Several months ago, my friend placed her first order on Too Good To Go. Too Good To Go is an app that allows you to order mystery food bags that eateries put together and sell them near the end of their business day. The purpose is to not waste food when eateries close each day, but sell their food or drinks to customers at a reduced price.
As usual, I installed this app immediately. However, I could not find a mystery bag to buy because they were gone when I looked and there weren't many places in my area that were participating.
Well, I checked a few days ago and ended up purchasing two different mystery bags. One of them was from Tagpuan Restaurant.
For years, I have had its two other locations on Kennedy Road and Victoria Park Avenue bookmarked for chicharron, both chicken and pork. Have I been to either location? No. Instead, I found its third location!
This Tagpuan is located in Fusion Supermarket, which has Filipino offerings. It was the perfect combination, as I needed to pick up a few groceries and my mystery bag.
I parked steps away from the main entrance. It's located in a plaza with plenty of parking. It's across from a Tim Hortons-Wendy's combo store. I had visited that Timmy's a couple of weeks back.
I walked into the store. Tagpuan is at the back of the store when you walk in. You pretty much head straight until you hit the eatery.
There were a couple of folks ahead of me. The first customer took a long time selecting what she wanted. She paid with cash. There is also a machine, so I assume that credit and debit cards are accepted.
The couple in front of me also had orders on Too Good To Go. I saw the woman behind the counter put together their mystery bags. I was excited, especially when I saw a huge roasted chicken leg wrapped in tin foil. It looked massive and delicious!
I didn't see any chicken skins or chicharron available. I was there closer to 7 pm, so the place likely had run out.
When it was my turn, the same woman helped me out. I showed the app and she knew exactly what to do. I saw her put together a styrofoam takeout box of fried rice and a roasted chicken leg wrapped in tin foil. She scooped up braised meat in a round styrofoam container. She then placed everything in a bag and handed it over to me. I thanked her, wished her a great evening, and happily left the eatery to pay for my groceries before completely heading out the door.
I got home, put away my groceries, and then chowed down. I had so much food that I had two meals out of it. My mystery bag was $7.99. It was a great price. The downside is that I didn't know what the names of the items that I got were. So, you're getting Mary names now.
I had the garlic fried rice. It came with a few large pieces of roasted pork. It was my dinner. The garlic fried rice was excellent. The garlic was subtle, but it was perfect with the roasted pork pieces. The crispy skin on the pork was scrumptious and the pork was done perfectly. The rice had egg, onions, green onions, and soy sauce mixed in. It was so comforting. Simple and yummy.
I had a couple of pieces of the braised pork. They were tender and tasted like stew. There were also pork blood pieces. I have never loved pork blood, so I put those aside.
The following day, I finished off the braised pork without the pork blood. I also had the entire roasted chicken leg. OMG! It was fabulous. I have no idea what spices were on it, but it tasted so good. My tastebuds were dancing, all happy and perhaps way too elated.
I had a great experience and a cool find thanks to Too Good To Go. I will likely not get the braised pork with the pork blood in it (ick!), but I'd certainly get everything else from this mystery bag. I hope to return and order food that I can put a name to.
Tagpuan also has a bunch of desserts and drinks that intrigued me. I need to get something with ube in it next time, along with chicharron.
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