A Bodega Boodle Fight
It’s busy, people are everywhere hustling for a table amongst the jovial sounds of diners chatting, taking photos and otherwise enjoying their meal. This is Bodega - a tiny slice of Manila at Centurian Star Tower in Diera.
Ok, so what on earth is a Boodle Fight anyway?
Turns out, a Boodle Fight is a tradition that originated at the Philippine Military Academy where army soldiers and their commanding officers would eat together at long tables as a symbol of camaraderie, brotherhood and equality. The boodle is the whole kit and kaboodle, in this case an enormous amount of cooked seafood favorites and rice dumped on banana leaves along the length of the table. They call it a fight because everyone eats with their hands, no utensils allowed and everybody jumps in and grabs what they want as fast as they can. So next time you hear someone say that’s enough food to feed an army, just think of a boodle fight.
Back to Bodega, and they have two sections, the most commonly known being Dampa, while the Bodega is a smaller section with an upstairs area and street art on the walls and a few arcade games too and of-course that’s the section I like. The more offbeat and obscure the better! Anyway, getting down to the food and it’s simple really: Grab a bunch of Street Style BBQ classics like skewers or sizzlers, or perhaps do the Seafood Dump, aka the Boodle Fight!
The Boodle Fight includes calamari, crab, shrimp,mussels, clams and sweetcorn and is enough for three people. All you have to do is pick your sauce - the Cajun is the most popular and get your gloves on.
Bottom Line:
If you’ve never been a Boodle Fight, you need to.
