adobo – Page 2 – Jellybeans in the City

Heritage of flavors at Pamana, Tomas Morato

Pamana in Tagalog means “heritage.” It is a legacy passed down from generation to generation taking with it the hopes and dreams of forebears for their descendants. For many Filipinos, this heritage takes the form of family traditions and stories that provide them with roots and backgrounds.

For third-generation restaurateur Happy Ilagan Ongoauco – Tiu, her heritage rich with heirloom and secret recipes of Filipino dishes is a point of pride. It signifies a hundred years of delicious and authentic Filipino food arising from her family’s passion for cooking and love for family.

She brings this heritage to life with her restaurant Pamana, a Filipino restaurant located in foodie-friendly Tomas Morato area in Quezon City.

On my first day back to work from my overseas vacation, I headed to Pamana’s homey restaurant together with three coworkers for a spot of good ole’ Filipino comfort food for lunch.

Our repast of Pinoy fare included:

My Adobo Rice (Php220). Nearly two decades ago when I started working in the Tomas Morato area, I enjoyed some yummy rice toppings at World Topps then located along Timog Avenue. Well, guess what! World Topps was Happy’s first restaurant and this dish is what made it famous. This rice meal of adobo pork bits, scrambled eggs and freshly cut tomatoes on top of steaming hot rice doused in adobo sauce is already good for three so we just supplemented it with a cup of garlic rice.

Pampanga’s Sizzling Sisig at Aligue (Php320). It seems that any Filipino reataurant meal won’t be complete without sisig. This version had the indulgent addition of aligue (crab fat). Treated during this meal as a viand, it went well with the Adobo Rice.

Crispy Adobong Pusit Calamares (Php325). My coworkers discovered this menu item while I was on vacay. And what a discovery indeed! It combines the sour-savory flavors of adobong pusit and the crispy and chewy texture of calamares. Similar to the sisig, this tasted so good paired with the adobo rice.

This was a lovely lunch that welcomed my tummy and my heart back home, and got me ready for the rest of the workday.

This Pamana branch is located along Mother Ignacia Avenue, Barangay South Triangle, Quezon City, open daily from 10am to 10pm. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 2 3743798.

Another branch is located at 1315 Aguinaldo-Highway, Silang Crossing East, Tagaytay City, open daily from 10am to 10pm. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 46 4132461 or +63 922 8592703.

Modern Filipino Cuisine at Ombu Kusina, Tomas Morato

Lately, restaurants touting “modern Filipino cuisine” have sprouted up all over the metro.

But what is modern Filipino cuisine?

Simply put: it is the flavors you grew up with but broken free of traditions surrounding them, even incorporating foreign influences. It is composed of tastes and textures familiar to you but applied and presented in exciting and novel ways. In short, this is not your grandma’s cooking.

Unless your dear Lola is part of the visionary team behind Ombu Kusina, of course.

Ombu is a modern Filipino restaurant located along Mother Ignacia Street in Quezon City. Having recently revamped its interiors, it also recently launched its special holiday dishes. And your friendly neighborhood Jellybeans is among the lucky foodies who were able to attend its exclusive food tasting event.

Ombu’s newly renovated premises are simply impressive. White subway tiles serve as an elegant backdrop for light-colored plush seats, darkwood tables and the feast laid out for us.

And said feast consisted of Ombu’s signature dishes such as:

Dilis Rice (Php80 per cup: Php170 for sharing). Your favorite sinangag (garlic fried rice), lightly flavored and topped with salty crispy fried dilis (anchovies).

Salted Egg Spaghettini (Php260). Al dente spaghettini noodles tossed in a sauce of salted egg yolks, sprinkled with tomatoes, diced cucumber and salted egg whites. The salted egg sauce was evenly spread throughout the noodles and the cucumber provided a fresh contrast to the sauce with every bite.

Sisig Pizza (Php520). The classic pork sisig and egg tops a thin-crust pizza drizzled with garlic sauce.

Binagoongang Talong (Php300). Fresh eggplant and lechon kawali served with a thick bagoong (shrimp paste) sauce. While I found the sauce a little too thick for my taste but the crispy fried pork belly is just yummy and went well with the Dilis Rice.

Seafood Mix Laing (Php290). Taro leaves wrapped around a mix of shrimp, crab meat, onion and lemon grass, slowly cooked in light coconut milk.

Also part of the feast are Ombu’s seasonal dishes such as:

Adobochon (Php440). Flavorful roasted pig with tender meat and crispy skin served with adobo sauce on the side.

Flaming Chicken (Php340). Tender and juicy chicken flambed right before our eyes.

For dessert, we had Frozen Brazo de Mercedes (Php180). Delightful layers of frozen soft meringue alternating custard filling, ice cream and graham cracker crust.

The dishes were expertly prepared and given a fresh twist by Ombu Kusina’s chefs.

So for a great taste of modern Filipino cuisine, check out Ombu Kusina.

Disclosure: Together with other food bloggers, I was invited to attend a foodie meetup held at this restaurant. All the food items mentioned here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.

Ombu Kusina is located at Ground Floor, Sequioa Hotel, Mother Ignacia Street, Brgy. South Triangle, Quezon City, open daily from 6.30am to 10pm. For reservations and inquiries, call +63 2 4411789 or +63 922 8149086, or email omburestaurant@yahoo.com.

Thanks to SandUnderMyFeet.com for extending the invite

All-day breakfast at Milky & Sunny, Tomas Morato

This Milky & Sunny is an offshoot of the first branch established in Kapitolyo several years ago. It continues the restaurant’s aim to provide a place for people to come together for the comforts of home which is “as SOOTHING as a glass of warm milk and as RADIANT as the sun.”

Its menu was planned based on homey childhood favorites. The restaurant’s food trademarks include using only healthy olive and coconut oils to cook its dishes and heart-shaped rice for its rice meals which also come with choice of freshly brewed coffee or iced tea. Among the dishes I’ve tried here are:

Adobo Flakes (Php195). Day-old shredded pork adobo that’s been fried to a crisp then served in its original sauce and egg cooked per the diner’s preference.

Lechon Kawali (Php175). Deep-fried pork belly served with lechon sauce.

Saucy Beef Salpicao (Php240). Choice beef cubes marinated in spices and olive oil then sauteed with garlic.

Classic Dollar Pancakes (Php160). Small pancakes made from scratch, showered with sugar powder and honey maple syrup.

I found the food tasty, filling and reasonably priced.

The restaurant’s interiors, however, I find confusing. My expectation of breakfast places involves relaxing pastels and homey bric-a-bracs. Milky & Sunny’s area is a mish-mash of various design influences, from Moroccan-inspired tile tables to industrial-type exposed ceilings. The tile tables make for great flatlays, though.

This Milky & Sunny branch is located at Ground Floor, Ignacia Place, 62 Mother Ignacia Corner Sergeant Esguerra Avenue, South Triangle, Quezon City. It is open from Mondays to Saturdays, from 11am to 5pm.

It’s other branch is located at Ground Floor, Eton Parkview Greenbelt, 112 Gamboa Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City, open from Mondays to Saturdays from 7am to 10pm and Sundays 7am to 3pm.

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Got a taste of Bicolandia at Gata, Tomas Morato

Bicolano cuisine is characterized by spiciness and the use of gata (coconut cream): the spiciness gives the dishes a certain excitement while the gata gives them a distinct richness.

I’m not much of a Bicolano food fan myself (but I’m willing to give almost anything a try) so during lunch with my officemates, I found myself trying out a newly opened restaurant along Mother Ignacia Street – Gata: Flavors of Bicolandia, Atbp.

The resto’s interiors have a bright and airy feel; its walls are even adorned by a large colorful mural as well as paintings that depict food and food preparation.

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For our lunch, we ordered some of Bicol’s most popular dishes:

The ever-present Laing (Php235) made of dried gabi leaves sourced directly from Bicol
Adobong Bicolano Liempo (Php250), Bicol’s traditional way of cooking adobo characterized by the lack of sauce
Piniritong Manok ni Lola (Php230), homestyle fried chicken, cooked like how grandma does it 🙂

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The flavors are familiar and comforting but the serving portions are on the small side. That said, my dining experience here certainly merits another visit.

Update: I recently attended a Zomato Foodie Meetup held here. Together with fellow Zomato foodies, I was able to taste more of Gata’s signature Bicolano dishes such as:

Sinantol with Kamote Chips (Php190). Great for vegetarians, this dish pairs deep-fried kamote (sweet potato) chips with the tangy sinantol which consist of finely grated santol rind cooked in coconut milk.
Laing Bites with Gata Sauce (Php180). Another all-veggie dish, this features laing wrapped in deep-fried wonton and served with a homemade gata sauce.
Cocido na Buong Lapu-Lapu (Php495). Bicol’s version of Sinigang, it is less sour but still has a hearty broth.
Kare-Kareng Bagnet (Php330). At last I was able to taste this dish made of sizeable slices of pork belly served with a gata-infused kare-kare sauce.
Kinunot na Pagi (Php295). Flakes of stingray meat simmered in gata, quite a new foodie adventure for me! (Trivia: There’s a joke that when a Bicolano takes some gata to the beach, the sharks and stingrays get the hell outta the way!)
Halo-Halo Turon with Ice Cream (Php110). Classic halo-halo ingredients in lumpia wrapper then deep-fried and served with vanilla ice cream.

Gata: Flavors of Bicolandia, Atbp is located at Unit 3, The Grandia Place, Mother Ignacia Avenue, South Triangle, Quezon City. It is open everyday from 11.30am to 3pm and 4pm to 10pm. For reservations, call +63 995 4627251.

Disclosure: Together with other Zomato foodies, I was invited to attend a foodie meet-up held in this restaurant. Food items specified here were served to allow us to sample the fare and were not paid for by the attendees, including myself.