Where Tampipi is so 2022

A new business venture at the height of the pandemic opened somewhere in Laguna. It rocked the social media and even the mainstream, with its use of sustainable woven pandan leaves for its tampipizza, pizza pie in a mini tampipi (a local suitcase now only seen in museums and old movies). Design had been made to suit the need of being food containers in round and square shapes, from the conventional rectangular ones. Innovation is one of the secrets of the trade, but that is not all. The restaurant also uses pugon, (traditional oven or furnace) utilizing scrap firewood in cooking, just like the old times. 

A recreated kalesa greets the customers who would want to experience dining at this place made up of antigong kahoy (wood and some pieces salvaged from houses of long ago) with capiz shells and windows. Old world charm feels, good food coupled with the advocacy of being kind to environment with the use of pandan, buri, and native flowers, are what makes it easy to attract not just the media and social influencers but especially new and repeat diners. A community of weavers also benefit from the concept that made this restaurant famous, if not sensational. 

Slow cooking is a thing, but waiting time is just enough for chit-chats and photo ops while enjoying the venue. These days, most people maximize going to places by taking photos to be uploaded on social media for their friends and family to enjoy. And don’t conversations spice up the dining experience?

It could be a marketing strategy and advocacy, or just like what was mentioned on interviews, that the use of tampipi came from sourcing from local materials or what is available nearby when the restaurant ran short of cardboard boxes that were to be bought in Metro Manila during the time of strict community quarantines in 2020, but the fact that this heritage implement has been put to good use from 2020 is already a reason to celebrate! We used to just see the tampipi in museums or in the movies, being carried by characters from the province with some clothes and whatnot, to the city. Now, they are being utilized by people in the year 2022, maybe even beyond. 

In Pila and nearby towns in Laguna, tampipi is in!