Mechado, pandesal and more: Andrew Coppolino maps Filipino flavours in Waterloo region

Speaking for her family — owners of Kitchener's Sari-Sari Filipino Cuisine — Ylynne Enriquez explains that their food and their cooking "comes from the heart" with flavours that remind her of home.

"Many Filipinos are abroad and food is what brings them, and us, back to our homeland to stay connected no matter where we are in the world," Enriquez said.

Sari-Sari has been in the catering business in Waterloo region for 20 years, a time during which their food was prepared primarily for members of the local Filipino community.

However, the cuisine's popularity was growing so much that they opened a bricks-and-mortar restaurant in Kitchener and now serve the wider community.

It's part of an awakening to Filipino food and its culture among food lovers who had little experience with the cooking and culinary traditions of the southeast Asian country of 109 million people and 7,600 culturally diverse islands in the western Pacific.

Calgary-based celebration

The Philippine Department of Tourism and the Philippine Consulate General in Calgary, Alta. have proclaimed April as Canada's first Filipino Restaurant Month.

While local restaurants in Waterloo region aren't formally involved in the event, the spotlight on this cuisine shines a light on how Filipino-focused foodstuffs in the area have developed and grown.

As for food, that means crispy pork spring rolls called lumpia, a popular stew known as adobo made with vinegar, pancit Canton noodles, the deep-fried banana dessert turon and mechado, a beef dish with potatoes, red peppers and tomato sauce that Enriquez calls, "an example of Spanish influence."

Also notable is kamayan, or "boodle fight," a communal Filipino feast with plenty of foods arranged on a banana leaf on the table which is then consumed without using utensils.

How they've grown

Like Sari-Sari, some venues have flown under the radar for more than a decade. J & P Filipino Grocery Store, for instance, has been a long-standing purveyor of groceries and a hot table serving Filipino fare on Madison Ave. at Courtland Ave. in Kitchener.

Similarly, and again like Sari-Sari, catering companies have opened more widely to the public. Rosel's Flavours for Life Filipino Restaurant evolved from a pop-up take-out operation that prepared its fare in a rented "ghost kitchen," to opening a Waterloo restaurant during the pandemic.

A long-time chef in Waterloo region, Manila-born Paul Masbad came to Kitchener as a teenager. A Red Seal-certified chef, he left his position as head chef at the New Dundee Emporium and eventually opened his own Filipino restaurant, Nuestro 88, which balances Filipino and Latin techniques and ingredients that are his wife's Nicaraguan background.

While his cooking blends styles, it comes from real-life experience that he shares with his restaurant customers, both Filipino and non-Filipino.

"This cooking is not just an experiment," Masbad said. "I ate this at home. It comes from my parents' influence in the kitchen."

Dessert islands

Recently, an alliance and collaboration was established between Gayuma Catering and Sugbo Cakes and Pastries in Waterloo.

Gayuma Catering co-owner Katrina Tioco (with business partner and co-owner Jinny Song), primarily served the tech community what she calls "fusion" cooking: her father is Filipino-Chinese and her mother is Filipino-Spanish, and she uses influences of both sides of her family and Song's in Gayuma's popular take-away cooking.

Community support from all backgrounds has been essential, she says, especially when the pandemic hit hard.

"Our community is the best," Tioco said. "It's humbling for me to have found these people. For me, it's the connections with clients."

Sharing kitchen space with Gayuma — as well as online ordering — Sugbo Cakes and Pastries principals Joanna Undag and her sister Jamie Undag arrived in Canada from the island-rich Philippines in 2016. Their specialty is Filipino sweets and pastries that draw on their grandparents' recipes and cooking techniques.

For their baking, as is the case on other Filipino pastry menus, they use ube (purple yam) and cassava for their sweets. They also bake breads such as pandesal and ensaymada. Many of their products are gluten-free.

The two are pleasantly surprised by the wider support they have gotten: they estimate about 80 per cent of their business is from customers outside of the Filipino community.

"Now there are more people who are curious and want to try Filipino sweets," Jamie Undag said. 

They've also found another pleasant surprise: Their food shares many similarities with other cuisines, according to Joanna Undag.

"There are other Asian [people] who come such as Lao, Taiwanese, Thai and Singaporean who have tried our desserts. They find them somewhat the same as their desserts, but they like our version. We didn't know we have the same desserts."

More than food 

At Sari-Sari, Enriquez says Filipino cooking brings people together no matter where they are. It's a narrative that can be applied to any food culture.

"It helps them remember their childhood, their struggles, their triumphs, their friends and their families," she said. "It's more than just food. It's a story."