1st Colonial Grill’s ‘Bahay Kubo Salad’ Innovative, Healthy and Delicious

1^st Colonial Grill’s ‘Bahay Kubo Salad’

Innovative, Healthy and Delicious

 

We make it a point to dine in First Colonial Grill
whenever we chance upon an empty parking

space in their city center restaurant and this is

one of the rare weekends that we found one. 

 

Colonial Grill is a popular Albay based restaurant

that had branched out in other provinces in Bicol,

and dining here is also an introduction to my young

children on my culinary heritage as I am an Albayano.

 

They have come to love the Albay version of Kandingga,

the way my mother used to cook it in Polangui, and that’s

exactly what they do in Colonial Grill; sauce- free but tasty.

 

We also love the way they cooked their Sopas Halaan.

The fresh clams was cooked ‘tinola style’ with sili leaves,

sweet corn and had the delightful sharp aftertaste of ginger.

The Vegetable Kare Kare was also very delicious as

the veggies were fresh and crunchy. Spiced with a dash

of bagoong, one would never notice that it was a meatless

and healthy version of otherwise fat- laden Pinoy dish.

The Colonial Grill Fried Chicken was luscious and was

naturally delicious. The menu describes it Mama Iya’s

original recipe, but it is how my mother cooked her fried

chicken in Polangui. Tasty and basically straightforward.

We ordered the new Bahay Kubo Salad as an appetizer

and it was served ahead of everything but I’m reviewing

the best dish for last in this post. The crew sang the iconic

Filipino folksong, Bahay Kubo when they served the salad,

and it was just appropriate as the ingredients of this dish was

inspired by the vegetables found in the nipa hut’s garden.

As the song goes singkamas (turnips) at talong (eggplant),

sigarilyas (winged beans)  at mani  (peanuts), it came with an

eggplant base, brushed with a light peanut flavored spread, there

were also peanuts, turnip strips and chopped winged beans on it.

…and topped with various beans ‘sitaw’ (stringbeans),

‘bataw’ (Lima beans), ‘patani’ (Kidney Beans).

There were also squared ‘kundol’ (winter melon),

 sliced ‘patola’ (gourd)and ‘upo’ (bottle qourd),

‘kalabasa’ (squash) and ‘labanos’ (raddish) squares,

 

…it was bathed with ‘mustasa’ (mustard) dressing, lightly

flavored ‘sibuyas’ (onion), ‘bawang’ (garlic) at ‘luya’ (ginger),

and finally topped with a slice of fresh ‘kamatis’ (tomato),

 

…and true to the folk song- ‘ang paligid nito’y

panay ‘linga’ as it was sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Aside from several original Bicolano dishes like the

(Sili Ice Cream), made popular by Colonial Grill,

…this new Bahay Kubo Salad I believe would

become a surefire hit as it delicious, yet healthy.
It's the next big thing on Bicol's culinary market.

Read on the links below for related posts:

1st Colonial Grill SM City Naga: Authentic Bicolano Cuisine
1st Colonial Grill, Centro: Showcase of Indigenous Bicolano Dishes 

 1st Colonial Grill: ‘Gata’ and ‘Sili’ Overflow