Commotion Blog

by Sasha Lim Uy

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After squeezing calamansi juice over a plateful of juicy minced pork cheeks and adding several onion slices to it, a delicious aroma filled the air as the mixing caused the oils to ooze from the succulent meat. And with a bowl of rice, Peydro’s Sisig (Los) Angeles was perfection.

This was how the lowly sisig was served at Peydro’s Sosi Street Food and it would have taken super human powers to resist it. A breath of fresh air in the world of culinary masterpieces, Peydro’s is here to stay.

Lost in the labyrinth of the SM Mall of Asia and further dwarfed by familiar chain stores that border, Peydro’s is literally a greasy hole-in-the-mall. Although definitely small in terms of size compared to the other establishments, Peydro’s is difficult to miss. The contradicting words, “sosi,” a Pinoy slang for high class, and street food alone, are enough to make a passerby stop, take a second look, be pulled inside and perhaps sample everything.

Being so tiny, the restaurant only has three tables set up inside and two outside. We, my mom, brother and I, were lucky enough to be seated inside and were able to concentrate on the food instead of being distracted by the endless display of Peydro’s chef’s culinary acrobatics which could be seen more clearly on the restaurant’s window.

As my mom and my brother pondered over the menu, I scanned the restaurant’s interior. It tried its best to maintain a kalye aura with roof seams on the walls, a street lamp in the corner, and picnic benches as tables. However, with the way the elements were pieced together and with the red and green color scheme, everything seemed to be rustic, thereby falling short of the natural street ambiance.

Of course, I was intrigued how anyone can make the street-branded isaw gourmet save for serving it on a shiny, ceramic platter. I was disappointed, however, when I browsed through the menu, I discovered that the more popular roadside goodies such as isaw (chicken or pork innards), adidas (chicken feet), betamax (solidified chicken blood), and walkman (chicken head) were nowhere to be found in their carte du jour. Instead, Peydro’s opted for the safer fish balls (dubbed fish bowl), Pancit Malabon (nicknamed Pancit ng Taga Fort), and banana cue (evolved into banana cue flambé), among others.

There was also a sprinkling of foreign comfort food such as hotdogs and chili dogs. For someone who has sworn off the decadence of meat, eating here would be like mortal sin. But since Peydro’s was relatively new, my mom and my brother decided to make the best of this “gourmet” experience by ordering everything in the menu—from the array of bowla-bowla, rice bowls, different kinds of pancit, sandwiches, and a variety of desserts.

I gladly shoveled through the squid bowl and fish bowl which barely resembled the squid balls and fish balls normally offered on the roadside. The Pancit ng Taga-Fort, meanwhile, tasted exactly like the regular Pancit Malabon.

I didn’t eat anything before going to Peydro’s because I wanted to freely indulge myself to everything. However, it was not my appetite that held me back but a serious conviction to vegetarianism. More than half the food that was scattered on the table was meat. The lechon manok, the Sisig (Los) Angeles, which was basically ordinary sisig served in a fancy dish, and the kwek-kwek coated with ground meat instead of the standard orange flour were a different story altogether.

Their appetizing fragrance and presentation, however, won over my conviction—this time. I bravely poked the meat-covered kwek-kwek with my fork, and took a small bite. I don’t pretend to be a food connoisseur. On the contrary, my judgment for what’s delicious is limited simply to what is edible and what is not. But let me just say that my bites became bigger and more convinced.

The only problem with the kwek-kwek was that the egg has been frozen for too long and it showed. That probably made the lechon manok, cooked like barbecued chicken, taste even better than it actually was.

After that I sampled some dessert. I focused my attention on the banana cue flambé which, ironically, was not flaming at all, nor did it even have a hint of alcohol. Flambé is food cooked in flaming liquor. It certainly did not resemble the ordinary banana cue. It looked more like warm bananas clumped together with a film of super hard and sticky crystallized sugar, complemented with two scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Fearing that we might end up breaking a tooth or two, we gave up eating or shall I say wrestling with the bananas and ended up sharing the ice cream instead. Except for the gumminess and hardness of the flambé, it was actually quite good.

The place being sosi, the prices would likewise be sosi. They were nowhere near as cheap as the ones we find on the streets. The prices range from P80 to P150 a dish. Although we left the Peydro’s with our pockets considerably lighter and our stomachs several inches bigger, Peydro’s is definitely worth a visit.

The experience did not make me a meat convert but once in a while, if something interesting like Peydro’s turn up, a bite here and there of poultry, pork and beef would be most welcome. If you’re craving for a bite of street food, visit Peydro’s and try their jazzed-up version, served in a fancier setting sans the ubiquitous elements we hate so much in the streets and you just might come back for more. COMMotion

Photos by Finness Calacal