A get-together at the University Hotel with outgoing UP president Danny Concepcion boasted classic campus offerings, enjoyed with great company
I had the most wonderful evening spent with old friends, outgoing University of the Philippines (UP) president Danny Concepcion and his lawyer wife Gaby, reveling in the company of new ones at the UP Executive House.
Our get-together was planned over the phone. Gaby was quite unsure of what to serve me. I sensed panic in her voice. So to make things easy, I said, serve me all the popular dishes from UP.
That night, we partook of dishes from in and around the campus.
For appetizers we had a lazy Susan tabletop full of siomai from ArkiVickie, a steal at three pieces for P55, classically paired with a cold glass of Pantea (Pandan Vanilla Tea).
There was takoyaki from Village B and lumpiang togue from Pook Dagohoy that comes with two kinds of vinegar—onion and cucumber. Fifteen pieces of lumpia for P100 are available at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. One must be vigilant, as the crunchy spring rolls are gone in a flash.
We also had burgers from SnackShop. And, just for me, a box of the famous Rodic’s tapsilog that has been around since 1948.
Eclectic menu
It was an eclectic menu, just as I had requested. In between bites, our conversation took us back to the days of yore, to when the ladies and gentlemen present were students of the university—then, so young and free.
I was told that Butterfly Iced Tea started in UP, and how unfortunately many of the old eateries did not survive the COVID lockdowns.
Everyone had a story to tell. According to Rodrigo Libunao, to build a university in what was then far-flung QC, professors were offered housing. With his sharp memory, he enumerated the families that lived on campus, and where exactly.
We were briefly interrupted by the opening of the front door, and in waltzed Sandy Daza, himself a UP alumnus who lived and grew up in Area 1 of the campus with his family.
It was Randy Lesaca who intimated that Nora Daza, Sandy’s mom, served as a consultant/director of what was then the UP Food Service. The department played an important role in the UP community, since there were no eateries, markets nor grocery stores, back then.
Our jovial banter jumped from one topic to another until, of course, it landed on food.
Geologist, volcanologist, disaster scientist and professor Mahar Lagmay, who simply calls himself a “batang UP,” shared his own food stories. He talked of a hamburger sold outside the canteen of UP elementary school. Customers were given an option of having it with orange sauce made from mayonnaise and ketchup. The sauce was generously slathered on the burger with a plastic spoon, then wrapped with a thin paper napkin.
There was sweet corn from the eastern side of the UP Shopping Center. Should you like it with butter, the vendor would grab the paint brush, dip it in Star Margarine and spread it on the corn.
And, of course, there were the fishballs. Mahar dipped his in two large, recycled Nescafé jars. One sauce was thick and sweet, while the other was vinegar with chopped onions and siling labuyo. His ritual was to dip the fishballs in the thick sauce first, and then in the vinegar to dilute the thick sweet sauce.
The togue-stuffed fried lumpia was sold freshly cooked in the afternoons. For those in a hurry, the vendor would hand out vinegar in small translucent plastic bags. Mahar would bite on one end of the plastic to make a hole for the vinegar to ooze out. This, he said, made the fried lumpia taste so much better.
Simpler times
Mahar’s food tales are so much like ours—so relatable if you belong to a certain generation that lived happily, during simpler times. Our reminiscing came to a halt when our gracious hostess Gaby announced that dinner was served.
Our main course was prepared by the University Hotel. As the covers of the chafing dishes were lifted, I was amazed by how visually tempting the offerings were. The food was simple, done right.
The Thai pork spareribs were glistening. The bagoong rice was tinged with just the right amount of oil to make it look enticing. Visually captivating was the fiery orange chili gata sauce that was spooned over bright leafy green stuffed pechay rolls. The recipe was Sandy’s, who was asked to lend his time and expertise to the hotel’s kitchen.
The pancit lang-lang was appetizing—credit goes to the copious amounts of crisp adobo flakes topping.
Indeed, the offerings of the University Hotel have caused a pleasant stir. The hotel is being managed by a dynamic team headed by Pato Gregorio, F&B director Melvin Gomez and chef Wennie Anonuevo, who work tirelessly to offer delicious meals at very affordable prices. They now even have a weekend breakfast buffet, for only P365.
The efforts of Danny to keep the hotel open through the pandemic have paid off. The University Hotel has become quite the place to eat. That evening, I was most enthralled by Danny, by his hosting prowess, and more so for his passion for food.
Not known to many, Danny is a serious foodie. He has a coffer of recipes from his youth, like a pinatisang pata that has only three ingredients, tinola sa upo with kinchay, and callos with no tripe. But this mouthwatering narrative is reserved for another day.
www.reggieaspiras.com; @iamreggieaspiras on Instagram and Facebook.
Reggie Aspiras has been writing her food column Kitchen Rescue for Inquirer Lifestyle since 2003. Her columns have been collected in three books released in 2005, 2007 and 2011.
