Timke is a reportedly disappearing dish tied to Carcar, Cebu, where some locals call it Chicken Perdiz. What it actually is remains unconfirmed: most accounts point to an old chicken dish, while one viewer from Surigao insists it is a fish served only at fiestas.
Over nine field trips — jeepneys, Chappy rides, a two-hour bus to Carcar, a City Hall employee who hand-wrote a lead on a notepad — the trail keeps going cold. A place called Pabukid was reached, but it served only chicken and no Timke. No confirmed maker, no confirmed address, no confirmed recipe. The case is still open — and that is exactly why it's here.
If you've eaten Timke, know someone who makes it, or remember it from family, your memory may be the missing piece. Send a clue below.
NEW LEAD — FAILED: Negotiated a Chappy fare in Tagpila for ₱40 and made it to Pabukid — a real address, written on my notepad by a City Hall employee. I was ready. The universe was not. The woman at the front desk heard "Timke" and said, "We only have chicken." I stayed calm. I prodded. "Chicken curry? Chicken adobo?" Yes. Both. "Lechon?" No. Definitely no. I sat with this information in the parking lot for about thirty seconds longer than was dignified. Retreated to the nearest sari-sari store. Muttered "tulog na" to nobody in particular. A man next to me asked what I was doing here. "Chasing Timke," I said. "But they don't know." "Did you try Pabukid?" he asked. I looked at him. "...Yes. I just came from there." He nodded. "Where's the list?" he said, gesturing at my notepad — the one with "Pabukid" written in government handwriting. I showed it to him. He studied it like it was evidence. It kind of was. The trail is still warm. Pabukid exists. They just don't have it — or don't anymore. The answer is somewhere just past that menu.