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Idol’s Eatery, a roadside eatery at the back of Paoay Church in Ilocos Norte, is known for its three dishes — dinakdakan, fried bara and fried bagis.

These dishes, made of everything but pig meat, are popular with the male locals who treat them as bar chow.

Dinakdakan was composed of chopped pig’s brain, tongue, ears and everything you see in a pig’s face (except the eyeballs).

These were boiled, grilled and mixed with mayonnaise, which masked the taste of pig’s brain. The texture was crunchy and the taste was sour; it would be understandable if you mistook this for just chopped pork since it’s also mixed with pig meat and skin. It was nearly as good as eating a crispy lechon.

The next two dishes were served with two kinds of dips: pig’s blood and vinegar. 

Fried bagis, made of pig’s intestines, tasted good with vingear. Fried bara, made with pig’s lungs, had a mettalic taste and weird texture which softened when mixed with vinegar. These two dishes were quite oily and so a cold bottle of beer was in order to wash down the taste.

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