Hukad SM San Lazaro

Hukad 
SM San Lazaro

The restaurant name Hukad intrigued us,

 

.. and we later learned that it was a Visayan word 
for a native wooden ladle used as a serving spoon.

 

It had a local festive décor and
the staff was amiable and friendly.

 

An old favorite dish and usually of guisado type but Hukad Ginataang Mongos 
 had a newer twist. It was stewed with coconut milk and was slightly sweetish. 
Stewed mongo is a family comfort food, but we would need more time for our 
Bicolano taste buds to learn appreciate  this more saccharine version.



We liked Hukad’s own version of Pinakbet.  Since we love amplaya 
and there was a lot of them in this dish. There were also an abundance
of eggplants and tomatoes, sautéd with bagoong. It was a  deilcious
 fusion of hale and hearty guisadong amaplaya and exotic pinakbet.

 

The Lechon Cebu Belly was to die for, literally and figuratively.
The crunchy skin and the tender belly was reeking with flavorful
herbs and spices, intertwining with the aftertaste of  tangy lemon
grass, leeks, pepper and  there was even a delightful hint of garlic.

 

I love the Hukad Halo- Halo had just the right ingredients
 resulting  to a more focused ans  refined tasting halo- halo
 without the ‘umay’.  It is so unlike typical Pinoy versions 
overflowing with almost everything on it that every ingredient
added overwhelms and masks their individual  flavor.

 

Of course I never miss to order my favorite refreshment
whenever I dine in a Filipino restaurant, Sago’t Gulaman.

 

We dined at Hukad as it was the only restaurant
that wasn’t crowded at SM City Lazaro in Manila,

 

...and we’re lucky as we had the chance to try some
awesome new takes on all time favorite Pinoy dishes.