Patis Tesoro in her signature kimona and loose pants (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
GNARLED madre de cacao arches encircle the turn-of-the-20th century houses, dense foliage, and trellises covered with hanging vines and canopies of fruit trees in designer Beatriz “Patis” Tesoro’s paradise in San Pablo, Laguna.
The rustic ambiance, enhanced by birds tweeting, buzzing bees, the scent of verbena, and Patis’ hospitality are the main attractions of the bed-and-breakfast place PatisTito Garden, named after her and her late husband.
During the Cory Aquino and Ramos administrations, Patis was the go-to designer of women who wanted her embroidered and appliquéd Filipiniana formal wear. She has been the proponent of the Katutubong Filipino Foundation, which aims to promote local culture and crafts and provide livelihood to artisans.
When Patis and Tito acquired the 3-ha property four decades ago, Patis started planting trees in the area. She would spend weekends in this getaway and eventually the PatisTito by-reservation-café was set up. It now includes lodging.
Upon Tito’s death in 2016, Patis decided to settle down in San Pablo and just design and make clothes from there. She still goes to Tesoro’s in Makati regularly to meet clients and check on her Filipiniana ready-to-wear collection.
Still, clients don’t mind driving up to San Pablo to visit her atelier and shop in her boutique. “I have lots of bees coming out and flowers blooming,” she tells TheDiarist.ph. “People are jealous of my lifestyle. But if I didn’t plant 40 years ago, I couldn’t get this today. The taste of the food is all in the soil. My grandson is a horticulturist who makes natural fertilizers and soil formulas. That’s why the fruits and vegetables here are firm.”
Table set-up under a canopy of trees at PatisTito Garden cafe (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
Her diet is based on backyard picks, produce from the market, and greens from farmers. Many of the visitors from Metro Manila and as far as Cebu delight in having freshly cooked meals in a bucolic setting.
The guests sit under a canopy of old trees. They marvel at the colorful setting of tablecloths sourced from Patis’ travels and paintings, laminated as placemats or woven mats, and her colorful tableware.
Patis Tesoro’s studio in her Laguna farm home (Photo from Patis Tesoro FB)
The menu is based on seasonal ingredients or what’s available in the backyard. The recipes have been sourced from friends, such as late culture historians Sonny Tinio and Ado Escudero, and books.
The breakfast is classic—hearty ‘lugaw’ (rice porridge) sometimes with seafood or Pinoy scrambled eggs, and fresh fruits from the garden
“I can make the fancy stuff such as roast pork, but most guests want something Pinoy. Everything is sautéed or grilled for freshness. That’s why reservations are required,” she says.
Lipote fruits from the lipote tree make a cold refreshing drink and tarty jam. (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
The breakfast is classic—hearty lugaw (rice porridge) sometimes infused with seafood or Pinoy scrambled eggs, and fresh fruits from the garden. Every September, Patis invites friends to pick rambutan and lanzones. A continental breakfast of crepes is complemented by homemade jam from lipote, a local plum that tastes like seedless duhat (Java plum). The lipote jam reminds Patis of cranberry sauce.
Alugbati from Patis Tesoro garden sauteed with sofrito and pork (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
For lunch, Patis will cook mushroom or alugbati Ilonggo style, which is a Pinoy sofrito of tomatoes, onions, and garlic with pork, shrimps, soy sauce, and the native spinach from her garden, or alugbati with classic mung beans. She takes advantage of the abundance of pako (fiddlehead fern), serving it as appetizer with salted egg. “Pako grows in the rainy season by the riverside. After cleaning and removing the tips, we buy red egg from the market. There’s no need for coloring and we add onions and fish sauce on top. It’s basic farmer’s food.”
When macopa (wax apple) is in season, the slices add crunch to the pako salad. “It depends who gets to the fruits first—the birds, the bats, or me,” says Patis.
Meat dishes such as the chicken inasal (barbecue), infused with dayap (native lime) and grilled with lots of pandan leaves, are always in demand. “We have a lot of pandan here. I don’t need to scrimp on ingredients,” she says.
Clay pot or banga keeps the freshness of sea salt. (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
The sosyal guests favor chicken kinulob in a clay pot mixed with the sofrito, Spanish chorizo, bacon, leeks, and a dash of soy sauce. The banana leaves from her trees are used to cover the mix and to lend subtle sweetness and freshness. The bonus—the antioxidants of the leaves are absorbed in the food.
The grilled tilapia, wrapped in banana leaves, is the local version of French cooking with foil packets. The leaves retain the moisture and impart a mild, earthy flavor.
She notes that she harvests 12,000 banana fingers in her properties in San Pablo and Tiaong, Quezon, every eight weeks, which are sold wholesale in Cavite.
Patis’ favorite is the freshly made ‘palitaw’— ‘The secret is in the niyog’
Chicken and pork adobo fried in achuete oil and served with garlic rice and salad made of kamias, onions and bagoong sawsaw (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
Patis’ version of the chicken and pork adobo has achuete for a piquant taste. “It’s delicious when it’s freshly harvested, pounded into bits and mixed in oil. When we prepare adobo, we add the achuete oil and use local vinegar which can be made from coconut, sugarcane, nipa, or kaong. They all have different tastes,” she says.
The kaong (arenga palm) is the least sour. The only imported ingredient in the Pinoy classic is the bay leaf, which is from Milan. A Filipino friend dries up the leaves in her garden and sends the herbs to Patis.
Bilimbis (kamias) from Patis Tesoro’s garden, cut and dried for sinaing na bangus or tulingan (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
For fish, Patis has sinaing na tulingan, tambakol, or bangus, or braised tuna, yellowfish, or milkfish. This southern Tagalog dish is cooked in a clay pot lined with banana leaves for aroma. She adds water, salt, fish, and tarty kamias (bilimbi) which took her nearly a decade to grow. A substitute souring agent, the balimbing (star fruit), is sweeter than the kamias. She eschews the pork fat used in the traditional recipe. The bilimbi adds kick to fresh salads.
Ready for baking: Beef morcon given the western touch with mushrooms and cheese (Photo from Patis Tesoro)
“Not all our foods are pure Pinoy; we have the Spanish pochero (beef and tomato stew) and tinola (chicken and green papaya soup). We localize them,” she clarifies. “The morcon is a Spanish-Filipino dish. It’s a roulade because you roll the beef around anything you want, such us mushrooms, carrots. sausage, cheese and cucumber. I put a lot of mozzarella and Spanish chorizo.”
The Asian fusion is the binagoongang rendang, a medley of alamang (Southern Tagalog baby shrimp paste), pork, ginger, tomatoes simmered for a long time in tamarind juice, coconut milk, and lots of finely chopped lemongrass.
A Western dish such as baked cauliflower is given a local flavor with kesong puti (carabao cheese) or enoki mushrooms with beef rolls, Japanese style. A supplier from Maliponio, Quezon, sends Patis a fresh batch of mushrooms every week. Patis’ vegan offering is the sautéed cabbage cooked with the classic Pinoy sofrito, talinum, and curry leaves. Enoki mushrooms give the meaty consistency.
Merienda is tomato-based spaghetti with mushrooms, and fried wonton filled with cream cheese, pork, and beef. Her favorite snack is the freshly made palitaw, sweet, flat rice cake with raw sugar and sesame seeds. “The secret is in the niyog (dessicated coconut). It’s not that mature yet. I have a lot of coconut trees here.”
Patis’ signature dessert is crispy turon (fried banana roll), with potassium-rich saba, jackfruit, macapuno (sweetened coconut strips) or kaong, topped with latik, a syrup reduced from coconut milk and brown sugar.
Still young at 70, Patis has found her fountain of youth. “I have access to all the food. Laguna is rich in natural resources. That’s why my diet is 95 percent fresh.”
PatisTito Garden Café, 285 Brgy. Sta. Cruz-Putol, San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines 4000, tel. no. (049)543-5971, cellphone no. (0927)308-5339, PatisTesoro.ph, PatisTito.com
