Sancho Vito Delas Alas is a trained chef. While he has become relatively visible on screen as actor lately, his heart is still in the kitchen. So, it’s not surprising that he, along with friends, opened a restaurant just before the holiday season set in last year.
Upon the suggestion of his mother, popular comedian AiAi Delas Alas, Sancho invited members of the entertainment press to Skinita Street Foodz (that’s the name of the restaurant he established) on United Street near Pioneer, Barrio Kapitolyo in Pasig City on night to let them experience not only the food he serves in the cozy dining facility but also the ambiance that suggests spur-of-the moment decisions to eat.
No, don’t come dressed up. Come in your most comfortable outfits because as the name suggests you will be served with street food you can find in the city, only Sancho has whipped them up to appeal to even the most discriminating palates.
Skinita’s menu run the gamut of delicacies you find on the sidewalks of the university belt in Manila, of the highly populated areas of Sampaloc, Cubao in Quezon City, and other parts of the metropolis.
Name it, Skinita has it. From pishbol, skwidbol to kwek kwek, Sancho has gentrified the street food to make it appealing to even diners who are averse to those kinds of food.
Yet, the restaurant has other dishes apart from the popular street delights. The menu has several section – Pinirito to which the street delicacies belong, Kaning Bayan or rice meals, (e.g. Tapa Sofia or Kawali Express or Chicken Karate), Hatung Kapatid (meals diners can share like Laing ni Tita Mennie), Yummy Tori (barbecued delights like chicken skin, quail eggs, angus beef or wagyu). It also has meals for meals that it calls Pananghalian like Tortang Talong, Boneless Tinapa, or Caramelized Spam.
The choices are aplenty, but those who come to the restaurant are not usually the serious diners. They come, most of the time, after dinner somewhere and jus wanted to have a drink or two before heading home. That’s why there’s a prevalence of light dishes in the menue.
According to Sancho and Jose Gaerlan, the restaurant’s managing director, “The inspiration behind the restaurant are the street food and hole-in-the-wall concepts in New York as well as the food trucks. We wanted to recreate this type of food culture here in the Philippines.”
“Skinita would like to emulate the ‘tambayan sa kanto’ thing popular among young Filipinos where groups enjoy a drink or two and some delicious grilled or fried foods,” adds Joshua Aquino, Eskinita’s marketing manager.
Sancho says, “We encourage our guests to vandalize our walls and tables, we tell then to play what music the want and we urge them to unwind and enjoy themselves, facilitating, memorable experiences filled with bad jokes, good laughs and great times!”
We saw the restaurant’s wall already filled with scribbles, mostly congratulatory notes. One night, several days after we went to the restaurant, we passed by on our way home from Makati. We saw people milling outside the restaurant and they seem to be having a nice time drinking and munching on the restaurant’s delicacies.
AiAi must really be proud of Sancho’s achievement. Did I hear, the group is going to open its second branch this year at The Fort?
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Heart distributes toys in Sorsogon
Sorsogon is now the adoptive province of Heart Evangelista. And, why not? It is after all the home province of her husband, Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero. The actress loves the province as much as she loves Chiz.
Last Christmas, the actress traveled to Sorsogon to cheer her husband’s province mates, especially the children, and those who endured Typhoons Nona and Onyok.
Along with Princess Violago, Heart distributed toys on Dec. 23 to children in the province.
“A piece of my heart was left in every place we visited today in Sorsogon. Salamatunon asin Dios mabalos (Thank you and God bless). Merry Christmas #mahalkongsorsogon,” Heart posted a photo with the children who received toys from her on her Instagram account.
Sorsogon was one of several provinces hardest hit by the two typhoons that hit the country in 2015.
Chiz traveled to Sorsogon on Dec. 17 to help his province mates.
The senator expressed gratitude to all those who extended help to his province mates and the entire Bicol peninsula so that the region could rise once more from the destruction wrought upon the region by the typhoon, most specifically in restoring the power lines in the province.
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Not happy character killed
Will Smith found is sad that the fat lady had sung on Steven Hiller, the character he played in 1996’s Independence Day. “It was terrible when I found out my character died,” Smith said.
Hiller’s death was revealed on a viral site for Independence Day: Resurgence.
“While test piloting the ESD’s first alien hybrid fighter, an unknown malfunction causes the untimely death of Col. Hiller,” the site’s timeline reads. “Hiller’s valor in the War of ‘96 made him a beloved global icon whose selfless assault against the alien mother ship lead directly to the enemy’s defeat. He is survived by his wife Jasmine and his son Dylan.”
Smith was “working on Suicide Squad” when Independence Day: Resurgence was being shot, but Smith was approached several times in the past about reprising his role. “[IDR director] Roland [Emmerich] and I had talked about it,” he admitted.
Smith did compliment the trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence and said it will be very emotional for him when he sees the film for the first time. “The trailer looks really cool,” Smith offered “I’m going to be sitting around with tears in my eyes when that one comes out.”