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?

An American Dream

Most newly married couples have dreams. Like most other newlyweds, J. Willard and Alice almost certainly had dreams of their own. For J. Willard, it was perhaps nothing more than being able to provide a good life for his family while Alice most likely just wanted to be a good wife. Opening an A&W root beer stand in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1927, they probably did not dream of their venture becoming a major player in the hospitality industry.

But become a major player it did. From a little 9-seat restaurant called “Hot Shoppe”, to a chain of “Hot Shoppes” all over the United States, to the Twin Bridges Marriott Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, the company’s first hotel, J. Willard and Alice Marriott’s dreams did not just come true, it grew into a company with over 2,800 hotels worldwide, with their name becoming a byword in the hotel business.

Paying tribute to its humble origins, Marriott Cebu City now offers Cebuano diners classic food and beverages from its colorful history. With Chef Witold Sczcechura executing the updated recipes, diners at Marriott Cebu City can now have a taste of the dishes that made “Hot Shoppes” a favorite among American families.

From Classic to Cool

What could be more American than a hamburger? As with most things American, this burger is B-I-G! Those with big appetites can order the Mighty Mo, a massive double deck cheeseburger seasoned with Hot Shoppe’s secret Mighty Mo sauce. The tangy American cheddar sets off the flavor of the beef patties, while the secret sauce gives the whole sandwich a somewhat smoky, spicy and sweet flavor. Customers can probably arrange to have their burger patties cooked a little on the rare side, to bring out the juices of the beef. Naturally, every serving of the Mighty Mo burger comes with a side order of french fried potatoes as well as a small saucer of slaw. A smaller version of the burger, christened the Mini Mo, is also available. With four small burgers, cole slaw and a tub of french fries comprising each order, the Mini Mo is perfect for a group of four kids, or four dainty eaters.

Snackers can opt for the Teen Twist Roll if burgers aren’t their thing. A fresh take on an old favorite, Marriott’s adaptation of the classic ham and cheese sandwich should please even the most discerning sandwich lover. It comes loaded with ham, cheese, and of course, fresh lettuce and tomatoes. Served with french fries and pickles, the Teen Twist Roll is big enough for two to share.

Basically a revision of Alice Marriott’s chili con carne, the recipe of which she learned from the cook at the Mexican Embassy a few blocks away from their first restaurant, the Buffalo Chicken Chili gives new meaning to the word “chili”. Using chicken instead of beef, chili lovers can feast on this without fear of cholesterol overload. Instead of the more common grated cheddar cheese, crumbled blue cheese is used as a topping, providing a nice, sophisticated kick to an already enjoyable dish. Be sure to scoop up the chili with the tortilla chips and top it off with crumbled cheese (Hint: use LOTS of blue cheese, just ask your server for more), it’s much more fun eating it that way.

With its origin an A&W root beer stand, of course, a Classic A&W Root Beer Float should definitely be on the menu, and in this Marriott comes full circle. Faithfully served in a mug, as it should be, the A&W Root Beer Float remains a refreshing favorite among young and old alike.

More than 80 years after J. Willard and Alice Marriott served their first customer, their legacy of hospitality continues to flourish. Not only that, they continue to give us food that’s wholesome and delicious, as well as being truly classic, and totally cool.