New resto in San Jose

Last night wiz magawa ang mga beauty namin ni Weng, kaya pagkatapos ng rehearsal ko ng komedya sa plasa, napagtripan naming magdinner sa bagong bukas na Dah-bah Resto sa Gobierno Street. Curious lang kami kung ano ang mahihita namin sa resto na ito at kay tapang-tapang tumapat sa classy Piedra Restaurant, at tumabi sa isang chipangels na videokebar.

Sa pangalan pa lang na Dah-bah (ganyan po talaga ang ispeling), may ka-OAhan na ang restong ito. Plus the fact na more than one year in the making ito, gamit ng indigenous materials pa. Talagang pinagtiyagaan ang disenyo nito. Mga Hunyo last year pa sinimulan ang paggawa nito, pero May 8, 2009 na nang nagbukas. This better be good, sabi namin ni Weng. Sa signage pa lang ay talagang malaki ang investment ng may-ari dito. Kailangan ng dalawang kongketong poste na bricks-finished para kumarga sa napakalaking panaflex na hugis daba o isang malaking palayok. Obviously dito nanggaling ang maarteng pangalang Dah-bah.

Pagkapark pa lang namin ay binati na kami ng isang murat na nakahotpants, at munti ko nang mabangga ang isang malaking clock gawa sa chrome, na korteng manibela ng barko. Seaman ang may-ari? Zigzag shape pa ang pintuang gawa sa kahoy. Ang flooring ay hindi kawayan kundi spliced na puno ng isang klase ng bungang sa bundok lang nakukuha. Ang interior walls ay puro bagakay, at pati ang shade ng lights ay pinag-isipan ding gawa sa kawayan. Ang mga bar stools ay complementary din sa interior, puro hardwood ang tables. Kaya lang monoblock ang chairs. In fairness, kulay tan din to blend with the walls. Kailangan lang palitan ang Chinese-inspired frame na mukhang binili sa naglalako ng pahulogan on weekends. Am sure mas babagay ang mga framed na larawan ng mga prutas o kaya pagkaing Pinoy, o eksena sa baryo. Kung kayang bumili ng Amorsolo mas bongga, pero kahit imitation o print na lang.

May mga tatlong tables na okupado na, isang long table na parang family affair sa right side pagpasok, may isang group ng mga utaw led by isang chub na later nakasalubong ko from the restroom ay barangay kapitan pala ng Tigmamale. Chika naman kami ng lola. Sa kabilang side ay may dalawang mamang nakasando, at mukhang kilala pa ako nung isa, so may I smile naman aketch. Sa gitna na lang kami umupo ni Weng, kasama ang anak niyang si Miko. Yung isang waiter ay kilala pa ako dahil estudyante ko pala dati sa St. Anthony's College. Lumapit ang isang girl para ipakita ang menu, na sinulat sa dalawang pirasong bond paper. Handwritten talaga. Hind pa daw natapos ang kanilang menu list. OK.

So ask ako ng specialty of the house. Wisnowang pa yung waitress so may I ask pa sa kitchen. Crispy pata daw, sabi pagbalik niya. Tinginan na lang kami ng mahadera kong kasama. Di ba Crispy Pata naman ang specialty ng halos lahat na inuman? Mother, wiz yata resto ito. Beerhouse yata. So check uli sa menu. We settled for steamed tilapia, pinakbet. Pinalitan ko ang unang choice na sinagang na spare ribs to sotanghon guisado.

Yung sotanghon guisado malabsa, at lasang sesame oil; nahaluan pa ng luya. Aksidente lang siguro sa kitchen. Sinabi ko yun sa waiterlu, na dali-dali namang pumasok sa kitchen. OK lang, nakain ko na ang kalahati bago ko nakagat ang luya. I like luya naman, pero never sa sotanghon. Yung steamed tilapia is smothered with mayonnaise. Siguro sa Valderrama bongga ang mayonnaise. Pero tilapia ang gusto naming kainin hindi mayonnaise. Pinahiga pa ito sa bed of shredded repolyo kaya may ka-cheapan ang dating, plus sa melaware na pinggang puti. It didn't help at all. Ang medyo winner lang ang pinakbet na nakalagay sa buong kalabasa. Bongga naman ito. Hindi palayok kundi kalabasa. We hoped lang na masustain nila ang supply ng kalabasang may ganung size. Paano kung tag-ulan na at wala nang kalabasa sa San Remigio o Valderrama - the vegie baskets of Antique? Pero ang lasa ng pinakbet ay puro ginamos. Ang verdict: kariderya ang napasukan namin.

Rooms for improvement: kung seryosong wholesome, family place resto ang drama nitech, pakipalitan naman ang song selection sa napakaloud na speakers. Dambuhalang speakers pa ang ginamit, lola. May sound system din yata sala. Medyo maingay na disco tune ang tugtog kaya nagrequest kami ng mellow music. Aba, sinalang ba naman si Josh Groban na ngumangawngaw ng "To Where You Are." Feeling ko tuloy necrological service ang napuntahan. Suggest ko maghanap sila ng CD ng mga guitar Visayan folksongs, para babagay sa ambience. Yun ay kung totoong restoran ang gusto nila at hindi beerhouse. Kailangan ding i-train ang waiterlu na huwag ngumuya ng kung anu-anong pinulot sa kitchen habang nagsi-serve ng food. Buti na lang may kagwapuhan siya. Palitan din ng mas mamahaling ceiling fans. Yung mga plastic na made in China ay di na iikot pag-uminit na ang makina.

Plus points: Malinis ang CR, may lababo for hand-washing (kaya convinced akong resto talaga sila).

Ang ending, walang kwenta ang dinner namin. Buti na lang marami kaming topics for discussion ni Weng. At cheap lang ang dinner. May sukli pa ang 500 na binayad namin. Pinatake-out ko yung kalabasa.

Winner lafu sa Tarlac City

Nasa Tarlac City ako ngayon, sa La Maja Rica Hotel. Bongga ang food dito. Katatapos lang naming kumain. Kung magawi kayo dito, try the kinilaw. It's a winner. Masarap din ang lengua, super tender, almost melt in your mouth, with generous slivers of sausage. Medyo bitin lang ang serving nito. Kung sa bagay, good for one lang siguro ang serving na yon, but we shared it. Apat pa naman kaming kumain. Isa pang inorder namin ay stuffed squid, na masarap din, pero hindi naman ako mahilig sa squid, unless it's home-cooked na super black pa with its tinta, adobo style. I also ordered Sisig Kapampangan, because it's the closest I could get to local cuisine here. But this one is your regular sisig. Jo ordered the paella, which is generous enough, hindi namin naubos. This is not authentic paella, pero keri na, with lots of sahog. Maganda din ang band na tumutugtog. At one poinSorrt, nagtatalo kami when I insisted na kaboses ng singer na girl si Astrud Gilberto. When we checked, CD na pala ang tumutugtog dahil natapos na ang first set ng band. Ganun ka close to the orig ang boses nila.

Ngayon, kung nagtataka kayo kung bakit ako narito, e I have been living in Cebu for a week, itanong niyo kay lola Jo Clemente. Aba, pinilit ba namang ako ang ispiker sa Cultural Resources and Heritage Management nila dito. Feel ko na rin. Bukas pa ang simula ng seminar na ito. Meanwhile, mega-surf na lang ako tonight, at wi-fi ever ang lahat ng rooms dito. In fairness, maganda itong hotel. Gusto ko ang name, at gwapo ang mga bellboy at waiters. Hmmm. Sori na lang at hindi ko nabringaling ang camera ko. These past weeks wiz na ako hilig mag-clik-clik, gaya ng dati. Ewan ko ba. Dami ko pa namang lamyerda these past weeks. Sa next item ko na lang ikukwento. Keri na kahit wiz fotos ha.

Thai foodie

Our recent trip to Thailand was a real treat to the foodie in me. Our host, Dr. Maria Laosunthara and the staff of the International Relations Department of Srinakharinwirot University saw that we get a sampling of Thai food by taking us to some of the best restaurants around the Sukhumvit area, where the university is, like Baan Kanitha and Wanakarm, and international franchise S&P, that has a branch along Chao Phraya river. In photo are the shrimp cakes in sweet-sour sauce by Wanakarm (right), and S&P's version of the famous pad Thai noodles.

We also had lunch in a riverside restaurant at Ratchaburi province. The food there was more local and inexpensive compared to those in Bangkok. Our best bet was the crisp fried fish that was bigger than the plate and deep fried squid rings.

But the best food experience was at Chang Mai, when we enrolled in a cooking course at Baan Thai, a homestyle cooking school featured in Lonely Planet. There were six of us in that afternoon class, a couple from UK, a swimwear model on vacation from the US, a college graduate from the Netherlands, and the Philippines was represented by UP graduate and beauty queen Marnelli Sales and myself. Our teacher was a young chef named Boom, which according to her is Thai for "dimples."

World's best tom yam by me, of course

We agreed to cook tom yam, fried cashew with chicken, Panaeng curry with pork, and green curry with chicken. To save on time, we skipped the marketing part of the class and agreed instead to prepare our own green curry paste. Preparing the curry is an experience with herbs and spices, not to mention the laborious method of pounding the ingredients into paste.

From left, my version of Panaeng curry with pork, green curry with chicken, and fried cashew with chicken and young corn

We voted our official most popular food in Chang Mai the Kao ob saparod or pineapple fried rice with shrimp served at our hotel's restaurant. The Kao pad thai with crabs is generously topped with thumb-sized crab meat.

Pineapple fried rice by Huen Luang Prabang restaurant at Chang Mai

Penang food trip

This one is long overdue. My family went to Penang, Malaysia for a month last year, and I wanted to do this feature on Penang food. But organizing the 1st Karay-a Arts Festival took most of my time in June to October 2007; I never got to write that food article. Until I sorted my pics folder and found these. It's never too late to share them here.

Nasi goreng ikan (small photo) - No big deal but fried rice with dried fish, and bits of vegetables thrown in, topped with fried egg. Staple among Malays. My sister Mila's favorite. Variants are nasi goreng ayam (chicken) or paprik (spicy veggies). I prefer the paprik, which I suppose is of Thai origin. I saw something like it in a Thai restaurant menu.

Penang laksa (big photo) - This is a Peranakan dish. My sister always coaxed me to try it. Tried twice but never liked it. First time I was alone at the Komtar food center and cannot make up my mind on what to have for lunch; the second time at the food stall in Bukit Bendera. It's white noodles, like oversized spaghetti, in a soup of mysterious concoction. I suspect it's got ginamus (shrimp paste), which they call belacan in Malay. And snips of herbs, dashes of spices. It must be an acquired taste.

Nasi lemak is, I think, the Malay national food. It is rice cooked in coconut milk, paired with fried ikan bilis (dilis), egg (boiled or fried) roasted peanuts, and slivers of cucumber. In most times a dish of chicken, beef or fish (ikan goreng) in sambal sauce is also served. At the KL Bird Park cafe, I ordered this with beef rendang. The simplest nasi lemak can be bought for as cheap as one ringgit from stalls at a kampung (village), and gets more pricey at fast foods and classy restaurants. They also serve this in pre-packed containers at Air Asia, costing 12 ringgits. I had to try it to compare with what I tasted at a nasi kandar in Penang.

Food in Penang is really something to explore. The Malay, Chinese, and Indian influences give a foodie a lot to try out. At Restoran Daun Pisang near the Indian street, I tasted my first authentic Indian curried food, mango chutney, and lassi drink. Best of all, we ate with bare hands on banana leaves. It's so like home.

The Kapitan fast food along Kapitan Keling street near the mosque is also famous. I stopped by there one rainy afternoon for curry lamb chops and roti. There's also a restaurant called something like Yasmin along Penang Road, right beside Sam's Batik House, great to shop for clothes. Spice and Rice along 1 Green Hall St. is a fine dining restaurant with authentic northern and southern Indian menu. Eduard and I had a quiet lunch there during our vacation in 2006.

The most popular and cheap places when going out in Penang are the nasi kandar, serving usually Malay and Indian food, the Chinese dimsum and kopitiam, and the hawkers at night markets. The nasi kandar is the Malay version of our "turo-turo." Some of these are serve yourself affairs, and the charges depend on how much food you scoop up on your plate. The cashier simply knows how much to charge.

At the hawkers that musroom along Chulia St., Eduard and I tried oysters omelet and nasi goreng cooked right before us by a Chinese cook. The noodle houses abound, and one can get all kinds, with soup or without. There's one shop we went to that gave us the best Hainanese chicken rice, but I declare it was only second to that I had in a restaurant near the Singapore Art Museum. Well, it's also called Singapore chicken, afterall.

First timers in Penang must try the teh tarik (silent k, please), satay (simply barbeque to us) in peanut sauce. In one stop over during a trip to KL, my brother in law Ramli brought me to this satay place and gave me what seemed like a satay fiesta! I tried all kinds: goat meat, chicken, beef, liver, lamb, etc.

Secret Recipe, which is the most successful Malaysian foodchain brand, serves the best lamb stew, a real winner. Now, I am drooling. Good thing they opened branches in Manila, but the lamb costs twice as much. Their cakes are divine too. There's one at Robinson's Ermita.

This fish dish in the last picture is not Malay though, but Thai. We ordered this at Siam Cafe, another of my sister's favorites. It is fish tomyam actually but maybe a variant of Malay influence because the tomyam we had during a Thai wedding reception at Ang Thong province, was in clear soup but very very hot.

Now, I remember I have lots of photos of northeastern Thai food taken in Mahasarakham in 2006. The friends I met at the conference there, in fact, gave me an authentic Thai dinner for my 39th birthday. Wonder where I stored the files.