The most traditional churros in the whole Philippines
Marc is late for the interview because he is coming "from an anniversary party for an important businesswoman" and on the way back he has gotten stuck in the indescribable Manila traffic . What was this Catalan doing in such a glamorous act? Churros . Marc has gone to make churros, because Marc is dedicated to making churros. Some delicious churros. in Manila.
The question arises almost by itself: "How come he gave you out there?" The answer is much longer and more elaborate, because Marc Puig (Barcelona, November 20, 1975, "so you remember it, the day Franco died") his fate had been sealed for years.
TRAVELER: What did you do before dedicating yourself to the churro industry in Manila?
MARC PUIG: Well, let's see... I've always liked to travel, but I was left with the concern of living abroad to see what I learn and what I get out of it. I had a job in Girona, but it didn't fill me at all. I would arrive on Sunday afternoon and I would get nervous about having to go to the office the next day to do something that I did not like during the whole week... What he wore best was having breakfast with his companions. I saw my classmates, twenty years older, and told me that I didn't want to be like them, that I didn't want to become one of them. And I loved them very much, but that was not for me . This was three and a half years ago now. It was in a construction company and I was doing property administration. He had neighborhood meetings! Do you know the series La que se avecina? Well like this! I had studied Economics: I was not going to hold neighborhood meetings. So I quit without having another job. And I took a year to see what I did.
Don Churro is Marc Puig's project
T: And what did you do during that year?
PM: When I visited my mother's town, I would stop by to talk to the mother of my friend Jaume, who they have century-old charcuterie there . And she told me that Jaume was in the Philippines, and I told her: “Well, tell him that one day I'm going to go see him, that I've already been there and I have some pending issue”. And one day talking she proposed to ride some wines in the philippines , that this market was growing a lot. But I don't like wine... I can have a glass, but I'm not passionate about it. And I didn't see it. The Philippines, yes, but the wines, no. And on a trip that Jaume, my partner, had to make to Barcelona, his wife, who is Filipino, tried the churros . So I got a message saying: “Mark! We already have it! Churros!".
T: But you didn't know how to cook churros, did you?
PM: I wanted to learn how to make churros. So I contacted him. Churreros Guild of Catalonia , and they told me that they had two or three churro teachers. My teacher was Manuel San Roman , who has a churrería next to the Barcelona Cathedral, although he has already retired. The man taught you how to make churros without explaining it to you. He didn't tell you: "Look, Marc, you need 700 grams of flour and 5 liters of water, 20 grams of sugar..." He was a man who had been offered to go to Australia as a welder, but in the end his sister married a churrero and told him what was he going to do in Australia, learn how to make churros and stay there. And in reality he did not want to be a welder or a churrero: he wanted to be a bullfighter. He taught me that he had a suit of lights in the churrería.
Don Churro's Team
T: And where does the madness to go to the Philippines come from?
PM: From the Philippines I had the memory of a Filipina girl I met in Paris 16 years ago. We met at a YMCA and I would go back to Barcelona later , and she was studying architecture and visiting Barcelona a few days later. She had a great time with my family and in Barcelona, Gaudí, the Mediterranean...
After that, in 2001, I went to Korea to visit a friend who was studying there and wrote to this girl. That she was there, and that if he wanted he would see her in the Philippines. And I prayed that he would please say yes. And she answered me two days before I flew back to Barcelona. I thought I had nothing to lose anymore, and I caught a morning flight from Seoul to Manila and, at night, from Manila to Seoul. Imagine how hung. And nothing, the girl very well, she came to look for me, she took me to see the volcano of Tagaytay and we ate there, in the afternoon we went to Intramuros [Manila's old town], and then to the airport. Then nothing happened between us either, but I stayed calmer.
After that, we kept in touch. Well, I kept it. She didn't answer. I had my stories, but this girl had always stuck in my head. And when Jaume came up with churros in the Philippines, I said to myself... What if now is the time?
What if now is churro time?
T: Did you mention the churros to Josephine before you went there?
PM: Yes. I asked her if she knew what churros were, if she believed that despite being hot in such a hot country people were going to eat them . She told me yes, that they loved soups and that if it was something sweet, people would eat it for sure. I sent her some photos so she could see if she knew them, and she told me there was something similar.
So, in July 2013, I went to Manila for 15 days and tried all the churros that she had found online in the city. There were some that were an insult to the churros. But that time I came, I saw that the city had changed a lot. It's all malls, everywhere. Now you go from one to another without realizing it.
T: I imagine it would not be easy to start the business from scratch...
PM: We set up a society Don Churro Corporation , which was an adventure. It cost us a lot, like a year in total. And then to make tastings for the shopping centers. That they liked it, that they were interested, that they would call us... but if you do not know anyone, it is difficult for you to enter the business and they will give you a space . What we are looking for now is someone with contacts who will make us go directly to the CEO to screw him up in the office [sic]. Once we made churros in a boardroom. But come on, and or what I want is a place where we feel comfortable and don't squeeze us too much like in the biggest shopping malls.
In the Philippines they are used to eating them with cinnamon
T: Where can you taste Don Churro's churros?
PM: On Fridays and Saturdays, at **Mercato (in Fort Bonifacio) ** , on Saturday in Salcedo (Makati) and in Legazpi (also in Makati), on Sundays. And then in events that hire us.
T: But making churros in the Philippines gives you a chance to live quietly?
MP: Now at least I can make a living from this. I can pay the flat and live. And if there is a month without unforeseen events, I can even save something and have a small salary. It has helped me to stop pulling savings, which was already going... what's after the red numbers?
T: In other words, they like churros enough to live on them...
PM: Yes Yes. In fact, a reputable local food website rated us as the best churros in Manila. . What happens here is that some eat them with cinnamon. I do not understand it either. It's terrible.
T: How would you describe your churros?
PM: We make them with love. I tell my employees to think about the person they like. Make them as if they were for that person. We make them with the only olive oil that you can put at such a temperature and we also use Manolo's recipe, who spent half a century making churros in Barcelona.
I tell my boys [employees]: “ We make churros, we do not sell churros” . And at first it was hard for them to understand. Because if there was a queue in front of the booth... they didn't want to keep the customer waiting and they thought that what the boss wanted was income. And if I wasn't there, the oil wasn't hot enough, the churro was oilier... Filipinos will like it, because they haven't tried anything else. But you have to maintain quality.
The Churro must be made with love
T: You don't miss the 'La que se avecina' reunions anymore, then.
PM: Here's what happened to me that didn't happen to me in my previous job: that things go well for me and lead me to more things that go well for me . There is a very positive energy. What I miss now is making the churros myself and dealing more with the customer. I had a great time cutting the churros and the lady would come to tell you that she likes it. The first client in the Legazpi market told me that my churros were very expensive and that they were better elsewhere... and don't you see what a bad time I had... and then the stalls next door told me that this lady is always asking for discounts.
But also, in the first weeks, I had two pilot clients who, while eating the churros, told me: “Marc, right now we are flying to Spain!” And that is very exciting.
T: Forgive me, but I have to ask you: And what happened to the girl?
MP: With this girl, well, nothing... We saw each other, we hung out from time to time. We got along very well, we liked each other... But she's been in New York for a while... and she's told me to set up a churrería there.
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