Committing the sin of gluttony on church grounds
WHAT’S A little gluttony right before or right after church? Café Inggo 1587, a café within the Sto. Domingo Church complex in Quezon City, is serving up indulgent dishes that just might make you sin a little.
A meal during a tasting earlier this month began with lechon kawali sinigang (a sour soup made with deep-fried pork belly). Take that, arteries. The lechon kawali still remained quite crispy, while the charring of the meat gave the sinigang’s broth a smoky tasting note. Next came a fabada, modeled after a traditional Spanish bean soup, which was filling; made chunky with white beans, vegetables, and bits of ham and sausages. This might remind one of family dinners after the holidays, making one smile quietly.
A chicken gallantine with blue cheese sauce didn’t impress everyone, but hey, this reporter enjoyed it, reminded of late-night dinners that one makes in the dark, to be eaten in front of the television. An adobo carefully stewed in fat, soy sauce and vinegar, had a similar but more masterful effect.
Finally, the meal ended with an excellent apple strudel, which reminds one, perhaps of mom — if your mother was a great cook.
Actually, the dishes are the creations of chef Willy Domingo, formerly with the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.
All in all, Café Inggo’s dishes create an effect in the palate that immediately evokes comforting memories: just perfect for calming one down right before confession.
The Café’s name comes from the Filipino nickname for Domingo, the Spanish variant of Dominic, the saint for whom the convent was named. Trivia: while people are comfortable calling it Sto. Domingo Church because of the adjoining Dominican convent, the complex is actually called the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary. The numbers in the cafe’s name is an allusion to the year that the first Dominican missionaries arrived in the Philippines.
The religious theme is strong in the café, decorated with a painting of the pieta as well as dozens of pen-and-ink sketches of churches by Alex Uy, collected by the café’s owner, Vic Alcuaz.
A meal during a tasting earlier this month began with lechon kawali sinigang (a sour soup made with deep-fried pork belly). Take that, arteries. The lechon kawali still remained quite crispy, while the charring of the meat gave the sinigang’s broth a smoky tasting note. Next came a fabada, modeled after a traditional Spanish bean soup, which was filling; made chunky with white beans, vegetables, and bits of ham and sausages. This might remind one of family dinners after the holidays, making one smile quietly.
A chicken gallantine with blue cheese sauce didn’t impress everyone, but hey, this reporter enjoyed it, reminded of late-night dinners that one makes in the dark, to be eaten in front of the television. An adobo carefully stewed in fat, soy sauce and vinegar, had a similar but more masterful effect.
Finally, the meal ended with an excellent apple strudel, which reminds one, perhaps of mom — if your mother was a great cook.
Actually, the dishes are the creations of chef Willy Domingo, formerly with the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.
All in all, Café Inggo’s dishes create an effect in the palate that immediately evokes comforting memories: just perfect for calming one down right before confession.
The Café’s name comes from the Filipino nickname for Domingo, the Spanish variant of Dominic, the saint for whom the convent was named. Trivia: while people are comfortable calling it Sto. Domingo Church because of the adjoining Dominican convent, the complex is actually called the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary. The numbers in the cafe’s name is an allusion to the year that the first Dominican missionaries arrived in the Philippines.
The religious theme is strong in the café, decorated with a painting of the pieta as well as dozens of pen-and-ink sketches of churches by Alex Uy, collected by the café’s owner, Vic Alcuaz.
