A lazy lunch at "Bale Dutung"

"Bale Dutung" garden

Lazy weekend afternoons are what I always look forward to, though they are as rare now as "unblemished" government officials in the Philippines. Yet I never really thought there is such a thing as a "lazy lunch"- lunch for four straight hours...I could not imagine myself doing such a luxury with the piles of work waiting for me at home and in the office...but to my surprise...I just had a taste of this rare experience last weekend. What adds to the surprise is to meet, savor his dishes and be "entertained" by one of the country's culinary gurus-Claude Tayag in his restaurant “Bale Dutung” which is translated as House of Wood.

At first sight, Bale Dutung does not really look like a restaurant, it is an old Spanish house peculiarly built at the heart of a contemporary subdivision in Angeles City, Pampanga. Claude and wife Maryann warmly welcomed our group (there were six of us) but even before they did, me and my curious buddies already roamed around the place - enjoyed the garden, the unique pieces of antique kitchen gadgets, the kamalig and slouched on the hammock.

Claude started the conversation with a brief history on how Bale Dutung started, how the structure was made and where the materials were sourced. While it looked like a house built in the 1800’s, he said it was constructed after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991 and inspired by the kamalig, a rice storage house.

Then the bigger surprise came with the serving of the “welcome drink”- a refreshing concoction of fresh fruits, followed by a taste of their signature sauces – taba ng talagka, balsamic vinaigrette dressing and XO sauce served with crackling crackers. A series of authentic Kapangpangan dishes came after, served on the dining table one after the other…if my memory serves me right, there were about five varied appetizers including sushi plate composed of sushi topped with taba ng talangka and camias, rolled mustasa leaves filled with balo balo (fermented rice) and fried hito (catfish) and marinated quail.
a pose after the "lazy lunch" with host, Famous Filipino Culinary Guru Claude Tayag

There were three main courses – seafood kare-kare and the one I liked most, the bulanglang ( a combination of hot guava sour soup,huge tulang (fresh water prawns), bangus, with gabi and kangkong. After more than three hours of food “installments” came the finishing course, the dessert- called paradise made of kamote, ube, and macapuno in carabao's milk – this according to Claude is his signature dessert. Each of us had to take a “break” after two recipes were served so we could finish the whole buffet as we were advised when we started the meal that there would be about ten or so courses. More so that we did not have ay idea how the servings would look like and of course, we all would want to taste the last recipe.

I never really expected this delightful and relaxing experience, all I thought was that we were to go to Pampanga to have a pre-production meeting for a new television show we are about to make. The Bale Dutung experience was my first taste of a “lazy lunch” yet I realized it was not really a “lazy” one at all…it was just a taste of that luxury called “relaxation”.