The KALYE Gourmet

There's inherent excitement
in eating anything cooked and served
on the streets of Manila.

My beloved city's
clouds of carbon monoxide and
metric tons of dust motes
have to settle down somewhere,
and where better than on the street food,
all the better to add to the spices?


Suspiciously sourced,
Dangerously cooked,
Supremely tasty,
and
Absurdly cheap,

here are a couple of my favorites
from the Oroquieta-Tayuman intersection:

"CALAMARES"
> crunchier, chunkier, and so much better than
the expensive varieties found in Tapas bars,

these battered (double dead?) squid treats
are sold, freshly fried, for only P20.00 per cup (!)

"TENGA-LING"
> grilled pigs' ears,
basted in the kind of sweet-spicy sauce
that you can seemingly find only on the streets;

i've "heard" that these ears are fat-free eats,
as they have no fat, just cartilage... right? right?

only P10.00 for each generously-packed stick!