FOOD FIND: MANANG INDAY'S BOSTON BBQ SHACK

 

Living in a certain Cubao district for more than a decade gave me the luxury of discovering the different neighborhood treasures like this hole-in-the-wall barbecue shack run by Aling Inday and her family along Bostons St.

I first heard about her when colleagues from a nearby production house frequented the place for lunch. She had a regular menu of some soup recipes that goes well with grilled food: Munggo Guisado, Sinigang na Baboy and Nilagang Baka. But it was her barbecue that they raved about.

I bought my first stick from her more than a decade ago and have been a regular ever since.  Her specialties include chicken wings, tenga ng baboy (pig's ears), and the de riguer pork barbecue.

Aling Inday would pour a fresh batch of charcoal, point a dusty plastic electric fan towards the makeshift yero grill, get a batch of barbecue sticks, dip them in the marinade and place them on the metal grill, the marinade dripping onto the coal, sizzling and creating short wisps of white aromatic smoke.

The secret marinade

After a few minutes brushes the marinade on the and turns over the barbecue sticks. More aromatic smoke. And after a few minutes, it's done. Hot. succulent, saucy meat on the plate.