La Resureccion Tablea

70 Responses

1. Yummy! Bagay sa fried suman and manggang hinog. Do they also sell sweetened tableas, MM?

2. With the gloomy weather outside, I need that cup of hot tsokolate now!Ummm!

3. “I should have just gone with my gut feel and not purchased the pot in the first place, but LIVE AND LEARN… ” ……..C’est la vie!!!

4. You’re absolutely right, the packaging of the tablea is quite special.

5. Everytime we go home I always buy hundreds of tablea tablets.Goes well with puto maya or suman.Even dipping a piece of buttered french stick in it…yum!

6. Hi MM! We usually buy it also by the box, sometimes sweetened, sometimes unsweetened. Nothing beats its taste.

7. This is another dying industry that we need to revive by creating demand. I for one has asked my sis to buy me a box or two for my own consumption here in singapore. It is nice in churros too as well as drinking it together with your usual *SILOG breakfast on a cold december morning….Hmmm I can smell it now :)

8. Junb….hmmmm….churros and tsokolate….I think I will offer that this Sunday at the Sunday market at BTC!

9. This is my favorite brand. I bring several boxes everytime the kids and I visit their lola in Hong Kong. MM, I suggest you buy the unsweetened one since it can be stored for a longer time. This is really a good pasalubong!

10. Thanks for this MM…another one added to my list of places to visit on my next trip… do they sell batidor and tsokolatera as well?

11. You might try to find a cheap enameled pot, blue on the outside and white on the inside that can be surely be put over heat. That white pot looks like it was only meant for serving hot chocolate after a quick frothing. Even the Limoge pots sold by MdC are only menat for service.

12. HI MM! We get our tablea from Mati, Davao Oriental and it costs just P30 for a pack of 10. But my husband’s family claims that the tablea from cebu is better :) They cook it with condensed milk and egg! Very creamy, sweet but loaded with cholesterol. I started taking this after I gave birth as part of “po-ge-lai”. The tablea brings warmth to the mother’s body after childbirth and I’ve been addicted every since – 1 cup every morning and my daughter is turning 2 :D

13. Naku, I’ve always wanted to visit La Resureccion. I hope they get a decent spot and survive for a long long long time. Just curious MM, how much is a box of tablea? Also, do you have an address for the store or some rough location details cuz I would really like to go there some time when I visit the Philippines.

14. Hi Marketman. How long do you think these will keep? I want to hoard before the holiday rush but I am not sure if they will stay fresh til Christmas. Thanks!

    By the way, I chanced upon the No Reservations Philippines episode on Discovery Travel and Living. I have seen this before on YouTube but nothing beats watching the actual run on t.v. The timing was also refreshing as I watched it post-Ondoy, post-Pepeng, etc. It somehow gave me a renewed sense of Filipino pride. Congratulations to you, Claude Tayag, Everybody’s Cafe, etc.! Galing!

15. My aunt makes tablea from the backyard cacao trees back in Bicol. She makes it sweetened and rolled in balls though. My aussie husband loves it! He could eat 5 balls of it in one go! He said it was better than cadburry! hahahaha

16. My mom was a huge tablea fan, and they had cacao trees on their property and neighbors properties in the ancestral home in Bohol. It was the first place I saw cacao harvested and dried. Peach, these should keep fresh for a couple of months, I bought these early October and are supposed to be “Best Before 28 February 2010” so yes, one could buy these for the holidays and keep them in a cool dry place. Beth, I think unsweetened was PHP570 and sweetened was PHP540 or the other way around. I only buy unsweetened as I like to control the sugar content myself, and the intensity of the cacao flavor is better in the unsweetened tableas. Jenny, I think more than Cebu, Boholano tablea is even better. :) sister, I have a more traditional iron/heavy aluminum pot that appears indestructible, but I thought this ceramic one would be nicer to serve from… but it can’t take direct heat. Oddly, the heavy iron ones sometimes spring leaks as well… kiko, I didn’t notice batidors and other paraphernalia, but other places in Manila sell them, I have a couple of posts on those in the archives. junb, yes, we really need to encourage the continued consumption of these classic ingredients so that they will be around for the next generation. peanut, and HOW do you “smuggle” that into Australia in your luggage? :)

17. Because of your post, MM, I went to Binondo with family and hunted down the Dumpling store (don’t look for it by name coz no one knows it but ask for the dumpling store and they all do), La Resurrection tablea (still in the old location then) and Salazar bakery. I like their hopia better than Eng Bee Tin’s because their pastry was flakier and more reminiscent of the older style that was wrapped in paper instead of foil. I did this via the Pasig Ferry which was clea and air-conditioned. A field trip of sorts from Mandaluyong to the Escolta station and back.

18. zena, did you eat dumplings? We did the other week on the same trip when I got these tablea. The dumplings were SO good, and so reasonably priced. And it was the same guy behind the stove, who hails from Northern China, hence the different types of dumplings…

19. No smuggling, MM. Only when we go home for holidays that he can have tablea.

20. I always get this as pasalubong from PI guests so I had to find a way to use them. I use tableya to make chocolate cake but only for the cake. I dont use it for frosting or filling because the tableya has a grainy texture (that is not apparent in the cake). I use the same recipe (with a little tweaking) using tableya to make rum balls that I give away as Christmas presents. They always ask me what brand of chocolate I use because it is so chocolatey – to which I reply “Its a special chocolate made in the Philippines”. I can share these recipes that I concocted using tableya, with anybody who is interested. You can email me at tabelons@comcast.net.

21. I love this post…thank you MarketMan!

22. Hi Market Man, I hope La Resureccion has found a new home… Can you post the new address? I always buy tablea every Christmas as gifts to friends and family… the ones sold by the grocery just isn’t the same…

23. What a coincidence, MM. I critiqued a presentation the other week and the topic was chocolates. We got to talk about the ” tablea,” and I remember in my Lola’s backyard in Bohol, there were a few cacao trees. She’d dry the seeds under the sun and have them ground in the market. We’d always have champorado for breakfast during our summer vacations there.

    Anyway, my colleagues got so intrigued about this that I asked my aunt in Tagbilaran to ship me some Tablea so I can share them here in the office in Makati. Tablea from Bohol are purer and more aromatic than the ones available in the supermarket.

    We’d always have tsokolate on Christmas and New Year! Nothing beats a mug of hot tsokolate on a cold day. Yummy!

24. MM and Jade I was about to comment if i can have one ‘smuggled’ too, please.

25. MM,

    Have been scouting for good tablea (sans peanut extenders) and would like to try this particular tablea in your post. Would you please kindly provide a bit more details where to find the tablea as I am not familiar with the Binondo area.

    Thanks much!

26. Quillene et al, to find them, Stand at the front doors of the Binondo Church, facing OUT, leave the church, turn left and left again ONTO Ongpin Street. Cross the street to the other side of Ongpin street, and head towards the heart of Chinatown. There will be a construction project to your right. Just 10-20 meters on the right side, near one of the Eng Bee Tin shops, will be the La Resureccion outlet, last seen on the steps of a building there. And I hope that is a temporary location until they find permanent retail space… who knows, they might be moving back to their old location once the new building is finished… On their boxes, they list this address: 618 Ongpin Street (but I think that was their old location), so just go a few meters further down the street. They also list a factory location at 110A Escoda St., San Rafael Village, Navotas, Malabon Tel. 252-8604.

27. Thanks, MM!

28. MM, the tsokolate brings back memories of family bondings in past Media Noches and Noche Buenas.

29. I discovered tablea as ingredient for chocolate cookies (sables) by accident. I ran out of regular chocolate bars and found a stash of tablea from Bohol in the ref. Improvising on the recipe, I melted the tablea with a little butter. The grittiness of the texture was fine because this recipe called for a certain proportion of organic cracked wholewheat flour. The cookies turned out to have a richer, fuller and more robust quality than those made with chocolate bars.

30. Hi MM…have a chocolate pot like your white one from Spain but use it with a diffuser underneath so it won’t crack. Love the tablea post but have you tried the tablea from Camiguin? It is wonderful. As an aside, the best batidor I have ever had was made by Claude Tayag. He sells a tsokolate set (a pot and a batidor) that is perfect!

31. Lets buy this when we get there . its unsweetened.

32. Have you checked with Ivan if La Resurreccion is still around? He might have some inside info whether or not they’ve moved.
    Dong Bei (the dumpling place) is on Yuchengco st, near Binondo church! Best handmade dumplings for the price. If anyone’s interested in Northwestern knife cut noodles, there’s a Lanzhou noodle place not too far as well.

33. Oh, I forgot to add, Nena Meng’s sells batidors in all the stores (bazaars and at the mall – there’s one in Glorietta, and another one in Robinson’s Galleria).

34. I have a tableya suki in Baybay, Leyte which makes pure tableya. With simple packaging,it is so inexpensive. The last time I bought it, it was only one peso a piece. You need 2 pcs to make a cup of hot chocolate (sikwate). It can last for a year in the refrigerator. It is best paired with puto maya.

35. moni, wow, that’s cheap! These ones, come out to PHP5 per piece! Mila, they are still there, but on the stairs of a neighboring building… Susie, I have never been to Camiguin, but I can imagine how good it is, cacao seems to thrive in that area… Bohol, Leyte, Camiguin, etc. Gina, how cool that it can be used in baked goods, as described by others in comments above yours as well…

36. MM try the pure cacao tablea of Argao, and of Sogod. I know a supplier from Sogod that sells the tablea at P1.25 per piece. Let me know if you want some. I don’t know if they are as good as the ones from Bohol but from the cups of “sikwate” I have been making from these,
    they really are very chocolatey.

37. Hi MM,

    How similar (or different) would this and other locally available (not necessarily made)tableas be from the chocolaterias you visited in your last trip to Madrid and Barcelona?

38. F, our local version is grainy and very cacao-ey, but rougher, not as smooth as the Spanish hot chocolates we had. I think it has to do with the processing. Good chocolate is spun or mixed for HOURS and HOURS on end. And I suspect there is more than just pure cacao but an added fat or other ingredient as well. At any rate, while I absolutely adored the spectacular cups of hot chocolate in Barcelona, oh, and they were aided by superb cream as well, there is a natural charm and honesty to the local pinoy version. And since it is a taste I recall from early childhood, I am fond of it. Joan, wow, those sound pretty reasonably priced as well!

39. There are about 13 stages in making a chocolate bar from bean. Tablea making entails only 4 to 8 stages, up to making chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor can be a relatively coarse product, with a discernable grainy texture. The process of refining the chocolate liquor to 25 microns (the size under which particles cannot be felt in the mouth) is usually not done by tablea makers (don’t ask me why). If only they refine it to 15-20 microns, they will result in a delightful smooth mouthfeel, and be at par with fine-quality chocolate.

    Hmmm, I should ask Edgar, the tablea maker from Guilang Tablea of Argao Cebu, when I meet up with him tomorrow. Guilang Tablea has been in commercial production since 1938.

    Guilang Tablea will be available at the Sunday market at BTC starting this Sunday.

40. Artisan churros and tsokolate e will be a definite hit @ BTC Sunday market. I saw one show at AFC which shows the traditional way of making chocolate handmade from cacao in Mexico. They manually roast the cacao, manually grind it then further refine on a partially heated stone with a few charcoal below a stone until a runny thick chocolate emerge. I can imagine how good is that chocolate.

41. I don’t know if its me but I don’t really like those imported chocolate bar except the Japanese made Royce and our local tsokolate and chocnut that I grew up with. I do miss the magnolia chocolait in a bottle which way above any chocolate drinks commercially available now.

42. Jun B, the manual process you describe above is still how they make tablea today. The runny thick chocolate that you mentioned is called chocolate liquor.

    Yes, I too miss the chocolait in glass bottle made by magnolia when it was still under San Miguel. I don’t like the re-formulated chocolait made by nestle under the magnolia brand today. Here in Cebu, the local dairy CEFEDCO, makes something almost as close as the original chocolait.

43. MM,

    I grew up having tsokolate on Noche buena… My dad always asks for tablea everytime someone comes over from the Philippines. We usually have the tablea from my Uncle’s hometown in Pangasinan. I actually had it last Christmas and I can say, it was my first that seemed like I was young again…meaning, I served all dishes the traditional way except that I am missing the kundol that my mom always prepares to serve with the suman, ube halaya and macapuno. Thanks for letting me know that I can get tablea in Binondo too… so next time I visit and make my hopia shopping, I will look for tablea also!

    Hmmm… it is time for tsokolate now…the cool air is coming in and it will be perfect with a cup of hot tsokolate.

44. MM,

    From what I gathered, La Resureccion moved their factory to Tondo. I think theyre planning to get a retail space at the building beside it once its done. According to the owner, there used to be 5 stores in Chinatown (chocolate-making, ironically, being one of the more common old immigrant Chinese trade) that made tableas, now only one remain. For sure,they’ll be around for the next decade or two as they actually export their products abroad.

45. such a coincidence that I just had a cup of hot cocoa for myself the other day! but my tablea i got from Chocolat cake shop that sold for P95, and the label said it’s made in Davao — it was also good. This is really one of my comfort ‘foods’ growing up…hot cocoa mixed with some oatmeal. And aside from La Resureccion, our family friend also owns another popular tablea shop then – Ong Seng, also in Ongpin which is now gone as well.
    Off post, MM, i just craved for your bulalo spread i had to make one, and here it is, thanks again! https://mymomfriday.blogspot.com/2009/10/bone-marrow-snack-anyone.html

46. Aw, I SHOULDN’T have followed that Binondo link. It’s my 6th day in India, and my hankering for non-spiced Chinese food went up 100x! That soya rice looks really REALLY good. (Beef would be really nice right now…mmmm. Paressssss. STOP!)

    My in laws from Tuguegarao always make sure to bring me a box of Ybanag chocolate balls, which are really good. Re La Resurreccion, I remember being very excited to buy a tube and then getting a little disappointed after all the praises I heard about it. It tasted too “brash” and a tad too grainy (it’s the closest I can describe). Maybe I got an inferior batch, so maybe I’d try again. Antonio Pueo was a staple until I got married and got to know the Tugue chocolate balls.

47. MM – thanks for this post. i will be going home next year in february and i will definitely try to get some. btw, do you have the address of that dumpling place? i also would like to visit that since i will be in the area anyway… hot cocoa on a cold day is always a treat….

48. All the comments make me wonder if anyone’s ever tried to do a regional taste test of the different tableas around the country. And I also wonder, do we ever use the tableas other than to make chocolate drinks, is it ever used to cook into stews or sauces (like a mole). Since I remember reading that the chocolate beans were mixed with ground peanuts to make tableas, what would a kare-kare with tablea mixed in taste like?

49. Yes, MM, I had the dumplings. So worth the hunt. I liked them all but my favorite was the one with kutsay (basta the green leafy thing). I had steamed and fried. The fried ones squirt hot dumpling juice when you bite so one has to be careful. =) And I remember that the dipping sauce they had was all you could get. No calamansi and toyo. It was a lightly flavored sauce, if I remember correctly.
    Some tablea are made with peanuts giving you that “chocnutty” flavor. In Camp John Hay, there’s this little nook with vines and natural tree trunk “slices” for seats and tables that serve native kakanin and tablea with peanuts. On a cool day, very nice. I think the grittiness of our local tablea has its own charm. Like Mexican chocolate, it’s grainy and not smooth. I wonder if we can make mole using our tablea?

50. am curled here at the crew lounge at West Palm Beach and just feel so lonely and nostalgic… one of things I miss Pinas greatly the tablea…. now am craving for Pinoy food….

51. Ah, the ultimate comfort food. Might even be a feature of My Last Supper :-)

    Artisan Chocolatier, the Sunday BTC Market sounds more and more interesting. Could you please tell us the range of products sold there? Thanks.

    And would someone be generous enough to share a cookie recipe using tablea? Salamat.

52. Spain has been a disappointment for traditional chocolate, as they have lost the art of making a fine cup of thick chocolate, adding flour for thickening, despite using prime chocolate( such as bars of Suchard).
    I use a French method, which never fails: it is a porcelain jug, with a plunger, like a coffee plunger, but with tiny holes which froth the chocolate when you plunge it down twice, resulting in smooth rich thickness. I also have a Sunbeam chocolate maker, which is essentially a heated blender,, cooking the chocolate as it blends. The result is similar to the French method, but with more parts to clean afterwards, hence I dont use it any more ( I bought it before finding the french appliance).

53. Cumin, This Sunday we will have the following participants at the Sunday Market at BTC (Infront of Chains store lobby).

    1) Zubuchon (Marketmanila)
    2) Silvanas and Chocolate Cake (Joan)
    3) Artisan Breads, Pastries, Chocolate (Mine)
    4) Fresh Milk, Artisan Cheese and other dairy products (Cebu Dairy)
    5) Organic Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits (Various Sellers)
    6) Canalones and other prepared food (Don Merto’s)
    7) Native Delicacies (Mandaue Vendor)
    8) Guilang’s Tablea (Tsokolate) from Argao

    I hope to get someone selling cut flowers as well

54. Cumin, this is the recipe of Very Chocolate Cookie on which I use tablea. From the book Chocolate and Zucchini, by Clotilde Dusoulier. The URL below is from David Lebovitz’s blog because, for some strange reason, this exact recipe does not appear on Clotilde’s own blog.
    https://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/09/clotildes_very.html

    In subsequent bakings, I have used a combination of tablea and regular chocolate (ideally Valrhona or Lindt 70% dark), about half-half ratio for a smoother texture and better melting.

    I do not know where to source cacao nibs in pure form in Manila and so I omit this (Lebovitz likewise says omit if unavailable). However, on the few lucky occasions that Rustan’s has them, I get several bars of dark chocolate of the brand Belle France (much cheaper than Lindt) that has “feves de cacao,” dark chocolate flecked with cacao nibs. This is what I use in combination with the tablea. To cut the tablea and chocolate bar into chunks, I use a mortar and pestle; just a few poundings will do the trick.

    If you use cracked wholewheat flour, the texture will be a bit coarse, which is what I prefer; but I guess you could make it 1 cup of all-purpose if wholewheat is not available.

    This cookie is a winner, and it does not even require a single egg. Do not omit the salt; the interplay of salt, tablea and dark chocolate, and slightly rough texture of cracked wholewheat flour elevates this a notch higher than your regular chocolate cookie.

55. Artisan Chocolatier, thanks for replying. I won’t be in Cebu until December, until then will dream of BTC Sunday market.

    Gina, thanks for the link. I have too much tablea and like baking cookies.

    For several years now, I use a stick blender instead of batirol for making hot choco, always works. :-)

56. La Resureccion tsokolate tablets are always on my mom’s pasalubong list whenever she visits :). The hubby makes champorado with it….

57. Hi Mila. You are wondering if the tablea can be used on sauces. I tried putting some tablea shavings in my chili con carne and it does give it a subtly richer taste. However, I don’t know if you like chili con carne or if you can cook it in your neck of the woods in China.

58. The tablea made by Puerto Pueo is very good too. They also make them sugar-free. For those who want to send or bring them out of the country, Pueo has them commercially packaged with batirols. They are sold in the NBC tent bazaars.

    There are actually many sources of great tableas around the country. Some are definitely better than others. There are those sold in jars in Makati malls that leave much to be desired. They seem to taste more like shortening rather than chocolate. La Resureccion is great for its quaint retro packaging. At least it did not move far away from its original location.

59. I love this brand of tablea! My sister always gives us some whenever she and her husband go to Binondo… I do hope La Resureccion finds a permanent spot.

    I grew up with the tablea my mom buys when she comes home from Aklan but haven’t had those in a long time.

60. Mm,

    How can I make tsokolate without the batirol?

    Peanut,

    How were you able to bring it back to Australia? I’m curious now.

61. Hi MM, I’ve tasted hot choco from Batangas, super yummy as well, but have no idea where the tablea is sold. Have you tried it?

62. Just wanted to share something I discovered this afternoon! Wei Wang store along Wilson St in Greenhills sells La Resureccion tableas for P65/pack. I was so happy to have seen it! Saved me a trip downtown. For easy reference, Wei Wang is right beside Mercury Drug store.

63. almost panicked when i saw the first few lines saying the La Resureccion shop in Binondo was gone and heaved a sigh of relief that they just moved. tablea is always on my supply list to bring back whenever we visit the philippines. on my last trip though, i wasn’t able to get to Binondo but got 10 boxes of Lola P’s tablea from the American Women’s Bazaar at the WTC. The package notes that this is the same tsokolate served at LJC restaurants. have to say it was pretty good too, a bit more refined than La Resureccion, though i sometimes miss the rough texture of LC.

64. To all Aus residents:

    My daughter went home April/May this year and one of my bilins was tablea. As no one else from back home is as particular as me, I just told them to get Antonio Puey from the groceries. Instructed her to handcarry any food items and declare. If they say can’t bring in, leave it.

    She followed my instructions; am enjoying my chokolate eh…just declare foodstuff and make sure there are no ‘seed’ foods.

65. konnichiwa im ayaka nakahara half japanese half filipino, marketman ur the kinda guy hu can help me with my problems whre can i buy bento boxes and some japanese ingredients? and another thing do this kind of things have in sakura grocery??? you knw near pasay road in makati!!! by the way lyk the food!! ahahahah pls. do reply in my post cause i really need this things. ^^

66. Hi MM,

    My family used to sell pure tablea from cacao beans when I was a young elementary pupil back in Leyte. The secret to a smooth, frothy chocolate is in the way it is roasted and ground and of course the quality of the raw beans. It should be slow-roasted on coal fire using an earthen pot (palayok). Then afterwards, finely ground using a table mill after shelling it. We prefer table mills than the electric ones because they are finer and can be calibrated at any time, even while grinding.

    To make a cup of smooth, frothy chocolate, you heat 2-4 pcs of tableas along with a cup of water on a chocolate pot. Just as it reach its boiling point, whisk it with the batirol until it is frothy. Let it simmer afterwards for about a minute but be careful not to let it overflow. Traditional hot chocolates are served on small ceramic cups along with suman, puto maya or churros c”,).

67. I went home to Manila looking for the La Resureccion tableas for my sister. To spare everyone the trouble I had, go directly to Kaisha Mart, 778-780 Ongpin St, Sta. Cruz Manila – Telephone numbers 734-22-11 or 733-77-71 – ask for Jojo. They refer to it as Lao-Sun-Teck which is the manufacturer, I think.

68. san po banda sa ongpin mkkabili ng tablea?.. tnx

69. I live in Sydney an am down to my last two rolls of Batangas unsweetened pure cacao tablets. By the way, this have been kept in the cupboard since I was last in the Philippines and the expiry date is Jan 18, 2003 and I can tell you that their quality is just fine being well sealed in their thick plastic cover. I have found the sweetened in a Chinese grocery store but once you’ve had unsweetened I don’t think you can ever be really happy with the sweetened.

    Does anyone know where you can buy a good quality pure cacao tablet, Batangas or better, anywhere in Sydney? I’m not desperate yet but I would love to have my cup of hot chocolate more frequently than my limited supply allows. I live near Hornsby but will travel anywhere to find my treasure… Thanks for any help.

70. Tableya is also available in Barili Cebu.
    One of the Painitan in there is also producing a pure Tableya.
    If you have time please drop by and ask where to fing that painitan for you to have some.