It was my first trip to Iloilo, and it was interesting to note that while the decline of the sugar industry is something the city still reels from, this is coupled with the conscious will to keep the city’s head above water (metaphor intended as it was raining over the weekend and many streets were flooded), and continue its march as a relevant center within the region. Education, culture, tourism – Iloilo still has much to offer in these areas, and it remains to be seen how the political will of such stalwarts as Mayor Treñas and Representatives Defensor and Gonzalez, can galvanize said will with the financial resources required to effect positive change. Inevitably, altruism and philanthropy will play a part in jumpstarting this process, and Iloilo can be grateful that the Lopez family, and their corporate ethos of social responsibility, deliberately remembers that the city is the cradle of the family’s fortunes.
Oscar Lopez refers to himself as the resident family historian, and at the commemorative dinner held at the Iloilo Grand Hotel, he spent over 15 minutes at the podium, giving us a fascinating overview of the links between the family and the city. Erudite and informative, the minutes flew by as Oscar regaled us with family lore, the minutiae as interesting as the broad strokes. His digressions demonstrated just how ready he was to go beyond the official work that had been assembled.
A Gawad Kalinga Village of 140 homes on land donated by the archdiocese, a program to make the Knowledge Channel available to an impressive number of public elementary schools and high schools in Jaro (the district of Iloilo where the family hails from) at the Tacas Elementary School, working with Bantay Bata on child-feeding and responsible parenthood programs for the depressed inner city areas – these were all inaugurated in the name of Eugenio Hofilena Lopez, Sr.
While I will be writing a more extensive feature on the trip in a future issue of Metro Society, I couldn’t waste the opportunity to make mention of the weekend here in my column. The Miag-ao Church (recognized as a UNESCO World heritage site), the gothic St. Anne’s Church, the Guimbal, Arevalo and Tigbauan churches, the ancestral homes of Nelly’s Garden and Casa Mariquit – they all made for a fascinating itinerary of how so much Philippine history and culture is intimately intertwined with this fair city.
One can be jaded or cynical, call corporate social responsibility a concept fuelled by the guilt of corporate greed; but bottom line, as I looked at the faces of the children who were excited about being plugged in to the Knowledge Channel, looked at the face of squatters who had now been gifted with roofs over their heads that they could call their own and saw mothers with malnourished infants who had hope for that day and in their lives, I recognized that the concept of "good deeds" will never be an outdated one. That the Lopez family, throughout the generations, is continuously making it part of their legacy can hopefully inspire other prominent families to strive and match them.
But return we did, and the boys were excited as they all have "favorites" at this place. Quintin even had his eye set on the special Cola drink, while Matteo was dreaming of baked oysters – cooked with spinach and cheese dripping over the shell. The ubiquitous Fish and Chips was on everyone’s mind and it was a more a matter of with or without the variation of cheese (with cheese means the New York option). Pleased-as-punch faces of my boys meant that Fish & Co has been able to maintain the standards and quality so needed in this day and age. Too often, restaurants in Manila get the "rap" of inconsistency, that the food can be great over a period of time, but upon revisiting has declined. With Fish & Co, no such situation existed.
Ongoing is a Dessert Madness promotion and it takes a brave soul to resist the certifiably sinful and "go-straight-to-food confession" concoctions their pastry and dessert chefs have come up with. There’s a Choco Pecan Cluster that consists of moist cake with layers of gooey caramel brownie cubes, toasted pecan halves and creamy chocolate ganache. I had visions of the Association of Dentists of the Philippines having come up with this dessert, as you take this often enough and your visits to that "seat of horror" (the dentist’s chair) will surely increase! There’s a Strawberry Daiquiri Cheesecake, and my favorite was something called Mango Eruption. Eruption is chunks of mango, vanilla cake cubes and raspberry sauce, sitting on vanilla sponge cake with White Chocolate curls, toasted almond slices, coconut flakes and thin mango slices. Overkill has never been better defined! I could see my dream dictionary being opened to the page with "Overkill," and finding a photo of this Mango Eruption beside the definition. But delicious it certainly is, and while I, for one, know this is not the sort of dessert one can indulge in on a daily basis; I can readily recommend them to those who feel they can afford them, or like to live dangerously.
Fish & Co is a Singaporean based restaurant. Wildly popular since it arrived here in Manila, it’s part of the Bistro Concepts Group. The Group is responsible for other eating establishments like Italianni’s and Friday’s. They’ve effectively insinuated themselves into our dining landscape and have raised the ante for what popular broad market dining options can be here in Manila (as well as selected cities in the provinces). As for me, if they’ve helped Luca redefine his attitude towards fish and has made him enthusiastic for seafood, beyond the Maguro Sashimi and Ebi Tempura he’s already partial to, I can only thank them and wish they enjoy sustained "aquatic" success.