Filipinos mostly travel for 3 reasons: sightseeing, experience, and food. There’s no doubt that we, Filipinos, love to eat. Unfortunately, not all of us have enough time to travel due to our busy school or work schedules. But what if I tell you that you can have a taste of Batangas, Pampanga, Ilocos, Cebu, and Bicol all in one restaurant along Captain Javier Street in Pasig City? Come and let’s all check out this place that offers all your Filipino favorites- Sangkap.
Sangkap is a one stop Filipino restaurant that offers regional favorites like sinigang, kare-kare, and bagnet but all with a twist. Its homey and rustic interiors will really bring you a sense of nostalgia taking you back to the days when all you’ve always craved for is your grandma’s cooking. Known as one of the best chefs in the industry, Chef Raymar Reyes have always enjoyed a play of flavors with our local delicacies — giving familiar tastes a contemporary fusion that would tickle your taste buds and bring back fond memories of your childhood. Although their extensive menu may sound common to a Pinoy foodie, I would highly suggest that you prepare for the unexpected.
Let’s start with the pampagana or appetizers. Sangkap’s signature dish, Pâté na Adobong Manok with Toast, is something that you won’t find anywhere else. According to Chef Raymar, this special dish has a touch of French preparations. Pâté is a mixture of cooked ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. It can be smooth or coarse and is delicious simply spread on warm toast or crusty bread. Instead of the usual chicken liver pâté, this specialty is simmered in basic adobo sauce with a dash of cream cheese to balance the flavors. Together with the homemade chips, toast, and caramelized onion, this dish definitely made us go loco in every bite.
Another bestseller is their Ivatan Kilawin. Originally from Batanes, the Ivatan Kilawin will surely make your taste buds tingle with its raw fish, shrimp, and squid cooked in vinegar and coconut milk. The coconut milk adds a subtle sweetness to the dish and makes this specialty rich and creamy in texture. This dish is best paired with either their homemade chips or rice.
This next dish is like hitting two birds with one stone as Chef Raymar combined two Filipino favorites – lechon and sinigang – to form one unique but delicious culinary experiment. The Cebu Lechon Sinigang isn’t like the sinigang that your nanay cooks for you at home. The huge slab of crispy and flavorful pork belly sits on top of the sinigang soup which is made up of ripe and green mangoes, tamarind broth, and taro to thicken the sauce, along with fresh vegetables. This extraordinary dish definitely didn’t disappoint.
Hardcore dinuguan fans will surely go crazy over this next plate. What makes Sangkap’s dinuguan special is the huge chunks of pork belly sitting on top of the moderately thick stew together with their home-grilled Betamax, chicharon bulaklak and atchara as the final touch. The dinuguan itself has the right salty and sour taste that makes it the perfect comfort food. This dish definitely calls for rice – lots and lots of rice!
If you just want to hang out on a Friday night, Sangkap is still the perfect place for you for they also offer beer, wine, and cocktails that can help you unwind after a stressful week. What sets Sangkap apart from other Filipino restaurants are their unique and vibrant dishes that will surely remind you of home. Another great thing about Sangkap is that if you’re planning to hold an event, their 2nd floor can accommodate approximately 50 people! And you do not even have to worry about the cost because they can customize your package depending on your budget! For inquiries, just text or call 09175003187.
Aside from their Pasig branch, you can also visit their Vista Mall Taguig and Ayala Malls Vertis North branches!
Pop culture connoisseur, minimalist, and a picky eater, he brainstorms with himself on Sunday nights obsessing about his existential dilemmas then regrets all of it the following day. He is finally done ghost writing for other people and now decided to have a byline of his own.
