Fond memories of arroz caldo
(Un)Common Sense

Fond memories of arroz caldo

Aug 23, 2024, 7:15 AM
James Veloso

James Veloso

Writer/Columnist

A few weeks ago, when my mother and I did one of our infrequent trips to the market in Biñan City, Laguna, she casually suggested that we visit a certain “gotohan” inside the public market.

A word or two of clarification here. Though we had frequented Biñan City for shopping fresh produce – a habit that had been ingrained in my childhood, and restarted after the Covid-19 pandemic – we had never actually entered the public market since it was renovated at the height of the pandemic.

It’s always the “midnight street market” beside the San Isidro Labrador Church, where itinerant vendors would spend all night and early morning selling fresh fruits and vegetables.

So I was a bit worried about whether we would still find that gotohan, or where inside the market would it be located now. Not to mention if that same taste we had acquired during my childhood would still be there.

-o0o-

When I was a kid, it had been a weekly ritual of my parents to do their weekly shopping at the Biñan Public Market. And part of that ritual was going to Nelia’s Arroz Caldo, a small gotohan tucked at a corner of the public market.

“Small,” however, would be an understatement. It’s one of the most popular eateries inside the Biñan Public Market – it would take somewhere around ten to fifteen minutes before we finally got a seat. And given the unique taste of their arroz caldo and goto (although I always stuck with my favorite, arroz caldo with eggs), it’s not surprising that Nelia’s Arroz Caldo is always filled with people wanting to get a taste of their food. (And I’d like to tell you that their arroz caldo is perfectly matched with another of Biñan City’s most treasured food products, the puto Biñan.)

-o0o-

Now back to my present, and to my earlier worries. Since 2017, after my father passed away, it’s just my mother and me who would go to Biñan City. Even that stopped during the pandemic, and it was only sometime in 2022 that we’ve resumed our market trips.

As it turned out, Nelia’s Arroz Caldo is still there, although it has been transferred with other small carinderias into the second floor of the public market. Of course, I understand it’s the offspring of the original owner who now runs the store, but judging from the long (and I mean loooooong) line at the counter, it appears that it hasn’t lost its long-held unique flavor.

A taste of my old childhood favorite – arroz caldo with eggs – and I realized that no, they hadn’t lost that secret flavor that had made Nelia’s Arroz Caldo one of the Biñan Public Market’s most popular eating hubs.

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