Cover Balé Pampanga, a family vacation home turned dining destination (Photo: Lauren Golangco)
Balé Pampanga, a family vacation home turned dining destination (Photo: Lauren Golangco)
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Lawyer William Panlilio’s family vacation home, Balé Pampanga, has become a hot dining destination with some of the country’s best chefs
It is neither a restaurant, nor an events space, but some of the Philippines’s brightest culinary stars have either cooked or enjoyed a meal there. Balé in Santa Rita, Pampanga (known to most as Balé Pampanga) has played host to some interesting food events and many curious food lovers have wondered how they, too, can experience dining there. For now, the only key is knowing Balé heir William Panlilio (or at least following his adventures on social media), who manages the family property and is the instigator behind the vibrant culinary gatherings they have been organising with chefs, beverage curators, DJs and other creatives.
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Balé in the Kapampangan dialect means home, and this fully describes what the Santa Rita, Pampanga property of Mario and Wilma Panlilio still is. Now in his mid-forties, their son William recalls growing up in Manila with his parents and two siblings but spending weekends in Pampanga, “which is why I speak the language fluently and I enjoy cooking and eating the food,” he explains. The home, surrounded by a thick forest of mahogany trees, is as if it were built a hundred years ago, save for modern-day amenities like indoor plumbing, electricity and a swimming pool. But the food here is still heirloom recipes cooked over wood-fired stoves, and those who have dined here will tell you it’s the secret behind the magical meals in Balé.
William multi-tasks as a lawyer while managing Balé Pampanga, as he now shuttles back and forth between Singapore and the Philippines, after a nomadic existence studying and practicing international law. For now, the Philippines has become home once again, specifically life in Balé that he describes as both grounding and exciting—an experience that he feels is definitely worth sharing.
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Can you share with us a bit of the history behind Balé Pampanga?
Balé started as my family’s farm, and it began shortly after Mount Pinatubo erupted in the early 1990s. The area where the property is located used to be a sugar cane field, but after the volcano erupted and the land was covered in lahar, the land was deemed untenable by the farmers. That’s how we were able to start buying up land in the area. Balé slowly grew, and it became a weekend escape, especially for my parents.
During the pandemic, I was already practising international law out of Singapore and flew back to the Philippines to escape the lockdowns. I stayed in Balé for six months, and that was when I started giving it its current identity. I set up the Balé Instagram account, started posting about our gatherings with family and friends. Then people started inquiring about coming to Balé for lunch or dinner. I discussed this with my parents, and so of course I started wondering: Why not? Quite organic, and also tied to my journey. I move around a lot—from Manila to New York to Amsterdam and then to Singapore. And over the course of those years, I would be asked: Where is home? At the time, it was difficult to answer the question, but after that six-month stay in Pampanga, as well as some time in El Nido, Palawan, the Philippines once again started to feel like home.
What convinced you and your family to open Balé Pampanga to public events, such as Manyaman (the 9-chef collaboration, summer’s-end party)?
This is something we realised over the years, and especially over the pandemic—Balé has really become a magical place. You feel that magic the moment you enter, and during the pandemic, we were so grateful to have a place that we were able to retreat to. Most weekends it’s usually empty, so we figured we might as well share this magical place with others who can enjoy it.
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What events can we expect at Balé Pampanga in the coming months?
We are planning a series of collaborations in the coming months, with chefs from Manila and from other provinces. Similar to Manyaman, but unique in their own ways, and still following that theme of Manyaman since the word does mean “delicious” in Kapampangan. So the events will surely be centred on deliciousness, whether it is deliciousness in food, wine or music.
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Jaclyn Clemente Koppe is a food and lifestyle writer, as well as a consultant to some of the country’s beloved food and beverage brands. Her passion for food and drink is only surpassed by her devotion to her family, most especially to her soulmate, Pepa the poodle.
