Bicol Street Food : Kinalas

I've heard about this Kinalas from the boys who get off the bus from Bicol.  I thought at first it was like some isau thing - barbecue pork and chicken intestines - or some skewered part of the pig or chicken grilled on sidestreets.  I was wrong.  They say it's like the Bicolano local batchoy.  I heard about it sometime in 2006 I think.  Took quite a long time before I could finally try it.

Apparently, it's not always available anytime of the day (unless the guys are just pulling my leg, not wanting to take me out to eat).  They say you can't have it for dinner -- cause it runs out by then.  Can you then eat it like in the morning, before lunch?  Not sure.  But when they finally took me there, we had to rush to get out as it was already past 5 (maybe what they said about it running out before dinner time is true).  

They were debating which sidestreet karinderia to take me to and when someone suggested the place where Congressman Dato Arroyo (yes, the president's son) eats, I said I guess that should be a safe and clean enough place  (and yes the place had a picture of the cook/owner with the Dato guy).

The place was Enting's and it was a small nipa hut on a row of other small nipa huts along a major highway where buses and trucks pass.  It would be just about a meter or so from the road but I didn't really feel like the exhaust fumes or the dust from the road was smothering me.  When we get in, I notice smaller groups of men seated (generally quietly) with heads bowed down forking up the noodles from the sabaw.  It was the end of the day and the place was comfortably filled up with blue collared workers getting their end of the day fill.  Other than our table there was another one with a female and a guy friend just finishing up.

Much like batchoy, it has the same yellowish, medium-sized flat noodles.  The bowl is filled up near the brim with some tinted broth, topped with green onions and shredded soft meat from the pig's face.  A drizzle of thick soy was also plunked down in the center for added flavoring.  Apparently this yummy local dish IS only available at this time of the day because people do run out of the day's supply of pig's faces -- and maybe they are not available much earlier?  

By the way, before these bowls come around 2 plates of turon are also served.  This is another specialty of the place and people order it along with their bowl of kinalas.

As soon as the bowls are set in front of us the boys started seasoning it.  Most of them squeeze in some kalamansi, some add suka, some toyo or patis, and still some add this sili concoction (just a little bit because it is pure sili).  I didn't add anything first, just wanting to have it at its unadulterated state. 

It was yummy.  I think the magic really is in the soft flesh of meat from the pig's face...  and that drizzle of soy (whatever is mixed with it).  I don't really much like kalamansi on my meals (even on my pancit) and I don't like patis or toyo added to an already soy-based meal.  So I just added a bit of the sili concoction (crushed sili labuyo I think with some vinegar they say) and it is yummy spicy enough.  Yumyum.  You can get the regular bowl which I think costs P30 or the jumbo (which Jay and Eric are having).  There are large litro bottle of softdrinks you can order to share with everyone.