All You Can Eat for $1?! Kopi Klotok (Secang, Central Java, Indonesia)

All you can eat for $1? Am I serious? It's less than $1 actually (Rp.8,500 to be exact). In the small towns of Indonesia, such things are still possible.
If you've never heard of the town Secang in Central Java, you're not the only one. I never heard of it either until this trip and even now it will just be that town we had to drive through to get to my mom's hometown (Magelang) from Semarang (the closest airport unaffected by the erupting Merapi volcano).

None of us were hungry after lunch but when we were told about the AYCE for Rp.8,500 at Kopi Klotok that's supposed to be good, all of us said "why not?" Turns out they had quite a few of traditional Javanese items even I haven't tried before, like this Buntil, made with coconut, anchovies, green chili, wrapped and steamed in papaya leaf.

Read more »

Taste of FPAC and Manila Machine: My First Tastes of Filipino Food

The 19th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture kicked off with a reception called Taste of FPAC, which benefited FilAm Arts (The Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts and Culture)

The Taste of FPAC was held at Oinkster (the chef/owner Andre Guerrero, is a Filipino) and also featured the first Filipino truck in SoCal, Manila Machine.

Besides some pancit my aunt's friend liked to make, this is the first time I've really had a Filipino meal. Sure, I've tried a couple bites of Manila Machine's pork adobo at the LA Street Food Fest, but this time I got to taste a slew of items.

I first started with Chef Andre Guerrero's plate of Filipino food, complete with BBQed pork skewer, pork bicol express (pork, coconut milk, potato), and inihaw (roast pork).

Read more »

"A Dose of Vitamin P" for FoodGPS!

Since FoodGPS had a disappointing week in pork, the bloggers who went down to Tijuana for the Pork 5 ways meal decided to each do A Dose of Vitamin P, dedicated to FoodGPS! (For those of you who didn't know, P here stands for Pork. FoodGPS highlights the best pork dish in his weekly Dose of Vitamin P.)

My Vitamin P was this tosta de cachete con erizo from Chef Jair Téllez of Laja in Valle de Guadalupe. He had run out of food within an hour so I was the only one in the group who had it (sorry!). Here you have uni and avocado on top of a "toast" made with pork cheek. Sweet, creamy uni. Crispy, fatty pork. Mind, blown.

Toast? Crostini? BORING. Crisped pork needs to be the new toast. Bruschetta with crispy pork. I'm going to smear foie gras torchon on a piece of toasted pork cheek. Pork rillette on pork, anyone?

For more porkporkpork, check out my fellow adventurers Street Gourmet LA, e*starLA, and My Last Bite who are all supposed to be posting their Dose of Vitamin P today.