Cocina Ysabella

With a name like Cocina Ysabella, you’d think this eating place came straight out of a telenovela, but no, you’re not gonna find Judy Ann Santos working the stoves and pots and pans. You’d find another Santos working Cocina Ysabella’s kitchen, though with no relation to Juday. Bong Santos, together with his better half Pia, give you the kind of food that makes you keep coming back for more. Serving mostly Filipino food, with a smattering of foreign dishes, Cocina Ysabella, located at the Paseo complex in Mabolo, gives diners a good selection of tasty and affordable treats.

Salad lovers looking for something out of the ordinary should definitely try the Kamayan salad. It’s actually the traditional Pinoy salad of mangoes, tomatoes and onions mixed with bagoong, a very pungent shrimp paste. At Cocina Ysabella though, grilled eggplant is added into the mix. The Kamayan salad is a cacophony of flavors and textures: crunchy, pulpy, soft, pungent, sharp, sweet and sour all at the same time. It provides the diner with a zesty and flavorful introduction to Filipino food.

Cocina Ysabella’s take on the Bicol Express will most likely leave diners gasping for breath after a few bites. Made from coconut milk-marinated pork and peppers sautéed in oil, the coconut milk gives the distinct flavor typical of dishes from Southeast Asia. Beware of the peppers however; at first taste, the hotness is not readily apparent, but it slowly creeps up on you and lets go with a kick a few mouthfuls later. It tastes great eaten with rice, as a viand, or as a beer match.

Another Pinoy favorite available at Cocina Ysabella is the chicharon bulaklak. Made from pork innards, specifically from the membranes holding pork intestines together, this deep-fried and crispy delicacy is popular all over the Philippines, especially among beer drinkers. Seasoned with salt and pepper, it tastes best when dipped in spicy vinegar and paired with a really cold bottle of San Miguel Pale Pilsen. Those with high cholesterol levels should be careful, though, as this particular dish is pretty much habit-forming.

If you’re Tagalog and you’ve been hard-pressed to find a decent sinigang here in Cebu, you should definitely try Cocina Ysabella’s sinigang. It’s got just the right amount of sourness sinigang is famous for, and comes complete with radish, stringbeans, okra, kangkong and gabi, with the gabi boiled down almost into mush. Of course, it should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: sinigang shouldn’t have cabbage or pechay, and Cocina Ysabella’s sinigang certainly doesn’t have these. An order is usually good for two people, so it wouldn’t hurt to bring a friend to share it with, if only to show how real sinigang is supposed to taste like.

A variety of other dishes are also available, among them beef caldereta, which is a stew made with meat, carrots and potatoes; burger steaks, fried chicken and Thai spring rolls. Of course, soft drinks, iced tea, beer and some kinds of liquor are also offered, so quenching your thirst or getting a buzz isn’t much of a problem at all.

For those who love Pinoy food, especially dishes from the island of Luzon, or for those who simply want to have a change from the regular sinugba or tinowa or ngohiong that’s available practically everywhere, a visit to Cocina Ysabella would surely be a good idea. Who knows, Juday might think so too.