Old Swiss Inn managing director Katrina Limcaoco describes the fondue as the perfect date dish. When the restaurant offered its first-ever fondue-all-you-can seven years ago at its Makati Ave. branch, at a ridiculously low price of P200, they were deluged with couples who wanted to splurge on fondues.
"The restaurant was so smoky," Katrina admits. "There were so many people who ordered fondue that day that we ran out of fondue pots. We had to use the few sauce pans we had just to meet the demand."
The exercise proved two things, she adds: that fondues are quite popular; and that Filipinos will troop half- way across town for a good bargain.
You can never have fondue in a hurry. The process of melting the sauce, be it cheese or chocolate, or heating the oil, if you're having a meat fondue, takes some time. You do not swallow or chew the treat that has been dipped into the fondue dish. You have to wait for it to cool down a bit before you can even take a bite.
"A fondue is really a leisurely dish," she adds. "That’s why it’s the perfect thing for a family or a barkada with so much time to spare."
However, there are a couple of things to remember when having fondue. There’s an old Swiss tradition that if a girl drops into the pot whatever morsel she’s dipping into the fondue, she has to kiss all the men at her table. If the guy drops it into the pot, then he has to buy the whole table a round of beer.
What can you fondue? Almost anything. The most popular fondue uses either cheese or chocolate.
When having a cheese fondue, you dip pieces of bread into the cheese sauce for a light savory treat. On the other hand, the chocolate fondue has you dipping slices of cake, marshmallows and bits of fruit into a simmering chocolate dip of Toblerone. On Valentine’s Day, lovers can dip strawberries into the melted chocolate sauce, which to many is the ultimate gastronomic delight.
A meat fondue will mean dipping the cuts of beef, chicken or seafood into a pot of hot oil. A variety of sauces, mostly savory, accompany this fondue to complete the experience. You use it the way you use a sawsawan for grilled items and other popular Filipino dishes.
Of course, the chocolate fondue is the most popular. Those who have dined at Old Swiss Inn always talk about the chocolate fondue, and sometimes nothing else.
"Maybe it’s because the chocolate fondue is always served at the end of the meal," she declares.
Some guests even deliberately order light and binge on dessert. With a chocolate fondue, of course.
Katrina says they’re willing to give the fondue-all-you-can gimmick another try. She’s calling it a Fondue Smorgasbord, instead, and it will cost diners a no-leftover price of P600++ and P1,000++ if a guest gives up on his order. Guests can choose from the Fondue Bourguignonne (beef fondue), Waatlander Fondue (cheese fondue) and Toblerone Chocolate Fondue, as many times as they want, so long as they can finish it up. A good bargain, she declares, now ongoing and definitely another smoking day at all Old Swiss Inn branches.
Of course, there’s more to Old Swiss Inn than its fondues. Restaurant regulars come back for a number of menu classics. These include a variety of sausages, corned beef, pepper steak, gnagi (pork knuckle), goulash and barley soup. Katrina says they will always have those items in stock, come rain or come shine.
"We’ve had people who remember the Old Swiss Inn from as long ago as 1948, and they come here to order their favorites," she says. "Sometimes they tell me stories about how they loved some dishes that are no longer in the menu. But everything that we’ve kept in the menu from the Old Swiss Inn of decades ago never fail to satisfy them."
Although she plans on updating the present menu – it was last changed last year – she will not touch the classics. However, she will be introducing lighter entrées, for Makati business executives who are trying to watch their weights in spite of their long lunches, as well as resurrect items from the old menu that haven’t seen the light of day in quite some time.
"I know this menu, and some of our regulars want a couple of new dishes," she says. "I intend to keep them happy."
’Lest we forget, Katrina makes it clear that Old Swiss Inn on Makati Ave. is open 24/7 all-year round. It is only closed twice a year – during their summer excursion and their Christmas party.
"Yes, we’re open on Good Friday. Call us heathens, but I’m surprised that people show up and dine here. I’m always here on that day, and we’re always busy," she admits.