Our craving for sun and sand fixed, Joseph, Mike and I hightail it in the evening to Dagupan City, where we’ve decided to base ourselves for the night before our journey back home the next day.

Dagupan, an independent component city of Pangasinan, is a major commercial and financial center in northern Luzon. It isn’t a tourist destination per se, but it makes for a convenient base when exploring the Ilocos Region or the Cordilleras.

Which is why we’re here. As a major hub, we figure Dagupan has more cheaper hotels than Alaminos has. And it has a flourishing dining scene.

There’s a lot of interesting dining places to try but one restaurant we’ve been hearing about for quite a while now is the Great Taste Pigar-Pigar in Gomez Street. The facade’s nondescript appearance belies its popularity, which becomes apparent in the crowded space despite being late in the evening. It’s an anomaly in the otherwise quiet streets of Dagupan.

Pigar-pigar is a popular Dagupan food, made by deep-frying thin slices of meat (usually carabao meat or cara-beef) and liver. Great Taste Pigar-Pigar’s rendition of the dish tastes a lot like bistek Tagalog, which I happen to really like, though the cara-beef is harder than the usual beef. The “premium” version uses a special marinade that adds savor to the dish.

It’s easy to get stuck in the cara-beef pigar-pigar but it’s certainly not the only dish in the menu. We try the chicken pigar-pigar as well, and while it doesn’t quite measure up to its water buffalo counterpart, it tastes nice nonetheless and would be ideal for a relatively less guilt-inducing meal.

Great Taste Pigar-Pigar
 41-43 Sim Bldg., Gomez Street,
Dagupan City, Pangasinan
(075) 529 9658
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