Located outside the outskirt of Cebu ’s metropolis is a little city called Naga. With its population of 95,163 (as of 2007 by Wikipedia) and has 28 baranggays, Naga is indeed still growing, progressing and improving. Basically, Naga has been known to many as a place where two great businesses can be found, which really do give an impact to Naga’s income. These are Salcon, an electric-producing company which had been controversial because of its use of coal ashes, and the country’s biggest cement factory, APO . But throughout the years Naga also earned a famous name in the South as “The Home of Many Aswangs.” Aswangs are the native and ancient but still known Filipino horrible creatures who prey on humans and are believed as ordinary people by day but would turn into demon-like creatures by night. They are always present in every horror stories told by countless grandmothers to haunt naughty kids. Eventually, many people had propagated certain incidents about their encounters on aswangs in Naga, testifying that they are for real and are not make-believe.
But who cares about these aswangs once you realize that beauty lays behind this certain image of Naga? Right at the back of its town plaza, which is then located opposite to their parish church, is the beautiful façade of their so-called “Bay walk”. And as the name “Home of the Aswangs” has become famous, so as the place Bay walk.
So, forget Naga’s mystic once you step there.
Being called as such, Naga’s Bay walk is designed like the one in Manila
It is an impossible day for the Bay walk not to have people in its arms. Day in, day out it is always filled with people. Especially, during weekends and on Sundays right after masses. Most of the families go there for get together, lovers for date, students and barkadas for gimicks, office people to forget their stress and problems and others just for plain leisure. And most of them come back after a day or two, or a week, or a month. Clearly, people always return in this place of Naga. Ambiance of the whole Bay walk is the primary concept why many people gather there. But there’s more than the ambiance, you know.
At the far corner of the Bay walk are food stalls collectively known as St. Francis Ocean Park's Eateries with big tents in front of each to accommodate the eaters. In the evening, during the hours of dinner, you can see these stalls as smoky as it seems, bulging with lots of customers, and in order to get into the counter to order a meal for yourself, you need to pump elbows with others first and step on some toes. But the good thing here is that, even if you’ll get no space in the tent where monobloc chairs and tables are prepared for the convenience of your eating, you can still enjoy your meal in the Bay walk’s barrier by just sitting there and lay your food in front or beside of you –which what most of the people there do—together with the refreshing smell of the sea.
What do these stalls serve?
I actually seldom go to Bay walk. And whenever I go there, I only succumbed myself with its beauty and not really into the foods. But I am aware that the food stalls there are known to everybody since many of my high school friends and classmates live in Naga and are patrons of these. Until an urge of necessity with the essence of curiosity, called me to go there and explore. With a help of a dear friend, we went there early in there morning to avoid the hassle and the bustle of many people which starts when the clock strikes twelve noon.
Surprise was my initial reaction the moment I stepped in the first stall of the row there. My eyes were automatically welcomed by the huge menu made out of cardboard at the top of the counter and I was astonished to note the dishes vernacularly listed there. These are: tinuwang bungkawil, tinuwang rumpe kandado, adobong pasayan, steamed lambay, kinilaw na guso,kinilaw na lukot, sinugbang isda, sinugbang nukos, sinugbang pugita, adubao, nilarang na kyampao, nilarang na ubod, nilararang na bakasi, and the most surprising one, nilarang na iho. I know precisely that these are sea food dishes and I am aware what kind of sea foods they feature in each dish –exotic. To understand what the list above implies since they are in vernacular, here are the translations: nilat-an means to soften meat in a hot boiling soup, kinilaw means to cook raw food in vinegar, sinugba is grill, and nilarang is a special bisaya way of cooking which I’ll uncover in the later part since this term was also new to me when I saw it there that I needed to ask the owner of that stall for its implication. Bungkawil is the vernacular for a kind of shells which look like little conch shells, pasayan is for shrimps, lambay for crabs, isda for fishes, guso for sea weeds, lukot for sea weeds too, nukos for squids, pugita for octopus, kyampao for sting-rays, ubod for eels, bakasi for sea eels, and of course iho for sharks.
My friend started to take some pictures of the dishes as I searched for the owner of that food stall. Fortunately, she went out of the kitchen, attended to me with a smile and great hospitality. “How may I help you?” a phrase she actually said in vernacular as she led me to a table behind the counter where we sat and eventually talked. I told her my intentions why I was there.
The owner’s name was Tata Remonte, a true-blue Minglanillian but had married a man from Naga. They started this stall on October 3, 2004 as a branch of their sea food restaurant in Minglanilla. They took the opportunity to build a branch in the Bay walk since they knew then that they could get many customers there through the popularity of the place. Engaging to food business is not an easy one to go. An owner of a food business should always secure that their everyday ingredients are clean and fresh; the dishes that they are serving are all well-cooked and good in taste since the safety of the customers’ tummies are at stake. And for the case of Miss Tata, sea foods easily get spoil which should be checked from time to time and these foods need to be cooked in a very delicate way. Over cooked sea foods are hard and rigid while a half cooked sea foods are mushy. Also, as an owner you should think about tactics like some promos so that the customers won’t be bored with your service. But what makes Miss Tata stick with food business? Well, it’s just simply because her husband loves sea foods especially the exotic ones and is fond of cooking sea food dishes.
Though that place is really abundant with people, I know for a fact that there are times when their profit is not the same with the usual days. According to Miss Tata, their lowest peak is during rainy days. Beside from the reason that people on those days prefer to keep themselves at home, sea foods then are hard to find and are more expensive than their usual price. But this loose-up of profit recovers during Christmas season, and when there are special occasions in Naga like fiestas. On the brighter side too, school days are definitely not a problem for the business. Siena School of Naga is located at the opposite area of the town plaza, beside the church. The high school students there usually go to the Bay walk stalls for lunch. And also, during late afternoons, right after their classes, these thin students can be found chitchatting inside the stalls’ tents having some sea foods as their snacks.
After being drained out of questions, I then stepped up and politely asked if I can look into the dishes that they are selling. She agreed with me and even suggested that I and my friend should taste them one by one so that we can really understand why people love to eat, not only in their stall but also among other stalls in Bay walk.
She first introduced me to the grilled dishes. I refused to taste these since I already have the idea on what are their tastes –the soft and juicy meat of the fish and the gum-like flesh of the octopus and squid, all wrapped up in smoky but tangy flavors and compelled in their reddish-brown burnt and bitter skins. I also refused the fresh and greenly kinilaw dishes which the coiled sea weeds –the guso and the lukot are beautifully mixed up with tomatoes, onions, and gingers, since I’m not allowed to eat sour dishes due to my stomach ulcer.
The wonders of the sea are greatly reflected in the dishes tinuwang isda which used the distinct kind of fish called rumpe kandado, and tinuwang bungkawil. With their authentic salty tastes, they really have the characteristics that could match up with a cup of hot steamed rice. Their soft meat melts in the mouth that chewing them makes their pieces lost in action.
My personal favorites lambay and pasayan really gave me guilt. Though fishing out the meat embraced by the oily liquid of delicious yellow fats under its hard shell is difficult, the awesomeness of lambay gives a rocking kick in the mouth. Same can be said with pasayan. Its soft fluffy meat gives delight as my teeth lurched it pieces by pieces.
Adubao in the other hand is a dish where the tentacles of the octopus are cooked in an adobo way which is the all-time favorite among the Filipinos. Its brownish soup which is sour in taste with the essence of being sweet is a sure hit on the tongue. Its smell is also tantalizing in the senses, mainly brought by the garnished laurel leaves.
The last dishes that I’ve tried were the nilarang. But I really asked them first, what on earth nilarang is? The owner laughed and told us that nilarang means food cooked with tuno or coconut milk. To help us understand more, she shared to us the procedures of cooking nilarang. First, sauté garlic and onions in the preheated pan. Second, add the essential vegetables of the dish like the slices of sayote, carrots, and potatoes. Third, put the sea food meat in the pan. Fourth, add three cups of water and let the dish shimmer for a while. Fifth, put one and a half cup of coconut milk and again let it shimmer. And lastly, add the chopped chili on the top as a garnish to give a kick in the dish too.
Nilarang dishes contain a uniform taste –salty with the mixture of being milky, and a little bit spicy on the side. Regarding with the exotic fishes they feature in these dishes –the sting-ray, the two kinds of eel and of course the shark, their meat are simply the same with each other. Just like the common fish in the supermarket are the meats of these exotic fishes – thread-like, creamy white and soft. But the thing here is that, the exotic fishes’ meats are slimy and flat in taste with no distinct flavor on.
Caught in my sight was a young female customer named Angel Marie. I was struck by the idea on what about the reaction of other customers besides myself. She said she had been in the place for a lot of times although she doesn’t live in Naga. I asked her what she likes upon the place. And she gracefully answered, that it is because of the calmness of the place that makes her forget her stress in life and enables her to be with herself in center. I asked her in regards with the food and she yielded that food being sold in the stalls adds up the whole wonderful era of the Bay walk since it is really good and definitely approved to the taste buds.
We thanked the people who have accommodated us a lot and bade goodbye. We left the place satisfied with the information we have gathered and the food trip we had. Again, who cares if the aswangs in Naga are true? This certifies that even if a certain place earned a mystic reputation, wonders still exist in its cradle.
Source:
respondents:
Angel Marie Menguito
Tata Remonte
very good food essay.The detailed description of a subject is the power of this essay.
TumugonBurahin