At the old Cul-de-sac

Friday, January 13, 2012

OLD Cul-de-Sac is a widely known “secret” place for lovers of good food at very affordable prices. It started as a whim of owner Helen Uytengsu who, when she thinks of doing something, will usually accomplish it.

Helen is a foodie who might as well be a chef, as she has been the one person mixing the ingredients for all the dimsum (dumplings) of all the outlets of Dimsum Break. She recounts that after her husband, Henry, died, she was at a loose end. She would go out monthly to dining places with friends. Eating the food (at Cebu’s finer dining places), she would think that she could do the dish herself, at a very much lower price.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

One day it occurred to her that she could very well have a little restaurant in her sprawling home. She looked at a back room, had the help remove all the furniture and then put in tables and chairs, and presto! She had a tiny café which only needed to have a door opening to the street at the back of her house.

That she could do this in practically a day is because Helen had all the things from a restaurant they used to own, Uncle Henry’s. Also, Henry was a gourmet who loved to entertain, so she had all the tablecloths and napkins, stemmed glassware, heavy china and cutlery she wanted to use for her new venture. Thus was born Old Cul-de-Sac with Helen’s mission of giving the younger set and junior executives a place for fine dining that would not break their budget.

The place has the looks of a dainty café, complete with a fireplace, that seats only 18 persons inside. But there are more tables and chairs for al fresco dining outside, as well as at her second floor which can accommodate really big groups, whether al fresco or in air conditioned comfort.

Helen says she’s still at the pre-formal opening stage but already, a lot of people have gotten wind of her new venture, including some celebrities (like Rio Locsin) and politicians. The main dishes come with soup (one’s choice of either mushroom or pumpkin), rice and dessert. Her best sellers are Lengua and Osso Buco, both of which are delectable and so tender they almost melt in your mouth.

The menu is not extensive, but there are enough choices for any taste. The salad can be either vegetable or fruit and shrimp iceberg. Seafood is available and must try if fish with spinach or “Rhapsody in Blue”—nothing blue here, just fish and shrimp. There’s chicken, pork and beef. Four items have to be pre-ordered, though: roasted chicken Maryland, beef casserole, minute steak and medallion of beef, which, at P380, is the most expensive item in the place.

For vegetables, there are chop suey and razzle dazzle veggies. The menu has four kinds of pasta (spaghetti Bolognese, tuna penne carbonara, shrimp linguini marinara and pasta with Hungarian). She also has pinakbet, fish paksiw, chicken halang-halang, pork kilawin and pochero (the last two have to be pre-ordered). There’s dessert, of course, like mango float and tiramisu. The house specialty juice is cucumber with green apples… truly refreshing. And she has the best coffee: Illy.

Old Cul-de-Sac is in Sto. Niño Village. For the foodie or the hungry, it is a place worth the visit.