The Urbina Kitchen
JULITA “Lita” Urbina, the grand dame of Filipino cuisine in Cebu, waxes nostalgic as she remembers how her small “carinderia” in a rented apartment gave rise to their flourishing restaurant business. The new Laguna Culinary Center Building now stands on the same property, which the Urbinas have acquired. The U. Kitchen, the latest addition to the Laguna group of Restaurants, which include Café Laguna, Laguna Garden, Lemon Grass and Laguna Catering, occupies the ground floor of Laguna Culinary Center Building along Veterans Drive in Lahug just outside of the 3rd Military Area. The impressive building also houses the executive offices of the growing company and serves as the heart of the business where the commissary prepares the food and food supplies to all its restaurants, including the franchises in the Vis-Min area.
Lita’s chef son Raki, after proving his mettle in assisting his mother in running the Laguna culinary gems, has taken over the newly opened U. Kitchen. His new culinary creations are focused on the use of the “pugon” or wood fired oven, which every household had in the olden days. A custom-built wood-fired oven reigns supreme in the open kitchen where diners can watch the activities. The U. Kitchen menu consists of classic Filipino and Asian favorites, majority of which are cooked in the pugon, from soups, stews, meats, fish, vegetables and rice dishes. A signature dish, Baked Pangat sa Manggang Hilaw, is a fillet of garoupa topped with slices of green mango and scallions, wrapped in banana leaves. The fillet, cooked in its own juices in the pugon also absorbs the smoky flavor. This is so scrumptious with a dip of patis (fish sauce) and calamansi on the side.
Lunch with the Urbina family at the U. Kitchen started with a platter of kesong puti (soft white cheese) from Sta. Cruz, Laguna (hometown of Raki’s father, Dr. Ricardo Urbina), fried dilis (long-jawed anchovy, roasted tomatoes and hot pan de sal. The delicious kesong puti, made from fresh carabao’s milk, transported me back to my childhood days. The pan de sal is house-baked in the pugon. The Proudly Bisdak Salad consists of boiled green langka (jackfruit), shredded green papaya, puso ng saging (banana bud), tomatoes on a bed of alugbati leaves served with coconut-calamansi dressing and crispy dilis. Chaf Raki tossed the salad with the tangy and creamy dressing. Lita who hails from Cabuyao, Laguna, gave a brief story on the next dish—Ti-im ng Cabuyao. This is served on special holidays like Christmas and birthdays. Chef Raki simmers the pork hock, chicken, raddish and potatoes in the pugon adding the cabbage at the last. A little soy sauce for seasoning imparts a light golden color. This is a very comforting dish. A Malaysian dish, Laksa Berde is a creamy bowl of thin rice noodles with coconut milk, shrimp, chicken, quail eggs and tofu flavored with Raki’s special green laksa paste made of galangal, red chili, kefir lime leaves and topped with cilantro leaves. It was light and exotic. I just love the lime flavor. The main courses were also cooked in the pugon—Paella de Verdura with vegetables, clams, chorizo and Crispy Lamb Chop on a bed of roasted vegetables and mashed sweet potato. Chef Raki used the Sofrito (garlic, onion, tomato) to prepare the paella base. He omitted the traditional and expensive saffron spice but the rice dish was exceptionally good.
The desserts were classic Laguna favorites: Guinomis sorbet topped with crispy pinipig (roasted rice puffs) and latik sauce. Guinomis is refreshing drink made of coconut milk, gelatin and sago with crushed ice and sweetened with brown sugar syrup. Chef Raki made this into a sorbet without the syrup. The Tinotong na Monggo is guinataang monggo with malagkit (glutinous rice). Tinotong means roasting the mongo, which is pounded and cooked with coconut milk and glutinous rice.
