Mother's 88th birthday just before the lockdown and the Philippine's oldest restaurant
By louievill
@louievill (28851)
Philippines
March 26, 2020 8:41am CST
We were fortunate enough to celebrate my mother's 88th birthday before all this quarantine and lockdowns took place and number of infected people balooned ( around a week or two) at the Philippine's oldest restaurant " Toho Antigua ". An occasion that we would always cherish, talk about and laughed about until now. It was planned by me and my elder sister.
It was a fun time to see and talk to relatives again although much of the talk was dominated by the virus. I even got to talk again to my aunt's husband who was a former Under Secretary of Agriculture during one of the past administrations, we talked about missing drinking together , he even invited me to an Agricultural fair that I doubt pushed through.
Toho Antigua is the oldest restaurant in the Philippines established 1888 ( some say 1866) by 5 Chinese immigrant friends, 4 went back to China and one Manuel "Po Kong " Bautista continued the restaurant and his decendants owns the chain to this day. Even our National Hero Jose Rizal was said to have dined there. As kids our parents brought as there often when we were still living in Manila, although the place where we celebrated is a mall branch, the food is almost exactly the same.
Do you have old historical restaurants and places to eat that preserved their traditions? The lady in red is my mother, the empty seat beside her is where I sat ( I took the picture) thanks for reading.
12 people like this
13 responses
@LadyDuck (471253)
• Switzerland
26 Mar 20
I am so glad that you could organize this celebration and have fun all together, your mom looks healthy. The oldest Swiss restaurant 20 km from where we live is in Lugano and was built in 1803 (Grand Cafe al Porto). Another beautiful that I visited is the Old Swiss House in Lzern, built in 1859, the all wooden interior is awesome.
2 people like this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Mar 20
Me and my elder sister organized it, as kids mom and dad often brought us to the original place, one of Po Kong's descendants was a friend of my father in LIONS club I think, Toho is my family's favorite place to dine besides Max's ( another old restaurant) before malls became the "in" thing. My sister and I found it befitting to celebrate there and return back the favor to mom who took very good care of us. Mother is healthy both physically and mentally for her age
Those Swiss restaurants sounds like very interesting places that we only see in movies, all wooden is very intriguing . The only irony here is that most of the oldest restaurants in our country are Chinese restaurants although there are a couple of Filipino too, guess that's how much the world loves Chinese food
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Mar 20
@LadyDuck it's beautiful, there's an old Swiss restaurant in Manila that was founded in 1946 and it was just walking distance from the place we lived in when we were still living in the capital during the 50s to the early 70s The interior and exterior looks similar to your picture
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (471253)
• Switzerland
26 Mar 20
@louievill I am not surprised that the oldest restaurants are Chinese in your country. Here they are local, because Switzerland was founded many centuries ago.
This is a photo of the outside and inside of The Old Swiss House.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23404)
• United Kingdom
26 Mar 20
Yes there is a restaurant in London called Rules. It is quite a famous restaurant visited by actors and actresses from the West End. It is extremely expensive and highly overrated. I have been a couple of times but after the last visit vowed not to go back because I think they were just too expensive. It is nice but in my humble opinion not nice enough!
The food they serve is traditional British food depending on the season.
Happy Birthday to your mother. Start planning for her 90th!
2 people like this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Mar 20
It's a pity that places become overrated once celebrities starts frequenting them and naturally prices would go up. At least just for the record you could say that " I had experienced dinning at Rules several times " .
It's an irony that the oldest restaurants in our country are Chinese restaurants, I guess that's how much people love Chinese food not just here but around the world. Btw the Philippines is home to the oldest China town in the world , they made their own settlement after the Spaniards kicked them out of the " walled city of Manila or "Intramuros"
Thanks for the well wishes, I gotta protect her first till we beat the virus then we start planning for the 90th which I'm sure we all can, stay safe Gary.
@youless (112481)
• Guangzhou, China
27 Mar 20
@louievill Thanks. You are praising my local food
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
@youless most " Chinoys" ( Filipino Chinese) came from your province or from Fujian. Cantonese food the best
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
Thank you for the greetings and compliments. The oldest restaurant is a Chinese restaurant and there are other old Chinese restaurants in Manila, that is how much we love Southern Chinese cooking especially Cantonese
1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
26 Mar 20
You were lucky ! Are you on the photo ? I think the oldest restaurant in Europe is in Vienna, Austria, and is from the 9th C. Not yet visited it. In my place the oldest restaurant still opened is also from the 1880's, but it has no more its original decoration. Some have kept the decoration in other cities.
1 person likes this
@topffer (42156)
• France
26 Mar 20
@louievill The walls of this 9th C restaurant are still there, and very thick. Now, yes, the menu is not the same nor the plates.
It is very nice you managed to go there before the new 2020 fashion tendencies, I mean curfews and social distancing
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
@topffer if they make it authentic there would be no porcelain wares yet in Europe and vessels would probably be bronze The walls are thick in case of a sudden raid or attack? We probably would not be able to appreciate Ancient Roman nor Barbarian food anyway, besides hygiene would be terrible, place might breed a new virus
We are now on complete 24hr enhanced quarantine lock down plus curfew. Our 2020 fashion is more advanced and sophisticated than that of Paris
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Mar 20
We celebrated just in time a few weeks later the virus was all over. The vacant seat beside my mother ( in red ) is mine, I stood up and took the photo.
9th c is very very old, it's barbarian Germanic tribes and Roman era, wonder how they would recreate it. Yeah sometimes an old place just carries the name but no more of the interiors and exteriors of the original place.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16754)
• China
29 Mar 20
Happy belated birthday to your mother ! Glad that your mother's birthday party went with a swing and was just before the lockdown ! The separate dining system at the party is a good way to avoid being infected.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
29 Mar 20
Thank you. We had it when there was only one infection in our country and the person was not even Filipino. The oldest restaurant in our country is a Chinese restaurant. Cantonese style of cooking there is really good, we had been eating in Toho since I was a little boy, interestingly also is " Toho" is not a Chinese word.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
30 Mar 20
@changjiangzhibin89 the original place where we often went for a long time and another big branch had " lazy susan " tables similar to what you are describing. This is a small mall branch they opened so we tried it out if the food is the same, it could not hold the traditional large revolving tables or lauriat style of dinning.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16754)
• China
30 Mar 20
@louievill I can tell that you show special preference to Chinese restaurant. I like Cantonese style of cooking too,Roasted goose ,morning tea ,etc knock me out.I have noticed that at the party everyone has their own helping-divided meal,rather than many people share the dishes like us.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
The thought of us having similar gatherings like these may take a long long time makes me very sad to the point that it becomes distressing and it's beginning to bother me It's only hope and praying that keeps it off my mind.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
@JudyEv Exactly ,that is what all of us should be telling ourselves right now It would pass I'm sure but the big question mark is " when? ". We had not gotten over this one yet and signs of a new financial crisis that is worst than 2008 is already beginning to show it's ugly head on the horizon.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (339413)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Mar 20
@louievill There is a saying 'This too will pass'. Please try to stay strong.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
27 Mar 20
Great photo and wishing your Mom a belated Happy Birthday and many more to come.
@hereandthere (45645)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
your mother does not look 88 at all.
is the other row of people also part of your group? how many were you in all?
@RebeccasFarm (89832)
• Arvada, Colorado
28 Mar 20
I hope your Mother is safe at home Louie.
Happy Birthday to her. God bless you all there
Our family is not close and most are gone now so no traditions anymore.
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Mar 20
Thank you for the greetings, we were able to celebrate when there were only two confirmed cases in our country and both were not even Filipinos. We cannot do this now so we were lucky " humabol pa " (we were able to catch up) a short time before the situation started going bad and we are on enhanced quarantine.
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (76851)
• Germany
26 Mar 20
@louievill that is good that you were still able to celebrate.
1 person likes this
@freelancermariagrace (27755)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
I love that restaurant. They have a branch here in the south.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
27 Mar 20
They have in Southmall and another one near B.F. , ParaƱaque in Sucat. The one in Binondo is the original place.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
26 Mar 20
Yes we made it just in time before the virus spread in our country, our family was very lucky, it's impossible to do it now and difficult in the near future especially for the elderly.
1 person likes this
@Nevena83 (65277)
• Serbia
27 Mar 20
@louievill Yes, this will be a difficult period for everyone.
1 person likes this
@Lindalahughes (220)
• United Kingdom
16 Apr 21
It looks like a wonderful place with beautiful food. We don't really have "traditional" English restaurants here, they seem to be pubs or expensive high end places where the portions are tiny.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
16 Apr 21
What an irony it is that the oldest Philippine restaurant is a Chinese restaurant