PlanetEye

I was not privileged enough to have grown up in my mom’s hometown of Lucban but I’m proud to consider it as part of my roots. Famous for the annual Pahiyas Festival, people from all over the world come to see Lucban’s houses and streets decorated in bright neon colored kiping or rice leaves. This festival is a celebration of a plentiful harvest. What you sow, you reap, and then comes the best part… eating.

There is a fantastic menagerie of foods that come from Lucban. One of them is Pancit Habhab or Pancit Luglog- pasta made from rice flour instead of the usual wheat flour and eggs. It is called Habhab because it’s eaten “habhab” style- wrapped on a banana leaf using no fork, right there on the street. Chewy and dripping with a combination of soy sauce and boiled animal broth, it’s a slurping good time.

It used to be that you’d have to go all the way to Lucban to partake of this delicacy. But now, Buddy’s has brought it to Manila. For only P125, you can get Habhab good for three people served with a piece of banana leaf tucked into its Styrofoam container. Buddy’s, a fast food chain originated from Lucban and spread out to Manila- bringing with it a festival atmosphere as well as a whole slew of provincial foods.

In Buddy’s, you have a variety of Filipino favorites like menudo, adobo, laing and your choice of sizzling meats. They also have Filipino style spaghetti, pizza, and longganisa burger. But the one thing you mustn’t leave home without trying is Langgonisang Lucban.  It’s basically a sausage that’s a mix of pork, spices, vinegar, tons of garlic stuffed into dried pork intestine. Deep fry and serve with fried rice. Heavenly.

Check out Buddy’s monstrous fiesta menu conveniently located in Taguig, Makati, and Ortigas.

Phone Number: 895-7185, 895-7980

(Fastfood Philippines is a continuous series of posts about fast food places that are unique to the country. Watch out as I feature more of them soon)