A Grand Fiesta in Quezon City

             In recent years, the Maginhawa Street area in Quezon City has been the toast of foodies. Quaint cafes and restaurants with interesting concepts as well as good food and intriguing offerings have sprouted along the two-kilometer street, which stretches from UP Village and Teachers’ Village to Sikatuna Village in the district of Diliman, and its environs, drawing not only students and teachers from nearby universities such as the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Ateneo de Manila University but also food enthusiasts all over Metro Manila. 

            “It was just a quiet neighborhood that you pass through going to UP or to Commonwealth Avenue,” recalled Marge Santos-Roa, executive director of the staff of Speaker of the House of Representatives Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte Jr., a mayor of Quezon City from 2001 to 2010, and a Krus na Ligas resident who frequently passed by the area.

            About six decades ago, the area was an empty tract of land, remembered amateur historian and former councilor of the city Alberto Galarpe. Presently head of the Liquor Licensing and Regulatory Board of the Quezon City government, he made a short report on the history of the area: “One big project of the Philippine government to honor and benefit the teachers of government schools was the conversion of a vast tract of land bounded by East Avenue, Elliptical Road and Kamias Road as the Teachers’ Village in Diliman. It was developed by the People’s Homesite and Housing Corporation in 1954. All roads in the village were named after the virtues and moral values of teachers such as Maaralin, Mapang-akit, Mahinhin, Malumanay, Masikap, Madasalin, Marunong, Maginhawa, etc. The national government through the PHHC developed the place as a housing project for teachers. However, it only awarded lots to teachers and government employees interested in the project. The Teachers’ Village is now considered a prime and fully developed community near the city hall with hospitals, schools, government and private offices, hotels and restaurants existing in a commercial area.”

            Santos-Roa remembered Nanette’s Snack Haus, which was known for its version of the burrito, being the first eatery to open along Maginhawa Street. She said that in 2009 or 2010, the food scene began to blossom. Now, there are numerous eateries operating in the area, most which are endemic, including Pino, Breakfast and Pies, Cool Beans Café, The Snack Shack, Burger Hub, Stuff Over Burger Café, Friuli Trattoria, Cocina Juan, Crazy Katsu, Gayuma ni Maria, Van Gogh is Bipolar, Don Day Korean Restaurant, Blacksoup Cafe + Artspace, The Breakfast Table, Leona Art Restaurant, Nuezca Café, Roberta Flavors of Asia, Sancho Churreria Manila, The Sweet Spot, The Iscreamist, Ally’s All-Day Breakfast, and Frosted Desserts.

            The city government of Quezon City has been planning to make the Maginhawa food strip a tourist destination, and it may well start with the food festival happening on October 11, 2014. Santos-Roa is heading the event, which is one of the highlights of the diverse line-up of activities and events for the 75th anniversary of Quezon City’s cityhood on October 12. According to her, the whole Maginhawa Street will be closed off to traffic, and people will be encouraged to walk the whole stretch. They are hoping to gather all of the restaurants in area, which will offer free samples, and the feel will be a veritable Filipino fiesta. Other activities will be mounted such as cooking demonstrations and live entertainment so that people will not be bored or get daunted walking the stretch of the street. Additionally, Quezon City Food Festival commemorative plates will be given to visitors.

            Joining the festival is another Quezon City district, long popular for a certain kind of food — La Loma, which has several restaurants and stores selling the popular spit-roasted pig, the lechon. It will mount a boodle fight on Dona Manuela Street featuring 75 lechons for everyone to partake.

            The Quezon City Food Festival on Maginhawa Street is also an attempt to project Quezon City as a food hub of Metro Manila. The city actually has two milestones in recent Philippine culinary history. Jollibee, the country’s most successful fast-food chain, opened its first restaurant, an ice cream parlor then, in Cubao. Also, the popular Max’s Restaurant originates in Quezon City, on Roces Avenue in Kamuning. Named after owner Maximiano Jimenez, the first restaurant opened in 1946, serving fried chicken to the United States Army Liberation Forces encamped there.

            Any of the Maginahawa restaurants has the potential to be a well-loved and well-established dining haven. One day, we tried five — Hillcrest Wellness Café, Roasterrific!, Jek’s Ku-bo, RBy’s Steak and Shake, and Snow Crème — which will be participating at the Quezon City Food Festival.

Hillcrest Wellness Café

            Located at the ground level of a small building at 48 Malingap Street, one of the side streets of Maginhawa Street, Hillcrest Wellness Café basically offers coffees, shakes, sandwiches, pastas, crepes and desserts, all declared to healthy. One of the owners, Baptist pastor Reuel Tica, said the café is about wellness both of the body and spirit.

            “For the body because everything on the menu is healthy — shakes, chicken, teas, coffee, fresh fruits and vegetables. All the sweeteners are made from coconuts rather than white refined sugar,” explained Tim Kennedy, the American senior director of corporate social responsibility of Hillcrest Wellness Cafe and a missionary at the Hillcrest Family Life Baptist Church, the café’s partner whose headquarter is across the street. “Wellness of the mind is seen in the atmosphere. Deep and beautiful art hangs on the walls to fill your eyes; gentle music fills your ears; over 150 quotes from around the world to fill your mind. The staff here is more than friendly; they will love you and listen to you.”

            Kennedy came to the Philippines for missionary work but stayed behind after falling in love with the country, though there are several things that he can’t get used to like the temperature. The opening of Hillcrest Wellness Café came as a blessing.

            “I love the Philippines, however, it sure is nice to have a cafe just like home right around the corner,” he said. “The air is set to 28 Celsius from 7 A.M., when they open, to 1 A.M., when they close. They offer a strong Wi-Fi connection for free, great for UP students to kick back, chill out and study. Honestly, I find myself spending more and more time here. So if you see an American sitting at the Hillcrest Café, stop and say, ‘hi.’”

            Like he said, Hillcrest Wellness Café is cozy. Artworks decorate the walls. Evangelical books line the shelves by the entrance, including Pat Robertson’s, which can be uncomfortable and off-putting, remembering how he broadcast hateful and misinformed statements about the LGTBQ people. It may be better to concentrate on the food.

            Coffee is sourced from the Cordillera region, which they make into concoctions such as Coco Macchiato (P140 to P150) with coconut syrup and Moringaccino (P120 to P130), cappuccino with malunggay (moringa). Wellness shakes include the refreshing Berzinger (P130 to P160), which is a blend of green apple, cucumber and ginger, and the Moringanana (P145 to P165), which is a fusion of malunggay and banana. For a meal, try the pasta dishes — herb pesto (P190), chicken pesto (P220), beef and tomato (P180) and tuna aglio olio (P200) — or the sandwiches — tuna tortillia (P160), chicken sandwich (P165) and foccasiadilla (P145). For dessert, their crepes, priced at P185, pair two ingredients/flavors: banana mango, strawberry banana and apple cinnamon.

            To cover the wellness aspect on all sides, Tica said the dishes are prepared with love and even prayed over. Also, part of the café’s proceeds goes to charities and ministries, which means you are helping out by eating here.

Hillcrest Wellness Cafe on Malingap Street

 

Beef tomato pasta

Chicken pesto pasta

 

Roasterrific!

        From the “heavenly,” here’s something definitely sinful! But Valerie Chow contends that their lechon is healthy. She and her brother Jeff own and manage Roasterrific! on 152 Maginhawa Street in Sikatuna Village, and their most popular item is the Roasted Heb-a-licious Lechon.

        Valerie said the recipe was passed down from her grandmother, who used to cook the whole pig in a pugon, a brick or stone oven. Now, they use the modern oven, which is healthier. Also, the lechon is healthier because it is not fried but cooked in its own oil.

        The twice-roasted lechon is described to be a combination of the Cebu lechon and Ilocos bagnet, served chopped, sprinkled with herbs including minced lemongrass, and with rice and an addicting, homemade sweetish brown sauce, which has a spicy version. If the sauce becomes cloying, you can dip the pork in vinegar, which refreshes the palate. Perfectly roasted, it is one of the best pork dishes I have tasted!

        With a passion for food, Valerie started out and still participates in food markets and bazaars such as the Mezza Norte at the Trinoma Mall, where she sells roasted chicken, roasted liempo and Japanese lobster balls. Aside from the lechon, Roasterrific! also serves Peking-style roasted chicken, grilled liempo, pancit canton, chopseuy with lechon, daing na bangus (smoked milkfish), pork and fish sisig, hickory pork rib fingers and pork barbecue.

        Roasterrific! will soon open a stall at the food court of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. For orders and inquiries, call 881-6088 or 0923-7009716, or email at roasterrific@gmail.com.

 

Roasted Herb-a-licious Lechon!

 

Roasterrific! owner Valerie Chow

Jek’s Ku-bo Bulalo at Ulo-ulo

        Maginhawa residents coming home from work too tired or too lazy to cook pass by Jek’s Ku-bo Bulalo at Ulo-ulo on 77 Maginhawa Street in UP Village and take home a meal. Jek’s Ku-bo is also popular with students who want good home-cooked food in a turo-turo place.

        Like many restaurants in the area, Jek’s Ku-bo is a home converted into a dining place. The bungalow can accommodate about 50 diners. The front porch is converted into an alfresco dining area. When there are many customers, they can be accommodated in the garage.

        The restaurant is named after the owner, Jessica Frayco, popularly called Jek, a barangay councilor who is a resident since 1967, and Kuya Boy, Jek’s brother who helped her start the business, which opened on May 12, 2012.

        The home-cooked dishes are laid out in a glass counter, where diners can point out the dishes they want. Menu changes every day, said Frayco, but there are mainstays, the favorites of diners, which include the bulalo (P150), the sinigang na ulo ng salmon (P130), salpicao (P95), adobo flakes (P80), Vigan longganisa (P80), tapa (P80) and daing na bangus (P80). On some days, they serve kare-kare, Bicol Express, dinuguan, pork binagoongan, chicken curry, callos, pork sisig, fried tawilis, fried catfish and dishes of vegetables in season.

        For orders and inquiries, call 434-7362.

 

Jek's Ku-bo Bulalo at Ulo-ulo

Pork binagoongan

Owner Jessica Frayco with son Miguel

Fried tawilis

Bulalo

Sinigang na ulo ng salmon

RBy’s Steak and Shake

        Wedged between small restaurants which were apartment units, RBy’s Steak and Shake is owned by sisters Rowena Zapata-Vera and Bernadette Zapata-Acuña, thus the name. Zapata-Vera has stayed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and decided to bring here its iconic regional fast food, the Philadelphia cheesesteak or the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. They use grilled sirloin beef in seven-inch Italian roll and garnished with caramelized onion and cheese. The classic variety, which uses cheese spread, goes for P160, while the hoagie (with American cheese, lettuce and tomato) sells for P190, relatively cheaper that other restaurants’, apt for their clientele composed mostly of students.

        Decidedly American fast-food in concept and offerings, RBy’s Steak and Shake also sells burgers, hotdogs and milkshakes. The steak burgers, with seven varieties, are made with 100 percent lean ground beef. A favorite is the KnockOut Steak Burger (P195), a quarter pounder with bacon, fried onions, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato. RBy’s take pride in their specialty shakes (P165), which has 12 flavors—banoffee, choco hazelnut, Rockin’ Rocky Road, Oreo cookies and cream, choco peppermint, salted caramel pretzel, tiramisu, strawberry cheesecake, choco mallows, strawberry-banana, nutty caramel, and choco Chips Ahoy.

        RBy’s is at 152-A Maginhawa Street. Call 0917-3159481 or 966-2798, or visit Web site http://www.rbys.net.

 

RBy's Steak and Shake

KnockOut Steak Burger

 

Pink lemonade

Snow Creme

            In a building with mostly food joints at the corner of Maginhawa Street and Makadios Street, Snow Crème offers Taiwan desserts, drinks and light snacks. The restaurant is owned by architect Bryan Kho and Michelle, who are newlyweds. A trip to Taiwan inspired Snow Crème, whose main offerings are flavored and milk teas and smoothies in myriad flavors. An interesting item is the shaved ice dessert, smooth and delicious, which is topped with different ingredients such as grass jelly, chewy taro, sweetened beans, diced fruits, sweet potato balls, mocha balls, rainbow crystals and coffee jelly, and drizzled with purees and syrups, reminiscent of halo-halo. The shaved ice, which is light as feather, is the best alternative from the heavy desserts like cakes and pies.

Snow Crème is at Unit 2A, 189 Maginhawa Street corner Makadios Street. E-mail at snowcreme@yahoo.com.

A Celebration of Philippine Indigenous Cultures

Young Balangao men from Mountain Province play the gong

Most of the indigenous groups of the Philippines will gather together from October to November to celebrate their traditional cultures and heritage in celebration of National Indigenous Peoples’ Month.
Said to be biggest gathering of Philippine indigenous peoples (IP) by far, Dayaw 2014: The Indigenous Peoples Festival, annually held by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), will showcase traditional cuisines, games, rituals, dances, songs, practices and crafts in an effort to engender wider awareness and appreciation for indigenous cultures, which are constantly under threat of vanishing. It will also serve as a venue for different indigenous groups to interact with each other and to learn from one another as well as to express their views on issues concerning them.
In previous years, Dayaw gathered indigenous peoples in one venue. This year, it will be held in three different venues in the three major island clusters of the country.
Organized by the Subcommission on Cultural Communities and Traditional Arts (SCCTA), one of the four subcommissions of the NCCA, in partnerships with different government agencies, local governments, non-governmental organizations and private companies, Dayaw 2014 will have the theme “Katutubong Filipino Para sa Kalikasan at Kapayapaan,” or indigenous Filipino for the environment and peace, to emphasize the effects of environmental degradation and conflicts on indigenous peoples.
“It is sad to note that while our IPs contribute the least with respect to carbon emissions due to their simple and sustainable lifestyles and practices, they are most affected by the consequences of climate change. As we work on measures to better protect the environment and conserve our biodiversity, I urge our IPs to continue to be the primary guardians of the environment,” said senator Loren Legarda during the press conference on September 29, 2014.
 The chair of the Senate Committee on Cultural Communities, Legarda has been supportive of indigenous cultures, and she expressed support for the Dayaw festival.
“Our indigenous peoples never fail to amaze me. Whenever I visit a province and go to IP communities, I always discover marvelous things about our culture and heritage like intricately woven fabrics, cultural songs, chants and dances that narrate the story of our ancestors, and the distinct way of life that our indigenous peoples, who are our culture-bearers, strive to preserve,” she related. “We have a very rich culture. I salute our indigenous peoples for preserving our culture and I thank the NCCA, led by chair Jun De Leon, for always showcasing our indigenous heritage through the Dayaw Festival.”
Legarda also assured that she is working on other measures that will benefit indigenous peoples and their communities such as bills filed in the senate for the welfare of IPs and for cultural preservation including the Ethnic Origin Act; Department of Culture Act; Traditional Property Rights of IPs Act; Equal Employment Opportunities for IPs Act; Resource Centers for IPs Act; and Anti-Religious and Racial Profiling Act. She also works hand in hand with the National Museum of the Philippines in highlighting traditional crafts. In particularly, she is supportive of the country’s weaving traditions, helping create the Hibla ng Lahing Filipino: Traditional Philippine Textile Gallery at the National Museum, which opened in 2012.
Traditional textile weaving will be seen live at the Dayaw events as well as the making of other crafts and more.

Kalinga weaver Cecilia Aweng from Lubuagan, Kalinga

Kalinga men in traditional attire in Lubuagan

Itneg couple in traditional attire in Namarabar, Penarrubia, Abra

In Luzon, Dayaw will be held from October 22 to 23, 2014, at the Baguio Convention Center in Baguio City, organized in partnership with Negros Cultural Foundation, Inc. This leg will be overseen by the one of SCCTA’s three committees, the National Committee on Northern Cultural Communities headed by Edwin V. Antonio. For two days, different ethnic groups of northern Philippines will do demonstrations of traditional crafts and cuisines as well as perform ethnic songs and dances in outreach programs. A forum will be held to discuss issues and concerns and an exhibit of photographs and crafts will be mounted. Expected to attend are the Gaddang, Isinay, Tinggian, Itneg, Ibanag, Yogad, Itawit, Malaweg, Kasiguran, Ivatan, Itbayat, Bugkalot, Isnag, Kalinga, Ifugao, Ibaloi, Kankanaey,  Balangao, Bontok, Applai, Ilocano, Bolinao, Pangasinan, Tagalog, Sambal, Pampangan, Ayta, Agta, Mangyan, Palawani, Molbog, Jama Mapun, Tagbanua, Pala’wan, Agutaynen, Bicolano, Batak and Cuyunon.
Under the auspices of the National Committee on Central Cultural Communities, headed Alphonsus Tesoro, the Dayaw in the Visayas will be held from November 10 to 11 in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, also in partnership with Negros Cultural Foundation, Inc. It will highlight the indigenous groups of central Philippines including the Ati, Panay Bukidnon, Waray, Abaknon, Hiligaynon and Cebuano.
In Mindanao, Dayaw will be held from November 6 to 7 in Zamboanga City, in partnership with the Zamboanga City Indigenous Peoples Council of Leaders and under the auspices of the National Committee on Southern Cultural Communities, headed by Al-Anwar Anzar, who is also the head of the SCCTA. It will be participated in by indigenous groups of southern Philippines including the Yakan, Subanen, Manobo, Higaonon, Bagobo, Mandaya, Mansaka, B’laan, Sangir, Ata Manobo, T’boli, Teduray, Arumanen, Mamanwa, Maranao, Magindanao, Iranun and Tausug.

Bilaan children of Datal Tampal, Malungon, Sarangani, dancing

Panay Bukidnon performer of Calinog, Iloilo 

The signing of Presidential Proclamation 1906, in October 5, 2009, declaring October as National Indigenous Peoples’ Month, expanded the Indigenous Peoples’ Week celebration, and the NCCA has been celebrating indigenous cultures in different parts of the country. Dayaw: Philippine Cultural Communities Arts Festival, for example, was mounted at the Rizal Park from December 3 to 9, 2000, featuring performers, craftsmen, scholars, artists and cultural practitioners from cultural communities of the country. The current Dayaw Festival as NCCA’s flagship event traced its roots with the Kalimudan: Panaghi-usa sa Mindanao (Mindanao Indigenous Peoples’ Gathering), held in Davao City in November 2007 and featuring Mindanao’s ethnic groups. The following year, Timpuyog: Indigenous Peoples’ Month Celebration in Luzon was held in Santiago City, Isabela, focusing on Luzon ethnic groups and featuring performances, arts and crafts workshops, cultural awareness lectures, forums, tours, and a theme-park exhibition featuring the traditional houses, cultural resources, practices/rituals, chants, music, songs and dances, stories, traditional arts and crafts, indigenous games. In 2009, the Indigenous Peoples’ Festival was held in the Visayas, particularly in Roxas City, Capiz, called Dungog, with similar activities and aims. Dayaw 2010 was held in Metro Manila, and in 2011, it was held in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. In 2013, Dayaw graced the province of Bulacan. Last year, Dayaw was slated to be held in Tacloban City but super typhoon Yolanda hit the region. It was reprogrammed into psychosocial and arts for healing activities in Leyte, Bohol, Aklan and Cebu.

Sen. Loren Legarda (center) with NCCA officials (from left), National Committee on Central Cultural Communities head Alphonsus Tesoro; NCCA chairman Felipe M. de Leon Jr.; National Committee on Southern Cultural Communities and SCCTA head Al-Anwar Anzar; and National Committee on Northern Cultural Communities head Edwin V. Antonio during the press conference on September 29, 2014.