Pampanga Culinary Tour...part 2

After a filling breakfast at Everybody's Cafe, we headed to a duty free shop inside Clark Air Base for some grocery shopping. I wasn't really in the mood to shop but I still ended up buying a pack of Chips Ahoy and Reese's (for my in between meals) but the stop was a respite for us from all the eating that we were expected to do. After the shopping break, we headed back to Mexico, Pampanga for lunch at Atching Lillian Borromeo's Kitchen. The first reaction I had was "We're eating at this (dump) place???" You know what they say, never judge a book by its cover!

The place is actually a huge lot with old houses dotting the lot. The place is old and unkempt but it has its own charm. Our lunch was set up at the courtyard with the following items waiting for us:

Lemon Grass Soup (deliciously clear and light)

Pako (Fiddlehead Fern) salad (one of my favorites!)

Fish (pass!)

Ampalaya and Mustafa Leaves (amazingly, the ampalaya was not bitter at all)

Pork Sisig (hmmmmm, i honestly prefer them to be crunchy and this ain't)

Carabeef Tocino (love this, I even bought some to take home)

Chicken Galantina (bland)

The highlight was the demonstration done by the owner of the place, Lillian Borromeo herself. Ms Borromeo is definitely one charming lady who grew up at a time when breeding, manners and grace were instilled on young women. She is a good conversationalist and full of historical stories that, if given the chance, she could share with you the whole day.

Ms Borromeo shared with us the art of baking San Nicholas cookies.

Ms Borromeo in action...

...playing with a giant whisk (yes, that is a whisk used to beating eggs in the olden times!)

San Nicholas cookies

Ms Borromeo's kitchen/museum as well as other parts of the estate are littered with antiques (some in a state of decay already) that are quite interesting to look through... its just that she seems to not really care about restoring them and leaves them on their own devices.

St Martha, patron saint of cooks and housewives