasonal veggies, pumpkin, burnt coconut curry! The lumpiang hubad a naked spring roll with bamboo shoots, mushrooms and carrots and boi! These were good!
Pudding was cassava cake and Ube cream. To be honest I don’t think I need to say any more about this. If you guys are not in on Ube, get familiar because it is the business! Some seriously scrumptious desserts are made with and from Ube is all I am saying.
Sharing this meal with my peoples and dear friend was really what I needed at the time! It was truly a home away from home feeling and one I will always cherish.
Tagay
Ndidi
p.s. I think Ronke is down for boodle fight food too lol
p.p.s boodle fight diners arrive as strangers but leave as friends, tis the norm!
Addendum – rules of Kamayan
I am certainly down for a Boogie fight food. Thanks to my dearest for the tag. We need another supper club.
And soon.
ha ha ha ! definitely! Mae is on it.. So glad you loved it hun
I have seen this on social media. Never had This cuisine. Where do we find dates for the next supper club and could you suggest restaurants with authentic food ?