Amanda Virrey
Pamana Restaurant Boracay
Boracay Island has a long list of restaurants specializing in Filipino cuisine. And because they are all cooked by Filipinos, they are nonetheless authentic. Yet, when it comes to providing a profound history of each Filipino recipe, there is one that has sustained reverence to the depth of each dish, and that is Pamana Restaurant.
Pamana, bearing the English translation of “inheritance”, represents its founder’s gastronomical heritage, with heirloom recipes rooted from the passing of more than a hundred years.
Miss Happy Ongpauco-Tiu, the founder of Pamana Restaurant is the heir of the culinary geniuses behind the well-loved Barrio Fiesta Restaurant.
Like her passionate predecessors, Miss Ongpauco-Tiu has also come up with her own culinary creations under the Happy Concept Group, such as World Topps, Bento Box, I Love Backyard BBQ Grill, Hawaiian BBQ and Pamana Group, the last three being present in Boracay.
Thus, among five of Pamana’s restaurants all over the Philippines, this one in Boracay is the only one that promises delectable Filipino dining on fine white sand.
Pamana’s menu boasts of a long line of Filipino dishes that every Filipino would have fond cravings for.
To quell the hunger while the food is being cooked, Pamana offers blended cold teas, like Pandan Luya Iced Tea and Lemongrass Iced Tea.
For appetizers, they have Crispy Pusit in Squid Ink, a crunchy squid dish that is served with the staple Filipino dipping sauce of vinegar with chilli; Pinangat na Laing, a famous Bicol dish of taro leaves slow-cooked with coconut milk and spices, topped with crunchy chicharon or toasted pork rind; and Pampanga’s Sizzling Sisig at Aligue, ground pork sizzled in onions and garlic with a sauce of crab meat on the side.
Regardless of how filling the appetizers are, Pamana’s main dishes are definitely not to be missed. These flavourful Filipino dishes, which are the restaurant’s pride and joy are: Inihaw na Sugpo, grilled prawns; Barrio Fiesta’s Pinakbet, vegetables with shrimps simmered in shrimp paste; Chicken Inasal, Ilonggo-inspired marinated chicken, grilled and served with sour papaya salad; and Boneless Bangus, fresh deboned milkfish cooked on the grill.
While soups are a constant dish in a traditional Filipino family meal, Pamana proffers savoury stews such as Kare-Kare, with ox strips and vegetables in peanut sauce with shrimp paste and Salmon Belly sa Miso, savory and sour soup with vegetables cooked in tamarind and Japanese miso.
Sweets are also a specialty in Filipino cuisine. They are made usually with sticky rice and coconut meat.
Some of these, which Pamana offers are Puto Bumbong, sticky rice steamed in bamboo tubes and garnished with cheddar cheese and quezo de bola, plus warm coco jam for added sweetness; and Pampanga’s Bibingka, steamed rice cake topped with local buffalo cheese, salted egg, and sugar.
They also have the famous chilled desserts, such as Sunshine’s Ube Halo-Halo, a big bowl mix of kaong palm fruit, ube, sweet beans, gelatine, macapuno and shaved ice, with toppings of ube ice cream, coconut shavings and rice crispies and a side serving of milk and sugar syrup; and Pamana’s specialty, Ginumis with Panutsa Ice Cream with sago, rice crispies and gelatin, moistened with coconut cream and coconut sugar syrup, and topped with a scoop of homemade panutsa or muscovado sugar ice cream.
These mouthwatering items are just a part of Pamana’s long and appetizing menu. The rest are best viewed and tasted with your feet touching the soft powdery sand and your eyes set on the splendid crystalline sea of Boracay.
Pamana Boracay is located at Station 1, White Beach, Boracay, Malay, Aklan. Contact no. (036) 288 2674. Webpage: http://pamanarestaurant.com.
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