Tracing history...

...through the career of an outstanding statesman. That’s what happens when you dine at Romulo Café, located on the corner of Scouts Tuason and Lascano, Quezon City. You start by looking up to the authentic signature of the man of honors, the late diplomat Carlos P. Romulo, on its signage. You pass the black painted gate, go through the black and white walkway and maybe spend a few minutes comfortably seated on one of the soft black sofas in the receiving area (in our ancestral home in Batangas this was called the caida), while waiting to be led to the dining room. You find out that this space is patterned after traditional reception halls in most houses of old.

Your trip back in history then starts. Black and white are the main colors of the structure. The floor of the main dining area is hand-painted, tracing the design of the grill gate of the old Romulo house. On its wall are photographs of historic events, a collection that spreads through all the function rooms of the restaurant. From the bar , called “Leyte Landing,” the stairs lead up to three rooms, each named symbolically – the Kasiyahan (Contentment), the Kaligayan (Happiness) and the Kapayapaan (Peace). The framed pictures show the enviable career path of the honored gentleman, from the time President Manuel L. Quezon recruited and saw promise in the young man, to the Leyte landing, on to years of diplomacy, in effect touching on the country’s history.

Then you settle down in the Garden Room and anticipate what ‘historic’ food would compliment the sense of country and pride that by now inevitably has engulfed your whole being. You would be refreshed with the Pipino Mocktail, a blend of the healthy vegetable with a wedge of dalandan. You can start the meal with Smoked Bangus Paté with pan de sal chips. This would begin to whet your appetite, which by now should be enormous. Do not miss the hot molo soup, with two good-sized shrimp dumplings, without much of the starchy wraps that sometimes detract from the savory flavor of its broth and fills you up before you can enjoy the main dishes. Follow up with Pinoy Caesar Salad topped with spicy tuyo. Flying Fish is tilapia, done like a giant flower, fried very crisp with three sauces – chili garlic, honey bagoong and pickled ampalaya with soy and vinegar. If you are not averse to appearing very starved, bite into the tail and bones. Tito Greg’s (after a son) kare-kare is done with more sauce than usual, like a soup which can be poured generously on rice.

Now comes one of the “piece/s de resistance” – Lola Virginia’s Rellenong Manok, a recipe of the late Virginia Llamas, the beautiful and elegant first wife of the General. This is authentic relleno, with the natural flavors of the chicken stuffed with ground pork, raisins, pickles, chorizo with an accompanying mildly seasoned sauce. Add an order of Boneless Crispy Pata Binagoongan (a concession, we guess, to modern cookery). If you’re still up to it, get a dessert with coffee. Now, that is a meal of a lifetime!                           

We wondered how all the precious Romulo memorabilia landed in a restaurant. We got the answer: one of the partners is a grand daughter whose family was willing to share memories of the man, in the course re-awakening the spirit of the True Filipino.

On another side of town, along Macapagal avenue, amid all the seafood vendors and paluto restaurants in the seafood complex, is a tiny outlet of Korean food ingredients called OK Mart. Actually, we chanced upon this after having been frustrated that we did not find anything interesting in the so-called Hong Kong goods outlet. The cavernous structure is practically abandoned, except for the front area with a row of restaurants and the huge Balikbayan Crafts store, where a small section is devoted to snack items and concentrated calamansi juice (P160 a bottle).

We went across and got into the midst of Korean products, most of which we would normally look for in supermarkets and specialty stores. They are all here. We were delighted that the store management exerted the effort to translate the Japanese labels to English, making it much easier for the customer to find what she/he needs without bothering the staff. It was very tempting to fill our basket with lots of their items, but we thought we’d simply concentrate on what we usually need to produce a Japanese meal at home. We got a pack of chap chae noodles at P92 for 500 gms. From among the sauces/mixes we bought tonkatsu sauce (P70), the kalbi and bulgogi (P180) mixes, all proving very handy when pressed for time in preparing lunch or dinner. They have homemade kimchi at P200 a tub of about 250 gms.

We missed the duck dumplings but noted that they have kimchi flavor in a lot of these ready-to-steam/fry items. From the freezer one can find Samyang pork, sliced and perfect for any of the mixes for either stir-frying or cooked on the table. Likewise they have the typical long and slim Korean fish. A variety of teas are offered, from aloe honey to ginseng (from P310 per bottle). Korean marmalade is available at P180. Instant soups and noodles are available, as are wheat flour for donuts and potato powder. They also sell kitchen tools like the portable small burner at P1,200 and individual noodle pots for P300 a piece. Cookies and biscuits plus other snack packs are offered, plus home items like facial tissue, creams etc. It’s actually a one-stop store. Happy shopping!

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