'There is magic in that broth, a tonic of collagen derived from kilos of heads boiled at once.'
The work at Ulo-Ulo Carinderia, like most eateries, starts at break of day. At around 5 am from Monday to Saturday, 31-year-old Mark Deyto and his crew prepare to receive 150 kilograms of fish heads in their home-turned-eatery along sleepy, tree-lined Road 10 in Quezon City. The fish heads, usually salmon, lapu-lapu, and maya-maya, are to be delivered by different suppliers.
After the heads are delivered, the crew commence cleaning them and preparing the other ingredients for their one, hero dish – the specialty their place has been celebrated for for decades. In large cooking vats, the heads will boil in a broth made sour by dried kamias and tomatoes, sweetened by radish and onions, and given a piquant kick by green peppers. Mark lets the staff do their thing. He concedes that they’ve been doing this for longer than he has.
The lunch crowd, which arrives by the time they open at 10 am, comes in droves. To eat here is to see an egalitarian society realized — rich and poor, executives and construction workers, sales agents and government employees, are seated in long benches elbow to elbow in the dark hall of the eatery, and everyone must fall in line, no preferential treatment based on class or wherewithal is given. Mark’s favorite task during dining service is directing the customers to their table.
He’s obviously nice. His eyes give him away; there is a kindness there that one recognizes in an instant. His soft, steady voice is reassuring, as if, though he uses different words, what he actually means to say is, “Be patient. I’m here, you’ll be having your fill soon.” He gets a thrill from the otherwise mundane task — there’s a puzzle to be solved on busy hours, like where to fit a group of three when all tables are filled.
At a home that has been converted into an eatery, the clues that we find in the architecture of the place are absent. Within the dim hall, one cannot see the passing of time, usually detectable in the peeling of the wall-paint and cracks on the floor and pillars.
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