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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Matutina's Seafood Restaurant in Tarlac City

If you read my last three posts before Bakers Maison, you'll know that this new one is the fourth in a series that started with our family vacation in a beach resort in Dasol, Pangasinan that ended with a visit to Monasterio de Tarlac. The visit to the monastery was followed by a second one a little over two weeks later in time for the public exposition of the relic of the Holy Cross. These two occasions gave us two opportunities to try popular restaurants in Tarlac City where we passed on our way back to Manila. The first one, which I had shared about, was Tessie's Grills and Roasters. On our second visit to Monasterio, we had lunch at Matutina's Seafood Restaurant, which is popular not only in Tarlac but also in Pangasinan (Dagupan and Urdaneta City), where it originally came from (I think there's also a branch in San Fernando, Pampanga). 
It specializes in seafood as its name says, but offers other dishes as well.  
We ordered a group meal plus one (or two?) other dishes. 
Our lunch:

Kare-Kare. This was what we liked best. Delicious!
Pork barbecue. The meat is tender and tasty.
Crispy shrimps with kropek. Crunchy and yummy :)
Buttered oysters. Least liked. I prefer steamed oysters still on the shells.
Grilled bangus. Good, too!
Okoy. We anticipated crunchy okoy but this did not live up to our expectation.
Binagoongan rice. Just a bit salty. My sister loved this.
Leche flan. I wish it was smoother and creamier.
Brewed coffee. Gave a good ending to my meal.
Iced tea tower that came with our group meal.

 Menu (just two pages of it)

Inside Matutina's

 
Matutina's Seafood Restaurant along MacArthur Highway, Tarlac City 
 

All in all, it was a nice, satisfying lunch that we had. The food and service are good, the prices are affordable and the place itself is clean and lovely. No wonder it's popular and was full of customers when we were there. Try Matutina's when you travel to the North, folks! 
Happy eating!