Posts
Hapa
adj. 1. Slang. of mixed racial heritage with partial roots in asian and/ or pacific islander ancestry.
n. 2. Slang. a person of such ancestry. {der./hawaiian: hapa haole. (half white) }
For those of you who haven't heard of Hapadog, it's a little restaurant that serves Japanese-style hotdogs. They started out renting booths in bazaars and I first saw them at Soderno (another food haven like Mercato - I think here's where they gained a following). A lot of people fell in love with the unique taste and style of their hotdogs that they eventually opened their own branch at SM Sky Garden, North EDSA. They're called 'hapadog' because they "merged Western American hotdog with traditional Japanese ingredients". Sounds weird? Well, it tastes awesome!
The Experience
My boyfriend and I have gone to Hapadog a few times, and we're trying to eat all of their hotdogs. We've tried 4 hotdogs all in all.
Nihon Chiri. PhP185/95 (Whole/Half-A-Hapa)
Flamed-grilled sausage smothered with with spicy Japanese chili
made with azuki beans, onions and fresh tomatoes.
Being a lover of spicy food, this was pretty tame - which is good since we don't want to drown out the taste of the dish by having our tongues on fire. I don't know what they call those things on top but they give this dog a very unique flavor. I even catch myself popping those green things in my mouth before biting on the hotdog!
Temp-tation Dog. Php175/90 (Whole/Half-A-Hapa)
Grated daikon, tentsuya sauce, spring onions.
This is my favorite hapa from the ones I've tried out. The picture doesn't do it justice (I'll do better next time - sorry!) but it's very, very good. In fact, it was so juicy that when I bit into it, the juice squirted in my face. HAHA! I fell in love with the sauce, it tasted nothing like what you'd expect a hotdog to taste like. It felt like I was really eating Japanese food. The breading around the hotdog was so good!
Hapadog. PhP175/90 (Whole/Half-A-Hapa)
Caramelized onions, japanese or wasabi mayo, hapa sauce,
nori flakes, spring onions.
We ordered our hapadog with wasabi mayo and it was good! It had a the wasabi kick in it but not so much that our noses started running (like when we make our own soy sauce + wasabi combo). They got it just right. It tastes great but ordinary - but not that I won't order it again. If you're not the very adventurous type, you can order this one. Safe, yet still gives your taste buds a new experience.
Californippon. PhP175/90 (Whole/Half-A-Hapa)
Avocado/mango, cucumber, tamago, kani, ebiko, japanese
or wasabi mayo, nori flakes.
Well, if you haven't guessed, yes we got this one with wasabi mayo as well. We're big fans of flavor! Eating this felt like eating maki with a hotdog ingredient but it didn't feel out of place. The mix of flavors were wonderful and I couldn't stop eating! It's safe to say we chowed this baby down in no time.
There are a lot of things left to try, like some of their sides. They've got nachos, gyoza and a lot more. We tried their furaidopoteto (french fries in general). I loved their dip! They also have rice toppings, noodles and desserts.
You know how Japanese have some weird things going on? Well, Hapadog's drinks are one of a kind! They have alcoholic bomb-type drinks and the more common flaming drinks. Their flaming drinks are flaming shots. You know, those shots they light up with a lighter? Haha. Their bomb series are more unique. They give you booze and on top of that are two chopsticks balancing a shot. You slam on the table for the shot to drop from the chopsticks and into the booze and you get a bomb effect with matching bubbles and stuff! We haven't tried this since whenever we're here, we're not in a drinking mood. So we tried this instead:
Ramune - Japanese Soda. PhP85
I wanted to order this because it looked so cute! The way they open it is very fun. You take out the top and then use it to pop the cap down. We should have took pictures cause it's very hard to explain but I really enjoyed those 10 seconds. It's a bit pricey considering the fact that I can gulp this down very easily.
The Verdict
To tell you the truth, I am in love with Hapadog and I could eat here over and over again. It may be a bit pricey since this is not really dinner-type kind of food for most Filipinos and they would prefer eating this for their afternoon snack. Every time I want to eat merienda, I actually want to get Hapadog. Thank God they're opening a branch in Makati. This'll make Hapadog waaaay more accessible!
My girlfriends and I went to SM North to get our Hapadog fix (I kept telling them how good it was). Sadly, when we got there, it was already closed. As in, shut down. I couldn't believe it because if I was from the north, I'd go there all the time. :(
Well, good thing I'm from the south and I can get one when I'm around ATC. I highly recommend you guys to try out Hapadog. It's a great experience and they have really great food! I'm in love!
Hapadog
Unit 103 The Garden, Alabang Town CenterAlabang, Muntinlupa
- Nicole
0 comments:
Post a Comment