Satti de Zamboanga at Andy's Special Satti: Halal-Certified Sweet and Spicy Breakfast

Wazzup Pilipinas!

I've done a lot of readings online several days before going to Zamboanga to check out what to expect and look for to satisfy my cravings for native delicacies of the city. It isn't everyday that you get the opportunity to visit the place so it's best to make the most of it rather than contend myself with what the hotel has to serve.

One that caught my attention was the Satti - an exotic Hala-certified local culinaria signifying the unique ties between Christians and Muslims in Zamboanga City, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. It is a mix of cubed rice and grilled beef or chicken (meat or liver) barbecue poured with a generous amount of sweet and spicy thick sauce. The meat were like literally swimming because the sauce were so plenty.

The dish is a hit among tourists because the taste of this piquant soup is something to perk up one's day especially when eaten early in the morning.

Best for breakfast, the Satti is a regional delicacy popular in Zamboanga but may not translate well for the people from Manila. We are used to sweet and salty in the mornings along with our favorite 3-in-1 instant or brewed coffee, but at Andy's Satti, they recommend sodas or softrinks as a thirst quencher, and spice reliever just in case you are not used to the spiciness.

Satti at a carinderia setting

Mind you, the dish is so terribly cheap - Yey! affordable, but apparently not many of us from Manila liked it. I guess I was a bit more daring because I ate them all up and consumed a few more since I ordered for a piece of both the chicken meat and liver just to see how it will different from the beef that I was already having.

It's affordable because it's sold at a carinderia-like setting accessible to all who prefer a fast and easy meal that already quite filling because of the cubed rice.

Places like these open as early as 4 am in the morning and you may not be able to find one serving the dish by mid day so better put that on your notepad that you'll carry with you when traveling to Zamboanga.

Halal-Certified Satti

The signage has that "Halal" word written to indicate its Halal-certified. In Arabic, the word halal means permitted or lawful. Halal foods are foods that are allowed under Islamic dietary guidelines. According to these guidelines gathered from the Qu'ran, Muslim followers cannot consume the following: pork or pork by products, animals that were dead prior to slaughtering, animals not slaughtered properly or not slaughtered in the name of Allah, blood and blood by products, alcohol, carnivorous animals, birds of prey, land animals without external ears.

Grilled and charcoaled

The barbecues are a bit smaller compared to the chicken but its a bit cheaper

Is that Halal-certified pork?

Just waiting in line for pouring of sweet and spicy Satti sauce

This is what the cube rice looked like while still wrapped

Cubed Rice

The weeet and spicy Satti special secret sauce

Our Satti server

 The folks at Andy's Special Satti were quite friendly. In fact, too friendly because they were the ones who keep on urging me to take their photos. Well, at least the men were, and the women were a bit shy.

Our Satti griller

This guy is actually posing for the camera but I told him to look at the grilled barbecue to make it look like his busy and that this is a stolen shot

Our satti take-out counter people doing a thumbs-up

This was our breakfast before heading off to the Santa Cruz Island beaches that early morning. We are excited to personally see the pin sand beaches that we've been hearing even before we climbed aboard the Cebu Pacific airplane.

My only concern that day was I forgot to bring along a sunblock so that was why after that day, I was like a grilled pork as well. What was great about the beach was the sand and breeze was cool despite of the sun's heat.

I'll tel you more about our Santa Cruz island trip at a separate blog post. For now, let me thank Andy's Special Satti for the interesting breakfast experience.