Kusinang Matua, or Kusinang Matua ng Atching Lillian, is a family-owned al fresco buffet restaurant in Parian, Mexico, Pampanga, the Philippines, run by Lillian Lising-Borromeo (Atching Lillian), a food historian and Kapampangan cuisine chef.
The restaurant, set within the chef's ancestral home with its 200-year-old kitchen, is for reservation only for a minimum of 10 people, and is known for its heirloom recipes of Kapampangan cooking using fresh ingredients. It is also known for its panecillos de San Nicolas (or Saniculas cookies), one of the oldest cookies of the Philippines introduced by the Augustinians during the Spanish colonial period.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
The restaurant is especially known for its chef's lessons about Kapampangan food's origins and original methods, including on the 17th-century recipe for the humble sisig (called sisig antigo) that, unknown to consumers of modern versions of the popular dish, includes the ingredient dayap, which the restaurant grows in its own backyard. Aside from the sisig, the restaurant features authentic versions of the bobotong asan (stuffed milkfish), the Kapampangan morcón, the Kapampangan pisto, the tejada de kamatis, the brazo de mais, and the tocino de cielo, among others.[7] [8] [9]
The Office of the Governor of Pampanga and Holy Angel University have dubbed Kusinang Matua's owner and chef as "The Guardian Angel of Kapampangan Cuisine" while Yummy.ph has called her "The Gatekeeper to Kapampangan Cuisine". Vikings, an all-you-can-eat restaurant chain, has also hired Atching Lillian as a consultant for their Kapampangan food section menu.