Our Lucena discovery tour

The trip was long – three hours – in mild traffic. Having left Alabang early, we stopped for a segundo almuerzo (second breakfast) at Sulyap, a quaint restaurant that started us on the discovery of a regional cuisine which was quite unfamiliar to us.

Sulyap Gallery Café sits on a one-hectare piece of land in Barangay del Remedio in San Pablo City. The restaurant gives a glimpse of the past with wooden stairs leading to the dining room where the windows are made of capiz and the plate station is an antique aparador. We had a choice of either coffee or tsokolate, both full-bodied. Our host Tina ordered Monte Cristo sandwiches and a pasta dish with tulingan (a fish unique to Southern Tagalog provinces), a twist that would give us a taste of the true regional cooking we were to encounter at “Quezonaria 2010” in Lucena, a food fest showcasing Quezon cookery, highlighted by a cooking contest.

The huge SM mall was teeming with people when we finally arrived at our destination. We had the first taste of Quezon food, mostly done with coconut – big prawns with crab roe sauce laced with coconut milk; tanguingue wrapped in banana leaves, served with still another version of coconut sauce; and caldereta, also in a heavy sauce. With such a flavorful introduction, we were ready to see what competition participants had on their tables.

Twenty housewives, categorized as non-professional cooks, eagerly brought their respective specialties to vie for recognition and awards. Tilapia (called sinugno by the Quezonians) was executed in many ways, though each dish was laced with coconut milk. Even their dinuguan had coco cream, giving it a new texture and taste. Our search for originality was met by Teodora Piñon from Pagbilao who produced multi-purpose coco balls – on a stick for munching, fried as the main ingredient of a dish with vegetables, and used in a soup with malunggay and fresh corn. She topped the category. Following her were Edna Amador and Daisy Barretto.

Another competition had students from Quezon schools offering Culinary Arts. Team 2 from the Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation took the top prize, preparing kinunot (shark’s meat) as appetizer, a main course of pinaputok na tilapia, and maja blanca for dessert.

We had first tasted kinunot in Naga some years ago and had some apprehensions about it, but immediately became a fan after tasting the team’s dish. This is done, of course, with coconut milk and lots of finger chilis. The trio of aspiring chefs presented the dish in buko shells. While the steamed tilapia did not look so attractive in its banana leaf wrapper, the rest of the main fare was laid out well with ginisang kalabasa and its bulaklak. The rice was cooked with buko juice, which gave it a unique flavor. The maja blanca was quite innovative, made of a combination of coconut cream and fresh milk and had the consistency of panna cotta. It was placed in short glass cups and served with latik and binatog.

The second placer was a group from the Computer Systems Technology Colleges of Sariaya whose dessert, malutong na halo-halo, captured our fancy. They put the halo-halo sweets in pouches which were fried to a crisp, served with chocolate sauce. Delicious! The third place went to three other Enverga students. Cake decoration and table setting competitions also took place.

We give credit to the organizers of Quezonaria 2010 for their efforts to put Quezon on the tourist map through its cookery – the provincial government led by Governor Raffy Dantes, the Quezon Provincial Tourism Organization headed by Cynthia Eleazar, and Tina Decal of Fantasia Travel and Tours which promotes “Kulinarya Tagala,” a tour of culinary destinations in the South.

Some other attractions in Quezon are the original Luisa restaurant (now under daughter Chuchay) which serves and caters authentic Quezon food, and the Kamayan Hotel and Resort in Tayabas which always has fresh catch.

Products from Quezon include lambanog, Lucban longganisa, espasol, achara, nata de coco, broas and noodles for their popular habhab and chami. A good meal is always assured in Quezon.

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