A Filipino Delicacy in St. James Town

September 23, 2011 35 Views

I consider myself a very picky eater. For one, I don’t eat pork nor do I go out of my way to try anything that doesn’t look good or makes my stomach turn. Having said that, I really enjoy seeing what different culture consider the norm. Take the Balut, a Filipino delicacy, for example, is something that I could never consume and is a very popular item that is sold on the streets by food stalls.

I’ve not been in the resturant in question but will put my big boy pants on to try out. Any takers that want to venture there with me?

Following is an article that was published in Torontoist that I present for your review.

Think you’re okay about your decision to eat meat? A visit to the Filipino section of Toronto’s St. James Town might give you doubts. Here you can try a Filipino delicacy that will make you question your food morality.

Balut is a duck egg that is sold all over the Philippines and in other Southeast Asian countries. “People go around and sell them on the street,” says owner Marissa Garcia, who hails from Bataan, a province near Manila. It’s a boiled, fertilized duck egg—basically a duck fetus—that you eat right out of the shell.

I recently ate balut ($1.99) at Pilipinas Cusine, a new variety store/takeout restaurant in St. James Town, on a street that’s lined with shops serving the Filipino community.

Balut is just one of the many strange foods I first encountered on a trip to the Philippines a few years ago. I sampled a skewer with three one-day-old deep fried chicks (crunchy), I ate dog meat and dog soup (very tasty but made me uneasy), and tried pinikpikan, a delicacy that involves beating a chicken to death slowly with a stick to change the texture of the meat (not good for so many reasons).

In Pilipinas Cusine, I sat at a small table inside the shop to eat my balut. I cracked open the top of the shell and slurped out the broth-like liquid. I sprinkled salt on the yellow yolk, which was akin to a regular hard-boiled egg, and the meaty duck part. You could see duckling’s little organs and blood vessels. The whole thing tastes undeniably good—hey, what’s not to like about broth, hard boiled egg, and duck meat? But, somehow, thinking about the little unborn duckling made me feel queasy.

“It’s better to eat it without looking,” advised Marissa. “It’s like a baby bird. It’s better not to see it, just to eat it.” Very wise words, indeed.

Pilipinas Cusine (29 Howard Street), open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Spice City Toronto explores Toronto’s great hole-in-the-wall restaurants and strip-mall joints serving food from all corners of the world. Find more photos and details about Pilipinas (and see what the inside of the egg looks like) here.