One World Deli: An enlightened food emporium
Quezon City has always been a paradise for foodies because of the sheer number and variety of good places to eat, catering to all pockets and tastes. Tomas Morato Avenue is dubbed “restaurant row” on my side of town, and rightly so. Old favorites and new, restaurants offering classic cuisines or the latest dining trends, plus eateries with long queues without the need for a rating or star (like Some Thai) line this street.
Quezon City residents who don’t just like to eat but also to cook are spoilt for choice by the adjacent Timog Avenue. The Santi’s branch there produces their highest sales in the metro all year round. Shine is my go-to for Korean ingredients, nearby Assad’s is the best source for Indian and Middle Eastern needs, while Fuji Mart carries Japanese essentials. Good groceries and markets are all nearby.
Given all this, can a new player in the QC food scene still thrive? It can, if it’s an enlightened food emporium like One World Deli. What spells the difference is this: that it focuses on sustainably sourced ingredients with both good health and the environment in mind.
for me with their taste and healthy goodness.
In an age of misplaced values, it’s good to define true wealth, and these days, true health is a real barometer of true wealth. After all, you can’t enjoy your luxuries, however they were obtained, without energy and vitality. (I think you won’t be able to enjoy them without peace of mind either, but that’s another story). Philstar writer Chit Juan talks about slow food, heirloom products, sustainable farming, and above all, eating for health. Since I’m in my mid-sixties, her latest story struck a chord. It’s not about how long you live but how well you are able to enjoy your final decades without pain and disease.
Chit wrote that the pigs in Italy are fed acorns and grain so that even their fat is healthy, because it is plant-based. So, on my first visit to One World Deli on Timog Avenue, I was immediately drawn to the pork chops on display. They were raised by a coop in Bicol run by a priest, Fr. Jovic Lobrigo. And when I got home, I cooked them at the soonest available opportunity based on a dish I had tried in Italy—I seasoned them only with salt and pepper, browned them in my cast iron skillet with a little olive oil, garlic, and fresh rosemary, then added a fourth teaspoon of Dijon mustard plus a combination of cream and milk. I served it after the sauce had thickened slightly, and my family was amazed at how tender the pork was, saying it could even pass for the very expensive veal.
Such was my introduction to One World Deli on Timog Avenue. They have many other branches, including Jupiter Street in Makati, the Corner House on P. Guevarra in San Juan, SM MOA in Pasay and New Daang Hari Road in Alabang. I bought ground beef that I turned into clean-tasting Salisbury steaks, edible flowers that I put in my salad. The produce includes greens from Hijo Fresh, heirloom varieties from Sakahon farms, and hydroponically raised veggies from Upright Farms, the last one located right in the city.
My kids and I dined in-house and their rib-eye steak from The Grill was the most tender yet flavorful rib-eye we’ve ever tasted. The oysters Rockefeller and lobster tails with garlic and butter were very good. The pasta with ragu was outstanding. The pizza was tasty though the crust was slightly flat, probably due to some problem they had with the oven, which the servers told us caused the delay in service. The pistachio tartufo we shared for dessert was delicious, and you can purchase it to go from the freezer section.
While I stocked up on saffron, puddings with probiotics, and healthy snacks (including Liz Uy’s yummy Mood bars), my kids bought macarons, citrus tarts, and honey cereal-flavored coffee beans from Candid Coffee. You need at least a good hour to explore the meat, seafood, produce and dairy sections; charcuterie and cheeses, local and imported cooking ingredients, and even home care products. There are frozen cooked food items prepared by chefs.
As they’ve been open for only a month, I could overlook the slightly bumpy service. The effort they’ve taken to build a network of suppliers of traceable, safe, and sustainable products is commendable. I keep reading from Chit’s columns that it’s so important to know the source of your ingredients. Short of going to every farmer or fisherman that grows or catches your food, that’s not easy to do. But here at One World Deli, I am impressed that this is precisely their mission.
