Colon's Open Resto

(I sent this article to a newspaper but didn't see print, and so it is gracing the pages of my blog)

For someone who has a very sensitive stomach and needs to be careful of what she eats, I am ironically quite fond of eating street foods.

Whenever I get the chance to walk around the busy streets of Colon, I always have this tendency to stop and check out what people are selling and patronize most of them – from fried chicken, to puto, peanuts and what have you.

My latest favorite is the tempura and “kwek-kwek” which they now serve with sliced cucumber and/or “guso” on the side. I first discovered this when I went for a vacation in Davao some years ago. We were just walking the streets somewhere near their Chinatown and saw a street full of people and we just had to check it out for ourselves. That’s when I saw their “kwek-kwek”, their unlimited cucumber on the side, and their grounded salt with chilies. There and then I fell in love with this street food.

When I went back to Cebu, the Davao-style “kwek-kwek” was nowhere to be found so it was a favorite all-too-distant to ever taste again until very recently when the Cebuano vendors finally caught up to the concept and started selling the kwek-kwek and the tempura with the cucumber and guso sidings – much to my gusto!

Ofcourse the Davao-style (with bigger eggs, more cucumbers and “guso” than you can imagine, the grounded salt chilies and the cleaner streets) was no comparison to the Cebuano style one but it was better than nothing. Ever since the tempura and cucumber matching was introduced to the Cebuano market, eating tempura alone was no longer satisfying for me. It just had to be paired with the cucumber or not at all.

Just yesterday, I had my fill of my favorite tempura with cucumber and “guso” in front of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, just a block from where I work. I purposely went there even if there were ones selling near Sto. Niño Church because from experience, it was only in there that they had both the cucumber and the guso. (at least in the area anyway)

They were located near the museum before but they’ve moved because apparently they were being hunted down by SPEED and by local barangay officials who thought they were “making the streets filthy”. Normally, these little “mini-wheeled-kitchen-and-stores” were manned by men (no pun intended here) but this one was by two lovely ladies who were very well-kempt and very proper. (I’m guessing they are students and just helping their parents sell for the summer.)

Unlike most tempura stalls that have un-covered containers and was an embodiment of the word “street” more than the word “food”; this one was quite clean, have covers for all their goods, have serving spoons for the cucumber and guso and even have a little rug.

I gave them my order and they happily gave it to me offering the cucumber and guso as “unlimited” unlike one stall that I’ve tried before who was not happy for second or third helpings of cucumber. (which I normally go for by the way)

I always eat mine right beside the stall because of the availability of the sidings and because I know one is never enough for me. After a few minutes, people started flocking in and the stall started getting busy with people ordering and eating. Soon enough conversations were made between the vendors and the customers with the topic mainly on why they are always on the look-out for those trying to catch them, lock their “caritons” away and have them pay a penalty to claim it. Something they didn’t like because it apparently meant no income for them and an additional need for money to pay the penalty.

I do actually feel for them, I am bit angry as well, how else would you feel if other people were always trying to hinder you from making a decent living? And it’s not like they’ve been getting millions from it, it probably just is enough for a day’s sustenance or even barely. But I also understand that the officials need to implement restrictions for the city’s over-all good.

So in compromise, why not create a venue for regular vendors to sell their goods without breaking any laws or ordinances. Instead of wasting valuable time and resources in playing hide-and-seek and tug-of-war with these vendors, why not propose something that will benefit both parties? Confiscating stalls or even goods will in no way stop them from trying to earn a living; because a need cannot be stopped, it will only make the need even more urgent and them more persistent.

Why not create an area in the locality and tag it as something like “Cebuano Streetfood Alley”, where these “super micro-preneurs” can sell their products without paying such a burdensome amount and customers can continue enjoying these treats at their normal “street” prices? We can even make a tourist attraction out of it, right? Win-win.

I am not sure about the legalities but Filipinos that we are, I am sure we can always come up with a way to work things around; we are, after all great innovators.

Anyway, after my savory tempura with cucumber and guso treat, I left the little store gastronomically satisfied but looking for a thirst-quencher since it was bit spicy. I have been meaning to try the melon drink located at the alley in the middle of Sto. Niño and Cathedral and thankfully it was there. I had half of my drink and gave half to the girl gawking at me the whole time.

I then walked one more block to wait for a jeepney ride but not without checking out an “ukay-ukay” stall selling shoes where I spotted a pair of brown leather Hush Puppies shoes with a little heel but looked comfortable. I then put them on and checked my reflection on one of their mirrors and knew it was the shoe I’ve been needing for a while now since my shoes have shown significant wear and tear yet have remained intact with some instant adhesive. The store was already closing and I only had 100 in my wallet so I decided to come back a day after with a promise to definitely buy it. It seemed like a perfectly sensible bargain, 180 pesos for a branded pair of shoes isn’t bad, right?

I always love walking in the streets of Colon and this day was even nicer with the tempura and melon drink plus an insightful conversation with the lovely tempura girls.

I really hope that there is a plan that will not make my favorite street foods obsolete as that would be too bad. Part of what makes us culturally interesting as a country and as a city is the availability of these street foods and it would be a shame to lose that over a little dispute between two parties. Parties that are both in the right but just misunderstood but that for sure would understand each other if they just stepped into the other’s shoes.

That way, even my kid and his future kids can feel the kind of excitement and gusto at a simple serving of tempura with cucumber slices and not fear that any moment it will be snatched away by some people just because they were being sold at the wrong place and at the wrong time. That is just simply wrong.

Tomorrow and in the future, I still would love to have another round of streetfood that only Colon’s Open Resto’can offer… Bon appétit or should I instead say, “kaon ta bai!” (let's eat) ;-)

(I had planned to take a picture but was only able to take that of the tempura stall and here it is. Here is picture of one of Colon’s Open Resto - kitchen and dining area.)

nmed 05/20/14