Skip to main content

Lunch at Bale Dutung in Pampanga

Bale Dutung (Wood House) is a restaurant within artist Claude Tayag's house-cum-studio. It specializes in the regional cuisine of Pampanga or Capampangan food. It's located in Angeles City, long known for being home to Clark Air Base. Nowadays, it's known as one of the Philippines's gastronomic centers, a reputation that has elicited many a trip through the bustling province. I've had lunch there several times and it's quite an experience each time. It satisfies gastronomically and intellectually. While Claude (pronounced "cloud") stays mostly behind the scenes in the open kitchen, Mary Ann Quioc, Claude's wife, puts on a show. She tells a story behind each of the dishes. It may be a dish's history or an anecdote, and it provokes the intellect or whets the appetite, or both.
Mary Ann graciously started us out with an ideal blend of dalandan juice and muscovado sugar ice cubes. Because of the nature of muscovado sugar—or inuyat as Capampangans call it—when the ice melted, it gave the cold juice just the right amount of sweetness. Then the multicourse lunch started and went on for close to four hours. Worth every centavo.
Some of the highlights: a trio of appetizers: crab fat, balo-balo and pesto. Mary Ann suggested we taste each one separately, then try different combinations to see how complementary and opposing flavors tasted in our mouths. It was a delightful exercise. Next came an amuse of cold sotanghon which, to me, cooled down my palate from the hot excitement of the dish that preceded it. The mudfish "sushi," a deconstructed, then reconstructed version of a traditional dish composed of fish, balo-balo and a bitter element (mustard leaf for this one) completely transported me. What a fun dish!
Below, fern salad with quail eggs. Mary Ann related the history of the fern as traditional food for house help, but which is now a trendy green in high-end grocers even in the US.
Roasted quail; the sushi with crab fat and mustard leaf mudfish rolls.
Sisig atop eggplant.
DIY sinigang pork and (huge) prawns.
Claude is also a famous collector of furniture and wooden antiques (the name of the place refers to this collection). If you get a chance, ask for a tour of the house. He's an accomplished sculptor and painter, as well, and a lot of his work is visible through the grounds, but some of it is hidden. It's quite a marvel.

Lunch only and only by reservation. There's no wine, but feel free to bring your own; there's no corkage and they'll provide you with wine glasses. It's about PHP 1800 per person, but check on the web site for current price and payment details. It's worth every centavo.

Read the article on Claude Tayag on the Wall Street Journal.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please keep comments clean and relevant to the article or discussion. The Dineocrat, in his infinite wisdom, will delete profanity-laced and irrelevant comments, as well as those with poor grammar.

Popular posts from this blog

Spiral - Fine Buffet Food at Sofitel Manila

Buffets were my nightmares. Seriously. My first experiences of them were back in the late 80's, in the form of American all-you-can-eat chains and the Vegas strip. Thoughts of these fluorescent-bathed establishments deliver to my mind plates of dark-edged lettuce, grease-laden meatballs and all-you-can-eat spaghetti with dubious meat sauce. Little did I know back then that these were merely temporary outposts for the 250-pound men and women on the express road to 500 pounds. But even Vegas has upped the ante of dining, upgrading its hotels to dizzyingly ostentatious luxury and, consequently its amenities to match, including its buffets and more formal sit-down restaurants. When I went back to Manila for good, one of the first places my family took me to was the strikingly modern Sofitel Manila , which houses the Spiral buffet restaurant (and a small casino). After several more visits, my nightmares, I could honestly say, are gone. Even after having eaten at the new-Vegas buffets, ...
1 comment
Read more

Tagaytay Views

Tagaytay, where Antonio's Restaurant is located, is a pretty city. It's a weekend getaway for many who live in Manila. Perhaps because of this, it might be becoming a victim of its own success, its nighttime traffic back to Manila a tangle of tricycles, jeepneys and SUVs that reminds one of, well, Manila itself. Here are views of the drive to the restaurant. Taal Volcano  and Taal Lake. Still active, the volcano is one of the reasons you may never see me living here. But it's marvelous, even on a gray day. Over time, it partially collapsed on itself, hence the angled ridge that you see, as if it were the tip of a giant marker. Tagaytay is a large agricultural center and the drive is dotted with small farms that are surrounded by subdivisions, which keep sprouting in this growing city. Tagaytay is known for an abundance of quality pineapples and coconuts, though you'll also find arugula, among others. The entrepreneurial spirit in evidence: fresh milk and keso...
Post a Comment
Read more