When I was younger, my mom would wake up really early in the morning to prepare our traditional birthday misua. I never realized how tedious this task was until I was a bit older. I would see my mom sweat over slicing the ingredients by hand one by one and cooking them in batches and then finally plating them so beautifully. She would tell me that she learned all of this from her grandmother. As we grew older, my mom would teach our cook to make it, but it was still different from how she made it – I guess it’s because she made it with lots of love and sacrifice.
Fast forward to years later, when I got married – it was my duty to ‘make’ misua for my Panget. To be honest, I never learned how – the only way I knew was to ‘buy’ misua. But our usual supplier was well, in my opinion wasn’t ‘masarap’ anymore. They may have changed recipe or cook, but it was really not so good anymore. As I was scouting for a new supplier – I was introduced to Classic Chef’s Birthday Misua. Classic Chef, I know of because they’re the favorite caterer of my Ninang Cris. She would always always hire them for her pre-Christmas get together. The food was always good and was always very presentable. I knew for a fact that they served good food. So on my Panget’s birthday 8 years ago, I ordered birthday misua for the first time from Classic Chef. And there was no looking back since then. For any birthday – I would always call them to order, be it for my parents, my aunt, my kids and my Panget – it was always always Classic Chef’s Misua. Taste wise, I really really like it. It’s my favorite ‘ordered’ birthday misua. The different flavors are always present, and it has been consistent through the years. You will see shrimp, meats, sliced mushrooms, sliced scrambled egg, the all important quail eggs, green onions, peanuts and my favorite, fried scallions. It was always a reminder of my favorite home cooked misua by my Tai-Ma and my Guama’s misua. I especially loved Classic Chef’s birthday misua because it would always remind me of the misua served at my Tai-Ma’s house – the brown misua served in those porcelain bowls with matching red wooden chopsticks. So what about the pricing? Well, it’s really reasonable for me, because when you think about it – buying all the ingredients and slaving in the kitchen making one – costs a lot more! When I first ordered, the price was at P1,000 for 2 chafing dishes. Then a few years after it increased to P1,200 and right now it’s P1,500. But for me the P1,500 is still all worth it because it’s really really good. P1,500 will be good enough to consumed by 20 people if you will divide it accordingly in bowls (1 bowl per person) By 15 pax if you will not measure it like that. But if you guys are misua lovers like me, then it might be a little less than that – at least by 10 people (heartily). You will also need to send your chafing dishes to them, but fret not if you can’t send them – they will have aluminum trays for you – but there’s an additional charge for it. I realized that alum trays are not cheap (check your local supermarket for them) The down side is it’s only for pick-up. For me, it’s convenient because it’s just nearby – but for others, it’s quite a distance for them. I think what you can do now is to pay ahead and then to have it picked up by Grab or Lalalove. Please order at least 3 days ahead so they can prepare the ingredients accordingly. They can do early pick-ups, but also please ask them nicely in advance. Classic Chef Tel. 721-2286 / 741-4427
