Bale Dutung

Bale Dutung has been around for a while and tons and tons of stuff has been written about it.  


With our beach trip cancelled, Portia and I decided to drive to Angeles, Pampanga to see what the fuss was all about.


When we called we were asked to choose between the Kapampangan menu or the Lechon Menu.  The lechon menu won.

I liked this about the place almost instantly:

The welcome drink was:

Fresh Dalandan Juice with frozen muscovado sugar.

And the drinks we were served with the meal:

Water (duh) and Damn Good Salabat.

And this was what we ate:

The Menu

3 Dips - Balao Balao, Taba ng Talangka and Pesto

Eating the dips with crackers.

Pako Salad

Pako Salad Close Up!

Satisfied customer 1

Satisfied customer 2

Fried Lumpiang Ubod

Chicken Inasal and Taba ng Talangka Rice

Talangka and Hito/Balao Balao Sushi

Let there be Lechon!

Claude carving the Lechon.

We were served Lechon 5 ways:

First way :Balat ng Lechon.  Ay Dios Mio.  Good sauce too, puto seko was mixed in the sauce to thicken it.  I also loved the big chunks of garlic in the sauce.  Langit.

Por and her share of Balat!

Second way :  Lechon Tortilla.  Deep fried lechon belly, shredded and served with kimchi and onions on a tortilla.

The second way deserved a close-up.

How we ate the 2nd way lechon.

Third way:  Inihaw na tadyang ng lechon with eggplant.

Fourth Way:  Sinigang na Lechon.

Fifth way:  Sisig with (optional) pig brains.

And just when all that lechon was knocking us down, out came the dessert:

Paradiso:  Thick custard brûlée, with macapuno, yema and ube halaya.

Dacal a salamat,  Claude and Mary Ann!  That 10-course meal was ridiculously good.  Methinks Bale Dutung lived up to the hype.

Mary Ann, Portia, Me (Sunny) and Claude.
All the guests get to sign a guestbook, and are given the chance to camwhore with the chef.

  * We went to Susie's to buy packs of Tibok-Tibok after Bale Dutung.  But that is another story.