Dish way to Quezon province

MANILA, Philippines – That’s how the road sign leading to Quezon province should probably read. Because this province, located southeast of Metro Manila, has so much to offer in terms of food — for both body and soul. I remember taking the PNR train when I was a teen — the trains were spanking clean and well-maintained way back then — all the way to probably the last town of Quezon. My grandfather was the station master in Tagkawayan, Quezon, and he treated the whole family to a vacation there. I still hoard memories of the seemingly endless ride along the scenic coconut palm-fringed countryside. And yes, how we stuffed ourselves with the native goodies to while away the eternal hours.

But if you can’t really go to Quezon, let Quezon come to you via InterContinental Manila’s “Forty Towns on a Platter,” a culinary tour of Quezon province, ongoing at Intercon’s Café Jeepney until Aug. 2.

Forty towns? Yes, you read that right! So even if you dine every day for the duration of the Quezon food festival, you’re sure not to meet the same dish twice (familiarity can breed contempt, you know). For instance, today, Thursday, you should be having: shredded heart of palm with crab and goat soup for starters; young coconut noodles, marinated beef Quezon, maskara pork head crisp, quail adobo, octopus with coconut milk for the entree; and ginataan with mongo roast and nipa nuts with syrup for dessert. Tomorrow, Friday, you will have: seaweed with tomato and mango, and corn soup with crab meat for starters; bihon noodles with shrimps, Quezon kaldereta, buntot broiled/BBQ, inasal chicken, kagang (small but very tasty vegetable crabs) with coconut milk; buli nuts with syrup and sweet potatoes with syrup for dessert.

Intercon “imported” two cooks from Quezon and brought them — along with tons of ingredients — to Manila just for the food festival. Alvin Guse, who’s originally from Iloilo, and Cecilia Gabayeron of Catanauan, Quezon are assisted in the kitchen by Intercon’s own chefs who were trained by the Quezon imports on good old-fashioned Quezonian cooking.

Of course, the first thing the Intercon chefs learned, as you probably already know, is that coconut is a dearly loved mainstay in many a Quezon dish. Like the pancit buko (coconut noodles), pako (fern salad) with boiled coconut milk, ubod (bamboo shoots) with coconut milk, ginataang mongo with coconut milk. And don’t forget the immortal favorite laing (gabi or white yam) with coconut milk. Yes, Quezon has laing, too, just like Bicol. After all, Quezon lies on an isthmus separating the Bicol Peninsula from the main part of Luzon.

Of course, you can have as much pancit habhab as you like. This much-touted signature dish of Lucban, Quezon is cooked in onion, garlic, and oyster sauce with chicken, shrimp, and vegetables. For the habs and the hab-nots, the traditional way of eating pancit habhab goes like this: The noodles are wrapped in banana leaf cones. You tilt the cone and suck the noodles from the cone. Now, that rocks! But you can have your habhab the conventional way at Intercon.

At the Quezon food fest, there are oodles of ways to relish your noodles. Try the coconut noodles and the squash noodles.

There are also lots of ways you can enjoy your lumpia (spring rolls): buli, kaong (sugar palm fruit), nipa, and coconut. You can have it fried or fresh.

Meat lovers are in for a really meaty treat. A top favorite is the wild boar tapa (dried meat) from Quezon. “It’s soaked overnight in a marinade of pepper, garlic, and tenderizer,” chef Guse shares.

The lengua (ox tongue) is bound to get you tongue-tied, too — it’s prepared according to an old recipe from the Abella family of Catanauan.

And what’s a Filipino feast without lechon? Quezon has its lechon inihaw, where the pork meat is first roasted, cut up, then refrigerated for two to three days before it’s broiled over charcoal and served with coconut vinegar and garlic. You don’t need Mang Tomas here.

Something warm and comforting for these rainy days is the chicken soup of free-range native hen that’s slow-cooked for three hours to bring out its tasty goodness. To kick off our lunch, we’re having, along with a juicy dollop of gossip, an uber- soothing bowl of upo soup with garlic, ginger, and fresh pepper.

Then there are the fish offerings. Like the raddish shredded with fish flakes, a bracing salad that should rouse your lethargic taste buds and prime you for the main course. Or the sisig version of tuna belly. Surrounded by seas, Quezon is a rich fishing ground teeming with crabs (from blue crabs to crablets), shrimps, squid, and fish. Seafood delights at the festival include the best-tasting shellfish you will ever taste, prawns cooked in coconut milk and crab fat, and kuhol (snails).

To cap your culinary tour of Quezon on a sweet note, try the native cakes. Like the lupak (cassava cake topped with grated cheddar cheese), buko pie, puto, Filipino tikoy, suman, sinroy (green saba bananas boiled in muscovado sugar and coconut milk).

To toast Intercon’s 40th anniversary, the beverage menu has native drinks like sibucao (an herbal brew), palm liquors, sugarcane juice, santol juice, nipay (an aphrodisiac), and chocolate tablea. Cheers!

As part of the hotel’s 40th anniversary celebration, diners have the chance to win trips to dream destinations. Every P4,000 in a single receipt at the hotel’s restaurant and bar outlets entitles a diner to a raffle ticket. Prizes include a Princess Cruise trip for two to either the Caribbean or Alaska or the Mexican Riviera, and a trip to a European destination of one’s choice on board KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Promo runs until April 16, 2010.

“Café Jeepney being the only Filipino-themed coffeeshop, and with jeepney connoting a trip, we plan to bring in food from the provinces,” says Jennifer Peña, director of public relations, InterContinental Manila.

So, all aboard now and enjoy the culinary ride.

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Café Jeepney’s buffet is available for lunch Monday to Sunday and for dinner Monday to Saturday. For every group of four buffet-paying adults, the fifth person gets to dine for free. For reservations, call 793-7000.