PH Embassy in Qatar Celebrates Filipino Food Month, Launches Food Tour in Al Sadd
The poster of the Philippine Embassy in Qatar for the walking food tour. (Doha PE Photo)
DOHA 03 March 2024 – In celebration of the Filipino Food Month in April, the Philippine Embassy in Doha, State of Qatar organized a walking food tour — a two-hour culinary experience strolling through the bustling streets of Doha, where participants discover the diverse flavors of Filipino gastronomy.
For its inaugural edition, the Embassy went to Al Sadd, one of Doha’s municipalities with a big concentration of Filipino residents. The area is also home to several Filipino businesses – restaurants, supermarkets, coffee shops, salons, and barbershops. The tour began at Joann Metro Station, where the group composed of Embassy officials, invited media representatives, influencers, and non-Filipino guests gathered before taking their epicurean quest.
The gastronomic adventure had four main stops, namely at the Season Restaurant and Bakery, Sisig Corner Express, Maharlika Cuisine, and Ala Chamba Restaurant. Each stop offers distinct yet familiar dishes with a history as rich as its taste.
For the first stop, the group took the street across Exit A of Joann Metro and sampled Filipino favorite pastries from Season Restaurant and Bakery such as pan de sal (staple bread roll), and bicho-bicho (fried donuts), partnered with popular afternoon snacks like guisadong pancit (stir-fried noodles) and ihaw-ihaw (barbecued chicken and intestines). One of the owners, Ms. Jannah Lucido, said that one of the reasons why clients keep on coming back to Season Restaurant and Bakery is because of the taste of “lutong bahay” (home-cooked meals), which transports diners to the comfort of their homes.
Few meters away from Season Restaurant and Bakery is Sisig Corner Express, a branch of Sisig Corner Restaurant. In line with the weather in Qatar, the traditional sago’t gulaman (sweet tapioca pearl and jelly) drink was a refreshing treat for everyone. Owned by Filipino entrepreneurs July and Francis Dela Cruz, the restaurant vows to serve classic Filipino food that brings back memories from home. Sisig Corner offers a variety of specialties, such as the crispy chicken sisig (finely chopped meat and liver with zesty dressing), beef kaldereta (tomato sauce and liver paste stew), beef kare-kare (peanut stew), and pancit bihon (stir-fried noodles).
Some of the dishes enjoyed by the participants of the walking food tour are sisig, beef kare-kare, and inihaw na bangus. (Doha PE Photo)
A stone’s throw away is the third stop of the Filipino Food Tour – the newly opened Maharlika Cuisine with its cheerful ambiance, colorful portraits, and a mini-stage for karaoke sessions. With the tagline, “lasa ay sigurado” (taste is assured), Maharlika Cuisine proudly showcases traditional flavors and regional specialties through its prized dishes such as chicken and fish pastil (packed rice dish wrapped in banana leaves), chicken menudo (stew with small bits of meat and vegetables), and suman fried roll (sweet rice cake with purple yam).
Afterwards, the group had a five-minute walk along Al Difaaf Street towards the tour’s finale, Ala Chamba Restaurant. With the restaurant’s concept of dining in Filipino family style, the tour participants were treated with huge bowls of kalderetang kambing (goat stew in tomato sauce and liver paste), loming Batangas (thick egg noodle soup), bagnet kare-kare (peanut stew topped with deep fried, crispy beef), enjoyed with traditional wooden bowls and dining sets sourced from the Philippines.
The Embassy thanks Season Restaurant and Bakery, Sisig Corner Express, Maharlika Cuisine, and Ala Chamba Restaurant for participating in the very first Embassy-organized walking food tour. The event will also not be made possible without the support of the Embassy’s media friends from The Filipino Channel and Papsi TV, Qatar Tribune, Marhaba Qatar, Qatar Living, Balitang Q, and Hazel in Qatar.
As the Embassy celebrates the Filipino Food Month, all kababayan and friends alike are invited to take part in this initiative and try out more Filipino restaurants in Qatar. END
Members of the Philippine Embassy at Maharlika Cuisine. (Doha PE Photo)
For more information, visit https://www.dohape.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.facebook.com/PHinQatar/ or https://www.instagram.com/phinqatar.