Sampaloc, Quezon

How to get there: via Antipolo or via SLEX. via Lucena

Our friend lived in Sampaloc Quezon. We’ve experienced a grand wedding in this town many years back when his sister got married and we’ve experienced how people from Quezon partied, so we decided to go back to this lovely little town called Sampaloc.

What draw us to this place? One thing LAMBANOG! Actually, there are a lot of things that we love in Quezon and here are some.

There is this restaurant called Kamayan sa Palaisdaan along Lucena Lukban which serves superb Pinangat. Their version of the Bicolano Specialty Laing is a bit different however the taste is the same. Their laing is mostly Gabi leaves with a bit of tuyo (dried fish) and  cooked in Gata (Coconut milk). We ordered a lot of different dishes like sinigang hipon, ginataan hito which I loved, Inihaw na liempo and calamares.  The tables are inside kubo’s which are floating on a pond which has different fishes that you can feed.

It was a cold rainy day when we arrived in Kamayan sa Palaisdaan

These are the floating huts

and these are the travellers

We literally passed by Lucena, we wanted to see the sights however it was raining hard so we decided to continue to Sampaloc. From a distance, Sampaloc is covered with mountains and the town proper is in the middle of these mountains. We even came up with the conclusion that the reason why a lot of Filipinos does not know Sampaloc exist in Quezon, because the concrete road did not reach the town. Upon reaching the boundaries you will be welcomed by a long stretch of  dirt road. Now you know you are minutes away from the town proper.

The town boasts of warm people, good food and great lambanog. Here you can buy the authentic Lucban Longganisa and Lambanog here is mixed with prune juice to add texture and flavor.

In the streets of Sampaloc

View from the neighbors house

Our hosts residence

We stayed all night indoors because it was freezing cold, we tried to keep warm by drinking lambanog. That really made us warm and drunk.

The next day we had a breakfast feast of Lonnganisang Lucban and eggs and Sopas.

Before leaving, we made sure that we bought from the market, Lambanog, Longganisa and Miki Noodles for Pancit habhab.

On our way home we took the Laguna route. We dropped by EXOTIC  Garden

Restaurant for our dinner. We ordered Sizzling Sawa, Sweet and Sour Bayawak, and Ginataang Palaka. They all taste like chicken. We wondered if their Baboy Ramo (Wild Boar) taste like chicken too! We also ordered for Pesang Dalag, and Sinigang  na Maya maya.

Exotic Garden Restaurant

This car is covered with Snake skin

Sizzling SAWA

Ginataang Palaka

Sweet and Sour Bayawak