Rebels with a cause
Forget about the singing servers or dancing crews, here’s one café where you can feel the tender lovin’ care.
Foodies eat with attention to a. ambiance b. food presentation c. both. But what about the crew behind your IG worthy chicken with garlic sauce? In one of Makati’s foodie places, besides the good food, there is a better story to share—the men behind the cafeteria are migrant boys rescued from a life of child labor, vagrancy, petty crime, abuse, or poverty, who are in dire need of “second helpings.”
Leu Benj Anton Buenaventura, 16, mans the counter of Coffee & Saints cafeteria, the livelihood project of Pugad Foundation and Caltex. He seems happy. “Nakaka homesick pero masaya naman po,” says the boy from Pangasinan. He’s one of the many boys rescued by Don Bosco Pugad Center. Soon, he’ll go to college and take up culinary arts. The boys at C&S are endorsed by non-government organizations and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, says Father Dave Buenaventura, the man at the helm of Pugad Center, which empowers and heals poor and needy migrant youths to become dignified agents of society. In Pugad Center, the boys are taught English classes, praying the rosary, tailoring, and singing, among others. The center, Father Dave says, aims to give the boys Alternative Educational Programs that would equip them with skills and knowledge before referring them to other agencies with formal, non-formal, or technical training.
What are the boys’ plans after school? “To find a job that will sustain me and my future,” says Enrique Borromeo Jr., 17 who’s taking up automotive classes at Don Bosco Technical Institute Technical Vocational Educational and Training Center. He works as a waiter at C&S during his free time.
The boys are headed for a bright future. Celebrating its three years of service since its renovation in 2011, C&S is cooking more flavorful, healthier meals named after saints and martyrs (St. Lucy’s green salad, St. Peter’s steamed fish, lumpiang shanghai ni San Lorenzo Ruiz, and beef pares nina JP at John XIII among others).
Its bestseller is King David’s Chicken, bathed in sweet garlic sauce and garnished with the café’s ashitaba leaves, an herb used for treating high-blood pressure, gout, and constipation. For devout vegetarians, the Vegetable Kare Kare ni Pedro Calungsod offers a new take on the nut-based dished. Spice lovers dig in a spoonful of Kilawing Puso ng Saging ni Maria. Besides the cute names, each meal is served with rice and priced between P50 and P100 only.
Still doubtful if C&S is worth your visit? Here is something that will convince you more: the crew was trained by local and international food chains like Via Mare, Kenny Rogers, Jollibee, and Goldilocks. Celebrity chef and “Adobo Queen” Nancy Reyes-Lumen shared one of her family’s secret adobo recipes. In 2003, she trained the Pugad boys in bakery operations. Now, equipped with skills and able to inject their own ingenuity, C&S offers ashitaba cookies, bibingka, ensaymada, and onion hopia, among others.
GOOD FOOD, GOOD CAUSE: Daing na bangus, bibingka, and carbonara (Images by Rudy Liwanag)
Meanwhile, the Pugad alumni—who now enjoy their own success stories—offer helping hands to the brotherhood in improving their culinary craft. A former crew invented and shared King David’s winning recipe. He now works in Abu Dhabi, says Father Dave. Some members are stable and satisfied workers in world-class hotels here and abroad like InterContinental, Alta Vista, and Cyma Mediterranean, among others.
C&S provides a steady flow of income to sustain the foundation’s operations and its 80 Pugad boys, aged 16-24.
C&S is also a firm supporter of locally sourced coffee variants from Cavite and Batangas like barako and Arabica. “Here you go, ma’am, sir,” says Edward Salonga, 17, with a smile. In between studying automotive classes, he works as a waiter in C&S.
The boys continue their work behind the counter. Tomorrow is yet another day. “What’s important is we are happy with what we are doing,” says Leu. Talk about good food and good cause. Better yet, talk about full and satisfied stomach and a fuller, more satisfied heart.
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