‘My City, My SM, My Cuisine’ and San Pablo’s lakeside charm

MANILA, Philippines - San Pablo in Laguna, the City of the Seven Lakes, is known for its breathtaking serene beauty.  Set against the backdrop of mountains, natural waterfalls and Laguna de Bay, the seven lakes hold cultural significance to the old folk.

Although it is one of the country’s oldest cities, San Pablo has been on the road to progress, and is now considered a first-class city and the site of an SM Mall.  Yet it has not lost its lakeside charm and artisan touch that makes it distinctly Filipino. 

Fresh catch from the lakes and Laguna de Bay, as well as coconuts and fruits from its plantations have given San Pablo cuisine it unique touch.

And mallgoers had the rare opportunity to taste its culinary delights when My City, My SM, My Cuisine recently made a stop at SM City San Pablo.

A joint project of SM and the Philippine STAR with support from Homeworld, My City, My SM, My Cuisine Season 2 celebrates the flavors of Philippine regional cuisine through a culinary contest featuring two signature recipes from 10 cities where SM malls are located.

Held just in time for San Pablo’s Coconut Festival celebrations, the event was also highlighted by a cook fest that showcased two of the city’s signature dishes: pesang tilapia, a popular San Pabloeño dish; and sinukmani, a coconut-based dessert.

Myrna Duenas, a public school teacher, won for her pesang tilipia recipe; while Vivian Chimlangco and lola Rosalie de la Paz tied for the best sinukmani dessert. They each received P5,000 worth of SM gift certificates and Homeworld gift packs from SM vice president for marketing Millie Dizon and SM City San Pablo’s Gabriel Timothy Exconde. The rest of the finalists received P1,000 worth of SM gift certificates and gift packs from Homeworld.

The board of judges included Gatchi’s Kitchen’s Melinda Gatchalian, Casa San Pablo’s Ancilla Alcantara, the SM Department Store’s Rigor Cueto, the Philippine STAR’s Elizabeth Lim, and Metropolitan Museum Trustee Cora Alvina.

As it is the My City, My SM, My Cuisine tradition, eight prominent families from the City of Seven Lakes shared their prized heirloom recipes during the event in a video presentation.

Villa Escudero’s Ado Escudero showed guests how to prepare pancit buko.  A showcase featuring a replica of the Villa Escudero chapel and plantation grounds delighted mallgoers who made it a photo op area.
Designer Patis Tesoro, on the other hand, prepared paco salad and kare-kareng dagat, specialties of the Patis Tito Garden Café, which was also highlighted in a showcase featuring its wonderfully eclectic mixture of Filipino and Asian furniture, as well as an arts and crafts ambience in an al fresco garden setting.
Ramon Magsaysay awardee Dr. Jaime Alip took time out from his busy schedule as founder and managing director of his microfinance group CARD MRI to demonstrate two of his family’s heirloom recipes: kinamatisang ayungin and kinilaw na hipon.

Augusto “Ugo” Bigyan, who is known for his artisan pottery, showed that he was an amazing chef as well when he prepared his famous kulowo recipe.  The Marino brothers — Tony, a stage actor on Broadway, and well-traveled brother Mandy, prepared buttered chicken, a family specialty in their scenic Café Lago restaurant.

The Pandin Paddlers gave mallgoers a taste of community cuisine with their pritong bakuli and hipon sa gata recipes; while Plaridel de la Cruz shared secrets of Colette’s Buko Pie, San Pablo’s best-known delicacy. 

Sulyap: A Taste from the Past’s Roy Empalmado gave guests a glimpse of his famous pinyati recipe from his restaurant and gallery café with a Spanish colonial theme.

Other guests also brought in their family’s signature recipes for mallgoers to sample: the Prudente Restaurant with its tinolang manok sa gata; Frago-Katigbak with its lechon gubat; and the Azores family with its chicken galentina.

My City, My SM, My Cuisine in San Pablo is the ninth in Season 2 of this exciting culinary road show, which was launched in April at SM City Rosales with the best bangus and tupig recipes. It later celebrated the specialties of the province of Rizal and the City of Marikina, and featuring a cookfest for the best binabaysan na alimango or alimasag and suman sa ibos at SM City Masinag. Just in time for the Rizal@150 celebrations, foodies vied for the best lutong Instik entrée and buko pie dessert; while our National Hero’s descendants featured their heirloom recipes at SM City Calamba

The Golden Days of Coffee at SM City Lipa brought mallgoers back to the halcyon days when Lipa supplied all the world’s coffee, highlighting the best bulalo and pinindot recipes. The food of heroes, on the other hand, was highlighted during the roadshow stop at SM City Baliwag, which featured signature dishes from the Mariano Ponce and Marcelo H. del Pilar families, as well as the best serkele and puto dessert recipes.

More recently, it celebrated the cuisine of the Cordilleras, as well as its bounty of fruits and vegetables at SM City Baguio with chefs of the city’s popular restaurants competing for the best salad and strawberry dessert recipes.  My City, My SM, My Cuisine’s latest stops were in SM City Olongapo, where it showcased both indigenous and American influences, and the best sinigang na Diana and pastillas recipes; and SM City Tarlac, where they sampled cuisine from Central Luzon’s melting pot and the winning pinakbet and cassava recipes.

Last year, the campaign made stops in 13 stops all over the country, beginning in Santa Rosa where participants competed for the best puchero with lauya and puto maya with kilawing puso ng saging. Its last stop was in SM City Clark, where Kapampangan foodies showcased the best tidtad and tocino del cielo recipes.

My City, My SM, My Cuisine is a joint project of SM and the Philippine STAR with support from SM Homeworld and SM Supermarket.
SM shoppers and Philippine STAR readers can submit their recipe of their city’s selected entrée and dessert along with their name, address, and occupation to sm_starculinary@yahoo.com. They can also mail these to the Publicity Department, Building C, SM Corporate Office, JW Diokno Boulevard, Pasay City, or the Lifestyle Section of the Philippine STAR at R. Oca Jr. and Railroad Streets, Port Area, Manila.

Ten finalists will be selected — five for entrees and five for dessert.  Two winners — one for entrée and one for dessert — will be selected from each city during the culinary contest that will be held in time for the city’s festival.  The two winners will each receive P5,000 worth of SM gift certificates, while finalists will receive packs from SM Homeworld.