Never in our history has there been so many eateries available to us as today. They come in all persuasions and nationalities. From the humble karinderia to the fine dining brasserie, the traditional to the experimental cutting-edge fusion. One has never been faced with so much choices, making dining out difficult at times.
This gastronomic landscape hasn’t always been so. Let me take you to a trip down memory lane these past three decades, when eating out wasn’t as much fun and adventure as today.
During my college years in UP Diliman in the mid-1970s, I stayed with my siblings in a rented house on Heroes’ Hills, Quezon City. My brother Pol and I took the commuter bus to and from school at the Delta Theater, walking across West Ave. The rows of restaurants along that street, as we know today, were non-existent back then. Only Kowloon West stood on that part of town. An order of siopao or siomai cost an incredible P1.25! Cheap as it may sound today, it still cut a sizable chunk of my P50 weekly allowance. A Friday afternoon outing with my classmates brought us to Tropical Hut Burger on Quezon Ave., where, right across stood Alemar’s Bookstore. A special birthday treat would be at D’Marks or Italian Village, both along Quezon Ave. also.
Back then, if we wanted to have Japanese food, my sister Carmen would drive us all the way to Ermita for an authentic Japanese dinner at the Hakata on M.H. del Pilar, right across the Ermita Catholic Church. And a bit further down the street was Iseya, known for its yakitori. There weren’t many of that kind during those years, and if any, they’re mostly found in the Ermita and Roxas Blvd. area catering mainly to the Japanese tourists. The fact was not too many Filipinos had a taste for the raw sashimi/sushi yet, and our familiarity with Japanese cuisine didn’t go beyond tempura/sukiyaki.
And then Miyako restaurant came along. It was owned by Ely Aurelio (Hotel Aurelio), of the all-you-can-eat tempura/yakiniku fame, first on Roxas Blvd. in 1974 (for only P18 per person!), and branching out on Pasay Road in Makati in 1978 (this time at P30 per head). It was the restaurant to beat for many years running, predating Triple V’s Saisaki smorgasbord by nearly 15 years. It popularized and made affordable Japanese cuisine to the Pinoy wallets.
In 1982, the opening of the first McDonald’s outlet in the Philippines on Morayta St. at the University Belt in Manila created such a stir. Its arrival to our shores was probably as sensational as when man first landed on the moon. My brother and I would excitedly take the España-bound bus just to have a bite of that legendary American burger. Waiting patiently in the long queues, we would hear well-heeled matronas comparing notes as to which McDonald’s in the US West Coast had the best French fries, and see American GIs from Clark ordering dozens of Big Macs to bring home to their families back at the base (some two-and-a-half hours’ drive away). That seems like eons ago. Today, with 238 branches strewn all over the country, it has become commonplace and ubiquitous. But the fact remains that McDonald’s has made it possible to eat cheaply in a clean, air-conditioned joint accessible to everyone, paving the way for other American fast-food and homegrown chains to follow suit. It set the standard in the industry.
Of course, there were the old reliable institutions, like Aristocrat, Max’s Fried Chicken, Barrio Fiesta, Milky Way, Ma Mon Luk, etc. For continental fare, there was the Old Swiss Inn, El Comedor, Alba, or Guernica. There was also Glenda Barretto’s Via Mare, a class all its own. And then came the trend-setting Café Adriatico, from the man who single-handedly revived the lackluster Malate neighborhood in the late 1970s, Larry Cruz.
And for really good Chinese food, one had to trek all the way to Binondo to have a good chow. Popular eateries like Seekee (closed long ago), Smart Panciteria, President, Pinpin and Carvajal were the places to go. And then there was Ling Nam, a family-owned teahouse. A family member, Robert Kuan, had the brilliant idea of modernizing and expanding its operations, but this didn‘t sit well with the others. He bolted out, starting his own company Chowking, with very little capital. The rest, as they say, is history. When he sold it to Jollibee some 15 years later (1999), it had some 155 branches nationwide, four in the US and three in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
As more Pinoys traveled or studied abroad, our collective taste buds became increasingly sophisticated. Pleasing them has become quite a challenge. More and more local talents have trained abroad, coming home with newly acquired skills and ideas.
By the way, have you ever wondered why being a chef has become so chic lately? It hasn’t always been so. Back in the Seventies, the title executive chef is only reserved to foreigners (mostly Europeans), at least within the hotel industry. The most a Pinoy could aspire for was sous chef or assistant. In plain language – a cook. But slowly, with the emergence of a crop of some daring and innovative local talents like Myrna Segismundo (formerly with Sign of the Anvil, now 9501), Jessie Sinsioco (Le Souflé), Gene Gonzalez (Gene’s Bistro), Margarita Fores (Cibo), Fernando Aracama (Uva), J Gamboa (El Cirkulo) to name a few, becoming a chef has become not only a viable profession but a respectable one as well. And add glamorous to that.
Entrepreneurs have become market-responsive as we keep evolving with our dining culture. But as they try to cater to the whim of the insatiable diner, we have witnessed the mushrooming of countless establishments just at the turn of this new millennium. If before, in Metro Manila, we were limited to Chinatown, Malate, West Ave., Pasay Rd., Makati Ave., Jupiter St. and Tomas Morato St., today we have pockets of ultra modern recreational centers spread all over the metropolis, the latest of which are the Eastwood City, Rockwell Power Plant, Podium and Greenbelt 2 and 3 in Makati. The restaurant industry’s growth is just phenomenal, barely keeping pace with the dining public’s ever changing demands. It is no longer a simple question of what to eat, but deciding where to eat is an adventure in itself. Oh, the confusing world of choices!!! Bon apetit!