Kusina Salud

For yet another road trip, hubby and I chose to go to a slightly far flung, off the beaten road restaurant. Kusina Salud, located in Barangay Sta Cruz (Putol) in San Pablo Laguna. We heard such raving reviews for their cuisine and ambiance. Granted, that we got lost and made a huge u-turn and completely missed our lunch reservation. We decided to forge ahead and look for the place anyway. We arrived two hours late from our reservation. The people didn't seem to mind since it was a weekday and the place wasn't packed.

We were greeted by Patis Tesoro herself with a posse of poodles at her tail.

The place is a hodgepodge of Filipino and Asian collectibles. The house itself looks like a typical Filipino home of old. Complete with intricate wood trimmings, bamboo slats for the 2nd floor, old beams, capiz windows and silong (basement). My husband felt right at home. Since the furniture and the "kalat"/junk/"collectibles" that we found there are similar to the house where he grew up in. It even smelled like my in-laws' house. I deduced it was probably coming from the huge amount of antique wood and furniture in the property.

We were eager to have late lunch. First off, I ordered the Pako Salad, their signature salad of fern with salted egg, kesong puti, onions tossed in patis (fermented fish sauce) and calamansi (local lemon) dressing and some grated cheddar cheese. I remember the first time I had Pako salad when my family and Eric (who was my boyfriend then) were vacationing in Bicol with a favorite uncle and his family. The salad was really really good and fresh and tart. I was hoping to recapture that memory. It was a little bit disappointing because the pako salad at Kusina Salud lacked the acidity to balance all the ingredients together. It's a bit flat. I would order it again but would ask for more calamansi or vinegar next time. I mean, fern is hard to find. Where else can you have it, right?

Another dish that were ordered was the Tokwa't Bulaklak. It's a spin on your traditional Tokwa't Baboy but with bituka ng baboy (pork intestines-like the ones used in chicharon bulaklak) instead of pork ear and face. This was a hit for both hubby and me. The bulaklak was marinated in soysauce and calamansi prior to being fried. Easy enough to do at home. If you don't have a heart condition and if you're young enough to get away with the added cholesterol, go for it. A must try.

For our main dish, we decided to share the fresh fish in "XO" sauce. Fish cooked in ginger infused brandy oyster sauce and garlic sauteed pechay. The fish will vary according to the fresh catch from Dalahican, Quezon. For that day, it was maya-maya. I loved the fresh sauteed pechay. My husband didn't like this dish at all. It was too gingery for his taste.

One thing that my husband absolutely loved is their rice infused with pandan leaves. At this point
I was thinking of yanking the pandan plant from my mother's garden and planting it my mine. You see, my husband eats very little rice and he only seems to like yang chow and this pandan rice. So there.

Moving on. For dessert, we ordered Sansrival and Turon (Fried crepes with plantain bananas) with Langka (Jackfruit) and vanilla ice cream. The Sansrival
was really really good. It's not makunat. The meringue was airy and not too sweet. It's served with sliced ripe mangoes on the side. For the turon, it was good also, the saba (plantain) banana inside and the langka were both sweet. Again, simple enough to do at home. The ice cream is not home made though.

We would have loved to have a freshly squeezed dalandan juice with lots of ice on such a hot afternoon. Sadly, the place only offers the powdered kind. So we just stick to our bottled water.

The place has a small aviary that your children might enjoy. They have an assortment of lovebirds, lorries, cockatoos (like my lola used to have), parrots and other birds that we couldn't identify. It also had a small stream behind the property that provided the natural and relaxing waterfall noises throughout our stay there. There are plenty of places for picture taking so, don't forget to bring your camera.