Pochok Bangusan (Quezon City): The Carinderia Known for Grilled Milkfish and Made Popular by Mark Wiens

On June 12, we will be celebrating the Independence Day of the Philippines. So I thought of dedicating the whole month to Filipino food. Here are the food spots featured in this series so far: Rose & Grace Restaurant

Last summer, my wife’s cousins from Los Angeles came to Manila for a vacation. We thought of bringing them to a carinderia (eatery) for a truly local Filipino food experience. And the carinderia that came to mind is Pochok Bangusan.

Located in Quezon City, Pochok Bangusan is a carinderia named after its owner’s nickname—Pochok—and is known for their grilled bangus or milkfish (bangusan literally means “milkfish place”). It was made popular by Mark Wiens, one of the top food vloggers in the world, and has been featured by several media outlets.

When I watched Mark Wiens’ video in 2019, I made sure to visit Pochok’s Bangusan. I didn’t disappoint and that’s why we’re bringing our balikbayan (homecoming) cousins there.

They employ a turo-turo (literally “point point”) style of ordering, where customers will go to the counter or food warmer and point the dishes they want to eat.

So let’s talk about their food starting with the Inihaw na Bangus (grilled milkfish), which is butterflied, grilled, and generously topped with chopped green tomatoes, white onions, celery, and ginger.

The milkfish is smoky and the salsa-like topping is crisp and refreshing. This is easily one of the best bangus dishes I have ever eaten!

Pochok, being a carinderia, also offers other Filipino dishes. We tried a lot of the dishes and I’ll give my review of each dish we had:

Adobong Pusit (squid adobo): The squid is perfectly cooked. It’s my first time to try a squid adobo with a thin sauce or gravy.

Bulalo (bone-in beef shank soup): It has tasty broth, tender meat, and crisp veggies. (Pochok’s mother is from Batangas. No wonder that this dish is another specialty of Pochok Bangusan.)

Ginataang Tuna (tuna cooked in gata or coconut milk): This has a huge pice of tuna and a creamy gata.

Menudo (the Filipino version is a pork stew with carrots and potatoes): It’s tasty and unique due to pineapples. But it’s surprisingly not sweet.

Puso ng Saging (literally “heart of banana”; banana blossoms): It has crisp banana blossoms and also has sotanghon (vermicelli) in it (it’s my first time to have puso ng saging with sotanghon). It’s so tasty that I ordered for takeaway and ate it with chili garlic.

We finished our meal with a classic Filipino shared ice dessert—Halo-Halo (literally “mix-mix”). It was a refreshing end to our meal in the summer heat!

Pochok Bangusan is easily one of the best carinderias in the Metro. Aside from their amazing grilled milkfish, all the Filipino dishes we tried there are delicious. It’s so good that our balikbayan cousin approves! I highly recommend Pochok Bangusan to you!

Address: Don A. Roces Ave., Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines | Operating Hours: Daily, 7AM-7PM | Contact No.: 0927-3347071 | Facebook