The Historic Camalig Restaurant, Angeles, Pampanga: Wherein I Ate Pizza With A Blog Giveaway Winner

Hey folks, do you remember that time when I had a contest-slash-raffle in which readers have to guess a couple of cities from two different continents that are included in the book 501 Must-Visit Cities? And yeah, that book was the prize.

Oh, you don't? Well it was five continents, fourteen months ago. I was feeling generous on my second blogversary.

Artsy decor in The Historic Camalig Restaurant. Can you name all five?
Luna drew the winner from her ice cream bowl (video looks like it was edited by a ten-year-old) while we were at Tallow Beach in New South Wales, Australia. So who's the winner?

Oh look, it's my ol' watermark! And my hideous zigzaggy hair.  

I've never met the dude then, and I politely asked if he could wait for me to fly home. The book weighs a gazillion pounds and there's no way I'm shipping at a cost that's more expensive than the prize. He didn't mind.

The book was eventually sent to the Philippines via door-to-door, along with some early Christmas presents we shopped for relatives during Black Friday in the U.S. (second stop on our round-the-world trip). Cause yah know, we can't possibly travel luggin' all that.

For months, the book forlornly collected dust at my mom's house.

Armando's Best Pizza   

Last June when I was in the country, Duni and I finally set a date. What was supposed to be a quickie eyeball at Pampanga's Dau Terminal ended up as an early booze session at The Historic Camalig Restaurant. He's been living in Pampanga for more than a decade yet it was his first time to dine in this famous Angeles restaurant.

This pizzeria got its name from an ancestral camalig (grain storage shed), a century old I believe, which its owners restored in 1980. It is housed in the resto's building, and customers get to gorge on crispy-crust pizzas inside it. We felt like we traveled back in time as we stepped through the door. Framed sepia photographs and antiques abound.The upbeat pop music didn't match with the Filipiniana interiors, but paired with our bottles of cold San Mig Light well.

Top: No photo, didn't happen. Bottom: Duni's prize and his gift for my daughter Luna. Ain't he sweet?
We ordered Armando's Best which is topped with tons of ground beef, pepperoni, Canadian bacon, green pepper, mushroom, and cheese. It's available in one size, 13", and reasonably priced at P476. If you haven't had Filipino pizza, this hodgepodge may surprise you. The crust is not chewy. The tomato sauce has a hint of sweetness, the mushrooms from a can (at least I think so), and the cheese may not be the type you'd expect on a pizza.

But hey, it suits our taste. And it was a great accompaniment to our lengthy conversation about backpacking, volunteering, biking, parenting, music and... The old Multiply days. We could have gone on and on, but there was a meeting (first ever meeting of the people behind the Book Sharing Project 2012) in Manila that I had to attend. Our leftover pizza was packed for takeout, and we soon made our way to the jeepney stop for a ride back to Dau Terminal.

I bade farewell to Duni as I hopped on the bus, and smiled at the realization that I made a friend. The Historic Camalig Restaurant just became historic for me too.

Historic Camalig Restaurant 
292 Sto. Rosario Street, Angeles City, Philippines
Tel No: (045)322-5641/(045)888-1077
Website: http://www.camalig.com Email: camalig@comclark.com

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