Mami-Man’s Beef Mami (in FO Santos)
Mami is a Filipino soup made with garlic, fish sauce, egg noodles, and meat. The most popular flavor among street food aficionados is beef.
Most people who frequent the bars near FO Santos know the mami vendor as Mami-Man, but the cart really has no name. When people think of having soup at night, usually after drinking or before studying, they only go to Mami-Man. He’s a hero of some sort to hungry or drunk people.
Mami-Man serves the beef soup from a big metal soup container maintained at a high temperature. He uses a separate container for the egg noodles to prevent sogginess. The mami is served hot, which prevents the formation of sebo (solid fat).
Sans the condiments (which are placed on the side of his cart), the mami is flavorful and tasty per se. The combination of beef fat and meat is really a guilty pleasure. Pepper, garlic paste, calamansi, and fish sauce are optional.
The hard-boiled egg is cooked to perfection. Mami-Man serves limited amount of onion chives.
For 25 pesos, you get to enjoy a bowl of hot mami. If you run out of soup, you can ask Mami-Man to give you some more for free.
Mami-Man is very mindful of cleanliness. He wipes the aluminum table after every customer. The noodles and eggs are kept in a water and dust-proof display. For many years, people trust him and the quality of his food.
So, if you need to sober up after drinking at night, or you just need to sip some hot soup during the cold weather, Mami-Man is the perfect person to go to.
Mami-Man also serves lugaw (rice porridge).
Price: 25 pesos per order (you can ask for another serving of beef soup)
Directions: just right outside FO Santos street along Lopez Avenue (opposite Dana’s computer shop and a few steps away from IC’s Bar and Coffee Shop)
Store hours: 7PM until 1AM (or much later)
