Blessed bounty

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A RESTAURANT built on church grounds can be expected to be the recipient of some heavenly assistance, but it recently received a decidedly more earth-bound blessing — an award from Tripadvisor.

The travel company gave a 2021 Travelers’ Choice Award for Restaurants to Café Inggo 1587, which is located within the Sto. Domingo Church complex in Quezon City.

According to a statement from the restaurant, “This achievement celebrates businesses that consistently deliver fantastic experiences to diners around the globe, having earned great traveler reviews on Tripadvisor over the last 12 months.”

Owner Vic Alcuaz told BusinessWorld in an e-mail that, “Tripadvisor gave us the award because out of the 170 ratings we received, 162 rated us a 5 for ‘excellent.’”

The restaurant is known for serving festive food like lechon kawali sinigang (sour soup made with deep-friend pork belly), chicken gallantine, and apple strudel; combined with comforting favorites like arroz caldo (savory rice porridge), champorado (a sweet rice porridge flavored with chocolate), and puto bumbong (purple rice cakes).

Located as it is within church grounds, their regular patrons include members of the clergy, some of whom have inspired dishes. “Among their favorites are our famous breakfast item Daing na Bangus (fried butterflied milkfish), and Longganisa ni Filemon OP (sausage of Filemon OP),” said Mr. Alcuaz. The later refers to Filemon Dela Cruz, OP, the newly elected Father Provincial of the Philippine Dominican Province (minted earlier this year). “That longganisa,” Mr. Alcuaz pointed out, is homemade.”

“Congratulations to all the winners of the 2021 Travelers’ Choice Awards,” Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer at Tripadvisor was quoted as saying in a statement issued by Café Inggo. “I know the past year has been extremely challenging for tourism businesses. What has impressed me is how businesses adapted to these challenges, implementing new cleanliness measures, adding social distancing guidelines, and utilizing technology to prioritize guest safety,” she said. “The Travelers’ Choice Awards highlight the places that are consistently excellent — delivering quality experiences time and time again even while navigating changing customer expectations and new ways of working. Based on a full year of reviews from customers, this award speaks to the great service and experience you provided guests in the midst of a pandemic.”

Mr. Alcuaz noted the ways they navigated through differing dining restrictions due to changing quarantine levels. “Just like all other restaurateurs, we had to greatly scale down on working schedules, manage spoilage, and keep in constant touch with our patrons. We are lucky to have survived 2020. Luckily, we are surviving 2021.”

“Thanks to our generous partners, the Dominicans,” he said. “Our loyal and efficient staff kept their motivations high at all times and our patrons appreciated their positive attitudes.”

While allowing for deliveries, as most restaurants did and are doing during the pandemic, Mr. Alcuaz said, “We followed IATF rules strictly and implemented these with much tact amongst our patrons.”

Still, the restaurant being on church grounds as it is, with patrons “close” to God, with decor and even the music in the restaurant sometimes dedicated to religious themes, one may infer that at least some divine providence must have had a hand in its survival during the pandemic — not to mention receiving an award in such times.

“But of course,” said Mr. Alcuaz. He notes that the restaurant is dedicated to the founder of the Dominican Order, Sto. Domingo de Guzman (Saint Dominic de Guzman, patron saint of astronomers); Inggo being a nickname for Domingo in Filipino.  “Every good thing happening to Cafe Inggo 1587 is divinely blessed, especially by our patron.”

Cafe Inggo 1587 is located in Sto. Domingo Church, and is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Only fully vaccinated patrons are allowed inside, as per IATF rules. Vaccination cards are required for entry. — Joseph L. Garcia