Everytime I pass by Longganisa Sorpresa in SM North, I chuckle a little. I find the resto's name quite humorous.
I must admit -- I'm not a longganisa fan, mainly because I don't eat fat. I don't mind eating fatty food but I can't eat the actual fat. Many of the longganisa I had tried before had lots of fat bits. This alienated me from longganisa.
However, I got intrigued when Longganisa Sorpresa launched an offer via Metrodeal. Knowing that there were many kinds of longganisa available, I decided to buy a voucher and try out their food.
For P240, the buyer would get the Longganisa Platter and four cups of Garlic Rice (all worth P480).
Taste
When the server handed me the menu and asked me to choose 5 kinds of longganisa, I got a little overwhelmed. I didn't know there were so many kinds to choose from.
Basically there are two groups of longganisa: recado and hamonado. Recado is a mix of salty, garlicky, sour, and peppery types. In this group are longganisa from Alaminos, Baguio, Cabanatuan, Calumpit, Laoag, Lucban, Tuguegarao, and Vigan. Hamonado consists of sweet and smoked ones from Cabanatuan (Batutay), Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, and Pampanga.
Knowing little about the different kinds, I asked the server to choose for me and to choose the ones with minimal fatty bits. She readily agreed and within a few minutes our platter arrived. According to the server, our platter consisted of Calumpit, Vigan, Cabanatuan, Batutay, and Alaminos longganisa.
 |
| Longganisa Platter - P360 (reg price) |
We also got 4 cups of garlic rice (the 4th one was on a separate plate).
 |
| Garlic rice - P30/cup (reg price) |
I will not attempt to describe the difference between the five kinds but all five kinds we got tasted good. They were less greasy than I expected and were not cloying (nakakasuya).
Aside from the many kinds of longganisa available in the restaurant, several types of vinegar are also available in Longganisa Sorpresa. They have sukang Iloco, Kaong, Pinakurat, Sinamak, Tuba, and Paombong. Definitely lots of room to mix and match!
I only got to try two: Sinamak and Pinakurat. I found the Pinakurat vinegar strong in taste so I stuck with Sinamak which was closer to the kind of vinegar I'm used to.
The Molo Soup was okay but not impressive.
 |
| Molo Soup - P55 |
Affordability
The food in Longganisa Sorpresa is very affordable and filling. The resto also offers longsilog (longganisa with fried rice and egg) for only P99, with drinks already included.
The cost of what we ordered (regular price):
Longganisa Platter (good for 3-4 people) - P360
Fried rice - P30 each
Molo soup - P55
Sago gulaman - P50
You can find Longganisa Sorpresa's complete menu here.
Interiors
Longganisa Sorpresa is a small restaurant with a modern interior. Like the other restos in the SM North Sky Garden, there are additional tables and chairs outside.
Cleanliness
During our visit, the place was clean. I can only critique one minor thing. I love their vinegar holder, very Pinoy, but the labels on some of the vinegar bottles had peeled off. I hope the resto will replace those labels (or have already replaced those labels since our visit). The cap of the fourth bottle also looked a lot different from the others (good luck to the OC-type patrons lol). Like I said, very minor things. But keeping the vinegar bottles properly labelled and consistent-looking will add to the place's clean and neat look.
Service
The service was good. Food arrived quickly. The server handled my request (to choose non-fatty kinds of longganisa) smoothly and reliably. Both the server and another female staff (the manager, I assume) were polite and accommodating even though we used a voucher.
The only thing I noted was that right after we were finished eating, one of the staff took the vinegar bottles from our table and brought them to another table outside. It was okay since we were already finished, but it will be better if Longganisa Sorpresa will provide each table with a complete set of vinegar, just in case the resto gets packed with people who all want to eat longganisa and sample the different kinds of vinegar. Also, according to the menu, Longganisa Sorpresa has 6 kinds of vinegar but the holder can only accommodate five and the one we got had two bottles each of Sinamak and Pinakurat.
Longganisa Sorpresa
Sky Garden
SM City North EDSA
North Ave corner EDSA
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Tel. No. (02) 332-9736
Web site
Facebook page
All time favorite ko ang lucban longaniza, and next is yung galing vigan.... hindi ko lang alam kung bakit may toothpick sa longanisa galing alaminos hehehe...
ReplyDeleteinstead of the string, they use the toothpick to divide the casing.
DeleteKakakain ko lang nito kahapon... Masarap talaga ang longganisa pag may suka, ako gusto ko yung sinamak at pinakurat...
ReplyDeleteI hate longganisa so I doubt that I would like that dining at that resto but they might have some other foods without longganisa so it might be worth checking out as well.
ReplyDeleteYup they have other food as well :)
Deletewow ang sarap naman... makes my mouth water, yummy!!!
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for this review. Try namin ng family ko kumain dito later, lagi ko nga nadadaanan itong resto na ito. Will also try the recado platter, never liked my longanisa to be sweet ;)
ReplyDeleteHope you can also try reviewing Alyanne's Cafe in Del Monte Avenue corner Guevarra St. (near West Ave.). My family's been eating there because we live nearby (read: tamad magluto =P). Would love to read what you think about them, too. Hope you'll include this resto in your "to check out" list :)
Thanks for the suggestion Emma. We'll give them a try if we're in the area :)
DeleteWe ate there as a group and not impressed with the longganisa. I think they were overcooked hence, dry. I love longganisa and I want mine to be oily, fatty and sticky due to the sauce.
ReplyDeleteI ordered the Alaminos and it was very disappointing. The portions were small and it was bland. I am a vinegar-lover but their line of vinegars lacked flavor and had a chemical-like tartness. Horrible, horrible value for money. Definitely not recommended.
ReplyDeleteang sarap ng Longganisa Platter nakakagutom. when i visit SM North i will surely eat at Longganisa Sorpresa.
ReplyDelete