56 years of delicioso Spanish cooking

The slices of chorizo lie bare in an earthen dish, robust with flavor. This chorizo frito is made by frying pieces of homemade sausage in a bit of olive oil. One bite and you have tasted a five-decade legacy that has kept food lovers craving for more. One bite and you have tasted the fine gourmet beginnings of Don Anastacio de Alba.

It was 1952 and this Don had a dream and a palate to match. That year, he opened his first restaurant and soon after, opened some more. He attracted society’s elite everywhere his kitchen opened. And now, more than 50 years later, the Don and his son, chef Miguel Alba, continue to serve only fine Spanish cuisine in their prime dining enclave, Alba Restaurante Español.

Recently, Alba Restaurante Español opened its third restaurant at Westgate Center in Filicity, Alabang. The dining space is cozy, stained passionately with deep, dark rouge. There is rouge in the couches and even in the linens. The lighting is so intimate you immediately feel loved. There’s a Spanish-styled painting on the wall. At night, a trio of men serenades you with their music while Alba serenades you with its cuisine.

Alba’s cuisine is a true homage to Spanish cooking. It’s got a lot of meats — cured, braised, roasted or stewed. If that’s not enough, there’s a deli offering assorted sausages and other cured meats that anyone can happily devour. There are also a number of other Alba classics, always full of flavor and always made with the freshest ingredients. Now, if there’s the truly meaty chorizo frito for hot tapas, there’s also gambas al ajillo, delicate pieces of shrimp lightly sauteed in garlic and olive oil. The mushrooms in champignon al ajillo are also cooked in olive oil and garlic. For something good and baked, there’s berenjas al horno, a hot dish of baked eggplants with anchovies and three kinds of cheese.

How about a cold glass of sangria — a mixture of red wine, liquor, and sliced bits of fruit served chilled with some more ice?

After the tapas, you may want to try some of Alba’s unforgettable paellas. Chef Miguel and Don Anastacio have come up with 18 sumptuous paella dishes, some rich with meat, others with seafood, and some filled with vegetables.

The paella marinera is filled with morsels of tenderly cooked seafood — fish, prawns, and mussels — that has spilled its delicate juices into the rice. The rice itself is just cooked al dente, the grains moist enough but left to have some bite to ’em.

Enjoy this paella on its own or with some lapu-lapu en salsa verde, delicate fillets of lapu-lapu cooked in a light cream sauce with some prawns and mussels. Have some callos a la madrileña, too — a rich hearty tomato stew of ox tripe and Alba’s sausages.

For dessert, have a creamy surrender with Alba Restaurante Español’s tarta de queso. Truly a slice of heaven, the lemony baked cheesecake is made with the restaurant’s own cookie crust. Served with a rich dollop of cream and a wedge of chocolate, it is a perfect ending to yet another fine Alba meal.

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Visit Alba Restaurante Español at its newest branch in Westgate Center in Filicity, Alabang. Enjoy a hearty lunch buffet every day from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.