Today I got the rare chance to explore a part of Manila that I haven’t had a chance to see yet, together with my local chef. He told me about this special restaurant on Dian Street; Makati, called Aling Sosing’s Carinderia, which I’m told, is a very famous food stall in Manila.
Walking closer to the food stall I was engulfed in a thick cloud of smoke coming out of the charcoal grill, located right on the side walk. The smell was amazing! I could tell that we were in for a real treat. With all the seats and tables full of customers already, and a long que of people waiting to be seated, we resorted to standing. We would not find any seats anytime soon.
We walked straight to the grill, where the source of incredible amount of smoke was coming out of, from all the burning fat that was dripping onto the hot coals. The grill itself looked like it was about 100 years old; completely caked in a black crust. This is where all the flavor comes from!
On the grill there are thin slabs of marinated pork belly, sizzling away, under the watchful eye of the grill cook. She says she has been working the grill since 1982! We quickly ordered a plate of pork belly, which she chopped up into large bite size pieces. I couldn’t wait to try the smokey morsels, so we used our fingers to eat. The flavors were amazing! It was very smokey, a little salty with a hint sweetness, and very moist. We quickly finished the first plate and ordered more. I was going to bring some back home for my family to try too.
Curious, I asked how much she sells in a day? The grill cook told us that she can sell up to 50kgs of pork belly a day! I will definitely like to come back to Sosing’s soon, just to have more of that amazing pork belly! Check out my short video on the streets of Manila:
Great post 😁