Where in Cavite is your family from, and which cities do you normally visit when you’re back?

I can trace back seven generations of my family, from both sides, who never left Cavite City. I was born in Manila but raised in Cavite City until I was 15 when I left to attend college in Manila. I love visiting Cavite City to visit its bustling market that sells, to this day, food and ingredients that helped shape my identity as Caviteño— someone who appreciates good food with strong cultural ties and provenance.

What do you consider to be the must-try dish from your region?

There’s no singular dish that defines Cavite City, but we have a concept of terno-terno tono-tono: food that is paired well with its taste and texture in tune with each other. Take, for example, a regular Sunday family gathering where we served a trio of dishes, which we lovingly call Tres Marias: these are karekare (made with oxtail, cheek, and tripe), adobo seca (dry adobo of chicken and pork cooked with patis, vinegar and achuete), and kilawin papaya (grated green papaya cooked in miso, grilled pancreas, tripe, and vinegar), punctuated with green mango and bagoong. On regular weekdays, laga or nilagang baka is served with salsa berenjena or grilled eggplant with camote, saba banana, and calabasa previously boiled in beef broth in the nilaga, mashed and dressed with vinegar, olive oil, crushed garlic, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Each one can be a stand-alone dish, but eaten together with warm steamed rice, it can be a sublime and transformative experience.

See also: Filipino Cuisine: Do We Really Need International Recognition to Push the Industry Forward?

What do you consider to be the most underrated dish from your region?

Pancit puso: refreshing pancit, which is only available from a particular carinderia located inside the Cavite City Public Market. Two kinds of noodles are used, miki and bihon, sauteed lightly in onion, garlic, and achuete oil, with chopped green beans, carrots, and thin slices of chorizo Macau. Sliced puso ng saging (banana blossom) cooked in vinegar is used as a souring agent instead of the usual calamansi.

See also: Meet Don Baldosano, the 23-Year-Old Chef Behind Modern Filipino Restaurant 'Linamnam'

What is the one pasalubong you always bring back with you when you visit?  

Bibingka Samala is one of the most popular pasalubongs from Cavite City. It was first created in 1950 by the Samala-Legaspi family. The product itself is like biko and not like the bibingka that we’re all familiar with because it is rectangular, it has a suman-like consistency, generously topped with latik, and cooked inside a wood-fired pugon, it has a particular sweetness and smokey flavour. The business is now run by the family’s third generation while adhering to the cooking process and 70-year-old recipe created by their grandfather. From Bibingka Samala, it is now known as Pat and Sam’s homemade rice cakes. It comes in two variants: Malagkit and Pinipig, and both are equally delicious.

See also: It’s Never Too Early for Bibingka: Where to Order Classic Galapong, Triple-Layer Cakes, and More

What is one ingredient you long for from the region that you cannot (or cannot easily) find in Manila, if any?

Unsoy. The taste is very similar to wansoy, cilantro, or coriander, but it looks like dill because of its feathery, hair-like, dark green leaves. It’s available from the Cavite City Public Market during the cooler months from November to March. During the rainy season, they thrive in higher altitude towns like Amadeo and Silang. Unsoy is a very important ingredient in Cavite cooking. It is the ingredient that delivers the astringent punch in making salsa, a popular condiment that features chopped tomato, onion, and garlic, dressed with vinegar, a dollop of olive oil or sesame oil, and on some occasions, chopped salted duck’s egg and crushed chicharron for good measure.

This side dish is best suited for tortang giniling, tortang talong, lechon de carajay (Cavite’s version of lechon kawali), or even pritong isda (fried fish). But beware, not everybody is keen on unsoy—it's either you like it, or you hate it. It is a polarising herb because for some, it smells like a crushed surot or bedbug. But for me, it is the scent of my childhood. Unsoy has a long history as a culinary herb in our kitchen. Once it’s chopped or cut up, it releases strong aromatic compounds and essential oils that possess antibacterial and antifungal qualities, hence the distinctive smell. 

See also: Spice Cabinet Essentials According to Chefs: Robby Goco, Heny Sison, and More On Their Favourites

What are your favourite eateries in that region? Why?

Since the death of the matriarch of Nyora Ika Carinderia located inside the Cavite City Public Market, the family has been operating in a very modest capacity serving mostly the workers inside the market. The pandemic caused so much disruption that my regular suki in the market either stopped selling, closed, or died. But not to get too sad and discouraged, in case I’m craving home-cooked Cavite City specialities, I can always visit Cantina de Tita A, Manang Lily Escobar, and Baloy’s Carinderia, all of which are found in Cavite City, and Asiong Caviteño Restaurant in Silang, Cavite. Not to be missed is their pancit pusit.

NOW READ

A Taste of Home: Maharlika’s Nicole Ponseca On Her Best Eats Around the Philippines

Chef Tatung Launches a 10-Course Tasting Menu in His Antipolo Home—But it Won’t be Around for Long

The Culinary Capitals of the Philippines: Chef JP Anglo’s Guide to Negros Occidental