Zamboangeño ₱20 and Below Quick Eats

Okay, so here's the deal. Let me just walk you through my gastronomic memory lane. I grew up in Zamboanga City and stayed there up until high school, before moving to Los Baños for College. At that time, my daily allowance was ₱20, which was surprisingly enough to get me by (today, that same ₱20 will just be gone just for public transportation fare only. Well, here in Manila at least). So yeah, trips at Jollibee to get Yum Burger or Chicken Joy was just reserved on Sundays, when we do our weekly grocery trip. 

So, during "research" and "project" trips at the pueblo, I had to budget what I had saved for the week in these three items: a.) legit research/project b.) counterstrike/starcraft c.) food. As the title suggests, let me walk you through with the three cheap quick eats I try not to miss out every time I go home.

#3. Tempura

Street food corner in Petit Barracks, near Fort Pilar Shrine, circa 2011

This is one of the popular street foods in Zamboanga. It is in the same league with Manila's kwek-kwek. This one is larger and longer cousin of kikiam but with a more distinctive taste (na hindi nakakaumay). I don't know how to describe the taste actually (Oi sino ba foodie dyan? Padescribe naman! Haha!) I am not sure what's it made of, maybe squid or cuttlefish? 

Zamboangeños have a penchant for savory sauces as can be seen in the picture. You can have a choice whether to have a sweet or spicy sauce. I was actually surprised when I moved to Manila because street food sauces are actually vinegar-based. I dunno, I just prefer Zamboanga's sarsa. 

The last time I bought one of these delicious bastards in Zamboanga, it was priced at 2.50 bucks. I don't know how much it costs now, maybe ₱5 or more.

#2. D' Master Bakery's Pan de Monggo or Super Cheese

Buzzling bakeshop: I think this was around 7-8pm, when Zamboanga's Pueblo is already starting to go to sleep. 

This spot can be found behind OK Department Store, near Yang's Hotel, beside Dunkin' Donuts and near Brgy. San Roque jeepney terminal in Zamboanga's pueblo. You know you are on the right spot when you see lotsa people traffic on this non-conspicuous place at any time of the day.

There are lots of breadstuff you can try here actually (this is a bakery after all), but the Pan de Monggo and Super Cheese are two of my favorites. You can buy these at around 6 bucks a piece. Quite pricey for these stuff by Manila standard, eh? Just try it and you will find out why it is worth your every peso. The bread is stuffed to the core and is oozing with filling. It is not called SUPER Cheese for nothing, trust me. Chances are, you can buy fresh-out-of-the-oven hot Pan de Monggo and Super Cheese when you get the chance to grab a bite here because these two are figuratively flying off the shelf and the bakery is on full-blast churning these mouth-watering masterpiece.

#1. Satti

Morning Sun Satti on a hot mid-day sun. Good combination.

This one is at the top of my list of my Zamboanga cheap eats list. This cheap eat does not only look exotic, but also tastes... uh, exotic. I can't even describe how this tastes, but I'll try. haha! Well here it goes: It's spicy with a hint of sourness, with a dash of sweetness. Well, if you want to confuse your palates, then try this good stuff. Best eaten with ice-cold cola!

When I recall my days at the pueblo doing "research", satti almost always comes to mind. We always drop by Yang's, before doing anything. While some of my classmates enjoy their yum burgers and chicken joys (and jolly kiddie meals), my friends and I sweat it out eating this euphoric masterpiece. Well, if you want to lose some weight while eating, this could be your elixir. I shit you not, you will be sweating your ass out while eating this at the best time of the day - lunchtime, in an open eatery (try Morning Sun). haha!

The price range for this is 20-50 bucks, depending on the number of beef sticks (or chicken barbecue, kikiam, or tempura) you will be getting as add-on. What you will be seeing in your plate are these barbecue sticks, sliced rice cakes (they call it puso in Cebu) which are wrapped in coconut leaves, and the red-orange-y satti sauce which is the BOMB (damn it makes me crave for this just writing about it. haha!). BUT WAIT! The coolness doesn't end there! The satti sauce is refillable free of charge. So yeah, that's cheapshit heaven right there. So, what we do, to maximize our 20-peso splurge is by being thrifty with the rice and stuff and enjoy the unli-refill sauce until our tongues tap out.

So by any chance, you get to visit my hometown, try these good stuff. You can use these as your quick pit stop when doing an urban trekking around the pueblo (which I do when I get the chance). Here's a bonus for you guys:

Bonus: Family Fried Chicken's Fried Siomai in Garlic Sauce. 

Fried siomai. Period.

Actually this is not part of the 20-peso cheap eats, it costs around 30-something pesos. But damn, this stuff is good. Going back to Zamboanga's penchant for sarsa, I was quite disappointed when I first tasted the siomai of Manila and its toyo + calamansi + chili sauce. Maybe that's the thing about acquired taste, I grew up with the sarsa, and people in the metro grew up with toyo-suka sauce base, so there's the personal bias. The sauce on this one makes you wanna drink the stuff up after eating this fried goodness - that's how good it is. You can find one in front of the grocery of Mindpro Citimall, at the ground floor.

So yeah, that's my way of welcoming you folks to my hometown.

BIENVENIDOS!