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By Leony R. Garcia
Circa 1970s: A trip to the market
was an enjoyable treat. Besides buying practically everything from
food, toys, household wares to personal needs, the market was also
haven to whet one’s appetite. I remember eating to my heart’s
content my favorite pansit palabok whenever my mother would tag me
along in her marketing chores. Then there was also the array of
Filipino native delicacies such as puto/kutsinta, dinuguan,
halo-halo, sago/gulaman and kakanins like biko, butsi, palitaw,
suman, ginataan and kalamay.
Until now, I can say that these
all-time favorite fares sold and served in the traditional market
were tastier and even more mouth-watering . . . At least to a
wannabe food connoisseur and grade school lad like me back then.
Move over fast food chains.
Good thing our kids today can
still have the chance to savor the good-old recipes through
specialty restaurants like Leoning’s Special Pansit Palabok/Luglug.
The business actually started during the pre-war time, according to
Dr. Estelita “Tita” Lomboy, who manages Leoning’s Food
Services and Franchising Corp.
Leoning’s (Leonora Galguiera
Angeles) mother, Juana, was famous in her barrio because of her
special pansit palabok/luglug and native kakanin. During the
Japanese Era, the business became more lucrative and highly
patronized because of scarcity of food. Those days, the elders call
the pansit, “luglug,” because of the process of cooking the
noodles, which is, by soaking them for several minutes in boiling
water.
When Leoning’s brother,
Carding, got paralyzed and was forced to resign from his job as
accountant, he encouraged Leoning to stop working as a sewer and
continue the family business.
Having saved considerable amount,
the brother-sister tandem put up an eatery or carinderia and named
it after Leoning. This time instead of having the pansit taken out
in banana leaves, they have it in bilao with variety of sizes. Along
with this, native kakanins also became very popular and saleable. It
was during her elementary years, when Tita joined her aunt Leoning
in the business as errand girl. A budding beauty, the young Tita
would always be the butt of jokes of grown up men whenever she
delivered the kakanin to a nearby steel warehouse.
Young and sensitive, Tita would
cry and promised herself to study hard, finish school and never sell
pansit or kakanin again. “But here I am now, still in the business
and more than eager to improve and develop the business,” Tita
says with a smile.
Thus, despite a successful career
as a dentist and running her own clinic, Tita still keep herself
abreast in the food business with the able support of her husband,
Efren and their four kids namely Elaine, a registered nurse; Alvin,
a civil engineer; Kristine, now also a dentist and Kathleen, still a
student.
Now a family business, the kids
take turns in helping the Lomboy couple in managing Leoning’s.
Tita envisions it to be the best pansit palabok/luglug chain in the
Philippines and eventually the world thus she has ventured into
franchising. “But more than success, I look forward to the days
that my kids will truly appreciate and put their heart in the
business. For me, it’s like coming home to where I really
belong,” Tita ends with a smile.
For franchising inquiries,
call 926-2190, 386-0419 or visit Leoning’s branches at 361 Quirino
Highway, Sangandaan; 47 Short Horn Street, Project 8 and 21-A
Visayas Avenue, Barangay Vasra, all in Quezon City.
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