Foodies

Was it Mrs. Gump, or was it Forrest, who said, “Life is like a box of chocolates”? In my case, it’s not a box of chocolates but an endless series of restaurants, cafés, bars, hangouts, food tastings and anything and everything that has to do with food.

As one of the feature writers of Sun.Star Cebu, the leading community newspaper in the Philippines, I’ve gone to a lot of restaurants here in Cebu, both in the city and its outskirts. I’ve tasted a lot of food, from cheap street cuisine to the more expensive items you would only find at specialty restaurants.

Before writing for Sun.Star’s lifestyle section, Live!, I had already been exposed to good food and fine dining by my grandfather and namesake, Dr. Lino Arquiza, Sr. When he was alive, it was very often for me, breakfast at the Manila Mandarin in Makati, lunch at Manila Midtown Ramada along Herran, and dinner at the Century Park Sheraton on Vito Cruz. Living in Malate, we were in close proximity to the best hotels and restaurants in the city. Lolo was sort of a gourmand, fond of good food, so we were always eating out. If we weren’t eating at hotels, we would be at Kimpura or Miyako for Japanese food, Gloria Maris for Chinese, and Josephine’s for Filipino dishes.

My Dad Vicmar is also a bit of a foodie. A steak lover, he would often take me to SGS Steakhouse in Greenhills after picking me up from class at La Salle Greenhills. He was responsible for getting me addicted to rare, bloody steaks, although he prefers his on the medium-well side. If not steak, then Dad and I, together with my Ninong Jose, would be chowing down on chicken mami and siopao at Ling Nam Noodle House, still in Greenhills, or camaron rebosado, lomi and fried rice at Luyong Restaurant in Pasig. Midnights at home would be spent eating all kinds of sandwiches, omelets, noodles, chips and whatnot, and drinking lots and lots of Coca-Cola while watching TV.

My Mom Glenda, on the other hand, would initiate wiener roasts at night in the front yard, with marshmallows to match. A great cook, her special adobo and tapa is always a sure winner at family gatherings, while her pasta with pesto would sometimes be ignored by our guests, though I’m sure she only cooks it because her children like it.

My Lola Ising cooks great bistik and pommes frites.. What’s so great about her French fries is that they’re actually more like shoestring potatoes, cut so finely that they end up being really crispy. There’s also her pan de sal slathered with Star margarine, sprinkled with a little sugar then heated on her frying pan. I don’t know what to call it, fried bread maybe, but heck, it tastes good!

Lola Bebe, Dad’s mother, was also a bit of a cook, always whipping something up in the kitchen. Her sukiyaki would definitely give any Japanese restaurant a run for the money, while her banana cake would have given any commercial baker stiff competition.

I’m very fond of eating, and my wife, Chacha, fortunately, shares the same passion. She insists that I cook better than she does, but I beg to differ. Her sinigang is definitely out of this world, and her spaghetti with meat sauce and nilagang baboy can rival anybody’s best. Chacha also has this knack of putting together leftovers and coming up with something wonderful to eat.

As for myself, I can do a mean pasta with grilled chicken and white sauce, somewhat resembling pasta Alfredo, except with grilled chicken, seafood pasta, which has whatever seafood’s on hand, lasagna, deli sandwiches, and a bunch of different things like steak, chicken fried steak, stuffed chicken, salpicao, veal chops, home fries, baked potato wedges and popcorn.

I realize that these things don’t make me an expert on food, but hey, This ain’t rocket science, people. Who the heck needs a degree, or a membership in a gastronomic society for that matter, to appreciate good food?

Bulalo, and a cow's unmentionables...

People usually think “Cebu City” when talking about restaurants. While it’s true that most of the better restaurants are found in the city, Cebu does not have a monopoly on great eating-places, especially those offering great value for money, and fresh country air to boot.

Those heading north may want to drop by for a bite to eat at Orosia Food Park. Located along the National Highway, Orosia Food Park in Consolacion is a popular venue for those who want to partake of traditional Filipino and Cebuano food. According to proprietor Elton Tio, the restaurant is also in much demand as a setting for wedding receptions, debuts and the like. Boasting of two levels, with each floor capable of seating around a hundred people, it’s not hard to understand why people hold their parties at Orosia. Not only that, the restaurant also has a substantial garden area that can also be used for festive celebrations. Those bringing kids will also appreciate the playground to the side of the main structure. Parking is definitely not a problem as the front can accommodate a very large number of vehicles.

Food at Orosia is basic Pinoy and Cebuano fare: grilled, cooked as the soup known as tinowa, or kilawin or kinilaw, made from raw ingredients such as fish soaked in vinegar and mixed with onions, garlic and other native flavorings and spices. Aside from the usual grilled food such as pork belly and barbecue, grilled tuna panga and boneless bangus are also available, with the bangus very well-flavored, not even needing to be dipped in soy sauce or vinegar, unlike the typical bland items found in other eating places. Orosia’s kangkong and grilled eggplant are also worth a try, and paired with the salted fish fried rice. For the more adventurous, lansiao, a stew made from a cow’s unmentionables, is available. Of course, one shouldn’t leave Orosia Food Park without tasting their pochero, or beef shank soup. Cholesterol overload aside, if there’s one dish Orosia is famous for, this is it.

Aside from the food, Orosia Food Park offers as an added attraction Elton’s pets. Though the animals are not actually on display, customers can request the staff to give them a look at Elton’s menagerie; the more daring can even handle them.

Though its location may seem a deterrent to those living in Cebu City, the good food, the fresh country air and the proprietor’s pets should be reason enough for those tired of the city’s dining scene. For the ones living up north, Orosia is a welcome treat for them, as it allows them to avail of good food without having to go all the way to Cebu City. All in all, whether you’re from the big city or from the towns and cities up north, Orosia Food Park is a win-win proposition.

New Mooon in Guadalupe

There’s an old Duran Duran song that goes “I light my torch and wave it for the new moon on Monday” that comes into mind. In this case though, it’s not a new moon that’s worth waving the torch for; It’s the “new”, revitalized Mooon Café, yep, spelled with three O’s. It’s still found in the same place, somewhere along the side streets of Guadalupe, the Mooon Café that everybody knows, only bigger and much better this time. Now under the management of Pages Holdings, Mooon Café has been given new life, a new beginning, and at the risk of sounding incongruous, a new dawn.

According to Charlie Pages, businessman, all-around good guy and proprietor of Mooon Café, though Mooon Café serves mostly Mexican specialties, he hesitates to label it a “Mexican restaurant”. Rather, “Mexican-inspired” is how he likes to describe this eating-place much loved by Cebuano foodies. “We don’t serve purely Mexican food here,” Charlie says, “Our menu is typically international cuisine, but with more focus on Mexican fare, and our interiors are reminiscent of a Mexican cantina.” If the interiors aren’t enough to let you know that you’re eating at a Mexican-themed restaurant, the names of the dining rooms should give you an idea where Charlie’s coming from: Tijuana, Vera Cruz, Acapulco, Guadalupe and Guadalajara. If that ain’t Mexican, homes, then what is?

With the restaurant’s two floors divided into several dining areas, diners have a choice on where to have their meals or drinks: the main dining room, the smoking area, the patio or one of the smaller dining rooms on the second floor. Incidentally, this is also where the bar is, so expect to see more serious drinking going on here.

Obviously, a restaurant isn’t about interiors, it’s about food, and Mooon Café has certainly earned a reputation for serving great food. Diners can start off with the Gambas a la Luna, Mooon Café’s version of the popular Spanish appetizer. Not so mild that you have to mix a few more drops of hot sauce and possibly ruin the flavor, not so spicy as to be uneatable, this dish has just the right amount of spiciness to whet your appetite and leave you looking forward to the next course.

How about lumpia or ngohiong, Mexican-style? Flautas, usually made with a cheese filling, is given a new twist at Mooon Café, with the addition of chicken slivers inside the flour wrapper. Lumpia and cheese sticks lovers will definitely have something to smile about with this dish.

Those looking for something to safe to order can never go wrong with a pizza. In Mooon Café’s case, however, customers should be extra-cautious when ordering the Pizza Diablo. Yes, it’s round like a pizza, it does look like a pizza, but it’s pizza, the Mooon Café way. Loaded with Jalapeno peppers, it’s a sure-fire way to experience heartburn if you’re not used to spicy food, though it’s definitely worth a taste.

For the main course, the ever-popular Mooon Steak is highly recommended. The favorite of countless Mooon Café patrons, the Mooon Steak remains as affordable, as tasty and as satisfying as ever. If there’s something that will keep you coming back to Mooon Café, this has got to be it.

Eating all that spicy food is bound to get anybody thirsty, and what better way than to wash it down with a glass or two, no, wait, make that a whole pitcher of Mooon Café’s fantastic Sun Cooler. A soothing blend of citrus fruits and watermelon, it provides a perfect cap to a Mooon Café meal.

With their good food and ambience, it’s no wonder Mooon Café has found itself being mentioned in an international guidebook. Even without that, the myriad customers who come back again and again for the food, the drinks, the friendly atmosphere is more than enough reason for Mooon Café to be considered an icon of Cebu’s dining scene.

Mandaue Sweets

Mandaue has long been known as an industrial area, being the home of various manufacturing concerns. A major beverage company, a building materials company, a vehicle assembly company, a variety of furniture makers both large and small, all these have helped put Mandaue in the spotlight. Besides these, however, other smaller, less obtrusive things have made Mandaue famous.

Hope Ramos-Oporto, a sweets vendor along A. del Rosario St. relates “Mandaue has long been known for its delicacies. Tourists, both foreign and local, buy a lot of sweets and delicacies from me, to bring home as pasalubong. I have had tourists from Luzon and Mindanao, Japan, Korea, Germany and Canada buy my goods. Among the things I sell, the bestsellers are the majareal or masareal, the tagaktak and the bibingka.”

Made of ground peanuts and sugar, the grayish-white majareal look like thin, narrow wafers, although that is where the resemblance ends. While peanuts ground finely to the texture of baking soda are the main ingredient, there is only a faint aftertaste, if any, of peanuts from this delicacy. Rather, the majareal tastes somewhat like sweet potatoes or yams, although the comparisons may vary from person to person.

The tagaktak, on the other hand, is a totally different thing. Ganador rice is ground or pounded, a little water and sugar is added, then formed into thin, triangular cakes, and then fried to a crisp. For those people used to eating breakfast cereal, the taste of sweetened rice krispies won’t be too far off the mark.

While the bibingka has always been a traditional Filipino food, the Mandaue bibingka deserves special mention. Made from coconut, rice, yeast and some other secret ingredients and then baked in a special clay cooking pot, Mandaue’s bibingka needs nothing else, not a slice of salted egg as a topping, not even a dollop of Star margarine, to stand on its own as a delicacy, unlike the bibingka found in Luzon. Of course, as a complement, old-timers will suggest that a mug of native chocolate, or sikwate, be paired with the bibingka, for an entirely traditional snack.

The majareal, tagaktak and bibingka of Mandaue may not be as glamorous and expensive as Belgian chocolates or French pastries, but it is probably for this reason why many people, foreigners and locals alike, enjoy these delicacies. It is their subtle flavors, their simplicity and inexpensive nature that make them so endearing, and even better, it gives Filipinos something we can truly be proud of.

Pastry Pitstop

Students from UP Cebu no longer need to look for an affordable place to hang out in near their school in the afternoons. With the opening of a pastry shop in the immediate vicinity of both UP’s high school and college campuses, lovers of cakes and pastries among the student population have only to take a few steps to get their fill of Beth Sanoria’s delicious creations.

Of course, Marc & Mattheau’s doesn’t cater to just the UP students. Passersby looking for a quick bite to eat, parents looking for something to take home to the kids, hosts and hostesses trying to find the perfect dessert for their parties; all these and more come to this shop at the corner of Gorordo and Molave Streets. Beth explains “I guess people do find our stuff delicious, because we have customers coming all the way from Mandaue and Guadalupe for our cakes and pastries. Besides, our items are very affordable; we have items like choco cheese bread, mocha twist and ensaimada, which cost only five pesos apiece. Our macaroons are only three pesos each, well within the budget of the students who come in here all the time.”

Beth explains how they got into the business, “It all started around eight years ago, when I started accepting special orders for my supermoist chocolate cake. One particular Christmas season, I received orders amounting to several hundred cakes. When that happened, my husband and I seriously considered opening a catering business and pastry shop.”

Open a pastry shop they did, and it is now fast becoming a favorite hangout for people in the neighborhood. With the addition of a couple of tables and chairs on the sidewalk beside the store, regulars can imagine themselves chilling out in a European-style café, sipping coffee or a cold drink, and taking a bite or two of a sweet roll as strollers and cars go by.

The shop’s bestseller is probably Beth’s supermoist chocolate cake, although her blueberry cheesecake comes at a close second. As chocolate cakes go, Beth’s supermoist, as the name goes, is a step up from most commercial cakes. It’s full of flavor and very sticky and moist, unlike the powdery or crumbly cakes one can find at the mall or supermarket. On the other hand, Beth’s fantastic cheesecake tastes just right, not too sweet, not too bland, and definitely not spongy. Other items are available, like the meringue-based Mango Tango, the Mango Five, with five layers of chiffon, mango and butter cream, and the Apple Walnut brownie containing real apple chunks and walnuts. A variety of hot and cold drinks are also available.

While you can find bakeries at practically every other corner here in Cebu, very few pastry shops seem to make their mark on the Cebuanos. Marc & Mattheau’s doesn’t claim to have the best pastries in Cebu; but what Beth Sanoria says sums it all up: “Cooking and baking is a passion for me, and when I do cook and bake, you can be sure that I’ve done my best!”

Ding Qua Qua, or, where to get great dimsum in Cebu...

Teahouses, and tea, have always been an important part of Chinese culture. It was a place where everyone would gather, engage in conversation, exchange gossip, hang out, and of course, drink tea. After it was discovered that tea aided one’s digestion, teahouse owners started selling small, bite-size pieces of food served in steamer baskets.

Called “dim sum”, roughly translated as “light meal” or “delicate food”, these snacks or small food items soon became all the rage among customers of teahouses. Traditionally served from morning to mid-afternoon, the popularity of dim sum grew until it assimilated itself into Chinese culture.

In Cebu, where there is a large Chinese community, the tradition of teahouses has been preserved through the Kokseng and Uytengsu families with Ding Qua Qua Dimsum House. Meaning “the best of the best”, Ding Qua Qua has established itself in the hearts of Cebuanos as one of the, if not the most, popular restaurants in Cebu serving Hong Kong-style dim sum. In fact, in Cebu, the terms dim sum and Ding Qua Qua has become practically interchangeable.

And just how authentic is their dim sum, you may ask. According to the Kokseng brothers Christopher and Steven, the recipes for most of the food served at Ding Qua Qua have been handed down from generation to generation, and their family can trace their roots all the way to Hong Kong, where dim sum originated. That’s as authentic as you can probably get. Even with a lineage such as theirs, they still fly in consultants from Hong Kong regularly, to evaluate the taste of the food the restaurant serves, and to maintain its authenticity.

Most popular among the food at Ding Qua Qua is certainly their famed Steamed Fried Rice. While it is not exactly dim sum in the real sense, it has been a constant in the lives (and meals!) of a lot of Cebuanos, and representative of the quality of Ding Qua Qua’s food. Consisting of rice topped with a savory pork stew with small pieces of shrimp and green peas, it is served in a small ceramic bowl and is a meal on its own. It goes without saying that Ding Qua Qua’s Steam Fried Rice is absolutely delicious.

Of course, being patterned after a Hong Kong-style teahouse, dim sum should be the main feature of the menu, and at Ding Qua Qua, the siomai or shao mai is definitely at the top of the list. These are steamed pork dumplings in a flour wrapper, topped with shrimp, quail’s eggs or button mushrooms.

Perhaps the best way to enjoy a meal at Ding Qua Qua is to indulge in their dim sum buffet. It’s not purely dim sum though; aside from siomai, steamed fried rice, pata tim and cua pao, and the white fungi soup, which is a typical Chinese-style egg-drop soup, other dishes like fried mixed vegetables consisting of mushrooms, carrots and bamboo shoots in rich brown sauce, shrimp balls, lumpia, char siu or Chinese-style barbecued pork, vegetable balls resembling and tasting surprisingly like meatballs are also included in the buffet. Of course, the ubiquitous chicken feet, fried wanton dumplings and sweet and sour pork is available too. As an added plus every weekend, Oriental short ribs are offered as well. The dessert menu is also full of choices, but diners are encouraged to try Ding Qua Qua’s chocolate mousse and coconut crème, very similar to the maja blanca.

For several generations, Ding Qua Qua has existed in Cebu, serving the traditional dim sum so loved by many. Cebuanos have grown to love the food at this restaurant so much, that going to Ding Qua Qua has become a tradition in itself.

Ding Qua Qua is locared at JY Square Mall in Lahug, Cebu City.

The Flavors of Penang

In his novel “Lost Horizon”, author James Hilton described Shangri-La as an exotic place, brimming with Asian mysticism and absolute tranquility. Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa is no different from the literary Shangri-La, and with their celebrated restaurant, Tides, overflowing with Asian delicacies, the mysticism so apparent in the novel is interpreted and transformed into reality by their experienced chefs. Even more so when the restaurant imports its chefs from another country as exotic and as beautiful as ours: Malaysia.

As part of Shangri-la’s thrust to help promote Malaysia, the resort is presenting its guests with a one-week-only offering appropriately called “The Flavors of Penang”, available at Tides Restaurant until Sept. 25. The food festival showcases the multi-cultural cuisine of our Asian neighbor.

As with most Asian countries, tea drinking is often an integral part of a meal. In this case, the preparation of the traditional teh tarik is as important as its consumption. Roughly translated as “pulled tea”, Malaysian tea master Sharizan Saaban mixed, or rather “pulled” the tea and milk together using graceful movements, first pouring the milk in one pot into the tea in the other, then slowly moving the pot up and away from the other. He repeats this process several times until it results in a highly frothed mixture of tea and milk, then he deems it fit for serving.

Several kinds of salads, such as the kerabu mangga, very similar to our green mango salad, were served as a preview of things to come, although the shrimp salad called Kerabu Udang, with its slightly tangy and somewhat lemony flavor, provided a very welcome change from the usual tossed greens.

Malaysian cuisine seems very similar to Filipino cuisine in that coconut milk is used in a lot of the recipes. Perhaps the main difference lies in the spiciness of the cuisine: Malaysian food is spicy, ours is not. A perfect example of this is the Beef Rendang Mamak, a very tasty concoction made by boiling the beef in coconut milk, mixed with curry powder, chili paste and other kinds of spices: this mixture is kept heated until the coconut milk is boiled down to a mushy paste, much like a reduction, leaving the beef well flavored. Another dish definitely guaranteed to take your breath away would be the Ayan Rendang. Basically, it is the same dish as Rendang Mamak, though made from chicken. People not used to spicy foods may complain that Malay food is too spicy for their taste. Perhaps it is best to remember that it is all relative: Malaysians may find Pinoy food to be too bland for that matter.

Acknowledged as the culinary capital of Malaysia, with its fusion of Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines, Penang will definitely give serious foodies a thrill. As for yours truly, the opportunity given by Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa to indulge in the Flavours of Penang was greatly appreciated. And as most Penangites would say, “Chiak Si Hock!”

This article appeared in the Sun.Star Lifestyle section

No Pretensions

NO reservations? No problem. You don’t need to be on any list, guest list, A-list or whatever, to indulge in this kind of food. Membership in a gastronomic society isn’t mandatory either; no unpronounceable French names are used here. While experienced sauciers may recognize the typical street food sauce as a roux, it’s ingredients and preparation may leave them a bit boggled, shocked or both. No fancy vinegar worth almost a hundred grand a liter is involved, only ordinary local coconut or cane vinegar with garlic cloves, onion bits and crushed red peppers. 300-dollar bottles of wine are also noticeably absent, just beer, soda or water.

Anthony Bourdain, host of Travel & Living’s No Reservations, would definitely enjoy this kind of cooking, and Bourdain, being Bourdain, thrives on this kind of thing. This is adventure. This is cheap thrills. This is cheap food at its finest, street cuisine if you will.

Puso – This is a small serving of steamed rice packaged in coconut leaves, very popular in the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Philippines.

Chicken intestines – Popularly called “IUD” for some bizarre reason, chicken intestines are among the more popular beer matches in the country. Skewered on slender bamboo sticks and grilled, it goes best dipped in spicy vinegar and paired with a very cold bottle of San Miguel beer. In some regions of the Philippines, grilled pork intestines are also popular beer matches.

Pospas – Eaten as it is, or with a slice of chicken or beef, or goto (pork innards), or sometimes with a boiled egg, the pospas can probably be considered the quintessential Pinoy food: simple, inexpensive, easy to prepare yet delightfully tasty and filling to boot. Foreigners can probably recognize it as rice porridge.

Tempura – Not to be mistaken for the Japanese tempura, though also deep-fried, this local favorite can only be described as a white, floury sausage. Made usually out of fishmeal, flour and spices, skewered onto bamboo sticks and dipped in vinegar or a sweet and spicy sauce, it’s a popular snack among people from all walks of life, from students, loafers, and office workers to scions of wealthy families. Almost always sold from pushcarts, together with fish balls and squid balls, they can be found on many a street corner in the city.

Balut – Perhaps the most famous Pinoy street food of them all, the balut is not for the faint of heart. A boiled 16- to 18-day old duck’s egg, it contains a tasty broth, yolk and a half-formed duck embryo (forget about the hard white stuff, you’re not supposed to eat it). There’s also a particular way of eating balut, much like a three-course meal, only messier, and definitely more barbaric, but hey, street food ain’t gonna be called street food if dainty, hoity-toity manners are needed to eat it.

To eat a balut, tap open a hole at the slightly wider end of the egg and sprinkle some sea salt into the opening. Slightly shake the egg to mix the salt with the broth, and then drink from the hole. Once you’ve drunk the “soup” inside, break off the eggshell little by little until the yellow yolk is exposed. Sprinkle either salt or vinegar on the yolk and bite it off. It usually breaks off cleanly from the rest of the contents of the balut. Now for the best part. Again, sprinkle salt or vinegar or both onto the half-formed duckling. Slurp the embryo into your mouth, then, depending on the age of the balut, swallow directly or chew a bit first. It sounds disgusting but it’s definitely worth a taste. Oh, you can try eating the hard white thing but I wouldn’t suggest it.

With the Pinoy’s fondness for eating, it’s no wonder that Pinoys have taken eating to the streets. Quail’s eggs, considered a luxury item in some countries, are actually sold on the streets of Cebu and Manila. Weirder items such as blood chunks, chicken feet and day-old, deep-fried battered ducklings can also be found, as well as the more ordinary lumpia, barbecued pork, chicken tail and sautéed or boiled peanuts. Of course, one should always be careful when eating anything new, not just street food, but then again, what’s life without adventure?

sushi with no banshees

It comes in different forms. Sometimes it’s just sticky rice and a slice of raw fish, either salmon or tuna, or cooked, shelled prawns, octopus or cuttlefish pressed together to form a finger-shaped treat. Other times, nori, or pressed algae sheets, is rolled around the rice, with a sliver of raw fish in the middle. Occasionally, it comes in the form of cones, with the filling spilling out from the open end. And it’s not just seafood that is used to make the fillings. Vegetables such as cucumbers, different kinds of meat, eggs, fried bean curd, even fruits like mangoes can be used as ingredients in this popular Japanese delicacy. Some people say that it actually originated from the Chinese, as a way of preserving fish, but it is widely accepted that it was a Japanese vendor who made it extremely popular.

Yohei Hanasa, a street-food stall owner in nineteenth-century Tokyo, then called Edo, started selling hand-formed fingers of vinegared rice and raw fish to workers on a short break, travelers looking for something to eat or just about anyone who happened to be hungry. His products, called nigiri-zushi, roughly translated as “hand-formed rice snack” became so well liked that other vendors followed his lead, and nigiri-zushi stalls started popping up everywhere. Nowadays more commonly called “sushi”, it has become popular not only in Japan but also all around the world.

...definitely not chicken soup, but still good for the soul...

When you think of it, the popular batchoy is kind of a puzzle. Is it just a snack or a meal on its own? The answer may be irrelevant, as food is not exactly meant to be questioned, only enjoyed.

Originally an Ilonggo specialty, the humble batchoy has reached practically every major populated area in the Philippines, and has even migrated to far-flung Filipino communities in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The simplicity of this dish belies its popularity; who would have thought that it would become a favorite not only in its native La Paz, but also in the major metropolitan centers of the Philippines? Restaurants serving Filipino dishes usually feature batchoy in their menus, unquestionable proof that it is an authentic Pinoy favorite.

Composed of a savory broth, noodles, leeks for additional tang and some color, beef, innards and liver strips with bits of crunchy chicharon on top, sometimes mixed with a raw egg, the batchoy can be eaten any time of day: breakfast, lunch, supper or merienda. It’s also perfect for those night owls who have had too much to drink and wish to sober up, or those just looking for something to eat during the wee hours of the morning.

Enter Carlo’s Batchoy, located right smack along Sotero Cabahug St, possibly the busiest street in Mandaue City. Operating since 1983, Carlo’s Batchoy has become undoubtedly the most popular batchoy house in Mandaue. Its popularity led to the opening of several other outlets, not just in the outlying municipalities, but also in the hustling and bustling city of Cebu. Besides that, Carlo’s Batchoy prides itself on being the first all day-all night eatery in Mandaue, and one of the first in the province to offer 24-hour service.

Juliet R. Veloso, Carlo’s Batchoy’s operations manager explains the restaurant’s beginnings, “Caiser Casumpang, the owner, is Ilonggo, and he wanted to share this Ilonggo specialty with the Mandauehanons. Together with his wife, Zenia, they opened the first store and named it after their son.” She goes on to explain that the restaurant started out by serving just batchoy and pan de sal, “Although during the latter part of the nineties, Carlo’s Batchoy began to offer siopao and grilled food such as pork belly and pork and chicken barbecue. At present, we offer other Pinoy dishes such as sisig and dinuguan, as well as calamares, pansit molo and other favorites.”

The food at Carlo’s are all very good, possibly even better than the food at some of the pricier establishments in both Mandaue and Cebu Cities, and more importantly, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Their batchoy, however, remain the perennial favorite, the best seller. Pop into any Carlo’s Batchoy branch, especially at the main store in Mandaue, and you’ll most likely see a bowl of batchoy in front of every customer. Or if you want, ask a Mandauehanon, any true-blue Mandauehanon, where to get the best batchoy in town. Stock answer: “Basta batchoy, Carlo’s!”

This article was published in SunStar Cebu Lifestyle Section

...thanks for the memories...

I remember when I was a seventh-grader at La Salle Greenhills. It was Schoolyear 1983-1984, Fridays were half-days then, and when school ended for the week, my classmates and I would usually troop to the Greenhills Commercial Center to hang out.

Our first stop would always be for lunch, at a quaint but cozy, little-known pizza restaurant. Its pizza and lasagna was quite popular among Greenhills habitués, but otherwise unknown to people who did not frequent the area. It was almost always full of La Sallistas, and if memory serves me correctly, was called Greenwich Pizza and Pasta.

Fast forward to the year 2007, I’m now a feature writer for Sun.Star Cebu, and I suddenly find myself somehow reliving the experiences from twenty-three years before. I’m at a Greenwich restaurant, albeit in Cebu City, and I’m with some members of the media, to take part in a shortened version of their popular “Pizza-Making Camp”.

I’m an amateur cook, and I have made my own pizzas in the past, but my process involves nothing more than just putting the ingredients on top of the pie then baking it, with no system whatsoever. It’s a totally different thing at Greenwich. To paraphrase Michelle Flaherty, the band geek in American Pie, “At pizza camp, we were taught to make pizza the Greenwich way.”

First off, it was stressed that cleanliness was very important, hence the presence of the “double hand-wash” dictum. Crewmembers were required to wash their hands twice, ever so often, as they would be preparing food for other people to eat. As “trainees”, we were also expected to follow this guideline, as Greenwich officials were observing our “training period”, and we were not supposed to be given any special treatment.

As soon as we were taught how to construct a pizza, from the basic single cheese pizza to the more complicated Greenwich Special, we were set loose in their kitchen. First to go on was the secret pizza sauce, then the special cheese. The meat bits went on next, followed by small pieces of pineapple. Pepperoni slices are then placed on top in a sort of ‘x’ pattern, with bacon and mushroom slices last.

Once constructed, we placed our pizzas in a conveyor belt, where it enters an oven. Around three minutes later, almost like magic, our cooked pizzas emerge on the other side, as professionally done as can be.

According to Boggs Racaza, Area Manager for Operations, the Greenwich Pizza-Making Camp is a year-round activity held by the company, not only for children but for anyone who’s never made a pizza on their own and is interested in making one. She relates, “We even have HRM students coming in to register, for some actual experience in a professional environment.”

Though the small and cozy Greenwich I knew no longer exists, replaced by spacious, brightly-lit, well-equipped restaurants with full crews in every part of the Philippines, the smells are still there, whatever branch you may be at; more importantly, the tastes that many La Sallistas grew to love are preserved, if not made even more delicious. And when I took that bite of Greenwich pizza that I made with my own hands, all the memories of playing hooky, and chasing after Assumptionistas, came rushing back. And that famous pizza in Greenhills? It was as if we never said goodbye.

eating in the streets

I've been warned time and again against eating street food. I'm not talking about those Sabrett hotdogs being sold on the sidewalks, rather, I'm referring to the somehow exotic street food found in the streets of Philippine cities. People say they're dirty, or they're unhealthy for numerous reasons, or that nobody knows where the ingredients came from, whatever, bottom line, street food is allegedly not good for you. But yes, I do love eating street food.

My favorite is the famous (or is it infamous?) balut. It's a duck egg, with a half-formed embryo, ideally between 16 and 18 days old. You tap the wide end to make a crack, then slowly form a small hole. When the hole is wide enough, you can sprinke some sea salt or a few drops of spicy vinegar into the hole and sip the tasty liquid (can it be called broth?) found inside. When you've drunk the broth (?) inside, crack the egg open and start eating the contents. Again, sprinkle some salt, this time on the yellow yolk, and start eating. Do the same with the duck embryo. The squeamish can close their eyes if they wish, this being very forgivable especially for first timers. Personally, i don't like eating the white stuff, i don't know what it's called, but it's very hard and doesn't taste at all like anything, so not eating it isn't really that big a deal. I recently saw an episode of Fear Factor, they actually gave some firemen a thousand US dollars each for eating balut. Imagine that.

Besides balut, i also love barbecued chicken skin, chicken intestines, what Pinoys call isaw, and pork intestines, called tiripilya by people in my hometown of Teresa, Rizal.

There's also this thing called tempura that I like. No, it's not the Japanese kind, the tempura I'm talking about look like white sausages skewered on a bamboo stick. Actually, they're like elongated fishballs, I think they're made from the same stuff. Or maybe it's just the sauce I like? Each vendor has his or her own version of the sauce, maybe that's the thing. The sauces almost invariably taste good, whatever vendor I buy from. The funny thing is, these things are available at the supermarket, although they don't really taste as good when i cook it at home. Maybe it's the sauce, maybe the ambience, what do you think?

And kwek-kwek! These are quail eggs covered in orange batter and deep fried. They taste like, I don't know, quail eggs wrapped in batter? Again, maybe it's the sauce that makes it really good. Now that I'm living in Cebu, I don't really get to eat kwek-kwek anymore. I don't know why, but I can't seem to find anyone who sells these things.

...with everything on it...

Most people say the sandwich was invented in the middle of a card game. The Earl of Sandwich, stomach already growling but not wanting to leave the card table, ordered someone, perhaps his valet, or maybe his chef, to “put a slice of roast beef in between two loaves of bread.” Thus the sandwich as we know it was born.

Other people believe that the Israelites came up with the first sandwich when they put slices of lamb in between two pieces of matzo bread. Whatever school of thought one belongs to, one can be certain about one thing: sandwiches can be considered one of the best foods in the world.

Some people argue that a sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich, that there’s no difference between a ham sandwich made at home by your wife or your mom and a ham sandwich from the local deli. Other people, however, do not subscribe to this notion. With the countless kinds of sandwiches one can find, a food enthusiast can spend the rest of his life just feasting on sandwiches.

Another argument arises from the structure and components of a sandwich. Most purists believe that sandwiches should have at least two pieces of bread with some sort of filling in between. Other people feel that pastries with fillings are also sandwiches; this includes bread and dough products like siopao and meat rolls. Still others insist that open-face sandwiches are not sandwiches at all, but are just a simplified form of pizza. Following this line of reasoning, proponents argue that a pizza is actually a form of sandwich.

It’s gotten to the point that the definition of sandwich has actually reached the courts, with a United States judge ruling that “a sandwich must have two slices of bread and not one tortilla,” stemming from a lawsuit that a sandwich restaurant filed against a shopping mall for allowing a Mexican restaurant to operate inside it’s premises. The main issue? The sandwich restaurant claimed that the burrito is actually a sandwich; therefore, the Mexican restaurant should not be able to operate inside the mall, as it serves the same kind of food that they do.

Taking all these arguments aside, it is a fact that most people do enjoy sandwiches. From the simple pan de sal with a slice of homemade goat cheese in between, or the most complicated submarine, Clubhouse or Monte Cristo sandwich you can find, there’s probably not one person in the world that can say something bad about sandwiches. Even comicbook and literary characters have been found to love sandwiches. Wimpy, Popeye’s friend, has an unnatural affinity for the hamburger sandwich. Author Lawrence Sanders’ Captain Edward X. Delaney, the main character in the Deadly Sin series, is not only a food lover but an affirmed sandwich addict, going so far to classify sandwiches into two kinds: the wet sandwich, with greasy fillings, to be eaten leaning over the sink, and the dry sandwich, with a dry filling, eaten at the table, with a newspaper to catch the crumbs.

Open-faced, single-decked, double-decked or even triple-decked, many people love sandwiches for different reasons. Some people love it for its ease in preparation. Other people, especially those under time constraints, prefer eating sandwiches because it’s so easy to eat, and one can usually finish a sandwich in ten minutes or less. Others choose sandwiches because it’s practically a full meal on its own: meat or fish, veggies and bread. Its relative inexpensiveness also makes it attractive to most people. The popularity of hamburger restaurants also attests to the love people have for sandwiches, and you can probably find at least one restaurant that serves some sort of sandwich, wherever you go. Some cities even have restaurants with menus devoted mostly to sandwiches.

Whatever its origins, whatever its ingredients, whatever its structure and components, is all but academic. For as long as there is a slice of bread, or two, three even, for as long as there is a baguette, a hotdog bun, or, purists notwithstanding, a tortilla, and there is something you can use for a filling, be it cured meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese or most anything with flavor, it is a foregone conclusion that sandwiches will remain a perennial favorite, that sandwiches are here to stay. And yes, both my wife and my mom make spectacular sandwiches.

of beef jerky, garlic fried rice and a sunny side up egg...

The 1950’s was an era that saw the emergence of many things American: huge, fin-tailed automobiles, the soda fountain, drive-in movies, the jukebox, rock and roll, prairie skirts, bobbie socks and leather jackets. It was also a time when, in the Philippines, reconstruction was going on. Filipinos, hand-in-hand with their American cousins, worked towards the rebuilding of bombed-out Manila.

Unknown to many, the 1950’s also saw the introduction of one of the most popular meals in the country today. Bringing with them their taste for beef jerky, Americans began sharing this food with the Filipinos. Then it was somehow discovered that the salty, jerked beef went very well with the local version of garlic fried rice, called sinangag. Add to the mix both the Filipinos’ and Americans’ liking for the fried egg and an honest-to-goodness satisfying meal was invented. Whether it was the Americans who actually discovered this combination, or the enterprising Filipino carenderia owners who did, still remains to be determined, although some people agree that a small eatery in Paranaque was one of the first establishments to serve this dish.

What is definite, however, is that the tapsilog, as this meal came to be called, grew to be so popular that quite a number of eateries quickly came up with their own versions of it. In fact, it grew so much in popularity that a lot of people mistakenly believed that it was purely a Filipino creation, completely disregarding the Americans’ contribution of the beef jerky so important to the concept. Manila in the early 1980’s experienced a tapsilog explosion, with restaurants popping up here and there; variations of the meal were then discovered, such as the tosilog, with tocino replacing the tapa, and longsilog, with longganisa. Cebu soon followed in the early nineties, with a handful of tapsilog outlets mushrooming around the city.

What's also interesting to note is the use of the word tapa. Obviously this was taken from the Spanish "tapas", or appetizer, although common usage in the Philippines led it to mean a seasoned beef dish. Another thing, there are so many recipes for beef tapa that no one can can really claim that they use the original recipe in making it: at best, it's always made "the way lola made it."