alimangong bakla

It was around 3pm that we got to have lunch on Sunday (March 30). We decided to go back to the dampa or seafood market. In addition to the prawns (half cooked as tempura, the other half in garlic butter) and the grilled pork belly that we had last time, we also bought alimangong bakla. Literally, alimangong bakla means gay crab.

When you walk through the market, you’ll hear the vendors hawking crab that is babae (female), bakla (gay), or lalaki (male). We asked how the alimangong bakla is different from other crabs, and they would just say that the females are full or aligue or fat while the bakla is malaman or meaty. When we asked how the bakla is different from the male, they said that it’s the same, they’re both meaty. The vendor from which we bought our crab was, I think, telling us that the bakla crabs are meaty but can also have some fat.

(A couple of weeks later, when we ate at Seafood Wharf near Manila Bay, we again asked what the difference is between the three kinds of crabs. The guy showed us the difference in their undersides.)

On this afternoon, we ate our food our Igmaan Restaurant. We thought that, since we are eating alimangong bakla, that this place would be appropriate as it has gay hostesses. Don’t they look pretty?! We had the crab cooked in special chili sauce, and they were yummy (but messy). We pretty much snubbed the rest of our food. As usual, we stuffed ourselves. This time though, we were so stuffed that we were nauseous.