Sunday, February 11, 2007
This is Kinabalu
By Stella A. Estremera
Goin' places
YUP, I haven't been around for a few days and have thus been tied down to my computer since returning home. Work undone when left behind, remains undone except that you're several days behind. Darn.
And so I will just tell you about how I gained a few more pounds in this city called Kota Kinabalu since I haven't had the time to look around in ours.
It was our last night, and our host Susan wanted us to taste the real Kinabalu: not the dressed up Kinabalu we have been getting FC (feeling close) to in our hotel and its posh surroundings.
She saw us into three hotel taxis and directed the drivers to go to somewhere outside the part of the city we have explored, past wide highways and scenic views... several minutes away, which again turned out to be a city-looking place complete with posh cafes and restos and... Damai.
It's a street with a tarpaulin roof obviously taken off the motoring map for pedestrians to sit around in. It's full of monobloc chairs and tables and people slurping food and cooks banging on their woks in quick practiced whips of the hand as they prepare food right beside where the people are seated. It's the cleanest place around. You're seated on a paved road littered with paper napkins and cigarette butts and what-have-yous. But there is no offensive smell, just the aroma of cooking food - sautéed, fried, grilled, overdone, burnt (joke!). While Susan ordered our food, we chose our drinks.
"Bio-active Chlorophyll Honey" hogged the center of the drinks menu. Why not? Never mind if it reminds me of Chernobyl or something just as lethal. My companions were less adventurous and opted for the safe orange juice, lemon honey, watermelon, and starfruit (balimbing). Soon after, our drinks were brought in by a male server who reminded me of our neighborhood dispatser in kamiseta. So, how does Bio-active Chlorophyll Honey taste like? It tastes like honey-flavored "dayami" (weed, the one growing right outside your gate) in water.
Susan wanted us to taste the real Kinabalu, and she was serious about her task, although we didn't realize this until much, much later when the food being brought in refused to stop.
First came rice cooked to a "tutong" while smothered with some dark sauce and some unidentified ingredients in metal bowls (You first sangkutsa the whole thing so that you dislodge the tutong and mix everything well). Then came something that she said was tofu but had two textures (and tasted yummy - reminded me of Yogi Raj's tofu), and then grilled tilapia, then a pencil-thin mussel shells, and then another one, and then another one, and then another one (I really can no longer remember how many), and finally another preparation of that pencil-thin mussel shells but this time tastier, hotter, and just the way I like it.
There's one problem though, my tummy was already full, like really full. But then, hey, it's Kinabalu and I should just as well have to gorge (this plus the fact that the others in the group -- mostly Filipinos by this time -- were not so enthusiastic about the chili hotness that Susan was so proud about). Bobby T. of Mindanews did gobble in some as well, but gladly passed on the lot to me after a while.
Susan wasn't finished with us yet. We have to taste their bread, she said, it's as soft as marshmallows. A white sando bag full of bread arrived and we were obliged to eat. Was I glad that ABD consultant Tina Cuyugan was just nibbling on her food, she gladly shared a sandwich with me. And yes, Susan was right, it was marshmallow soft. But I was too full to appreciate it.
So, just in case you do find yourself on the shores of Kota Kinabalu, ask to be brought to Damai... it's worth the experience (and the poundage), and save some space for their marshmallow soft loaf bread. They come in two forms - regular and toasted.For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (February 11, 2007 issue)
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