Coastal Cavite Food Tour
March 1, 2014
 |
MAP OF CAVITE |
EXPLORING COASTAL
CAVITE WITH IGE RAMOS
March 1, 2014
Program & Menu
8:00 am Meet up at
Petron Gas Station, Blue Wave, Macapagal corner Edsa. There's ample parking
space
and parking is free from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm.
9:00 am Tour
of the Cavite City Public Market where you can buy quesillo (kesong puti),
tinapa,
freshly
made lumpia wrapper, local produce from the upland. See live
"bulungan" (silent fish
auction)
and the oldest carinderia in Cavite City, Aling Ika's. (Please bring insulated
freezer
bags
or little "igloos" because some of the stuffs like kesong puti are
perishable.)
11:00 am Lunch
at Asiong's Carinderia, one of the only remaining carinderias that serve
authentic
Cavite
Chabacano cuisine.
Menu
Kilawin
de Galunggong
Huevos
de Pescao (Cavite's bihod)
Tamales
(tasting sample)
Pancit
Choko en su Tinta (pancit with squid ink)
Pancit
Puso
Talabobo
(Kitang or Tambol wrapped in Alagao leaves)
Bibingkoy
Turones
de platanos with halayang ube, drizzled with halayang sampalok
Rice
Other
ulam from the carinderia can be ordered separately
You
can buy bottles of huevos, halayang sampalok, bagoong, tamales and other
sundries
from
Asiongs. Special Robinson’s Tamales will also be available
Visit
to Bibingka Samala, the famous “pinipig” and “malagkit” bibingka and
individually-
wrapped
sapin sapin.
1:00 pm Off to
Kawit
Sta.
Isabel sampalok orchard and salt beds (optional as there's no salt making
operations at
this
time)
Marulas
talaba and tahong vendors where you can buy "Sisi" (or fermented
oysters and
mussels)
Visit
the kitchen with traditional hurnohan of Aling Baby's Cassava Cake at Barrio
Congbalay-Legazpi,
Binakayan, Kawit
2:30 pm Bacoor
A
quick halo-halo merienda at the famous Digman's Halo halo
Drive
back to Manila immediately after.
Cost of the tour is Php 1,700 for CHOP members and
1,900 for non-members. Inclusive of lunch served at Asiong's,
halo-halo at Digman, and “pabaon” cassava cake; the guided tours and tips to
the other guides, entrance fees and permits, etc.
Transport from Manila to Cavite is not included. Ige will
ask the Provincial Tourism office also if they can sponsor the transport from
Manila and back.
We will be covering 4 coastal towns of Cavite,
starting with Cavite City, Noveleta, Kawit and Bacoor. The tour will last about
4 1/2 hours and traveling about 70 kilometers. There will be lots of
walking and hot sun. Please wear appropriate shoes, bring extra t-shirt, fans,
and bottled water.
Please deposit your payment to the CHOP temporary account
and after depositing, please email Regee, Nanette, Alvin and me the deposit
slip and location of the BDO branch so we can ensure proper credit.
BDO
Account No. 143-801-6702
BDO
Current Account Name: Natividad Medina and Ma. Regina Newport
SM
SuperCenter Pasig Branch
CHOP’s
Coastal Cavite Food Tour
Saturday,
March 1, 2014
By
Ige Ramos
Whenever
I ask friends if they have tasted food from Cavite City, I get blank and
confused stares. But who can blame them, for we Caviteños, never being ones to
boast, have always been quite secretive about our food. We are also very
democratic and have always considered ourselves fair and just, with the
dichotomy of having pagkaing pambahay and pagkaing pambisita
(food for the house and food for guests, ie. for fiesta) but never pagkaing
pang-mayaman and pagkaing pang mahirap (food for the rich and food
for the poor). There is, after all, more to Cavite than Nardong Putik and Ramon
Revilla movies. Now a mere 35minutes drive from the southern tip of Roxas
Boulevard, Cavite could actually become an alternative culinary destination for
residents of Metro Manila.
Upon
taking the Kawit exit, the gastronomic complexity of the province is soon
revealed: a confluence formed by generations of Malays, Spanish, Basques,
Mexicans and Fujian Chinese, who brought with them cooking styles, tradition,
technology and ingredients, that eventually evolved into a fully-fledged Cavite
Chabacano cuisine.
Having
passed the test of time and with roots that can be traced back to the glorious
years of the galleon trade, the tinapa, quesillo, tamales, pancit choko en su
tinta, bibingkoy, and Samala bibingka are the most enduring culinary traditions
of Coastal Cavite.
Tinapa is one of the oldest industries in
Cavite. Tinapa is basically smoked fish, or pescao ahumado in Chavacano.
Magtapa is the method of smoking the fish. Tunsoy, lawlaw
and galunggong have always been the preferred fish for tinapa.
Although fresh water fish like bangus and tilapia is also now widely available.
A must try is the tinapang lalaking galunggong (male galunggong)
small yet very tasty. To determine the freshness of tinapa the shape
should be perfect with no broken skin or tail. The gills should be closed and
the abdominal cavity hard and intact. The skin should be naturally shiny so
check for traces of cooking oil by running your fingers over the surface. If
the skin is dull with a white cloud on its surface, the tinapa is no
longer fresh. Josie’s Salinas-Ligtong Tinapa, (first lane) of the fish section,
Cavite City Public Market.
Quesillo or kesong puti in Tagalog is
a regular choice for breakfast, having been bought fresh from the market first
thing in the morning. Similar to the Oaxaca quesillo of Mexico, this
soft, raw cheese, made from pure carabao’s milk has a fresh, salty and sweet
creamy taste. A small cottage industry made up of close-knit families from the
towns of General Trias and Tanza satisfies the demands of the local market. Quesillo
is available daily from 6:00 until 10:00 am, at the Cavite City public market.
Look for Winnie or Miriam. Must try: Salt from Noveleta and fresh carabao’s
milk. If you ran out of quesillo from the Public Market, you can always run to Dizon’s
Bakery on P. Burgos Street, they would stock on quesillo, until late
afternoon. Established in the 1930s, Dizon's Bakery sells pugon-baked
pandesal, as well as traditional biscuits and cookies like kepeng, kengkoy,
salakot, kababayan, pacensia and peanut cookie.
Tamales. Christmas in Cavite would not be
complete without tamales on the family’s Noche Buena table. But now, the
tamales is available year round from Boy and Ellen Guevarra, whose recipe was
handed down to them from their grandmother Francisca Sacramento Robinson,
hence, Robinson’s Tamales. With toasted, ground peanut and galapong
(rice flour) as its main ingredient, the recipe harks from its Mexican
ancestor. It also comes with morsels of chicken adobo sa achuete, garbanzos and
slices of hard-boiled egg and packaged in layers of banana leaves shaped into a
pyramid. Eaten as it is or spread like a paté on a pandesal, it is
peppery, nutty, savoury, and sweetish. Ellen Guevarra Robinson’s Tamales -
San Antonio, Cavite City, Tel: 046 431 0315
Pancit
choko en su tinta or pancit
pusit was an instant hit when it debuted last February in JJ Yulo’s Pinoy
Eats World at the Podium. Choko is the Chabacano word for squid or pusit.
Reintroduced about 5 years ago by Sonny Lua of Asiong’s, as part of their
carinderia repertoire, this archetypal Chabacano dish is borne from the
intermarriage of Hokkien, Mexican, Basque, Malay and Filipino cultures forged
during the time of the Galleon Trade. This dish is made with sotanghon
or vermicelli, tinted black with adobong pusit and garnished with siling
labuyo, fresh kinchay (Chinese celery), sliced kamias, and fried
garlic. Food writers, Claude Tayag and Cyrene dela Rosa are loyal fans of this
pancit. Must try: Haleyang sampalok, kamias and malunggay juice and
bagoong na itlog ng isda (bihod). Sony Lua. Asiong’s Carinderia Café –
712 P. Paterno St., Caridad, Cavite City, Tel. 0926 713 9400.
Bibingkoy
is a time-honored kakanin
for Caviteños. The basis of this kakanin is the tang yuan, the
same recipe used for making palitaw and bilo-bilo, where galapong
(glutinous rice flour) is mixed with water and formed into small balls. Its
roots can be traced back to Fujian, China, as tang yuan is the Hokkien
word meaning “round balls in soup”. Bibingkoy is the classic Chabacano
adaptation of the tang yuan. Patties of galapong are prepared and
filled with sweetened red mongo bean paste. The patties are tightly arranged in
a baking pan and cooked in the manner of bibingka. It is served with a
thick soup made from gata (coconut cream), with added pieces of camote,
langka and bilo-bilo. The soup is flavored with pandan and sweetened with
panocha. Available only between 6:00 am and 12:00 noon. Must try: lumpia
fresca, pancit puso and pancit luglog; also, Maja Kalabasa, Maja Ube, Maja
Blanca. Aling Ika’s Carinderia - Stall No. 9, Cavite City Public Market, San
Roque, Cavite City
A
few stalls from Aling Ika is the lumpia wrapper maker, which sells them by the
kilo.
Bibingka
Samala or Samala
Rice Cakes is Cavite City’s premiere bibingka. More like a biko
than a bibinka, it comes in two varieties: malagkit and pinipig.
This sweet smelling kakanin has the aroma of coconut oil, gata, panocha
and burnt banana leaf. Established in the late 1940s by Arturo Samala and
Concepcion Legaspi, it is now managed by third-generation, Mina Samala and
Bobby Patricio. It is in all probability the most popular Caviteño kakanin and
being the best-selling pasalubong a Caviteño would buy for a
“non-Caviteño” friend, workmate or boss, it is also the most exported. Having a
long shelf like, it is also a favourite substitute “pamamanhikan” or “panliligaw”
gift to prospective in-laws or suitors. Must try: cassava cake and individually
wrapped sapin-sapin. Pat and Sam Delicacies and Pasalubong – 506 Padre Pio
Street, Caridad, Cavite City, Tel. 046 431 2356 / 046 504 3382.
Aling
Baby Clemente’s cassava cake is readily gaining popularity in the province. On one of
those hard-to-find, one-lane streets in Barangay Legaspi-Congbalay, just off
the by-pass road going towards the Island Cove Resort, Aling Baby’s outdoor
kitchen lies hidden. What make this cassava cake distinctive is the
unpredictable ingredients imbedded within: kaong, nata de coco, buko, langka
and eggs. The cassava cake is about 16 inches in diameter, and is cooked
bibinka style with charcoal embers on the top and bottom. The top part of the
cake is obviously egg-washed giving it a burnt caramelized effect. Aling
Baby Clemente’s Cassava Cake, 1056 Legaspi Street, Congbalay-Legaspi,
Binakayan, Kawit, Cavite, (046) 434-0858
D’
Original Digman Halo-halo. You will be amazed at the colossal mounds of halo-halo ingredients on
display inside the glass shelves once you set foot in D’ Original Digman
Halo-halo store in Barangay Digman, Bacoor. The merry mix of ingredients
includes: beans, ube, garbanzos, gulaman, saging na saba, nata
de coco, langka, makapuno, sago, leche flan, kundol,
kaong, pinipig and when in season, avocado. This is probably the
only Barangay in the Philippines where they have the name of the barangay and
it’s product, halo-halo, registered with the Philippine Patent Office. Founded
by Mrs. Benjamina Toledo-Gonzales as an informal home business in the 1930s, it
is now one of Cavite’s enduring institutions. In the past, Aling Benjamina used
gata ng niyog to make her halo-halo creamy, because canned milk was considered
a luxury then. The ice would be ordered from the cold storage and ice plant in
Cavite City, then covered with ipa or rice husk and jute sack before being
delivered by banca across Bacoor Bay. Aling Benjamina’s son, Edilberto
Gonzales, now holds the fort and continues the tradition started by his mother.
Edilberto suggests siopao asado as the customary companion for
this utterly Filipino merienda. As a testament to the quality her
creation, people come from all over to experience the comforting blend Aling
Benjamina created more than 70 years ago. D’ Original Digman Halo-halo, 82
Rubio Street, Brgy. Digman, Bacoor, Cavite, (046) 434-3837.
The
bus was provided by Hon. Jonvic Remulla, Governor, Cavite Province, through the CAVITE
PROVINCIAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
LIBERTY
HERRERA, head
KAREN. C
DE LARA
MIKAELLA
U. VINARAO
JONJON
SYTIAN
JOEL
DABON, driver
ANDRES
NABELON, companion
PROVINCIAL
TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
2/F,
Cavite Provincial Capitol Building
Brgy. San
Agustin, Trece Martires City 4109
Tel.
: (046) 419.0255/0155 loc.103/143
tourism_cavite@yahoo.com
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