Dolphy, the foodie

I could hardly fancy the late Comedy King, Dolphy, as a foodie. Seeing him in his movies in the 60s or way before he became known to the TV generation as John Puruntong or Kevin Cosme, he was stick thin and always played a “hikain” (asthmatic) in most of his roles. Thus, you can’t really imagine how he loved to eat, and partake of good food at that. 

 

Yet apparently, the Comedy King knew how to appreciate good food. Even in his late years, he was known to go all the way to his all-time favorite restaurant in the heart of downtown Manila for his comfort food.

 

Hizon’s Cakes and Pastries of the buttery ensaymada fame was his go-to place not just for merienda where he would partake of his odd combo of ensaymada and pancit but also for a full meal that satisfied his cravings. 

This was at Za’s Café, the adjacent coffee shop and restaurant serving savory meals like hamburgers, baked turkey, steaks and chops, and a number of traditional Spanish and Filipino dishes. Dolphy knew the menu forward and backward and called the servers by name. 

 

The early days

 

Milagros Roasa, daughter of the late Lola Sesing or Inocencia Hizon-Ramos who founded Hizon’s with her twin sister Paz, now manages the restaurant and bakeshop along J. Bocobo Street in Malate. 

 

She recalls how the young Dolphy was a loyal customer way back when Hizon’s was still a small bakeshop located at 903 Calle Raon in Manila. This was Hizon’s original site in 1946, a stone’s throw away from the old Globe Theater where Dolphy performed as Golay in stage shows or bodabil (vaudeville) in the 1950s.

 

The young Dolphy loved the famous ensaymada as well as the other pastries so much that he became friends with Lola Sesing, a widower who married an enterprising gentleman, Eduardo Zamora. 

 

Mr. Zamora was a trained cook who worked at the American Legion and at Hickock’s Soda Fountain on Escolta. It was his idea to expand the bakeshop into a restaurant where they could serve popular American diner fare, familiar staples as well as their delicious pies and special occasion cakes. 

 

The other reason he was always there

 

The friendship between Dolphy and the restaurant owners was one forged by a love of food. As the comedian’s popularity grew, so did that of the restaurant’s. Dolphy and other celebrities, politicians and Manila’s elite became regulars at Hizon’s and Za’s. 

 

As the couple’s business thrived, they were able to build an apartel right beside the restaurant. Mrs. Roasa recalls that when they were first looking for tenants, Dolphy overheard them talking and asked if he could rent the entire fifth floor for the Quizon children. 

 

Apart from the good food, visiting his kids was the other reason why Dolphy was often seen in Hizon’s. Word even got around that he partly owned the famous bakeshop. 

 

The king's favorites

 

As the years went by, his children eventually moved out of the apartel but Dolphy never left. He continued to dine at Za’s Café with his celebrity friends or his alalays (bodyguards) and feasted on the food he knew and loved: hamburger steak, braised ox tongue, and the baked turkey with the glazed camote which he adored. 

 

A favorite dessert was the chocolate cake that he would eat topped with ice cream. 

 

As for the ensaymadas, he would often give boxes of them to fellow actors who were close to him like Susan Roces, Nova Villa, Nida Blanca, Ramon Revilla, Maricel Soriano, among others. 

 

Even as the Comedy King’s health condition worsened, he frequented the place. Mrs. Roasa remembers that even before he became seriously ill, he would still come. 

 

She says, “Kahit naka-oxygen siya, dala niya ‘yon.” He had one of his last meals here when he was given a tribute by President Noynoy Aquino, another frequent diner at Hizon’s whose favorite is the cheeseburger. Perhaps, going there was his way of finding comfort in the familiar and clinging to fond memories of food shared with his friends there.

Indeed, the bakeshop, one of the few remaining old food establishments in Malate, continues to attract prominent figures. Regulars include Senators Loren Legarda and Miriam Defensor-Santiago and former government officials Freddie Webb, Oscar Orbos, among others. In fact, the late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo dropped in for a quick breakfast on August 15, on the week before his plane home to Naga crashed in Masbate. 

 

After Dolphy’s passing, it is business as usual at Hizon’s. The ensaymada is as they were served then at Calle Raon. It is as fluffy and buttery as ever, and its layers within are still soft and mala-bulak (cottony). 

 

But to adapt to the changing times and tastes of Filipino customers, the Spanish-style ensaymada is now available with its original cheddar cheese topping or the newer variant, with a generous sprinkling of queso de bola. Customers may also now order ensaymada warm and grilled to go with a delicious cup of thick, hot chocolate.

 

Meanwhile, the savory dishes are still cooked in the same manner that the elder Zamora taught the restaurant’s staff way back when. 

 

And as for the pies, Mrs. Roasa continues to be the one to do the “timplada.” She says she never changed the recipes because the customers knew immediately if something was done differently to their favorite food.  

Meals fit for a (comedy) king

 

To honor their most famous customer and the Philippines’ well-loved comedy king, Hizon’s and Za’s Café is offering Dolphy’s favorites: Baked Turkey with Glazed Camote (P420), Braised Ox Tongue (P420), Hamburger Steak (P350) and the Chocolate Cake a la Mode (P160). 

 

Partaking of any of these dishes here could make one almost feel the presence of the late comedy king. I am certain that he is missed here by the staff and the owners. 

 

In having a taste of his kind of comfort food, one cannot help but see Dolphy as a lover not just of women but of good food and of life. 

 

Indeed, what Virginia Woolf wrote in her book “A Room of One’s Own” applies to him—“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” –KG, GMA News