In the mood for paella at Calderon

MILLIE: Early this year, my Why Not? friends and I were in the mood for paella. I mean, not just ordinary paella but really super-duper-good paella. So, every time we would eat out, that was a major consideration and we must have tried all the Spanish restos in town in search of the best paella!

Recently, the search ended, thanks to my friend Ruth Escalona, who mentioned a place called Calderon that served good Spanish food. Karla and I had never heard of this place and were so intrigued and since it was near home, we went one Sunday evening. It was good that we called to reserve because the place is quite small. The ground floor seats 10 and the second floor seats about 30. We were advised to preorder so we did just that, ordering Paella Valenciana in advance. We said we would order the rest when we arrived. Actually, we reserved for four persons but none of the friends we invited to join us could make it so Karla and I ended up as a twosome.

KARLA: Back in 2003, I had the privilege of going to Spain for six weeks. I chose the program of the Institute of Foreign Study, or IFS, to Avila, Spain, because of the language and gastronomy course. Having studied at Poveda, I was confident that what basic knowledge I had of the Spanish language would get me by.  Boy, was I wrong! For at least a week I was going around speaking in sign language. By the second week, my host family would sit at the dinner table with our own dictionaries so we could have a decent conversation since the only English words they knew were “yes” and “no.” Haha! Since our program was supposed to be for six weeks, my mom requested that I be assigned to stay with a chef. Luckily, IFS and the partner school in Avila called IEMA were able to accommodate our request. My host dad was actually a chef at the Parador Hotel in Avila. But since he was out for work most of the day, I learned more Spanish cooking from his wife, Señora Antonia.

I’ve learned that there are many different kinds of paella; it really depends which region it is from. Everyone has their own way of preparing paella, similar to how adobo is to us Filipinos. We get to try different ways of preparing adobo from different households.  From what I’ve noticed, the paellas served here in the Philippines are even tastier than the ones I’ve tried in Spain. From what I was taught in IEMA during our gastronomy class and what Señora Antonia taught me, the taste relies solely on the seafood stock and some spices like saffron and pimiento, whereas here in the Philippines, we tend to use extra ingredients like tomato paste, soy sauce and the like. Calderon’s paella was cooked perfectly and mixed in the rice were the other ingredients with fresh shrimps, diced boneless chicken, and lots of chorizo. In our family, when we talk of paella, we all fight over the chorizo and the tutong. For once, mom and I did not fight over the chorizo since there was plenty, also because we ordered a paella good for four pax. Haha!

We also ordered some tapas like the rolitos de chistorra, which is minced chorizo rolled in lumpia wrappers. It came with a spicy dip that I liked very much. We also ordered fried chori-gambas al ajillo, which is shrimp and chorizo, plus, of course, callos. To my surprise, mom ordered a glass of sangria. Since I was driving, I couldn’t have any. Boo! But she said it was good and I believe her. We ended up with very little left over of the paella and decided to take it home. We were convinced that we would have it for lunch the next day but for some reason, we started eating it and finished it even before it struck midnight. Haha!

MILLIE: On Thursday of the same week, we dined again, this time with the Why Not? bunch, who all wanted to try the paella we raved about. We arrived a bit early but friends Larry Mallari, Ramon Tan and Rene Alcala were already there, enjoying their tapas while waiting for the rest of the group.

When the others came, we asked for the paella to be served and ordered callos on the side. The portions are small so I think we ordered three portions of callos.

We ordered two large paellas and it came moist and steaming-hot. The first round was to taste and the second round was to fight for the tutong or the crusty, burnt particles underneath.  It was unanimous! All 10 of us in the group agreed that the search for the best paella had actually ended as we gave our thumbs up to Calderon!  Upon Larry ’s insistence, we had also preordered one of their specialty dishes, Pollo Iberico, which was very tasty.

KARLA: The Pollo Iberico was a big surprise to all of us. It is chicken roasted in olive oil, with whole garlic cloves, marble potatoes, black peppercorns, rock salt, rosemary, paprika, dried basil, dried oregano, soy sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice and brown sugar. It was sooo good that we regretted ordering only one chicken. Haha! This item, though, should be ordered one day ahead since it is slow-roasted. The food was wiped out. Even the chicken was down to its bones. While I’m not a big fan of white meat, I found the meat to be very tender, not dry at all. I enjoyed eating this with the paella and mashed-up roasted garlic cloves. I was actually very lucky that the chicken was laid down right in front of me.

It is best to call and reserve ahead of time as there are very limited seats and also to preorder your Pollo Iberico and paella. Also best if you come in early, preferably before the rush hour because there are also very limited parking spaces. I had a hard time parking the first time we went, so the second time, we made sure we had a driver.

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Calderon is located just off Wilson Street at 403 F. Calderon Street, Little Baguio, San Juan. For reservations and inquiries, call 238-2264 or 0926-727-9465.