The History of Alba
Don Anastacio B. de Alba first set
foot in the Philippines in 1952. He worked for the
prestigious Casino Español until he opened his
first restaurant, Alba Cocina Española, on Isaac
Peral, now United Nations Avenue two years after. It
was a modest eatery with only 5 tables to accommodate
his clients.
A year after his first restaurant
on Isaac Peral, Don Alba had become a byword among
Spanish cuisine patrons, which could no longer be accommodated
in the Isaac Peral eatery. He transferred to a bigger
and better location on Florida Street, now Maria Orosa,
closer to the Luneta. Don Alba was now popularly known
as the man with the golden touch.
Top names in Philippine officialdom,
politics, business, industry and the profession graced
Alba's restaurant. Everybody who was somebody went
to Alba. Cabinet members, justices, judges, fiscals
and lawyers including students and young lovers, queued
up at Florida's Alba. Opulent tourists from Europe,
America and Asia made it a point to dine at Alba, now
renowned as the authentic exponent of the best Spanish
cuisine in Manila. Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and
his wife Sofia dined at Alba when they visited Manila.
The overwhelming popularity of his
eatery prompted Don Alba to expand -- and to incorporate.
By 1961, he had two more high-class eateries: the Alba
Restaurant and Supper Club on Dewey Boulevard and the
Taberna Gitana in Quezon City, nightspots which offered
exquisite Spanish music as interpreted by top-rate
local and international artists.
Soon the Alba chain of restaurants
included La Parilla and Patio Flamenco on Roxas Boulevard,
the Alba Patio de Makati on the 11th floor of the Doña
Narcisa Building and the Jardin de Alba in the Greenhills
Complex.
Besides those, he ran two executive
canteens: The Bull and Bear Club in the Makati Stock
exchange and the DBP canteen. In 1966, he added a cocktail
lounge and bar to Florida's Alba, called Las Cuevas,
a unique nightclub for the discriminating Manileños.
Don Alba was now on top of the world, his eateries
and nightspots being run by two separate corporations.
But the greatest pride of his life
was the La Mancha, which opened in December of 1975,
in the Magallanes Commercial Center. It was the most
elegant, ornate and prestigious restaurant cum nightclub
that he had ever put up. A three-story tower with a
huge windmill dominated La Mancha's facade, a picture
straight out of Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote. It
was Don Alba's quixotic dream come to life.
La Mancha was envisioned as "an
exceptional tourist attraction that would offer the
choicest Castilian dishes in the finest Spanish tradition
of warmth and gaiety". Said Don Alba: "I
wanted to bring to Manila a part of Spain and its cultural
history. I offered innovative dishes: grilled, steamed,
and charcoalbroiled. On the exposed beams of the ceiling,
I had my favorite proverbs, taken from Don Cervantes'
novel, inscribed in Gothic. I went all-out for La Mancha,
which cost more than P4 million".
Unfortunately for Don Alba, the
construction of the Magallanes overpass complex destroyed
his dream. The heavy traffic that ensued, not to mention
the thick cloud of dust that fell in the area, drove
away La Mancha's patrons. Even after the Magallanes
overpass was complete, La Mancha continued to suffer
heavy losses. To salvage the situation, he sold all
his holdings and, with his second wife, and seven children,
left for Spain.
After two years, he decided to come
back to the Philippines to start all over again. He
put up Casa Colas on Polaris Street, off Makati Avenue,
in Makati, not as classy an eatery but clean and cozy.
His menu carried Alba favorites, like pollo al ajillo,
solomillo a la pobre, lengua a la Sevillana, pescado
en salsa verde, chipirones en su tinta, and paella
Valenciana. He even included tuhod y batoc estofado
and pato al Jerez, the choice of health freaks.
One could also order pato a la Naranja
or venado breseado con castañas. Those who loved
wine to go with their meal could ask for Alba's choices,
like Señorio de Serria or Bodegas de Secizalia.
After having retired from his fabulous
chain of Alba eateries, Don Alba is now priming up
to regain his crown in his line of endeavor. His undiminished
enthusiasm, energy and industry, not to mention his
rich experience and wealth of friends, will serve him
well in his quest to bring back quality and class to
dining, threatened by fast food and the emerging eat-and-run
sub-culture. After 49 years in the country, he is still
the man with a dream.
Casa Colas,
presently known as Alba Restaurante Español,
is located in Polaris Street, in Bel-Air, Makati,
which is practically a back alley, away from the
center of the crowd. Many have already discovered
it. Whenever Don Alba goes, it seems, so go his patrons
and customers. Why? The great American Ralph Waldo
Emerson, provides an answer to that. He says: "If
a man has a good corn, or wood, or boards or pigs
to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, or
crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you
will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house,
although it be in the woods".
|
