Taste of Christmas at Via Mare

“Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas everyday.” – Helen Steiner Rice

This is what I feel with Via Mare as the taste of Christmas is everyday with them offering Filipino food especially Puto Bumbong and Bibingka which can only be visible during this Yuletide season.

Love the exquisitely Filipino taste in nature of Via Mare’s Puto Bumbong using muscovado and fresh shredded coconut.  Price is affordable at P 70.00.

When I posted my foursquare updates and even uploaded the said picture to Facebook, most who like it were my Filipino friends and relatives who were abroad.   They maybe missed living abroad which we Filipinos associated in celebrating Christmas with this local flavors.

Like them, Puto Bumbong is a childhood yet fondest favorite food with my family. Whenever we go Simbang Gabi (Midnight Mass) with brothers and grandma, we made it a point that before the mass, we already reserved our order and we will just picked it up as a treat for early breakfast.  The most was to wait, seeing fellow neighbors make this delicacy by putting the purple ground rice in a bamboo tube and let it steam to cook.

Another worth a try was  Bibingka, a rice cake with Laguna Cheese and salted egg.  Price is P 115.00.  Servings are for sharing which is good to two to three persons.

This is the Filipino version of hotcake which is cook in a clay pot with heated coals at the top and bottom, lined with a piece of banana leaf before soaking the mixed batter. Usually topped with cheese   and  itlog na maalat (salted duck eggs). After cooking, it will be spread with butter mixed with sugar then served with grated coconut.

There were other food worth tasting here in Via Mare which I have also like to share which is truly uniquely Pinoy in nature.

1.  Ensaladang Bagnet.  Price is P 175.00.  A Pinoy salad mixed with stripped bagnet (fried crispy pork), tomatoes, shallots and mustard leaves with bagoong (fish sauce) and calamansi dressing.  Healthy in a way with the veggies replacing rice.

2.  Summer Shooters to separately taste pinoy iced concoctions in three small servings in glasses - halo-halo, mais con hielo and guinomis.   Price is P 75.00.

3.  Pako Salad is a combination of fiddlehead ferns (pako) and tomatoes topped with salted duck eggs and shrimp.

4.  Pinakbet, a refreshing vegetable stew popularized in Ilocos combined with string beans, squash, eggplant, okra and bittergourd, simmered in tomato and anchovy sauce together with pork liempo and green mango to complete the whole meal.

There you have it, an all-time favorite we can munch even Christmas is over.

Hopefully, Via Mare can add more branches just to have the very taste of Pinoy food. Its obvious that  I love all the goodness especially taking them during  merienda (afternoon snack) or simply a comfort food.

My Favorite Branch: