Good eats!

Before anything else, allow me to greet a good friend who just celebrated his dazzling birthday this month, Johnny Litton. 

Johnny does not bother to hide his age and even proclaims it loudly for all his guests to hear — in keeping with a popular Chinese tradition he is 80 years old (actually 79 in chronological years) but wonderfully full of energy and bursting with love and a zest for life. With the ballroom of the Hotel Nikko (where he had his birthday celebration) full to the rafters with family and friends who wanted to share Johnny’s special day with him, Johnny was ebullient yet not frazzled, happy to celebrate another year of accomplishments and another year of sharing. For that is what makes Johnny click — he firmly believes in sharing and giving back and enjoying life now with family and friends. It was a night of music, dance, excellent food and elegant people.

That night, Jewelmer generously donated a beautiful set of champagne-colored string of South Sea pearls for auction, with the proceeds going to the EJ Litton Foundation. The lucky bidder was Joel Cruz.  The memory of his much-loved son EJ lives on in the foundation Johnny named after him and through whom he continues to share God’s blessings.

Happy birthday, Johnny!!!

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Allow me also, dear readers, to share a few discoveries from our much-loved segment on the TV show Business & Leisure, which is ‘Places’ and this is the first of several features interspersed with business issues for your enjoyable Saturday reading.

49-B Heirloom Kitchen is exactly that, a homey kitchen that proudly serves the owner-family’s heirloom recipes.  It is named so because that happens to be their address at corner Scout Fuentebella and Scout Tobias in Quezon City. It is actually an old house converted into a cozy restaurant with two levels – enough space really for a good-sized restaurant.  For the family matriarch Mrs. Jovy Aquino, her idea of good food is continuing their family’s tradition and love for food, and the fact that her children’s friends would flock to their home regularly to partake of whatever is on the table that day is testament to this.

It is, by any standard a small-to-medium restaurant, seating a maximum of 40 people. There is a a long flight of stairs going up to the second level where more tables in neat blue are laid out, and the comfy throw pillows indeed remind you of home.

49-B Heirloom Kitchen has slowly evolved into a full-service restaurant with many get-togethers, birthday parties, school reunions, etc. held here since they first opened their doors to hungry customers.  When they had their soft opening, it was clear this family boldly set out in the restaurant business without any previous experience in the business, but they came armed with a discriminating palate, a book full of tried and tested heirloom recipes, and a genuine love for good food which in the Philippines is our national yardstick for family bonding.

The initial glitches were there, shared Mrs. Aquino, as guests who came had to wait long for their orders.  “But what matters is not how many came but how many returned,” proudly stated the family matriarch.  Amen to that.  Good food is trumpeted and celebrated, and word of mouth is the best advertisement yet.  Those glitches have long been ironed out and are now just a private joke within the family.

For some people, paella would be considered fancy food, but here at 49-B Heirloom Kitchen, it is just a regular item in the menu, something she regularly cooks at home for the family. She served a large dish of Paella Valenciana to the lucky B&L crew and I salivated at the large prawns and fat mussels sitting on top of the yellow rice.  Another version, the black paella is served with roasted garlic, lemon and butter.

Other best sellers include their sinigang na lechon, a dish she inherited from her parents who always had a surplus of lechon in their house because the owners of Leonardo’s Lechon were friends who happened to live nearby.  The soup of this sinigang is opaque, not clear and boring, so you can imagine how flavorful it is, served with lots of vegetables.  Another dish that was always a hit with her own family is lengua with white sauce, so naturally she has brought this along to be a mainstay in her menu. It has strips of chorizo for more flavor and is served on top of creamy mashed potatoes.

I found her squash flowers fritters served with a tangy marinara sauce very interesting, though my wife Babes says many chefs have already adopted this in their menu.  Really, squash flowers? Anyway, the yellow flowers are supposed to be crisp outside but very soft inside.

The roast chicken has a nice brown color because it is flavored with tamarind and is served with gravy that is also flavored by a tamarind sauce, a new take on the good old roasted bird. 

Although she never had any formal culinary training, her daughter Erica trained in Austin, Texas and contributed the new dishes to the menu like the bangus tacos which is a favorite snack here.

Dessert items are definitely interesting.  Because her idea for her heirloom kitchen is to remind her guests of the comfort of one’s own kitchen at home, she and her daughter whipped up some good simple choices like freshly-made chocolate chip cookies served with a cold glass of fresh milk (!) and ice cream, and their most popular item, the hot ginger banana brulee. It is essentially saba bananas baked, then torched and served with ginger sugar. A most refreshing and creative new take on the saba indeed.

49 B Heirloom Kitchen should be a nice Sunday treat for the family.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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