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I love finding great cheap eats here in the metro and one of the places I frequent is an area in front of Puregold Agora in San Juan: Benson’s Barbeque and Tita Lulu’s.

 

Sure this place isn’t the faint of heart, and you probably won’t have a spot on a usual lunch day, I like coming in at around 9 or 10, when there is a smaller late dinner crowd and both places are still open.

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If you must know, for me, Tita Lulu’s has the best tokwa’t baboy I’ve ever tasted. Their “baboy” is cooked like a lechon kawali with the skin studded with blisters from the high heat. It’s super crunchy especially when you eat it there, and the sauce is super garlicky & onion-y! The tofu is nice and chewy, and on some parts crunchy…and the pork sometimes has a nice layer of fat and collagen that gives an interesting texture. A plate only costs P40 and I would happily eat that with a cup of rice.

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As for Benson’s, they are known for their bbq’s. A typical turo-turo, except that when you pick out your meats/fish they bbq it right there. They also have some papaitan without much innards, but I still enjoy the flavor especially when Mang Ben is around. He seems to keep a close watch in the kitchen and everything just tastes better when he’s around.

 

His barbeque is really cheap, for two people, you can expect a P120 meal and you leave with a very full stomach (and man, I eat a lot). The bbq sauce is delightful! I even have it with rice! It’s like your typical peanutty-sweet barbeque sauce that they used to have in my grandma’s house.

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A “kiampung” which seems to be just rice cooked in oyster sauce is another cheap eat in Benson’s. But I just order this for the variety.They also have a pinoy version of maki, at P40 which isn’t bad at all. What we do is that we bring our own coriander and roasted peanuts to complete the meal.

 

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