So old yet so Moderna
I personally think comfort food is associated with our childhood years, for some of my best memories growing up always have had something to do with food. I used to look forward to the long trips from my hometown Orani, Bataan, back to Manila — just because it gave my family the chance to stop at the familiar roadside bakery in Guagua, Pampanga, for what we considered to be the best pasalubong goodies to take back home. Unfailingly, I would look out the window, so we never drove past it. I vividly remember tugging at the shirt of my father from the backseat of the car whenever the famous landmark came into view. My father would always oblige my request, take me by the hand and together we’d browse through a wonderland of delights: big baskets full of baked products… ensaymada, pan de coco, empanaditas, turrones de casuy, yemas coated with crunchy caramel wrapped in colorful cellophane wrapper and gorgoryas, which are bite-sized bread fritters glazed with sugar and dayap. Right now, I could almost smell the delicious aroma of freshly baked pandesal coming from their pugon and the very thought of it makes me happy and warm all over.
La Moderna Bakery, the panaderya that has brought me countless pleasurable memories for generations, is an institution in Guagua, Pampanga. It has kept the legacy of traditional delicacies like sampaguita (melt-in-your-mouth creamy flower-shaped cookies), masa podrida (our take on shortbread) and San Nicolas cookies (baked goodies imprinted with the image of Saint Nicolas, the patron saint of children) alive for over 60 years. For five generations, the family trade which was founded in the early 1900s by Ignacio and Maria Lansang Narciso has prospered and is now carried on by Butchie Narciso Lagman.
Just recently I received an e-mail invitation from Angelo to visit their newest branch right in the heart of Manila. For me, that’s great news. This will give today’s young generation a chance to break away from Western junk food and learn to appreciate traditional homegrown delicacies. And all of a sudden all those delightful memories come flooding back. I gave them a return call and asked Jose Angelo Songco if we could feature La Moderna on my current TV show at QTV 11 entitled Heny’s Kitchen.
Indeed, it was a delightful blast from the past as I got a chance to revisit the bakeshop of my childhood, and to my joy and surprise I found that it had kept almost everything intact, as if preserved in a time capsule. La Moderna still uses the same pugon that churns out its different baked treats. I understand that some of their staff have also remained loyal, staying for over three decades, or else have been replaced by their sons and daughters still employing the same techniques in creating fabulous and delicious products. Still working from the same old recipes (why mess with perfection?), what’s new is the use of process technology to increase shelf life and present it in more contemporary packaging.
Now, I no longer need to go to Pampanga to awaken my inner child. All I have to do is to drive to Wilson St., Greenhills, open my window and sniff out that familiar scent that gave me such joy when I was growing up. No longer limited to just baked items, La Moderna carries a new name: Butchie’s Recipes of La Moderna Pampanga. The bakeshop cum diner promises to give its patrons the delightful taste of Capampangan cuisine that has romanced us Pinoy foodies for generations plus heirloom recipes from the Narciso family such as the tangy bulanglang na bangus (a variation of the sour soup dish with bangus and flavored with guava); chicken tropical (chicken with garlic, corn and celery, topped with creamy mashed potatoes); and a treasured family dessert, duman (toasted rice grains harvested only in select fields of Sta. Rita Pampanga, a perfect match with tsokolate batirol). Butchie’s Recipes of La Moderna Pampanga promises to take us back to comfortingly familiar tastes, bolstering a renewed sense of pride within us for all things homegrown. Mabuhay ang lasang Pinoy!
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La Moderna is at Plaza Burgos, Guagua, Pampanga, 045-9000 242 or 0919-6208 709 and Butchie’s Recipes, ground floor, Health Cube Building, 226 Wilson Street, West Greenhills, San Juan, 385-0387 or 0917-844-7593.
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