Home-cooked at Seaside

They serve the usual home-cooked sinigang, pancit bam-i, grilled fish and practically everything familiar to the Filipino. But somehow, there’s a unique joy having these in a place where the ambiance is like a wet market and service is like what one gets in a carinderia. It becomes nostalgic and with convivial company, the joy is multiplied. We remember the days when we would go to the market with our Inay not only to buy food but to eat pancit and menudo from a row of sellers, sitting on wooden benches, sharing a long table with friendly strangers. The markets were much cleaner then. 

So it was that a close friend hosted lunch one Saturday at Josefina’s located at the Paluto sa Seaside on Macapagal Avenue. It took us a while to find the place as it is in the end-most part of the complex. But as soon as food started coming out, horrible traffic and getting lost took the back seat. Paluto is where one chooses and buys the preferred seafood, meat, etc., from the fishmongers and other vendors, then have them cooked in their chosen restaurant. Josefina’s was our restaurant of choice where the authentic home-cooking left nothing to be desired. The crunchy breaded shrimps were the perfect starters, followed by prawns done in garlic sauce, grilled tilapia with slivers of green mangoes, inihaw na baboy, pinakbet, tempura and pancit bam-i (for the two celebrants of the day). The group heaped praises on the noodles. Servings were ample, and David, our main waiter, was efficient and gracious. The cost per head was approximately P500.

Our Sunday lunch out was at the very busy Tempura Japanese Grill at the Alabang Town Center. Following the current trend, the restaurant has introduced the packaged meal, here referred to as Kasuko, Family Feast 1 and 2, each good for four persons at P899 each. The promo period ends on Oct. 11. It is served in all branches except that on Makati Avenue. We chose No. 1, which consisted of noboyaki udon (noodle soup with chunks of meat and mushrooms, much like sukiyaki), tofu steak with onion rings, kokiage tempura, vegetables and squid, spareribs sansho yaki (the pata slices were so tough we could not even bite into them), four bowls of fried rice and four glasses of Coke. Sukiyaki is included in Feast 2 instead of the noodles. Four people indeed will be very satisfied with any of the two as servings are just right and taste is authentic.

Available in some supermarkets now are the dairy products under the label Holly‘s, produced by Real Fresh Dairy Farms, Inc. in Bay, Laguna, from a herd imported from Australia. The group has done a good job with products that can easily compete with those of well-established companies. They have soft fresh white cheese, milk in two sizes (either white or choco-flavored) and slightly salted butter. Here’s a tip on how to give white cheese a new taste and help keep it for days. Slice the block into small squares (1 x 1 cm.), mix with extra virgin olive oil, rosemary and thyme. Store in a container with a tight lid and keep refrigerated. This can be a bread filling or added to green salad.  

We have a young man in the family who grew up eating Jollibee Yumburgers and Chicken Joy. While studying in the UK, he would, on his regular visits to the Philippines, always stop by an outlet and enjoy what he misses. We reckon when he comes back, he’d be happy about Jollibee’s latest offering, the chicken barbecue which was introduced in the local market a week ago. What makes this different from the original Chicken Joy? The special chicken cuts are allowed to soak in a premium marinade that gives it that particular barbecue taste. It is served with a dipping sauce and Java rice. You can get a one-piece solo meal at P69, or a two-piece meal at P119. Value meals with the barbecue chicken are at P89 and P139.  

Our friend Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan who authored the book Medicinal Fruits and Vegetables goes on his active way of encouraging everyone to be health conscious, not only through proper diet. His group, The Health Futures Foundation, is mounting a series of seminars on healing with energy. Different kinds of energy medicine and its application will be interactively discussed along with hands-on activities. The workshop will be conducted by energy healing specialist and integrative medicine practitioner Dr. Homer Lim on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 8 am to 12 nn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Conference Rooms 1 and 2, UP Manila, Pedro Gil Street, Ermita, Manila. For more information, contact Health Futures Foundation, Inc. at tel no. 372-2187 or cell no. 0927-8921062 or e-mail [email protected].

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