The ABC Hotel’s unique eat-all-you-can adventure in a perfect set-up.
Photo by Ric Gonzales
ANGELES CITY – Variety is the spice of life.
Whoever said that must have experienced eating in some of the 380 restaurants in this city offering various recipes and menus for locals and foreigners.
It’s not only American food outlets that are aplenty considering US servicemen had stayed long at their former military base in nearby Clark.
Today, as Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan puts it, “the city has a gastronomic belt where the hotels and best restaurants are abundant.”
“Explore fine dining in Angeles City and experience a fusion of food and different cultures. It’s now a culinary destination visited by VIPs such as governors, mayors, celebrities and businessmen from Metro Manila,” added the lawyer-mayor.
UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
ABC’s Tuna Sashimi.
The Angeles Beach Club (ABC) hotel is just one of the many hotel and restaurant chains along Don Juico Ave., which faces the northeastern portion of the Clark Freeport where there are close to 600 locators employing some 64,000 people.
Conceptualized by chef Billy King, ABC’s eat-all-you-can dining is the first of its kind in Central Luzon if not in the country.
For P500 per person, you can eat various Asian food – from Tempura to Mongolian Beef to Sashimi – and you feel that extraordinary comfort while waiting for your order.
“The ambience is perfect. The food is great and it is fantastic here,” said Mark, who just flew in from Arizona, USA to experience his first holiday in the Philippines.
He was with another American and they were both occupying a long and elevated table facing a swimming pool.
Then right beside the pool and in front of the two Americans are at least three cooks manned by executive chef Rosauro Abellera, King’s assistant.
They were preparing the orders of the ABC’s early customers on Tuesday night, most of whom are Caucasians.
“The idea here is to pamper the customers and to serve only fresh food and newly cooked at that,” said Abellera, who disclosed that their clients can get appetizers before ordering main courses.
“In most eat-all-you-can restaurants, the food is no longer fresh after some time and the set-up becomes unruly,” he added.
PERSIAN FOOD
ABC’s Mongolian Beef.
Kebab Express’ Chelo Makhsons with Pita. All photos by Ric Gonzales
Councilor Edu Pamintuan, eldest son of the mayor, is in a restaurant business. He co-owns the Kebab Express offering a mixture of Persian and Filipino food.
“We basically have kebabs, shawarmas and shakes. Don’t forget the below zero beers which go well with hot Persian meal with a touch of Pinoy,” added Edu, whose place is just a stone’s throw away from the thickly-populated Angeles University Foundation (AUF).
Kebab Express’ chelo makhsons with Pita, liver tomato and onion and ox brain are some of the best offers.
The Pamintuans are known to be good cooks, especially Herminia, better known as Tita Miniang, wife of the first-term mayor.
Asked where she loves to eat when she decides not to cook for the mayor and her family, Miniang quickly replied back via SMS txt message: “Italian food we go to Picollo Padre (Don Juico Ave.), Chinese at Fortune (two branches along McArthur Highway in Balibago) and Japanese at Yufuin (near SM Clark in Balibago).”
CHICKEN WINGS
Cocina de Aleisa’s dolsotbibimbap Korean dish (left) and chili wings, buffalo chicken wings and garlic parmesan wings.
Who said the location of the business matters most in order to succeed? There is an exception to the rule – especially if you must-try recipes of chicken wings prepared and recommended by chef Richard Shady Gonzaga.
They are chili wings, buffalo chicken wings and garlic parmesan wings.
They are indeed delicious, said a customer who tried for the first time all the chicken wings recipes.
Gonzaga worked as the executive chef of top restaurants and hotels before deciding to help start Cocina de Aleisa Restaurant and Function Hall at Sampaguita Ave., Timog Park.
The restaurant with a function hall is in a not-so-crowded portion of the city and far from the entertainment areas in barangays Balibago and Malabanias.
Cocina de Aleisa serves dinner daily and gets several advanced bookings for weddings, birthdays and other parties.
The growing number of Koreans residents and tourists in this city made Cristina Mercado, owner of Cocina de Aleisa, asked their chef to prepare Korean dishes. One of them is dolsotbibimbap.
Christine Nunag, head of the Angeles City Tourism Office (ACTO), said that “as part of the planning and development program of the ACTO, we identify, prioritize and promote cluster areas according to their tourism and business potential.”
Some of her recommendations after they personally tried out the restaurants and their respective specialty:
Tokwa’t baboy at Ting’s Canteen, noodles at Bihon Noodle Bar, tom yum goong at Purple Pad Thai, special shawarma at Shawarma Snack Center, the original Panizza at C’ Italian, bibimpap at Halla and spicy lengua salpicao at Cioccolo.
Alex Cauguiran, former Clark airport official and city councilor, said “the food industry in Angeles had improved over the years.”
“There is much variety,” said Cauguiran. “If you want affordable yet superb steak, try out the International Bistro in Balibago where President Aquino usually eat in Angeles.”
Cauguiran would not mention three restaurants he would have recommended to first-time visitors in this city.
“It really depends on what kind of food they like to eat,” he added.
Discover the wholesome image of this city through food served in different styles and tastes in your preferred ambience.
After all, it’s over a sumptuous meal that we can easily close a business deal or earn that sweet ‘yes’ from your lovely date.
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