Holiday Filipino Food Specials

Holiday Filipino Food Specials

Remely Depante Gutierrez

By The Philippine Reporter Staff

Filipino food is fast getting mainstream attention these days in major cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, and Toronto, among others.

Whether it’s the main dish or dessert, lechon or halo-halo, these treats are now fast becoming bywords in food circles beyond Philippine shores and beyond Pinoy party tables in the diaspora. Filipino food has now caught the attention of international food watchers.

In light of this phenomenon, we went around asking restaurateurs what food special or food event are they offering clients these coming holidays.

For our first feature in this series, we interviewed Remely’s Restaurant.

TPR: In light of Filipino cuisine currently  gaining mainstream recognition in major cities like New York, LA, Paris and Toronto, to name just a few cities, that it is predicted to be the in-thing, if not the food rage in the coming years, what is your Christmas 2017 and New Year 2018 Food Special that you are offering your customers? Why?

Vince Gutierrez

Vince Gutierrez: We offer the same holiday specials that we have offered the past Christmases and New Years. The reason being, these have always been our traditional Filipino dishes for the holidays and we want to keep it that way because that is what our clients go for. Glazed Ham, Beef Morcon, Chicken Relleno, Rellenong Bangus, among them.

Vince referred us to a previous The Philippine Reporter Christmas story about Remely’s Filipino Restaurant to explain why Remely’s has opted to stick to authentic traditional Filipino favourites for the holidays.
The article, Christmas at Remely’s Filipino Restaurant,” Dec. 24, 2014, written by Kaitlin Jingco, harps back to Remely’s origins, and explains why they have chosen to stick to their kind of food even during the holidays:

“When Remely Depante Gutierrez came to Canada, she would cook authentic Filipino dishes for personal clients: Filipino immigrants who wanted a taste of home. Remely’s customers were so happy with her food that eventually her clientele grew so big that she needed to open a restaurant in order to accommodate all of her customers and maintain the high quality of food. And that is how Remely’s Filipino Restaurant was born.

“Today, Remely’s is a Filipino hit in the GTA that sings by the same tune that it did when Remely was simply cooking for personal clients from her own kitchen; they cater to the clients’ needs by providing authentic food that tastes just like in the Philippines. Christmas time at Remely’s is no different.

“Vince says that the chicken relleno is a big seller at this time of year. It is a chicken that has been stuffed with ham, chicken, sausage, and a bit of vegetables and then baked in the oven. The relleno bangus is another Remely’s holiday hit. To make it, the chef debones the fish, takes out the meat, mixes it with pork and other ingredients then bakes it in the oven until cooked. On top of these two dishes, the glazed ham is another Christmas favourite.

“On the dessert side of things, orders of puto bumbong and leche flan go up substantially at this time of year. Puto bumbong is made of puto rice, sugar, and coconut, and is remembered by its purple colour.

“Vince says that sales of these dishes go up because they are staple pieces to have at the Noche Buena feast in the Philippines, and Filipino immigrants want to carry on these Christmas traditions here in Canada.”

(Other restaurants in next issues-Ed.)