Recommended Activity in Bali, Indonesia: Cooking Class at Paon Cooking School

 First posted in January 2012

Bali is truly my favorite destination in Southeast Asia. I fell in love with it during my first visit with one of my dearest friends, Badette (now Chef Bernardita at W Hotel in San Francisco), and I have been visiting every couple of years since. If you are ready (and willing), Bali will open up your life to magic and authenticity. 

One of the best things I ever did during one of my visits was to take up a cooking class at Paon Cooking School led by Puspa.

Although this class was popular to the tourists, it allowed me to escape the tourist route since the class was held at the home of Puspa and her husband Nyoman, in a quiet village just a few minutes outside of Ubud’s commercial area.

The tour appropriately began at the market where Puspa met us and introduced us to local produce and ingredients.

Ubud Market

Puspa holding up a pack of vanilla pods

Puspa showing us large cinnamon sticks

Nyoman met our group at a farm where he gave us an introduction to village life in Bali. In Bali, every villager is given a patch of land to farm, but farming, as an activity, was done communally. During my visit, it was harvest season and some of the rice stalks were freshly reaped. Ducks roamed freely, pecking at stray grains.


We were driven to Nyoman and Puspa's home where the former gave us a brief introduction into how they lived, peppering his talk with funny anecdotes about their family. He explained that Balinese families always stayed in a multi-level compound with several structures. The highest level was reserved for the family temple because it symbolized the place of the gods and their ancestors. The middle level was for the parents and grandparents. At this level, Nyoman and Puspa had an open-walled pavilion they called the meeting room where the family would gather to discuss important matters and to resolve issues. Finally, there’s the lowest tier, where the children’s room and the kitchen were located. If the family had animals, they were are also kept at the lowest tier.

After Nyoman's talk, he led us to the kitchen where Puspa was waiting with all the ingredients we will be using beautifully laid out on the table

Puspa thoroughly described every ingredient and the proper way to cook them

Soon enough, we started peeling, chopping, pounding. Then the wok and pots were heated and we began tossing and stirring, and all sorts of delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen. I had my first taste of tempeh, which had me wondering where I could find it in the Philippines.



Puspa's food is one of the best I have ever tasted in Bali. So I would enjoin everyone to enroll in her cooking class, if only so you could eat!

Here's a Tempe Me Goreng recipe you can try at home.

Cooking in Paon Bali Cooking School: Tempeh Me Goreng Recipe

Here's one of things I learned to cook at Paon Bali Cooking School

Deep-fried Tempe in Sweet Soy Sauce

Ingredients:

2 packets of tempeh
10 red chilies
5 tablespoons Indonesian sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis)
4 shallots
8 cloves of garlic
1 spring onion
5 kafir lime leaves
1/4 liter coconut oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Slice the tempeh into thin strips. Heat the coconut oil in a pan, add the tempeh and deep-fry until golden brown. Remove then set aside.
2. Slice the red chilies and remove the seeds. Chop together with the garlic, shallots, and spring onions.
3. Heat about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil in another pan and add the chili mixture until the garlic is light brown.
4. Add the tempeh, followed by the Kecap Manis and torn kaffir lime leaves. Stir well to make sure the sauce thoroughly coats the tempeh.
5. Serve immediately. Good for 4 to 6 people.  

Recommended Restaurants in South Triangle (A Series): Thaipan

Meet my favorite Thai restaurant in the ‘hood, Thaipan. Also above are the two items on the menu you should definitely come to Quezon City for -- the cinnamon pork ribs and the soft-shell crabs.

I've been enjoying these cinnamon pork ribs even before Thaipan was put up. They were an item on the menu of Thai at Silk in Serendra, which had the same owners as Thaipan. Soused with a soy-based sauce, the ribs have an aromatic sweetness that is irresistible, and are as juicy and tender as you want them to be.

The deep-fried soft-shell crab is simply sensational, with pepper-zapped tamarind sauce that will make you say romantic things to a crustacean.

You won't be dining in drab surroundings as well. Almost everything is done in white, save for accents of browns and greens. The decor ia exquisite. The tall ceiling and open layout gives the sense of lounging in a garden, with the comfort of being under the shade.

Thaipan
Address: Sct. Dr. Lazcano St, Diliman, Quezon City, 1103 Metro Manila, Philippines
Phone: +632 3524926

Hong Kong Spring Deer Restaurant: Recommended, Value-For-Money Roast Duck

Hong Kong Spring Deer on Timog Avenue is one of those places that refuse to die simply because its loyal following will not allow it. It looks like it deserves some inspection from the health department but it does roast duck well and its other offerings are equally tasty.

We had the duck three ways–with the skin wrapped in Chinese mushu pancakes with scallions and hoisin, as minced duck meat wrapped in lettuce leaves, and in a soup. "Thou shall not be afraid of MSG and fat" is a good advice to follow when dining at a Chinese restaurant and, with that in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed the crispy duck skin, which contrasted beautifully with the spring onions and velvety sauce.

The salt and pepper spareribs, steamed swahe (small shrimps), and whole steamed fish deserve special mention.

And with a tab of nearly PHP7,000 for a party of 10, the price wasn’t bad at all.

Food Finds: Mi Casa's Embutido Meat Loaf

I am particularly proud of my meat loaf but juggling tasks has left me with very little time to cook. Mi Casa’s embutido meat loaf is a handy item to keep in the freezer. While Filipinos traditionally cook embutido by steaming, I prefer a good crust so I glaze it with equal portions of banana (for sweetness) and tomato ketchup and bake it in the oven for 45 minutes at 375 degrees F. When done, it will be moist and tender. Serve with steamed rice for a complete comfort meal. Sometimes, I also add a good dose of cayenne pepper to the glaze to make it sexy.

Restaurant Recommendations in South Triangle, Quezon City (A Series): Lola Cafe

I consider QC, particularly the Timog-Morato-Scout area, my ‘hood. I work here so I have plenty of opportunities to try new restaurants nearby. When I do, I am conscientious enough to withhold judgment until the second visit (unless the service is so bad I vow never to go back).

I can name a few stalwarts in the area, places I visit so often I must have already sampled every item on the menu. I can tell you, for example, that A Taste of LA almost never misses. You should try the callos, osso buco, three-cheese pizza, morconitos, pritchon, bistek Tagalog, grilled pork chop and beef fondue. No wonder they’ve lasted this long and are still going strong. I’ve also heard praises for their sinigang na salmon sa miso (clear soup with a souring ingredient like tamarind or bilimbi, cooked with salmon and Japanese miso) but I’m not a sinigang person.

When it comes to Paella Valenciana and cochinillo, Alba’s is a no-fail option and the dinner buffet is well priced at P750+. I also have a thing for their coconut macaroons.

If you want Thai, drive without hesitation to Thaipan and order the soft-shell crab and cinnamon pork ribs. I go to Cerchio when I’m craving for the salty crunch of their Singaporean crispy squid, and to Relish just beside it for the roasted chicken. Recently, I went with family to Alfredo’s, a Tomas Morato institution. The steak is still good, especially if you like it old-fashioned, that is, served on a sizzling plate and ladled with deliciously greasy gravy.

There is not a better time to explore this neighborhood than now when a growing number of vacant ancestral homes are being given a second lease on life as restaurants. One such establishment is Lola Café-Bar, which I highly recommend. I’ve been there twice prior, and the food made a good impression, but I didn’t realize how consistently good their flavors are until I got to try a wider selection of dishes recently during my brother’s birthday dinner.

Here’s my Lola Café experience:

“I love this. It’s shabby chic,” quipped my nine-year-old niece Julia as we approached our table at the mezzanine while admiring the Mason jar droplights. The walls were adorned with framed quotes in Spanish, Italian and even French. On a wall, a chalkboard menu detailed some of the specials.

Lola Cafe was built in a nicely restored home on Scout Lozano. It maintained the main structure and played it up with vintage furniture and rustic details that added to its charm. Not too shabby, not too chic—a combined quality that also defines its food, which is at once homey and refined. It is real food done real good.

As a starter, we ordered the bone marrow sisig (P230), a new item on the menu. It seemed like a heavy way to start a meal but the serving was small. It came with three crackers and a side of what tasted like tamarind sauce so I allowed myself a small bite. It was certainly novel but I still prefer my marrow on bulalo, which we also ordered (P420).

The kids enjoyed the pesto fries with sunny side up egg so much I only managed to grab three strings.

Of the three appetizers, my favorite was the wagyu salpicao (P320). The meat was tender, arriving in a pool of rich, garlicky sauce.

One thing that Lola has perfected is the making of luscious meat. The kare-kare must have been warming in a bath of peanut-y goodness for hours because the meat was melting. Same can be said about the kimchi kaldereta, which earned the nod of everyone on the table, who loved spooning the sauce over their steamed rice. It’s also hard to find fault with the binagoongang baboy with grilled eggplant.

I also had a taste of my mom’s roasted pork belly and found its mild sweetness a good compliment to the plush belly meat.

The only disappointment was the adobo balsamic chicken, which was my pick. It sounded promising but I found the glaze a tad salty.

Like any other Filipino family, we make it a point to order a noodle dish during birthdays, to signify long life for the celebrant. We made a stellar choice with the tartufo pasta, which was creamy, perfectly seasoned and worth another visit.

Of the three desserts we ordered (they ran out of the pavlova), my vote goes to the banoffee pie, whose graham cracker crust went so well with the creamy custard filling with chunks of banana.

My niece Julia preparing to attack the cupcake

My foodie family

The Menu

Lola Café-Bar
99 Scout Lozano,
South Triangle, Quezon City
Phone 632-501-2620

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