Mama Rosa celebrates Chinese New Year with comida china specials

The food served at the Mama Rosa restaurants might be considered native, but Teresa Dula-Laurel prefers to call it comida casa.

"It’s the food my mom, Rosa Eco Dula, served at home," says Dula- Laurel. "It’s not really traditional cooking because in most dishes there is always a twist."

The Dulas are Bicolanos from Sorsogon. Unlike other Filipino restaurants that have specialized in regional cooking, siblings Dula-Laurel, Gok Asence and Rod Dula avoided Bicolano cooking and instead mined Mama Rosa’s recipes when they opened their first Mama Rosa restaurant in 1999.

"Bicolano cooking is quite limited," she says. "Everything has gata. Even the kinilaw has gata."

The restaurants were opened in response to the clamor for a dine-in venue for Mama Rosa’s popular line of gourmet deli products. In 1988, Dula-Laurel pioneered a line of bottled tuyo and bangus sardines, bagoong and taba ng talangka and dipping sauces. These deli items were available previously at the fast-food chain of Goto King restaurants. The new restaurant offered these items in a casual dining setting.

Under the guidance of Rosa "Golda" Dula Laurel, chef, restaurant manager and Dula-Laurel’s daughter, Mama Ro-sa has developed a line of Filipino dishes all with a distinct taste that makes the food unique from traditional Filipino fare.

Some of the innovations come up in the sauces that go with some items. The crispy tadyang comes with a dipping sauce of balsamic vinegar and patis, a change from the usual soy sauce and siling labuyo sawsawan. In most dishes, sidings of Mama Rosa bottled sauces and dips are served as accompaniments.

The lechon kawali is served,not with lechon sauce, ketchup or sweet chili sauce, but with kalabasa sauce.

"Long before there was ketchup, Mama Rosa always served her lechon kawali with kalabasa sauce," says Dula-Laurel. "This sauce has a unique flavor that complements the lechon. We’ve had orders for it from our Japanese customers abroad. They like the kalabasa sauce very much."

Some of Laurel’s experiments in fusion cooking have passed the demanding taste buds of her elders. One such success is the pako and suha salad, which is the latest addition to the Mama Rosa menu. Fiddlehead fern shoots, slivers of singkamas and ubod and slices of pomelo are served with a honey-patis-wasabi sauce. The sauce is light and refreshing, while the slices of sweet pomelo add a kick of citrus to the traditional pako salad mix.

On special occasions, the Mama Rosa restaurants have come up with its New Kitchen menus to give its loyal clients special culinary treats.

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, Mama Rosa is offering until Feb. 7 its Comida China menu for the discriminating taste of its regular diners.

Seafood, noodles, meat and vegetable dishes, which are regulars in any Chinese restaurant, are served with the distinctive Mama Rosa touch the restaurant is known for. This means only the choicest ingredients are prepared with care and served generously the way Mama Rosa would pamper her brood when she was alive.

Laurel is behind the innovative Chinese dishes being served at the restaurant during this special promotion.

The Comida China menu includes: ho to tay soup; a variety of appetizers, like pinsec frito, torta con chorizo and lumpiang shanghai; noodle dishes like pancit canton and bihon tostado; entrees like pata tim, gallina con guisantes y casuy, lapu-lapu con tocua en salsa taosi, ampalaya con carne; and desserts, like almond lychee and mango sago.

There are two Mama Rosa restaurants. One is at the corner of Timog and Tomas Morato Aves., while another is in Eastwood Citywalk in Libis. Both outlets have chillers and deli counters carrying Mama Rosa’s bottled deli items, like bagoong, taba ng talangka, achara, sardines, patis and suka, a variety of longganisa and tapa, among others.

For inquiries, call 925-1365, fax 922-3206, e-mail momros @vasia.com, or log on to www.mamarosaphil.com.