It was a little bit past midnight after watching the latest Hitman movie (is it just me or does the actor Rupert Friend look like Orlando Bloom?) and we were hungry! Where to go? Since we recently toured the Kapitolyo food scene, we decided to head back there and try Bullchef, a hole-in-the-wall bulalohan recommended by a friend.
IT’S OPEN UNTIL 3AM!
Upon checking Zomato, we were happy to find out that it was open until 3AM every night! It’s somewhere to eat when hungry in the wee hours of the morning. The weather has also been stormy the past few days, so bulalo sounds perfect!
What is bulalo? It’s basically boiled beef soup that includes beef shanks and bone marrow, it also usually includes some Chinese cabbage, corn and other vegetables of your choice. It is comfort food, especially when it’s cold.
Bullchef is located right at the beginning of East Capitol drive, there is a big tarp showing the name of the restaurant. From the looks outside, you can already tell that it is literally a hole-in-the-wall eatery. I wasn’t expecting anything fancy, but even I was initially taken aback by the simple set-up. It’s what we would call “rustic”.
But anyway, we were game to try this recommended bulalohan (bulalo place). Bullchef has air conditioning and was comfortably cool. The walls were decorated with messages from patrons, and Bullchef boasted some celebrity guests.
THE BULALO
Here’s a picture of the menu to give you an idea of the prices (second serving of rice is free for Bullset meals!):
We ordered the Bullchef Special (B2) at P265, good for 2 persons. It makes sense to order the dish that the restaurant is famous for, right? It came with 2 small bowls of bulalo soup (extra soup) and 2 plates of plain rice.
The main bowl of bulalo has 2 pieces of bone marrow and around 4 slices of beef, and vegetables.
Soy sauce, patis (fish sauce), onion and garlic vinegar, calamansi, chilies and sauce dishes are available for you to create your own condiment concoction.
Even though I love butter and cream, I just can’t make myself eat more than a bite of beef marrow, fois gras and similarly rich items. I know, it’s weird! I just find them too rich. J has no problem though, so I let him have all the marrow.
From the little marrow that I tried, I can say it was rich and creamy, with no off flavor 
J was actually very happy with it and regretted not ordering more.
The soup was clear, nice and hot, beefy, not too salty, and with lots of ground pepper.
Bulalo is best eaten hot! The beef fats turn into sebo when it gets cold.
We cook this dish at home, too, and of course, I prefer our home-made version, even if we make it with a pressure cooker. I found the beef to be bit on the tougher side, and I like my beef shank collagen almost melting.
SUMMARY
This is going to be on my list of restaurants to consider going to whenever we want hot food (especially bulalo) past midnight. The price is affordable, parking is easy (park on the street), the area looks safe even past midnight, and I want to try their other dishes (non-bulalo).
According to J, the bulalo at Bullchef is above average, and for the price, it’s pretty good considering it has several pieces of meat (other bulalo places usually only have litid and fat). The only complaint we have is the tough meat.
We don’t always have bulalo / nilagang baka on hand whenever the craving strikes, and it’s nice to know that there is a place we can go to get it that’s open every day until 3AM!
Bullchef
4 East Capitol Drive, Kapitolyo, Pasig City
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bullchefthebulalochef
Contact #: 0916 338 3898
Open: Mon-Sun, 10AM – 3AM
