I drove to Laguna recently to visit one of the country’s pioneer restaurateurs, Rod Ongpauco, at Isdaan Resto-Fun Park.
I’ve been to Isdaan, Tarlac, many years ago. It was already an experience hard to describe. I had thought then that this place was insane; how could anyone even think of something like this?
Well, Rod did, and his Isdaan in Calauan, Laguna, is much bigger and way beyond one’s imagination! It is Ongpauco’s Disneyland.
“I wanted to build something that we can be proud of. Something our foreign visitors will remember and, for us Filipinos, a place to forget our problems and to enjoy,” said Rod.
Isdaan is the blending of all his food concepts, including Bakahan at Manukan, Singing Cooks and Waiters, and, of course, the family-owned Barrio Fiesta.
“At 17, I already had three Barrio Fiesta outlets. I was the first one in my family to branch out. The one who made my restaurant was a carpenter who specialized in casket making. I borrowed him from a friend who owned a funeral parlor,” he said with a laugh.
Rod is the man who concocted one of the country’s most iconic dishes, the crispy pata. He tags himself as the man that crispy pata made.
“Crispy Pata started at P12! I saw a whole pile of pig’s legs in La Loma and, though I don’t cook, literally, it is something I can do in my head. I just know how things will come out when cooked and seasoned a certain way. So I bought the pata, seasoned them and sold them to my mom (the famous Mama Chit Evangelista of Barrio Fiesta—Ed.). Ayon, pumatok!”
Fun place
Ongpauco has been keeping himself busy with the construction of the Isdaan chain. He admits that building the place is the part he enjoys the most. Who wouldn’t, since it’s like building a fantasy island?
Isdaan Laguna now has 150 huts that serve 900 people at a time, with 200 employees and eight groups of entertainers. It’s safe to say that it is the only restaurant in the country that can accommodate a group of 100 people with no prior reservation.
The fun starts by the entrance where a mime and a man on stilts welcome you. After the entrance, you will find towering 15- to 25-ft-tall mermaids. To the left are a giant Buddha head and a fountain with some 25 fish sculptures that are at least 5 ft long, arched to form a circular water fountain.
The restaurant is surrounded by a river where boatmen await to take you for bangka ride for free. By the riverbanks are statues of giant penguins, birds, life-size monkeys, crocodiles, etc. There’s also a squatting 50-ft-tall King Kong, surrounded by smaller monkey figures and a 40-ft golden Buddha where you can shout your wish out loud. It is also surrounded by a Buddha squad in all shapes and sizes.
A hut has singing cooks that serenade guests nonstop throughout meal. The “love padlocks” area is where customers can pick out a charm, have it engraved and padlocked together. The keys are then thrown into a “wishing pond,” after the couple has made a promise to love and stay together forever.
My son Diego and I got twin hearts. Yes, barkada, lovers, families can also pick out padlocks and trinkets. So cute!
The Tacsiyapo Wall is where you throw plates and glasses at the wall to release all your frustrations. A spin-off will be up by early next year, said Rod. The Murit (Kapampangan word for crazy) House will be a fully furnished luxury home with a Mercedes Benz parked in front, where one can break and bash everything, even the Benz! According to Rod, you can even burn the house down—but you have to pay for it, of course!
Variety show
Every hour, there’s a variety show—folk dances, magic and circus acts, jugglers, rondalla, magicians and unicyclists. Since it is the month of May, we came upon a gay Santacruzan parade. In June, “shotgun” weddings and bridal parades will be happening, all for guests’ entertainment!
Kids are given loot bags and balloons for free! Isdaan, as you can see, is a very happy place. The resto-fun park has 18 entertainment areas in all.
And the food—how could it not be sumptuous? A long table lined with banana leaves (Ongpauco’s restaurants were the first to use banana leaves as plates) hosts a boodle spread that consists of delicious bulalo-based pinatola soup; adobong baboy; lechon tinupig manok; tinupig na pata (a to-die-for dish cooked in coconut milk, dried, wrapped in banana leaves, then grilled over coals until super tender); pritong lapu-lapu; spicy crab (super!); lumpiang bukid (delicious); tadtad na mangga, sibuyas, kamatis, itlog na maalat with bagoong; tacsiyapong gulay (Rod’s answer to kimchi), ginataang hito; delectable lechon de leche (the sauce was delicious); pinukpok na hipon; sumang ulam (so good); and bagong saing sa kaldero (steamed rice).
Imagine eating all that, inside a kubo with your bare hands washed in a bowl of gumamela water, with a crisp late-afternoon breeze and OPM sounds wafting all around you! Again, I realized, it’s truly nice to be Filipino.
Go before the summer is over! Call 0923-1364679; 0932-44117793.
