Cabalen: The altar of Capampangan food

MANILA, Philippines - It’s Friday noon, and the tables at Cabalen in Glorietta are filled as usual. The lunch crowd isn’t dominated so much by the Makati workforce, but largely made up of families and groups who look like half their tables are made up of balikbayans or out-of-towners, with a sprinkling of foreigners thrown in.   

The popular restaurant happens to enjoy that level of acceptance that has gained for it enviable inclusion in the hallowed list of “institutionalized” eating places in Metro Manila that everyone just has to try a first time, thence every now and then, or fall back on when a premium for dependability is top-of-mind.

You know what you’re going to get.

Sated, for one.

The buffet tables are rife with traditional, familiar, and novel Filipino dishes. The Pampango influence would also be very much in evidence, and every Pinoy knows and acknowledges that the province of Pampanga leads the archipelago when it comes to flavorful cuisine.  Appetite is whetted further by the sight of all those dishes competing for one’s prioritization modes when it comes to filling up that first plate. You know you can go back and try other dishes you’ll have to skip on the first round, or have seconds of this or that viand that has pleased you the first time out.

The lady who began it all: The now legendary Maritel Nievera, who is synonymous with Cabalen and Capampangan food altars she has spun off.

The feast won’t move. We are assured of that. It’s our palate’s mood for the hour that dictates placements of servings, the measured heaps or samplers, the assortment we will group together on our first turn, and the next. We know we can move in again on the hearty bounty.

That Friday, I immediately gravitate towards the grilled hito for starters, knowing that catfish however simple cannot be offered any better than by Pampangos. Beside the platter is a relatively recent, adopted dish by way of an Asian neighbor: the catfish and green mango concoction that reminds us of most other borderless delicacies.

I espy paksiw na lechon, a dish I cannot ever pass up, even if I see that the end of the table features an illuminated counter with fresh lechon. The same goes for kare-kare and its coeval bagoong. I guess we also play a game, whenever enticed by a Pinoy buffet table, whereby we test such party-fest staples against our serial memories of the same.

My plate is full but I just have to ladle in something rendered intriguing by its identification card: Tofu Sisig. This variation I have yet to try, so it joins the haphazardly partitioned heaps on what is now a full plate. Why, the rice can even wait.

And the comfort feast begins, as I join my growing appreciation with the entire national collective unconscious that spells wholesome gratification by way of mangan.

Buffet dining often connotes “pigging out,” which is always a temptation, let alone a tendency whenever offered such a welter of choices. The natural inclination is to try out everything within easy reach. I can move back from my seat and table towards more of the array. I can take each step of gratification one at a time.

Thankfully, the company and conversation forestall that tendency to accept what’s a given: the local brimming version of “is-mor-gas-bord.”   

The dessert buffet has an assortment of native delicacies

Who should we have across the table but the lady who began it all, the now legendary Maritel Nievera, who is synonymous with Cabalen and Capampangan food altars she has spun off?

Another tablemate, Edd Fuentes, recalls how Maritel’s rich narrative started with what became a cult attraction in Pampanga billed as Ituro Mo, Iluto Ko — which he said he used to frequent with an equally indefatigable foodie, er, food researcher, Larry Cruz.

“Bagets na bagets ka pa,” says Edd of the time he and Larry first tried out the modest eatery. Maritel laughs and acknowledges that she was only 22 when she thought up the concept behind Ituro Mo, Iluto Ko. As its name spells out, a customer simply pointed at his/her choices among the array presented in fresh form, and the selections were then cooked, with the young Maritel relying on her lineage and home training as a scion of an old Pampango family.

That was around the mid-70s, Maritel recollects. “I next opened Bahay Pasalubong, even setting up another branch in San Fernando. Then I moved to Manila, and Cabalen was set up around 1986, post-EDSA.”

The original branch was on West Avenue, Quezon City. The Cabalen chain has expanded to nearly a dozen — with two in Pampanga, one in Cebu, one in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, and seven in Metro Manila. Talk about institutionalization.

Maritel has also created other specialty restaurants. Mangan  which also serves Capampangan cuisine, but as entrees,has already has six branches. Then there’s Ebun, offering Filipino food of Spanish influence, and which is moving soon from Greenbelt 3 to Mall of Asia. She also has Oodys, a Thai restaurant, at Greenbelt 3, with a second outlet opening in Ermita.   

So how does Maritel manage a score of restaurants all over the Pinoy food map?

“We already have a management company, so it’s become very centralized. I just have to oversee the operations. After 30 years in the business. It’s become so much easier for me. Before, I was so much into the details, doing practically everything. Why, I was even washing plates then at Ituro Mo, when there were so many customers and the kitchen crew needed an extra hand.” She laughs winsomely at the memory. “But I guess all of that experience has helped. These days, I just take one look at a report to notice a dip in sales in an outlet, and I already know there’s a problem, and can immediately identify what it is. So it’s become so much easier to resolve day-to-day problems and concerns.”

Maritel stresses that the primary obligation is to ensure the consistency of the quality of food and the quality of service.

Her oldest son Ian Tiongson is now very much involved as vice-president of the management company, and her daughter-in-law , famous singer Diane dela Fuente-Tiongson,also weighs in by going around and monitoring each and every outlet. 

“At this stage, overall management has become so much easier for me. I feel I can be more creative now. I’m free to create new concepts. Like Oody’s, for example,”says Maritel.

Plans might also soon be afoot to take Cabalen and/or Mangan overseas. Singapore, for instance, needs a good Pinoy restaurant, insists Edd Fuentes, something that would be far removed from the fast-food stalls at Lucky Plaza.

After all, there’s also a lot of Filipinos working in middle-to-top management in Lion City.

The Cabalen branch at Glorietta, Makati

Maritel says she’s willing to explore the possibility. Another guest at our table, Rudy Widjaja, Citi Credit Operations director who’s visiting from Kuala Lumpur, cheerily seconds Edd’s motion. He has tried enough of Filipino dishes to venture that such a restaurant need not necessarily appeal to Pinoys alone. He loves the kare-kare, for one. And the desserts that make a fine procession on our table are also not anything to sniff at — from sapin-sapin and ginataan to leche flan.

Besides trying out the varied fare in numerous Filipino restaurants, Rudi’s here to check on the continuing partnership with the outstanding ones that Citibank Card enjoys as part of its Citi Dining Privileges.

In Cabalen, presenting one’s Citibank Credit card before a meal assures a weekend special of 20 percent discount for a maximum of five diners until Oct. 24. Starting Oct. 25, cardholders will get a free bottomless iced tea when you avail of the buffet.

“We at CitiBank always try to find out what our customers’ needs and wants are,” says Rudy. “Dining happens to be one of the favorite pastimes of everyone. It’s just perfect for restaurant owners to partner with the services we can provide to our clients. We always want to provide the best value, after all. We could say it’s a perfect dinner date between us and our restaurant-partners.”  

Rudy adds that if any other credit card offers something better than Citi Card in any place that carries the Citi Dining Privileges sign, Citi will reimburse the difference. Filipino cardholders are thus guaranteed the best dining discounts and freebies when they use their Citi card.

And it’s not just in our country that the privileges may be availed of. The Citibank Dining Privileges is a borderless program that involves four countries in the Asia Pacific Region, with Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand being the others. That means a total of over 5,000 dining locations as Citibank partners, regardless of where one’s Citibank card is issued.

Indeed, as one of Citibank’s slogans has it, “Ordinary purchases become extraordinary experiences with Citi Cards.” From fastfood to fine-dining, with a Citibank card, one can enjoy what Rudy calls the perfect dinner date.

In our case, make that a lunch date. And as I expressed my appreciation to Maritel Nievera, yes indeed I found the novel Tofu Sisig a perfect fillip to getting back to that buffet table again and again, for a most rewarding, comforting, moving feast.

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For reservations and caterings call Cabalen at 373-2914, 372-3515 or 893-9884.