A bowl of hot lugaw is one of life’s simplest pleasures. It’s easy to make, available anywhere, fills you up quick, and warms you on cold and rainy mornings when you’re sick and simply don’t want to get out of bed
It’s also one of the cheapest eats around. You’ll probably spend less than twenty pesos for a bowl of lugaw in most eateries in Manila. And even if it’s affordable, a good bowl of lugaw doesn’t skimp on taste. The broth’s rich flavor often comes from meat, offal, a ton of MSG, and a bit of seasoning boiled continuously for hours and hours.
Enter Tony & Precy. This beloved lugawan is located at Comembo, Makati, and is just a stone’s throw away from Bonifacio Global City (BGC). But in stark contrast to BGC’s highly urbanized style, Comembo is as modern as that old VW beetle you only take out for your Sunday drives (the one without air-conditioning).
Tony & Precy serves one of the better bowls of lugaw in the area. If you’re looking for proof, all you have to do is compare it to the other karinderya situated across the street. Any time you see two stores next to each other selling the same item, you can bet that the one that’s packed with customers serves the better product.
Guess who has the better lugaw?
Tony & Percy carries all the marks of a good eatery. They even have those big cauldrons that are perpetually fired up to cook your porridge. And while such a set-up will ensure that our fossil fuels will indeed run out in the foreseeable future, it is a fair trade-off for the hungry man who wants something good for dinner that’s less than twenty pesos.
While a couple of cauldrons cook the gruel, another endlessly simmers the components for the flavor base of that day’s broth. The last time I was there it was a hodgepodge of cow offal. Nothing says “you bet you’ll come back for another bowl!” than the addition of tripe and intestines in your broth (the same tripe and intestines you’ll get as a topping in your lugaw).
If you’re not offal-y fond of internal organs, Tony & Precy also offers lomo ng baka (beef tenderloin). You can have it as a topping for your lugaw, as a side dish, or even make it the main course if you order extra rice instead.
Tony & Precy follows the old credo “don’t fix it if it ain’t broken.” They stick to the formula of providing a good product, and not messing around with the recipe too much. With the success they’ve found, they have managed to open two other branches in the south.
If you ever find yourself near The Fort with less than fifty pesos in your wallet, don’t worry. There’s a bowl of lugaw with your name on it waiting at Tony & Precy’s.
Do you have any other favorite ghetto grub finds? Where’s your favorite lugaw stand? Did you ever wonder just how many calamansi those guys had to squeeze to fill all those bottles karinderyas have?Let us know in the comments!
Tony & Precy
Anahaw St., Barangay Comembo, Makati City
Store Hours: Open all day, every day
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