Breakfast at Si Christina, San Pablo City

Si Christina, located near the plaza in the center of San Pablo City, is one of our favorite breakfast places. They normally open at 7 in the morning, but for the Christmas season, they open at 8am so they can close at a later time in the evening. We like it there because of their numerous breakfast options that are both good and remarkably inexpensive.

The breakfast option I chose was their "Chicken Longganisa" (P89), which includes 2 pieces of chicken longganisa (the long light colored sausage in the photo above), 1 egg, fried rice and a choice between brewed coffee and iced tea. At 89 pesos that's crazy cheap.

You have the option to order other sausages as extras. I ordered 2 pieces of "Spiced Sausage" (P16 per piece), 1 pc "Sweet Longganisa" (P20 per piece) and an order of "Breakfast Sausage" (2 pieces for P45).

My total for everything was P189. I really liked the taste of all the sausages. The first time I tried the breakfast sausage (round patty shaped) I didn't like it too much because it seemed too dry, but this time around it was rather juicy. I really liked it because it comes close to the taste of a Lucban Longganisa. Ilyn didn't like it too much, but I did.

As a restaurant, Si Christina is one of our go to places here in San Pablo. When we have out of town guests, this is one of the places we choose to bring them. However, I do have to say that although their menu selection is quite numerous (menu not available online), most of them are just OK for me. Their burgers are just OK, their burritos are just OK, their pasta dishes are just OK. But they do have a few items that are pretty good including their bbq ribs (just incredibly good). I also really like their Pepperoni Pizza, which goes well with a bottle of Stella Artois (not on their menu but they have it if you ask). A recent favorite is their trio of American, UK and Japanese sliders.

Their true specialty are their cakes and sans rival, which are simply some of the best I've ever tasted. Try any of their cheesecakes (my favorite is the Speculoos Cheescake) and I guarantee you won't be disappointed. Their Chocolate Truffle cake is also quite amazing. I also love their brownies which they serve warm, which makes the chocolate bits in them slightly melted.

The wait staff is friendly and attentive and the place itself is quite cozy because of the decor and lighting. It's just a really nice place to hang out.

Recommended! Try them out if you're in town.

Feijoada

Feijoada is a dish I've learned of only recently through a long time online pal of mine from Brazil, Bira Dantas. I finally met Bira in person early in October during a comics festival in Algeria. Like many cartoonists I met at the festival, Bira was extremely proud of his culture and he wasted no time sharing all the great things he loved about Brazil. Food was of course, one of those things.

He invited me to visit him in Brazil and if ever I found myself there, he would cook Feijoada for me. He described it to me and the bean and meat lover in me immediately stood at attention. I love beans and I love meat, although they really don't love me back. These things are full of uric acid you see, and uric acid is something I'm trying avoid. It's the cause of gout and other arthritis-related ailments. And I've had a problem with gout for quite a while.

Nevertheless I wanted to try this out. Feijoada is composed mostly of beans and assortment of meats from bacon, to smoked ham, to sausages, etc. So yeah, in this house this is alternately called "Uric Acid Surprise".

I don't have access to a few authentic ingredients so I decided to just replace them with what's available here in the Philippines. These is is the set of ingredients I decided upon:

150 grams black beans
1/4 kilo bacon
300 grams kielbasa sausage
5 pieces San Pablo longganisa
1/4 kilo smoked ham
1 piece chopped T-bone
1 big white onion chopped
5 cloves garlic minced
chopped parsley for garnishing

I had difficulty finding black beans locally. What's available mostly are red kidney beans and pinto beans. I've had to go to Healthy Options to find a bag of black beans which were organic (which is I suppose, a good thing) and kind of expensive (oh well). Of course I could have just as easily replaced the black beans with some other kind of bean, but if I can get black beans then I would rather go with that since that is what is specified traditionally.

To add a Filipino touch, I used locally available sausages like the native longganisa. I also had a frozen T-bone steak lying around so I thought I'd just throw that in.

OK, here's how I did it (with some tips from Chef John of Food Wishes):

I first submerged the black beans in water overnight. The following day, I drained the beans, placed them on a deep pot with 4 cups of water. I chopped up the T-bone and threw that in (including the bones) and boiled it for 2 hours. I brought the pot to a boil in high heat then brought down the heat to low as soon as it started boiling. In the first few minutes of boiling, scum rose to the top so I removed all of that.

Around 15 minutes before the 2 hours are up, I chopped the garlic and onion. I sauteed that in some oil (you can fry up some bacon and sautee the garlic and onion in that if you like). I chopped the meat into bite size pieces. I cooked the longganiza in oil until it was browned and chopped that. If you are using uncooked meat at this point, you better cook it first before throwing it in.

At the 2 hour mark, I placed the sauteed onion and garlic into the pot of boiling water and beans, threw in all the meat, added one and a half cups of water. I turned the heat to high once again, and once it starts boiling, I brought the heat back to low. I continued simmering for another hour, with occasional stirring.

Before the hour is up, I mashed up some of the beans in the pot with a potato masher. This will help make the liquid a bit thicker.

I served my Feijoada topped with chopped parsley with rice. (Traditionally topped with orange peels so you can go with that if you like.)

My Favorite San Pablo City Longganisa

I'm a hardcore longganisa fan. Whenever I go to Manila, I try to get some of the more exotic local sausages from all over the Philippines. And by this time I've tasted a lot. My all time favorite may still be Lucban Longganisa, but this one I found right here in San Pablo comes really close.

The meat sellers at the local palengke have their own versions of longganisa, with slightly varying recipes and tastes. The general characteristic of San Pablo longganisa is that it's "hamonado" or that it's generally sweet.

The one I like most is the one from the stall of Vivien Laurel. They have two kinds of longganisa, Regular and Smoked. I like them both a lot, but I think their "Regular" longganisa (the whiter one), has a distinctive edge because it has a more subtle taste, and it seems more garlicky than the other. Yes, I'm a garlic fan. That's probably why Lucban Longganisa is my all time favorite.

The person at the stall said that the Regular Longganisa needs to be stewed in a bit of water first, while the Smoked one can be fried directly. I stewed both in water first because it's really only the proper thing to do with longganisa. The purpose of this is to soft cook the sausages, allowing some of the fat in them to melt and come out. By the time the water evaporates, the sausages will be fying in their own oil. If the melted oil isn't enough, you can always add a little bit more.

Also, the stewing in water allows the sausages to be cooked so that you don't have to fry them for too long. The problem with frying anything with sugar content is that sugar tends to burn quickly and you will soon end up with a pan with lots of burned and caramelized sugar.

There you go! Longganisa comes best with fried rice and sunny side up egg. If you buy from Vivien Laurel, them them the Internet sent ya!