Bernadette, a plate of breaded chicken rolls with malunggay and cream cheese stuffing (photo by PINGGOT ZULUETA)

Filipinos naturally love to jazz things up. A simple and plain dress sees a new fashionable light through quirky embellishments and artsy knick knacks. A dingy room looks entirely different with bright paint highlights. Through constant experiments with flavor and color, bland dishes and leftovers become unrecognizable culinary masterpieces fit to please the palate. If these are not signs of our being madiskarte, I don’t know what is.

Entrepreneur Marianito ‘Rene’ Alcala knows exactly what it takes to be resourceful and innovative. His latest venture into the food industry is turning out to be a success. Tucked in a quiet street in Tomas Morato, Oma Restaurant and Bar serves up all-time Filipino dishes with a tasty twist. It is not only the brainchild of Alcala but his business partners Marina Martinez, Leo Tiopes, Tina Pizarro, and chef Kris Benipayo as well. Oma means grandmother in German.

Opening up its doors last July, Oma is an ideal place to hang out, to dine, and to while the time away. Its cozy vibe is enhanced with its interior of wooden panels, large mirrors as accents, and an earthy scheme of brown and beige. Adding up to the carefree ambiance is its distressed floors with spatters of orange and bloody red paint. An original RM de Leon opus welcomes guests into the restaurant.

Although fairly new in the industry, Oma has already attracted a stable clientele. Noted columnist and writer Conrado de Quiros frequents the place with his friends. Director Jose Javier Reyes and some big stars from nearby television networks also visit the joint. Quezon City Vice-Mayor Herbert Bautista drops by when he’s in the area.

What lures people to Oma foremost is its playful and sinful fare of jazzed up Filipino classics—crispy pork belly binagoongan, fried adobo sa gata, grilled pork with laing sauce, malunggay pesto served with grilled chicken breast, and pizza with adobo chunks, mangoes, and mozzarella among others.

Another thing novel about the restaurant is how its dishes are named. One can order up a Patricia, a Natividad, a Vittoria, an Enrique, a Manolo, or a Stefano from the menu. Unless you’re already Oma’s patron, you’ll have a fun time memorizing, perhaps, what each name denotes or ordering up based on each name’s appeal. Alcala says the samplings were taken after the given names of family and friends. Doing so is an added come-on for the restaurant.

Notable offerings are the crispy belly binagoongan (Jorge), the chicken ala Kiev Pinoy style (Bernadette), and the pizza with tinapa, onions, garlic, and mozzarella on malunggay pesto sauce (Trinidad).

Jorge consists of large chunks of pork belly plated on a bed of sweet and salty fish paste with rice. Not surprisingly, this meal is the restaurant’s bestseller. Make sure though that you don’t eat this too much, as it can very much ruin your low-calorie, low-fat diet. Better yet, if you think you’re going to indulge, drink plenty of water or sip a cup of tea after to help you digest the decadent offering.

Bernadette, meanwhile, consists of breaded chicken rolls with malunggay and cream cheese stuffing, replacing the usual filling of basil and butter. Memorable in this already hearty dish served with rice is its pumpkin-colored salsa made mainly of tomatoes. The sweetness of the tomatoes is refreshing to the palate.

A thin-crust pizza, Trinidad takes pride on its tinapa toppings and malunggay pesto sauce. It’s the perfect healthy pulutan for drinkers or the enjoyable snack for barkadas. The pizza is not too briny because of the tinapa, for the onions and garlic balance its actual brackishness.

Being a bar at night, Oma also serves up bar chow, beer priced at P35 per bottle, and cocktail drinks—Lemon Drop (lemonade vodka) being its specialty.

But aside from these, Alcala says that within this month or the next, the restaurant will feature artworks made by local artists. An avid collector of the art of Filipino-born, Paris-based David Medalla, Alcala hopes to share his passion with art to the public through regular exhibitions in his space.

Oma Restaurant and Bar is located at 85 Scout Fuentebella Street, Tomas Morato, Quezon City. For reservations or inquiries, call 332 5690.