It all started when Esther Januszewski took a leap of faith and decided to leave her corporate job to embark on her new journey as an entrepreneur after working in the BPO industry for three years. Due to the challenges of being a single mother working the night shifts, Esther wanted to do something that would allow her to spend more time with her daughter while providing a good source of income at the same time.
In every dream lies an inspiration. Esther’s inspiration in creating Vittoria’s Kitchen was no other than her daughter, Vittoria. Also inspired by the old brands of Spanish sardines that she loves from her hometown, Esther decided to try with faith and prepare something close to it using her very own recipe.
Vittoria’s Kitchen started as a concept in Esther’s mind and has now taken a life of its own. The small project, which started on September 18, 2015 in a studio apartment where Esther and her daughter lived, has now grown and is now owned by Vittoria Foods Corporation.
I had the chance to try the beautifully bottled gourmet Filipino food products that Esther has perfected through years of hard work and experience. One thing I noticed after sampling each product on its own was the distinct sweet, salty, and spicy flavor that we Filipinos love because of our naturally sweet tooth. According to Esther, all of their products are ready to eat and are best paired with rice, salad, pasta, or bread. They can be also be used as an ingredient to add flavor to various dishes and sauces, or to simply spice things up.
With these suggestions, I tried incorporating three of the bottled goodies (Gourmet Tuyo – Php210, Gourmet Bagoong Alamang – Php130, and Gourmet Dried Squid in Sweet and Spicy Sauce – Php250) into two of my favorite dishes: pasta and pinakbet.
I love making sauces from scratch! I chose to make a fresh pesto sauce for the pasta dish since I had a lot of basil and olive oil. To add a little oomph to the dish, I took two spoonfuls of the Gourmet Tuyo and Gourmet Dried Pusit and chopped them into smaller bite-sized pieces then added them to the pesto sauce. By doing so, this perfectly flavored my pesto pasta and jazzed up the whole dish. Even though I only added a small amount of the gourmet tuyo and dried squid, the wonderful flavors of the sardines and squid added the right amount of saltiness and perfectly balanced the herbs of my Pesto Pasta dish.
As for the pinakbet, I used some bahay kubo veggies I had on hand and added 2 spoonfuls of the Gourmet Bagoong Alamang just before the veggies were fully cooked. The sweet and salty flavor was really distinct in this dish. It works if you like a sweet lingering flavor in your pinakbet, but I would suggest using it on green mangoes as a dip to balance out the sourness of the green mangoes.
Besides these three products, Vittoria’s Kitchen also offers the following:
- Gourmet Chilli Garlic Sauce Php150 (best as a condiment, as pizza toppings, or as a bread spread)
- Gourmet Spanish Style Bangus in Corn Oil Php160 (best with rice as ulam, or with bread, rice noodles, or pasta)
- Special Dayok Php130 (a Visayan delicacy of spiced fish entrails with garlic and chili. Best as a condiment for fried fish, steamed veggies, or steamed saging na saba)
You can buy all of their products at All Day Supermarkets nationwide and select Robinsons Supermarket locations. If you are interested in buying in bulk or wholesale pricing, you can visit their Facebook Page for pricing details.
Esther plans to widen and introduce Vittoria’s Kitchen products to more people to widen their market so that their products will be available in more supermarkets in the country.
Vittoria’s Kitchen
# 28 Road 9, Brgy. Bagong Pag-asa, Quezon City
85087242 / 09177069535
vittoriafoodscorporation@gmail.com
