Dampa sa Libis
In consonance with the 2005 Independent Food Festival & Awards, I have chosen Dampa sa Libis as ÒThe Best Eatery serving all-Filipino food in Metro ManilaÓ.
Dampa sa Libis isnÕt your ordinary carinderia (eatery). It is actually a series of eateries with its own wet market. Inspired by the original Dampa at the coastal seafood market, the set up of this establishment proves in a way that there are a lot of people for whom the ÒfoodÓ will always be more important than the ambiance.
Dampa means the humblest of huts. Libis is the Filipino word for a shallow valley still thick with vegetation. It was a name given to a part of Quezon City (where the eateries are now located) before urbanization set in. Today, the area called Libis is a cluster of office complexes, spas, boutiques, restaurants, a shopping mall and supermarkets. If Dampa sa Libis, therefore, conjures up an image of a quaint hut in a rustic setting, well, donÕt let the name mislead you.
The eatery called Dampa sa Libis sits on a lot bigger than a fullsized basketball court. The area is roofed but the sides are open. The stalls where the food is cooked are on the sides. At the central area are the dining tables. Beyond this area is a small seafood market and, behind it, an ample parking lot.
So, how does one enjoy the food at Dampa sa Libis? Let me describe what we did on Sunday evening. We started by visiting the seafood market where there were stalls and stalls of seafood–shrimps (below, left) and prawns, fresh-water and saltwater fish, oysters, mussels, clamsÉ Then, there were the special cuts of fish–fish heads and roe (for soup), belly (below, right) for grillingÉ
For the carnivores, there were a few stalls selling marinated pork and chicken ready to go straight to the grill (below, left). There are even choices on the kind of marinade–sweet barbecue, sea salt and chilies, soy sauce and kalamansi or the more exotic looking ones.
Since we were a party of 17, we bought a lot from the seafood market–over a kilo of maya-maya head and a kilo of tuna roe (eggs) for our sinigang (sour soup), about 1.2 kilos of marinated pork belly, 1.25 kilos of tuna belly and a kilo of squids.
After that was weighing time. There was a central area where the raw seafood and meats were weighed. We chose from among the dozen cooking stalls, and from the weighing area, the raw food was dispatched to the cooking stall of choice. We specified how we wanted each item cooked. These cooking stalls provided the vegetables and condiments that went with each dish. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the food. Waiting was not a problem because there was an adjacent tiangge (flea market) where we whiled away the time.
In less than 30 minutes, our dinner was ready. Grilled liempo or pork belly marinated in barbeque sauce (above, right), maya-maya head and tuna roe sinigang (below, left) and grilled squid (below, right).
Last to arrive at our table was the grilled tuna belly (left).
Now, this was down-to-earth Filipino food. No embellishment, no ornaments, no fancy platesÉ just good grub.
Note that if youÕre planning on visiting Dampa sa Libis, better specify how well done you want your seafood. Since most Filipinos prefer their seafood very well-done, the cooks at Dampa will cook your seafood to death unless you specify that that want them Òjust cookedÓ.
The price? For all the seafood and meat I mentioned above plus cooking charges, for four families consisting of nine adults, three adolescents and five young children, the total bill was a little over PhP 2,400.00 (about US$ 45.00). Nice, huh?
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