Magnifico!

“Ask a thousand Italians to cook lasagna and you’ll end up with a thousand different versions,” says Rico Matta, a transplanted Italian and proprietor of Rico’s la Trattoria, an Italian restaurant located in the Century Plaza complex along Juana Osmena St. He goes on to clarify that though Italian food has its basic recipes, most Italians have their own ideas of how each dish or sauce should taste like. That being so, there is actually no right or wrong recipe when it comes to authentic Italian cooking.

Like most Italian men, he puts his mother on a pedestal; he relates that he learned a lot about cooking from his mother, and most of the food he serves at the trattoria are versions of the dishes his mother used to cook. And like most Italians, he prefers to make his own pizza dough and pasta. Of course, his sauces are also made from scratch; homemade is the key word in Rico’s kitchen.

Pizza is essentially a choose-your-own-topping affair: starting with a basic cheese pizza with real mozzarella cheese, customers can choose from different toppings like pepperoni, ham, bacon, mushrooms, onions and peppers, among others. Diners can also specify if they want their pizza crispy or not.

Homemade pasta is the norm at Rico’s, by way of a pasta machine, and is always cooked al dente. Raviolotti, a slightly larger version of ravioli, is also available at Rico’s. Stuffed with spinach and ground beef, and swimming in a rich meat sauce, this dish would be a great introduction to Italian food for people whose experience with pasta is limited only to spaghetti Bolognese and the occasional fettucini ala carbonara.

The pesto and Bolognese at this restaurant are both, to quote an old popular TV commercial, “magnifico!” The pesto is made fresh, from basil, olive oil and pine nuts. It tastes the way it should: just the right blend of sweet and salty, just a little nutty, and definitely not so oily as to be uneatable, even though pesto sauce is composed mostly of olive oil. The Bolognese is made from tomato paste, not tomato sauce, and given the nationality of the cook, the code of Omerta automatically kicks in. Rico’s secret way of cooking the sauce remains exactly that: a secret. Nevertheless, the richness of the tomatoes and the flavor of the meat blend together perfectly, and give diners an idea of how la dolce vita is supposed to taste like.

Rico’s marinated pork in brown sauce is a sure winner for diners looking for meat dishes, while the gnocchi in cream sauce is also worth a taste. Aside from the food, the restaurant also offers live music on most nights, and has an outdoor dining area for those who prefer it al fresco. Given the Cebuanos’ propensity for good food and leisure activities, Rico’s la Trattoria is undeniably a welcome addition to the city’s dining and entertainment scene.

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?

New Brew

As their marketing slogan goes, “Something’s brewing up north”. Good news then for coffee lovers in Mandaue and all points north looking for a place to hang out in.

Café Volere, at the ground floor of the North Road Plaza along the National Highway, offers customers not just the regular cup of java everyone’s used to, but a whole lot of other brews. Besides being just another coffee shop, Café Volere also caters to both food and dessert lovers. Kingsley Ko, the proprietor, explains, “My family is also into the baking and pastry business, so we thought it would be a practical move to combine it with a coffee shop. At Café Volere, we have pastries, cakes, and of course, coffee.”

Following the trend in most popular coffee shops, Café Volere serves a selection of hot coffees like ordinary brewed coffee, cappuccino and moccacino; however, they also have iced coffees for those who prefer their caffeine fix cold, although this is where the similarity ends. Café Volere’s iced mocha, while very flavorful, stops short of being too chocolaty that it becomes too much like a chocolate drink. On the other hand, their iced hazelnut coffee refrains from being too subtle that the drinker feels shortchanged, not being able to taste anything. Instead, it just bursts with the flavor of hazelnut, giving the customer exactly what he or she wants in a cold cup of flavored coffee. Those not into a caffeine buzz won’t feel left out, as blended drinks such as Café Volere’s strawberry or cookies and cream smoothies are available. For those who love to eat, pizza, lasagna and baked macaroni are available, as well as a variety of desserts like triamisu and chocolate mousse.

Unlike most popular coffee shops though, Café Volere isn’t a place to see and be seen in. It’s actually a little off the beaten path, away from the malls and commercial centers, but that is where it’s main attraction lies. Its calm and tranquil atmosphere is perfect for coffee lovers who just want to enjoy their coffee without any distractions. It’s also a great place for dessert lovers to just hang out in and pig out on a slice of choco-strawberry cake or two. Intellectuals may find the place conducive to a quiet discussion of art and music, sports, politics or the latest movies. For lovebirds, the place can be an ideal rendezvous for a few moments together.

So whether you’re a coffee lover, a certified foodie, an intellectual, a lovebird, or whatever, take a short trip up north, and find out what’s brewing.

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.