Cucina Ilocana | Salad Oh, Init Pa!

Chancing upon this little food stall located at the Mabini Commercial Complex in V. Mapa St. Davao City, gave me and beau a bunch of surprise! Thanks to Kaye for recommending Cucina Ilocana, we can now enjoy the true taste of Ilocos right in the middle of Davao. Cucina Ilocana opened last August 2012, in time for the Kadayawan sa Davao celebration.

We were there for snacks and the staff recommended their best-seller Empanada which costs only P40.00. This is, seriously, the biggest empanada that I've seen.

Let's look at what's inside the empanada....

The empanada was made out of shredded papaya. And yes, it will surely remind you of the good-old-favorite-Pinoy-side-dish, the atsara! But this empanada does not taste like atsara. Cucina Ilocana's empanada has ground meat and eggs in it. Now, it reminds me of siopao! But this is not siopao, it's empanada.

The empanada is best eaten with Cucina Ilocana's very own vinegar.

Let's see what's for dessert.... Aside from the brownie a'la mode, Cucina Ilocana has this Knickbocker which costs only P85.00.

The Knickbocker is simply fruit salad topped with an ice cream. If you're familiar with the tagline, "salad o, init pa," then this dessert would surely remind you of that. Why? Because the salad is not your typical out-of-the-freezer dessert. Although I did not really see the preparation of the Knickbocker, it was served to me at room temperature. It has no ice in it. Only the scoop of ice cream is cold. If I remember it correctly, the Knickbocker had slices of watermelon, mango, and banana, with some gelatin. I loved this dessert, it's filling and it's healthy.

Our first visit at Cucina Ilocana was a pleasant one. And because of that, we gave Cucina Ilocana a second visit to try their famous Bagnet! Stay tuned for the post! (--,)