Angelica Babiera | Staff Writer
Featured image: Tinuno restaurant, located on 31 Howard Street, allows patrons to experience the unique Boodle Fight eating style. | Angelica Babiera
Some families bond over sports, some over movies. But one thing that is known to bring people together is food. Whether homemade or takeout, dining has a way to fill our stomach with grub, our hands with new foods and our memories with new experiences.
That’s where Tinuno restaurant hopes to thrive.
Hailing from the northwestern Luzon region in the Philippines, Gerald Aquintey, co-owner of the restaurant, says the name Tinuno came from its direct translation from his native language of Ilocano, meaning grilled.
Most Filipino restaurants are usually takeaway, while Tinuno encourages customers to dine in because of their unique eating style called Boodle Fight.
Boodle Fight involves using your bare hands to eat food spread out on banana leaves. It has roots from the Filipino military, as utensils were not offered to their soldiers during Boodle Fights. Water jugs were placed on each sides of the banana leaves spread for soldiers to use to wash their hands before and after their meal. The term fight in the word indicates that every man is for himself during the feast, which means that you try to eat as much as you can before the food runs out.
The spread includes white rice, grilled foods and fruits piled on top of a banana leaf. It is usually set up on a long table where everyone has a space and a chance to eat as much as possible. Filipino soldiers do not start eating until they are signalled to do so.
However, in Tinuno, the setting is much calmer and relaxed. Once you enter, you are greeted with a smile and are shown to a table with banana leaves spread out. You will not be forced to eat with your hands, however you are encouraged to do so. There is no signal to follow, and people do not fight each other for the food. Tinuno simply follows customary restaurant protocol where waiters bring your food to your table and place it decoratively.
The restaurant’s setting also successfully invites you in with its historical pictures of Filipino elders, Filipino traditional clothing, a definition of Boodle Fight and soldiers actually eating in Boodle Fight style.
Interestingly enough, the restaurant was actually a laundromat before its Boodle Fight.
“All the laundry started to break down, so we decided to convert it into a restaurant because it would have cost the same amount of money for us to replace the equipment,” says Aquintey.
“The Boodle Fight was actually accidental. It wasn’t supposed to be part of the business; we were supposed to be just a take-out place. Then, a couple of [customers] requested to do Boodle here, so we did that for them, and from there, it just got big.”
The combination of grilled food and the Boodle Fight resulted in quite a successful restaurant.
“The Filipino [student association at York] has come here a couple of times already,”says Aquintey.
“So have [the Filipino student associations from] Ryerson and U of T.”
Quickly gaining popularity, Tinuno was able to expand their space.
“We took over one of the rooms in the second floor. We might even take over the whole building, we’ll just see how it goes,” says Aquintey.
With their popularity, they were also invited to be one of the food vendors for the ASEAN Festival at Ryerson, an event celebrating Southeast Asian cultures, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos and Thailand.
