Tags: Exotic Food, Food Establishments, Truly Pinoy Food and Drinks
By KC Santos
ANGELES CITY, PAMPANGA – The way this café prepares buro (fermented rice) could perhaps persuade even the less adventurous to try this infamous Pampanga delicacy.
Café Fontana is among a host of restaurants at the Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks & Casino located inside the Clark Freeport Zone.
Of the many ala carte selections, it’s the Mango Pizza (P410) and the Hito-Tocino-Buro (P220) that come highly recommended.
“I’ve developed both based on my personal preferences,” says Chef Cathy Dizon. “These are flavors I get to taste at home but ideally, we aim to show, through the food that we serve, the resourcefulness of Kampampangans.”
It’s been said that the Kapampangans’ culinary skill is rooted in their ethnic history. After the war, their ancestors survived hunger by foraging the land for anything edible and then thinking of ways to preserve food for a long time.
To this day, Kapampangan cuisine is almost always associated with the exotic delicacies like the kamaru (crickets) and betute (stuffed frog), to mention a few.
This sort of oddity and unique flavor, Cathy says, adds excitement when eating Kapampangan cuisine.
“Mangoes, for instance, are usually served on its own or as dessert. It’s widely grown and used in Filipino cooking so I thought of incorporating it with something Italian to localize that familiar flavor,” she says.
Indeed, there was nothing unfamiliar about her Mango Pizza at first glance. It’s like mangoes were conveniently used to substitute the usual pineapple toppings found in the Hawaiian version.
That completely changed after my first bite. The flavors of the soft dough, grilled chicken, mangoes and spices combined made each bite satisfying.
Though cooked in a stone oven, Cathy made sure the dough (which had the softness of a pita bread) was still firm enough to sink your teeth into and keep the ingredients in place for that harmonious final taste.
Of course, nothing can be more unique than their Hito-Tocino-Buro combo.
I’m not exactly a fan but Cathy’s version was a lot less pungent and surprisingly good as she tries to balance all the flavors and aroma characteristic of the traditional buro.
She does this by adding crab fat to the fermented rice, her own home-cooked spin, and adds the hito (catfish) and tocino into the usual buro and mustard leaves equation.
When all rolled into the mustard leaves, the buro becomes less overwhelming. The saltiness of the fried hito and the sweetness from the sweetened pork makes for perfect balance.
For some people, including myself, it’s not easy to let go of inhibitions when it comes to exotic food. But after my Café Fontana experience, I learned to open up a bit – the secret isn’t in the eating, it’s in the cooking.
Get more information on Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks & Casino
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