Review: Mang Inasal

Filipino Barbecue Chicken

Grilled chicken, steamed rice wrapped in banana leaf,
a sachet of soya sauce and a sliced kalamansi. Food
from Mang Inasal served at home.

This post is a recommendation for Mang Inasal, rather than a full review. As such I won't be scoring as I usually do. I was going through my old photos of time spent in Manila this weekend, and I came across pictures of food that I really enjoyed and think others should try as well. Take this as a product of nostalgia more than anything else.

Part of me finds it hard to believe that I'm writing about a chain for my blog, but truth be told there are several chains worldwide that I often rely on for good food. It's for the usual reasons - consistent branding means that you know what you're getting when you walk in. And at Mang Inasal (Hilgaynon for Mr. Barbecue), what you're getting is simple but scrumptious grilled meats and fish served with rice and condiments. Much like any fast food chain, orders are placed and paid for at the counter. Food can be eaten in the restaurant itself or taken away. I've done both over my time in the Philippines - and as with any chain expect crowds during peak hours. 

Blogging From Bangladesh

I'm Praying For Internet

Some things in Dhaka, like traffic, have gotten slower.

Technology on the other hand, has gotten faster.
Much respect to this brave soul undertaking rickshaw computing!

I admit got a little teary when the plane landed at the airport in Dhaka. But then we stepped out of the lounge the 138% humidity hit me like a wet towel. Then it took us 3 hours to get home because of the traffic, and reality had begun to catch up with me again.

But I’m still holding onto shreds of optimism as I sit here typing this on a train headed from Sirajganj to Dhaka. I’m tethering my phone’s EDGE connection to my laptop, and hoping that it’ll be good enough to actually upload this post. This in itself is a major improvement as far as I’m concerned. I’m on my way back from Salop, the village where my parents’ ancestral home still stands (barely!).

Reviews

I've decided I'm going to do them...

I've already updated my About Me page to say a few words on this. 

Reviews will be labelled "review" (duh!), although some will be complete reviews, and others will be from memory - shorter descriptions of what I recall of an experience. I'm not going to be looking to review each and every restaurant I go to. I'll concentrate on just those places that stand out to me, or the places I go to when I happen to have a bit of free time. A lot places I've been to should also be "student budget" friendly, so I'll tag those as such. And lot of places I remember just for a particular dish that I really liked, so instead of doing a review I'll mention the dish in question and put up a link to a dedicated post on my Personal Favourites page, tagged as "favourite foods". 

An Introduction

Why I'm blogging...

The notebook I use to record recipes.

I'm leaving the family home for good this time, which means I won't be able to run to my mom whenever I get a craving for one of the many Bangladeshi dishes that I love. Hence my mission this summer is to learn as much as possible from her, so that I can recreate these dishes whenever I want in my own kitchen.