As someone who's six feet tall and weighs around 71 kilos, my thin body frame does not fit the image of being an absolute foodie, but looks can be deceiving. I may be a light drinker, but I am a heavy eater, as the people in our office would say “Growing boy yan, bigyan niyo ng maraming pagkain yan.” Let’s just hope my metabolism keeps up as I age.

When Honda invited us for a food crawl drive to Pampanga, the food capital of the Philippines, my body and mind were already prepared and waiting for us to go there. This was going to be fun and full of cholesterol knowing that Sisig would be the center of this food trip.

When we finally arrived in Pampanga, my mind was already whispering sisig to me. The anticipation for our well-awaited lunch was almost reachable. As a foodie myself, even when I was still a student, we would eat in different hole-in-the-wall stalls, carinderias, and when we had the budget, at different restaurants. accompanied by my friends, we would try different foods whenever we had some free time.

Roaming around Pampanga, the Honda HR-V was a great companion to be with, its size was not too wide unlike other SUVs making it easier to maneuver around tight roads while having the confidence of going through potholes and rough roads without sacrificing the comfortable ride. The cabin space is also surprisingly large and could accommodate someone my size without a sweat.

I’ve also tasted a lot of sisig in my lifetime, many of which claimed to be savory, original, or even better than the OG sisig. I doubt that you’d believe me when I say that it’s been five years since my last sisig in some random carinderia in Pampanga. 

And now that I have finally tasted the real sisig, I would say, nothing beats the original, the legit, the OG sisig. It does taste different from the usual sisig we know and enjoy, so it may take some time before we get used to it. And with the absence of mayonnaise, what more could I ask for, as a fan of pork brain in sisig compared to mayonnaise. There was also this subtle and calm flavor with the sisig, it was not overly salty or just overpowered by the taste of onion although it does have quite the onion served with it.

The sisig was accompanied by great contenders for hypertension. The chicharon bulaklak and tokwa’t baboy, which was screaming, “dip me in vinegar and let’s go to heaven”. It was both savory with the chicharon just crispy enough and the tokwa’t baboy not being overcooked.

With all of us approaching food coma, everyone aka my titos and titas was worrying about their gouts and all. I thought our dessert would be medications but thank God I’m still young. 

After Aling Lucing's, we made a short stopover to buy some cheese bread in L.A. Bakeshop, the home of the original cheese bread, similar to our previous destination, the place was inconspicuous, it seemed like a pasalubong shop beside the road, nothing too fancy as well. But they were all raving about their cheese bread, I wasn’t sure why, to begin with, but after tasting one, it's like things went blurry and I’ve eaten 8 pieces already.

Worth coming back to. Their cheese bread was delicious, the bread was not too soft, and the cheese was fully incorporated into the bread, hands down the best cheese bread, especially for its price. It was a “where have you been” moment for me. The only thing I regret is not buying the Spanish bread to taste it as well.

Our next stop was dessert, we headed to Susie's Cusine for halo-halo. Their halo-halo or ube-ube as I would like to call it, because it had a generous amount of ube ice cream and ube halaya hidden underneath it. I also found it creamy and was balanced between the amount of shaved ice and milk. The serving size was also generous, I never thought I’d be more full after finishing their halo-halo.

We also had sylvanas which were buttery and creamy, not too sweet and the consistency was not too sticky. It was a lighter type of sylvanas for me which I imagine would have been a good pairing with coffee. It was also time to buy some pasalubongs, and the only regret I had was not getting more tibok-tibok which was gone the minute I gave it, and other delicacies.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, I’d also like to say all good food must end with good desserts. 

Going back to Manila on a full stomach, the Honda HR-V became even more comfortable, especially with a bit of a traffic jam piling up in NLEX. It was easy to drive with the assistance of auto brake hold, the adaptive cruise control, so we could continue with our trip being relaxing and pleasant which completed the whole experience.