Matutina’s

Edmund’s friends who regularly go up to Baguio always dine at this restaurant, Matutina. We saw this last year but we went straight to Tarlac and ate at Barrio Fiesta’s floating Isdaan restaurant instead.

This time, Edmund is curious and wants to try it. Kasi daw masarap according to his friends.

Matutina’s is in Urdaneta, Pangasinan. Coming from Baguio, it’s on the left side of the highway.

There’s a life-sized Igorot carving at the entrance which evokes a native ambiance.

annex 3? This place looks like it has slowly expanded from a small eatery to what it is today. I might be mistaken but that’s really my impression, maliit sila nag simula, tapos ngayon, palaki ng palaki.

I wonder how a wheelchair could squeeze in here.

Kevin’s mini-garden. si Kevin kaya ay anak o apo. Cannot be the husband kasi nung araw hindi pa uso ang pangalan ay Kevin. Baka Mang Kubing pa meron.

Naku eto na naman ang favorite ni husband.

They are known pala for their sinigang. They won two years in a row. Kaya lang kung Knorr sinigang ang sahog eh lahat ng sinigang magiging masarap talaga ang lasa.

Ayaw ko sana mag-order ng buko kasi malayo pa kami at baka ma wee-wee ako pero hindi ko rin napigil. I ordered pa rin.

The minute the waiter put down my buko on the table, a little boy wearing a yellow t-shirt, aged about 5, suddenly appeared from the left side and grabbed the straw. I grabbed his arm with my left hand but I wasn’t able to control him because he was so fast and I couldn’t hold his arm hard enough kasi baka umiyak. Pero gusto ko talaga syang kurutin.
Gulat na gulat lahat, even those from the other tables. The mom came to our table to get his son, but he was throwing tantrums. He wanted to grab naman the buko.

He strikes me as a boy who’s used to getting everything he wants. My kids were never like that even when they were little.
Hindi sila makulit at magulo. I never experienced they would cry because they wanted me to get them something.

Edmund ordered kinilaw na tangigue but before I could even taste it, naubos na. Masarap siguro. At konti lang naman kasi ang portion.

I ordered sinigang na bangus belly. Okay naman sya. Is this the award winning recipe?
Medyo pwede pa lang ipambato rin ang sinigang ko.

We liked their inihaw na liempo kasi wala syang sauce. They just sprinkled salt. We don’t like basted with bbq sauce. It removes the inihaw taste. parang nagiging bbq. But then it’s a matter of personal preference.

Crab again? P500 a piece for what they call regular size.

These pastillas used to be 5. It was already on the table when we arrived.
Edmund——— “libre kaya iyan?”
Me———— Hindi
after a few minutes
Edmund——- “masarap kaya iyan?”
Me———- tikman mo. Siguro naman hindi lalampas ng P500 isa.
He took one, then another one. Kaya now there are 3 left.

P1,200 for 2.

We arrived in Manila at 11 pm. I was tired not from the road trip but from watching Deo’s driving. he overtook a truck and meron kaming kasalubong na big bus, alanganin ang pasok nya, kung matuling yung bus, siguro tigok na kami. Nakaka inis. I don’t like overtaking. You only save a few minutes and yet you risk your safety and life.

My son was happy with our pasalubong– Giant Pepper Crabs from Chef Alvin.

I placed the pentel pen beside the claw to compare the length.

One claw could make your tummy full. It’s huge.