THERE will always come a time when someone will ask, where's a halal restaurant or where can we eat with our Muslim guests?
Of course, they can opt for just ordering seafood as many do in non-halal restaurants but there's a totally different ring to it when you can proudly name one neat and nice place that serves really good food familiar to the Moro/Muslim palate. There's Wady's of course. But that's just one.
Thus, it was time to explore and find out what this other restaurant a random friend posted about on social media.
Haya's Place, it says, along Tulip Drive in Juna Subdivision, Matina. And sure enough, I quickly saw it just before we finally gathered to try the place.
Haya's is along Tulip Drive at the building right outside the gate of Fuente de Villa Abrille sharing the same building as Minkah's Kitchen.
There were four of us, although Mark came late (not knowing where Tulip Drive is, argh!). For starters, we got the hummus and fatoush salad. The veggies in the fatoush is chopped into tiny cubes, so you can munch on it along with the small triangles of crackers that it goes with. The hummus is yummy. It has a tangy taste, making it more flavorful than most hummus you get here.
Imee got the chicken biryani (and asked that it be the least spicy), which came with real biryani rice -- very long ones. I got the Tausug Satti (tiny chicken barbecue bits on rice and a plateful of hot sweet very spicy sauce. Jennie got the Chicken Pianggang or chicken in blackened coconut curry, another Tausug dish.
Mark who arrived later also got the chicken biryani because by then the food he asked for were already out of stock and at that time, they didn't have beef. If fully stocked, Haya's offers Tausug, Malaysian, and Arabic cuisine. I topped my meal with a cup of Kahawa Sug, or Sulu coffee.
I can't help but wonder hours later if it was the coffee or the eclipse, but at 4:30 a.m. I was still tossing and turning in bed. The verdict? They have very flavorful dishes there, and very reasonably priced, too, considering that it's a real restaurant with real restaurant facilities!
A plus for Muslim friends, the restaurant has a prayer room, so you can pop in, mingle with friends and just take a prayer break when prayer time comes.