As May is the month of Mother’s Day, my column this whole month will attempt to always be mother- or mama-themed even if in Wry Bread-style!
Dining in the Quezon City area around Tomas Morato took an upswing when chef Him Uy de Baron opened the doors of his Nomama at 18 Scout Tuason (corner Scout Castor). Described as the home of “artisanal ramen + modern Japanese cuisine,” it’s like chef Him took his experience running East Cafe at Rustan’s Makati as an eclectic mainstream eatery (East offered the best of various Asian cuisines in one menu), and repackaged that to have his very own venue to experiment, modify and improvise on dishes he’s always loved. With interiors that are minimalist, no-frills, contemporary Japanese, Nomama manages to be both exciting and innovative, while staying affordable and at good value.
Working at nearby ABS-CBN means I’ve trooped to Nomama several times over the last months and each visit has been a gustatory delight! Chef Him is especially proud of the varieties with which he’s reinvented ramen there’s Thai green curry, ox tongue chili tofu, Wagyu and the Nomama house ramen. Sourcing from small farms, Him insists on using local, organic or free-range ingredients whenever feasible. I even brought my eldest son, Quintin, for lunch the one time that we were both in the area; and he enthusiastically agreed with me that as “starter supreme” we would award the mushroom gyoza what chef Him has done here is prepare the gyoza with the rich sauce inside, so that it pops in your mouth, similar in experience to dim sum with soup encased in the wrapping. As for the piece de resistance among the main courses, the half-cooked tuna on edamame purée takes all comers. It’s a slab of tuna belly that’s cooked on only one side, the bottom half, and the top half maintains the texture of tuna sashimi. This one is a real original, and to die for!
Monthly, chef Him hosts a special night of culinary collaboration. Recently, Steph Zubiri trekked from Palm Village to Nomama (previous nights had Roland Laudico, and June 18 will have JJ Gomez’s Pinoy Eats World). Among the real delights of the special menu that night, I’d pick the appetizer fried tawilis with salsa verde green mango salad (this will be served all the month of May as a special), and the main dish of seafood bouillabaisse sinigang ramen with grilled snapper, prawns and clams, served with Zucchini noodles to give the dish the ramen touch. The sinigang flavor also meant that we were getting bouillabaisse with a Filipino twist! Also of special note was the chicken dish Sriracha-brined tori karaage with lime nori salt, pickled beets and grilled baby carrots. As can be gleaned from the descriptions above, it’s the imaginative interplay of flavors and ingredients that make Nomama such a “hot house” of degustation.
That Vicky Zubiri, Steph’s mother, has been a dear friend for decades now, made me especially happy. I’ve seen Steph grow up; from a precocious teenager to the formidable and accomplished young woman she is now. While her Palm Village establishment is another culinary beacon, it was great to see her in a different setup, “jamming” and improvising with chef Him. Her Mama can be very proud, and if you’re in the Morato area, Nomama is worth the visit!
Yarns of suspense and adventures
The three novels today take us to Leeds in England, and to the American Midwest in the Sallis story, modern-day Phoenix, and in the Urrea novel, Mexico, Arizona and Texas in the late 1890’s. They’re all notable literary achievements. With Kate Atkinson’s novel, she continues mining that vein of crime fiction that’s truly different, reading much like a Dickens novel. Sallis is existential crime fiction, while Urrea’s rambling novel poses the question of modern-day sainthood, and how it can exist.
Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson (available at National Book Store). There are three narratives at play in this latest Jackson Brodie novel. Naturally, there’s Jackson, private investigator, searching for the facts behind the life of a New Zealand client, whose past is a dark mystery, except for a snapshot taken as a child, on an English beach. There’s ex-constable Tracy, who in a sheer act of impulse, “buys” a child from a Leeds lowlife who trawls the malls, and there’s Tilly, an elderly actress who’s going senile, and works on the set of Collier, a police drama TV series that’s shot in Leeds. Somehow, the lives of these three intersect and impact on each other as the various narrative strands unfold. Impulsive acts, motives, consequences they all play their part in this sterling new chapter of Kate Atkinson’s works that are best described as literary crime fiction. The cover-up of a crime dating back to the 1970s is at the heart of this engrossing novel that shouldn’t be missed.
Queen of America - Luis Alberto Urrea (available at National Book Store). Luis Alberto Urrea first wrote about his ancestor Teresita Urrea in the acclaimed novel, The Hummingbird’s Daughter. Known as the Saint of Cabora, the previous novel was about her rise as a “Saint” in Mexico and how she was hounded by the Mexican government, which saw her as a threat to the status quo, an inspiration for the peasants to take up arms. This novel relates the exile of Teresita with her father, Tomas, in the United States. From Arizona, to Texas, to cities such as San Francisco and beyond, the novel is an entertaining read, both a revisionist Western and a careful fictionalized glimpse into the life of a 19-year-old girl gifted with the powers of healing and regarded as a living saint. How that jars with the reality of being 19, finding sainthood a burden, seeking boyfriends when the populace at large sees you as a freak, are what make this story such a fascinating one. The period details are also top-notch.
The Killer is Dying - James Sallis (available at National Book Store). Sallis is the author of Drive, the book that was turned into a noir film starring Ryan Gosling last year. This is Sallis’ latest, and once again, it’s a crime fiction with a strong existential slant. Set in Phoenix, the novel is purposely blurry and surreal, indicative of the style Sallis is known for. It’s a three-strand narrative Christian, a hired killer on his last job who’s beaten to the punch when his intended target is shot while Christian is setting his plan in motion. And there’s Detective Sayles, out to investigate the shooting while dealing with his wife’s chronic health problems. And finally, there’s teenager Jimmie, “home alone” when his parents suddenly disappear, and strangely enough, dreaming the dreams of Christian. How these three make up a “community,” even while never physically meeting is at the heart of this novel that asks us to examine what it means to be rootless and drifting through life. That society today is fragmented and yet somehow connects, is also at the core of this crime novel.