Saturday, February 24, 2007
Ocean's Best
By Mayete Q. Tabada
SAINT Francis Ocean Park, beside the Naga seawall, sates anyone hankering for la mer: a view of passing ships, a puissant whiff of far-away shores, and the sharp awakening of taste buds to the succulence of the deep.
The south-bound, who may have thought the route’s pit stops were solely dedicated to pork, have Naga’s late mayor Ferdinand Chiong to thank for opening a healthy alternative to Carcar’s chicharon de carajay and Argao’s humba.
As early as 6 AM, Tata Repunte, 28, opens Tata’s to serve sili espada-flavored tinowa, the deceptively simple Cebuano broth that makes lyrical use of the bite of ripe tomatoes and the sweetness of the freshest catch of the day, be it mamsa, rompe de candado or Iipte (varieties of deep-sea fish).
A motley crowd of locals, executives and tourists indicates that Ocean Park meets the Cebuano standards for eating out: flavor and price warrant a return trip, or more.
Lovers of shellfish, like sa-ang and the horned bongkawil, should drop by on weekends as, Tata says, that is when the fishermen from the nearby isles of Pangan-an in Opon and Bohol drop anchor.
The acknowledged bestsellers sought by Tata’s male regulars are the exotica like iho (shark), kiampao (stingray), bakasi (eel) and ubod (moray eel).
At P30 per serving, these “invigorators” of sexual potency are cooked nilarang style, with tomato sauce, black beans and spices, or nilubihan, with coconut milk.
At Iloy’s Seafoods, Leonilo Racho, 47, recommends the adventurous try kasag sa lawod (deep-sea crabs), also known as kubao. Iloy’s son Adrian, 18, says a tuhog (stick) of three or four itlog sa nokos (squid eggs marinated in soy sauce before deep fried) is, at P20, tasty and cheap to wash down with ice-cold beer.
Iloy tips off buyers to go for the P40-P50 guapa variety of tihi-tihi, tasty when paired with sweet potatoes, P10 a stick. The pure sea urchin meat is a more powerful aphrodisiac when not diluted with seawater.
Kapay sa nokos (tentacles) may be the only chance for Cebuanos to taste the rare dalupapa, the large squid exported to Japan and outside markets.
While the eating is as good as the renowned eateries in the fish ports of Pasil and Minglanilla, Ocean Park is a clean, breezy getaway.
Since last October 2006, the Naga boulevard has street lights like those leading to the Cebu International Convention Center.
Those who go on a promenade along the seawall end up at Saint Francis Ocean Park to wax poetic, romantic or rhapsodic over the sinugba. (MQT)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (February 24, 2007 issue)
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