Pepitas Snack Bar on the second floor of the Polo Club Golf Driving Range is the latest iteration of our Lechon Diva’s growing food concepts. As the Lechon Diva, Dedet de La Fuente likes to say that she purposely keeps her outlets small, so that they can grow steadily, and she refrains from overestimating her welcome. Even at NAIA Terminal 3, she opted to take 12.5 square meters, and not the regular cut of 25. It’s conservatism tempered by the overriding desire to maintain high-quality standards, and exhibit strong consistency.

Dedet likes to recount that if she has mentors in this food journey of hers, they would be her mother, then Sylvia Reynoso-Gala, and Reggie Aspiras. And this evening, she comments on how her own daughters help her with food ideas, and inspire and challenge her to continue growing and trying new things. She had invited a small group for dinner, and she was proud to say that this would be the unveiling of an eighth edition of her tasting menu, the Lecheng Sarap na Degustacion. And as can be expected, a variation of her famous Lechon is always the final main course, the crowning glory of these dinners.

Famous for her stuffed Lechon, what’s just as important for Dedet is the message of heritage and cultural history that’s embedded in her degustation experiences. It’s not just about taste and flavors, but also being enlightened with anecdotal commentary on the dishes and where they came from, and how they turned out as they are. It makes for interesting conversation, and Dedet’s gift is how she keeps it interactive, and not like some lecture from a professor of the culinary arts.

The first course was a trio of appetizers. The “ball” was her bulaga surprise, the middle item was chicken skin, and there was a Laing Ukoy. Thanks to coaching from seatmate JP Anglo, I was the first to guess that the bulaga was flavored by balut.

The South Sea Pearls is a scallop with chili oil, on a bed of flavored tapioca pearls. Really liked how the chili oil gave the dish a kick. The Bone Marrow Bite is served with pickled onion and banana flower. The bone marrow was a subtle addition, and the cracker was what one remembered most about this course.

What followed were the two “healthy” dishes. The Sigarilyas at Kasuy was our salad course, complemented by dilis, cucumber, and milky pandan gata. Very simple and clean. The Halaan Soup, comprised of small, tasty Manila clams, with papaya and ginger. Interesting was how it had been cooked in bamboo, adding a flavor to the soup stock. This would be the first organic vessel introduced by Dedet.

The Sipit Sarap was crab served with a small amount of rice, and can I say here that, as advertised, the sauce that the crab came swimming in was “the best,” truly close to, if not better than, sex. You literally wished there was more rice that could be smeared with the sauce.

A fruity palate cleanser was the interlude before the “main bout.” The rice course we were served had pomelo (suha) as the second organic vessel used in the preparation of these dishes. It was to be served with the Inasal. And when Dedet brought out the chicken, it had been cooked in banana trunk, and Dedet had this anecdote about how Katipuneros were among those who had this cooking custom, hence the name of Rebel’s Chicken. The trunk was the third organic vessel incorporated in the cooking of these dishes. And the tenderness of the chicken was to die for.

The Hiplog is a play on the words hipon and itlog. It’s literally shrimp in salted egg yolk. For the Lechon that night, Dedet did a flashback to her Lechon with Binagoongan Rice and her Divalicious Sauce. If you’ve never tried this Divalicious Sauce, you’re missing half of your life. It is spicy, but in just the right way.

Dedet’s dessert that night was her Guinatan Brûlée, a Filipino sweet given a French twist. JP loved it so much, he asked if he could take home a serving for his wife.

Pepitas Snack Bar is officially open, serving morning snacks and Dedet’s signature dishes. Don’t be intimidated by its location within the Polo Club if you’re not a member. Reach out to Dedet on her IG page, and she’ll work out how you can be accommodated, no matter how many you’ll be, limited only by the number of seats Dedet has at the Snack Bar.

The Lechon Diva has landed at the Polo Club, and that’s happy news for all of the Diva-faithful, and those ready to be “converted.”