Having lived in Leyte, Los Banos and Manila for the most part of my life, I only
got to really experience Cebu culture now that I moved to Mandaue. Prior to this, I have never even heard of Pungko-pungko. And so my cousins, who were born and raised in Cebu, took me out so I could try it for myself.
This article is for people who, like me, have no idea of what pungko-pungko is. A proper introduction of this Cebuano favorite is in order.
We start with: What is “Pungko-pungko?” Basically, PUNGKO-PUNGKO are food stalls that you find along the streets which sell a random assortment of fried food. The term “pungko” is Cebuano for squat or crouch. Usually you will be sitting on low benches so you will have to be slouching while eating. Hence, the name “pungko-pungko.”
Nowadays, you can find pungko-pungko stalls just about anywhere, but we went to this particular one near Capitol Site. The more famous pungko-pungko stalls are found near Redemptorist Church, Fuente Osmena, and Salinas Drive.
Normally, pungko-pungko stalls have a wide selection of fried food ranging from lumpia(spring rolls which can be made of meat or vegetables), bola-bola (meatballs), longganisa(Filipino sausage), fried chicken, buwad (dried fish), utok (brain), but the most prominent perhaps among these (and the star, if you ask me) is the ginabot, the Cebuano version of the chicharon bulaklak. Sinfully good, but remember to take it in moderation!
This particular stall had limited choices (maybe because it was lunchtime and probably a lot of people arrived before us), but nonetheless, we had a little of each: utok, pancreas and of course, the ginabot.
Once you have your sawsawan, you’re now ready to eat! You can eat it like this, with a piece of plastic for a placemat, or you can eat it however you want.
What you’d like to do is take a piece of your ginabot (or other fried food), dip it in thesibuyas-suka–sili sawsawan you just made, and if you’re like me who loves onions, you get a a few pieces and eat it with the ginabot. And don’t forget the puso of course
And voila, just like that, all our food was gone in a flash! It is important that you take note of the food that you ordered, because you pay for the food that you declared. In short, honesty is the best policy here.
The kuya (presumably the owner of this stall) computes for our total bill. Would you believe that for everything that we ordered, we only got to spend P180 for 3 people? It’s no wonder this place is packed during lunchtime; it’s because it’s so cheap and filling, but also so good.
Overall, I would say I enjoyed my experience eating at the pungko-pungko, and it’s something I would make my Manila friends try when they visit Cebu.
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