All I want (to eat) for Christmas

As the fat month of December looms nearer, all a guy like me can really dream of is comfort food that satisfies the bro soul. If I can’t have these six locally available dishes, then it’s that much harder to feel the holiday spirit. Here’s my wish list.

Stracciatella from Green pastures

I got to have my cheese, man, and I got to have it this stretchy. Santa Claus ain’t got nothing on this cheese. I had it for my birthday some weeks ago and wanted it every day after since then. Locally sourced and house-made, Green Pastures’ stracciatella is essentially buffalo milk cheese with drops of extra virgin olive oil, garnished with arugula, and served with toasted bread and roasted garlic. I just got hungry writing all that down.

Tapa from Rodic’s

Tapa flakes, a fried egg, and white rice — my favorite type of rice — spell holiday to me any day of the year. There’s just nothing like stealing away to either the branch on Salcedo street or in UP Diliman’s shopping center for a tapsilog snack of this spot-hitting kind. I say “snack” because two servings make it lunch for me.

Buttermilk fried chicken from kettle

Straight out of the newly opened Kettle, situated at the fifth floor of Shangri-La Plaza’s East Wing, their fried chicken is marinated in buttermilk for 24 hours as preparation. I don’t know just how much you need to marinate chicken in anything but that sounds promising for a guy who doesn’t remember the last time something beat fried chicken. It also comes with corn bread, which makes me imagine good things like uh, gospel music.

Tiramisu from Claudette’s

Tita-style deserts are for real. As Salcedo village’s go-to cake shop, Claudette’s has been baking bestsellers for years now. The Tiramisu, Dolly Sin, and most especially the Cloud 9 are my most-loved picks — or mousse-loved picks. I love how they’re less than moderately sweet so you don’t get sick of the sugar blast all too quickly, but then again, you find yourself having a third slice without even knowing. Just make sure you order those three cakes in advance because titas shell out like crazy for them.

Crispy corned beef from Hatch 22

Now I know Hatch 22 has polarized not just the food worshipper world but human beings in general since it hatched in Power Plant but I’m here to check out the bright side by approving of their idea of using and crispy-fying Delimondo corned beef in this breakfast dish. I can eat a whole can of Delimondo and I guess it only makes sense for a dude to make their favorite corned beef crispy and then top it all off with an equally crispy fried egg. I don’t care about the garnishing; just fry that beef to a salty sweet crisp.

A gift basket of different kinds of R. Lapid’s chicharon

Nothing sounds like a holiday than a crunch from these little demons. I need my pork rind fix in several ways, too — popcorn-sized, without laman, with laman, but preferably the “special” type since it’s got a bigger meat portion. I am a machine gun and this is my ammo for when the holiday road trips begin. Advanced happy holidays to everybody and make sure you eat what you really want.