Food, Kiosks and Stalls, Shops and Suppliers

Ralo’s Cassava Cake: Mabuhay ang kakanin!

Sooner or later you will grow tired of hamburgers from fast food joints or gourmet pasta from fancy schmancy restaurants. Supermarket aisles laden with bags upon bags of chips, chocolate bars and other goodies from all over the world just won’t seem to cut it. On those days you will discover the simple pleasures of good ol’ Pinoy kakanin - sticky sweet treats best slathered with anything from a coconut (i.e. latik) and devoured right off a banana leaf. It’s a sugar high that even Belgian chocolates can’t top!

Of course, the South is richly blessed with these “gastronomic gifts”. Laguna alone is teeming with all sorts of native delicacies - buko pie, espasol, bukayo, kesong puti, itlog na pula - food great for eating on the road or taking home as pasalubong for even the world-weary foodie.

My quickest fix would have to be Ralo’s Cassava Cake (in case you didn’t know, here’s a mala-wiki explanation: The cassava - or kamoteng kahoy in Filipino - is a tuberous rootcrop, much like gabi (taro) or ube (purple yam) from Sta. Rosa, Laguna, located a stone’s throw away from the Sta. Rosa exit, just past CCBPI (otherwise known as the Coke plant - and I mean Coke as in Coca-Cola!).

I say “quick fix” because it’s not a long drive: there are no wet markets, no winding side streets, no hills or mountains and no interpreters involved. You get in your car and drive down and get it. You don’t even need a reason - save for the cake in itself.

Ralo’s is one of those roadside places - your typical house with the front converted into a “store”. Keep a lookout for the telltale red and white sign (on your left if you’re on your way to Tagaytay). First-timers just might miss it.

Unlike other pasalubong places whose shelves and counters are busy with an assortment of snacks and sweets, Ralo’s Cassava Cake offers well, just that. Cassava Cake. (Otherwise it would’ve said Ralo’s Pasalubong, ne? :) )

The counter is amply stocked with red and white boxes which the keeper attests is made fresh daily. To this I have no doubt because when he hands you the box, it’s usually still warm! And I don’t mean because-of-the-sweltering-heat warm!

There are only two sizes - small (roughly a 5″ x 7″ box) which sells for P80 and large (8″ x 10″) for P150.

Inside the box, nestled in a bed of aluminum foil, is the softest, smoothest, most melt-in-your-mouth cassava cake this side of town, with bits of buko strings to provide variety in texture. The top is browned just right, with just the right amount of cheese for that explosion of flavors. None of that rubbery, chewy consistency. I just let it sit on my tongue and savor it. Yum!

It’s best enjoyed fresh from the box, while it’s still warm. I’ve always been concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy it as much if I had to refrigerate it to keep for later, but a box has never lasted us that long for me to find out. Its shelf life, as the box says, is 3 days at room temperature (a week, give or take, in the refrigerator, but like I said, we’ve never gotten that far with a box yet) and 15-30 days if frozen! It also comes with reheating instructions (pop it into a microwaveable container - sans the foil, of course - and zap 2-3 minutes on low). I pair it with a glass of ice-cold soda. Perfect!

This makes a refreshing change from greasy pizza and soggy fries. Plus the fact that it’s proudly Pinoy - southbound Pinoy! - makes a world of difference.

Ralo’s Cassava Cake
Brgy. Pulong, Sta. Cruz, Sta. Rosa, Laguna
0919-3335909

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