This coming October, I am sad to note, the Sunday Inquirer Magazine will no longer be a weekly habit but a monthly experience. It’s like the magazine will be converting from Catholic to Presbyterian and instead of receiving the body of Christ every Sunday, the honor and privilege and joyous experience will be limited only to the first Sunday of every month. Having gotten used to the weekly habit we developed in 2006 (with Alya Honasan as then editor in chief), I am having premature withdrawal symptoms. And massive flashbacks of issues past.
I study the menu of Thaipan, a beautiful Thai restaurant off Tomas Morato, with these thoughts in mind. The landscape of the restaurant scene was so different when we started Menu. In terms of taipans and big businesses, when SIM was resurrected, Mall of Asia had just opened and Serendra stood without High Street. Krispy Kreme was just an anticipated event (it opened in November 2006). The Greenbelts were only up to 3 and the Gloriettas were only up to 4. And Burgos meant the red light district with midget fights and The Filling Station, not the Circle in Bonifacio Global City that now houses several restaurants.
I order Thai staples of tom yum soup and pad thai, both beautifully executed here, with the soup earning just a few points more than the noodles. And I remember the waves that Soms created when it first opened in the Rockwell gillage (gilid ng village), just around the same time as this generation’s SIM’s creation. “You haaaave to eat at Soooommmsss,” my foodie friends emphatically declared. Back then you could only eat on the street and you had to line up to get your food. Sweat was part of the pad thai experience.
Today, albeit in the same general location, the Soms experience has you eating inside an air-conditioned building with a waitress taking your orders. But the food minus the pawis doesn’t taste as good. Somehow it tasted better when they were operating from the street.
I order a glass of pandan juice, which is addictive. I remember 2006 when the “cool” drink was the lychee martini, popularized by Embassy. It was lousy but it was cool. We had to wait a few more months before real martinis came our way by way of Mandarin Oriental. In 2007, upon the opening of Martinis, jejemon martini connoisseurs finally raised their glasses to make a toast, “Dats what I’m talking about it!”
The entrees at Thaipan are not as impressive. The beef curry, for instance, is a bowl of orange that doesn’t dance the way Thai curries usually do. The steamed fish, while lovely in texture, offers no excitement whatsoever in terms of taste. The spare ribs fail to make you want to gnaw on the bone. Contrast this with the appetizers, though, which are wonderful to nibble on. The shrimp cakes will be gone before you can say “Sawasdee Ka!” And the Mieng Kham, described on their menu as a “traditional thai appetizer of fresh spices and roasted grated coconut served on betel leaves with palm sugar sauce” is almost like those served in Thailand.
I am reminded of Menu’s first brave review and how the restaurant owner threatened to pull out his ads. Our editors Letty Magsanoc and Pennie Azarcon-dela Cruz proved steadfast in their commitment to honest reviews that in 2007 we merited this observation from most esteemed food blogger Marketman: “Margaux is one of the few I know (who) does not say only good things and is the only one in print that I can say isn’t fully positive.” We are happy to observe that Menu’s honesty now has company. And I like to think that this column has, through its honesty and in its own little way, contributed to the shaping of this generation’s Philippine restaurant scene.
Thaipan’s interiors are irresistible. Brown is usually boring but here it is elegant in a very Asian way. The patio makes you feel like you should be having a Gucci-inspired party. I am happy to note that in the past five years, restaurants in Manila have definitely upgraded their looks to become quite fashion savvy. We used to look to foreign franchises for that “mayaman (luxe)” feel. Now Filipino restaurateurs compete with even the best imports. For Filipino-owned Thai restaurants alone, Silk, Simply Thai and Azuthai all evoke a sense of being world class.
Since SIM started, Fernando Aracama’s Uva, Margarita Fores’ Pepato, Cyril Soenen’s Cicou, Billy King’s Tangerine, Jose Sotto’s Lavigne, among other notables, have sadly left us. (Of course these chefs are never without other endeavors, all equally as interesting! Except Chef Sotto who I am still on a mission to get back to the scene…)
Others, thankfully, just moved, like Antonio’s Breakfast, now located at another section of the Fine Dining mansion, and Max Brenner, now at Greenbelt 5. Still, others have happily branched out, like Mary Grace Cafe, Conti’s and Mamou. We saw the introduction of Royce and Patchi chocolates to Manila; Cebu’s Gustavian may now be found at the Brasserie Boheme in Salcedo Village; Claude Tayag has earned international acclaim with his 5-Way Lechon; Sofitel raised the bar for hotel buffets and the Pen gave birth to Ning which has challenged Mardarin’s martinis with its champagne. It has definitely been an exciting past five years for the Philippine restaurant industry.
Withdrawal symptoms notwithstanding, SIM’s editors have given the assurance that while we may not see each other as often, we will still talk as much. There are just way too many restaurants to have it otherwise. See you later! •
Thaipan. 120 Scout Lazcano St., Tomas Morato. Tel. 352-4926. Reservations recommended. Major credit cards accepted. Ground floor wheelchair accessible (restroom is on the second level of split-level home.) Valet parking available IF you can find the attendant. Open daily for lunch and dinner; closed in between meal times. On Tomas Morato from Edsa and Timog, turn left at Starbucks.
