Its unassuming signage that has remained unchanged
The entrance
Today I went to Carigara, Leyte to take care of the papers of a client and had the chance to return to a place filled with my fondest memories as a child. While certain smells can bring a sharp tinge of nostalgia, nothing can bring back times past stronger and faster then the place itself.
My father hailed from this town and spent most his life there before going on to Manila to take up college and eventually law. When he married, settled down with Mama in Tacloban City and my sisters and I came one after the other, he sent us all to Carigara to spend our summers there. Days would be filled swimming in the bay that fronted Lola's house followed by rides up and down the poblacion in the "pot-pot" (also known as the pedicab which is a bicycle attached to a side car).
A constant in our itinerary then was the New Town Kitchenette down in Brgy. San Mateo, the place where we always bought our supply of the tasty pastillas. Apart from the carabao's milk candies, it offers a very delicious humba (click here for recipe) that has become the favorite of travelers who ply the Southern route of Leyte. It is owned and run by the Cañamaque sisters who got so busy in their "kitchenette" that marriage plans seems to have been forgotten. They have remained "single and unattached" devoting their time and energies to making the delicious dishes that their homey and rustic restaurant has became famous for. Their place is one of the reasons why Carigara has remained to this day the halfway point for lunch and breakfast of weary travelers
On this particular trip, my father and I had again this nemesis of a dish of all hypertensives (it swims in a plate of fats) and the taste has remained. It was just as I remembered it of summers past and just as tangy and with a "melt in your mouth" consistency. Of course, Papa had to double his dosage of Adalat just to make sure his indulgence would not cost him a day in the hospital (knock on wood).
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