MANILA, Philippines - Cold, hard rice, tinged a sickly carmine color by the hotdog logs that sit right above it. Ketchup smears optional.
It’s the quintessential baon option that has become a rite of passage for any kid that’s toted a lunch bag around school. While it is one part nostalgic — and one part no bueno — just how much cold lunch, made from processed food, can a person stand? We ask three restaurant owners to give us a peek into packed lunch possibilities, made specifically with their own children in mind.
Ana de Ocampo – Wildflour
“Bacon,†Wildflour owner, Ana de Ocampo declared with finality. Despite hot meals prepared daily in school having the upper hand over packed lunch from home, nothing quite beats the pork perfection of a good strip of bacon. Honoring past visits to New York City’s Peter Luger Steakhouse, de Ocampo whipped up a beautifully fatty slat of bacon on her son, Luke’s insistence. A maple glaze blankets its charred and crisp outer skin, while its inside layers fuse the taste of smoke and swine. Though de Ocampo’s creation was meant only as a lunch option for her kids, the superbly grilled piece of pork has found its way onto Wildflour’s menu. For those looking for a taste of bacon like you’ve never had it before, de Ocampo has christened it Luke’s Favorite on the menu, and it’s served with half a roasted pear. Pair that with their Reuben sandwich, and baon combos will just never be the same again.
Sandy Daza’s daughter, Danielle, can live on pizza; for lunch in school she can inhale two large pizza triangles, then top the greasy blowout with a drink and a deep-fried doughnut. When Sandy Daza goes full-on chef dad however, thoughts of pizza get shoved in the corner and forgotten. With Manila’s culinary godmother, Nora Daza, as a mom (and proper training at Le Cordon Bleu in tow), Sandy Daza’s kitchen prowess is magnified when he toys around with Filipino comfort food. For Danielle, he prepared her favorite local meal: adobo. Daza feathered the adobo bits into flakes, and fired up a classic garlic sangag, with a garlic mayo dip on the side. The entire meal is flanked by a portion of young green mango atchara, giving the uncluttered course that tart smack to cap it off.
Ariel and Mia Manuel, of Lolo Dad’s Café, apologize profusely for any thumping noise you might have heard overhead, while dining in their Manila restaurant over the last decade. Their son, Justin, notorious for running around their home’s second floor (right above the restaurant), is a manifestation of just how far a good meal will get you. Weaned on a diet that spans foie gras with mash, and carinderia-bought igado, Justin’s teddy bear build is accustomed to eating through the food spectrum. Manuel’s packed lunch variant for his son is a spin off of corner-bought fried chicken. Char-grilled pieces of chicken fillet with a crisp outer skin cascade on one side, cushioned by a mound of spiced-up cinnamon and garlic sinangag. Served au jus, he pairs the chicken with buttered vegetables and a whole bulb of roasted garlic, to keep the “eat your veggies†rule in check.