Kababayan Market and Snoice (inside the market)

mmm-yoso!!! is what you are reading; a food blog.  Usually there is a daily blogpost about food or food related events written by either Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) or Cathy.  Since the guys are out and about (elsewhere in the world and the USA), Cathy is writing a short post. 

More than three years ago,  I wrote a post about a small Filipino market located South of Chula Vista.  That location closed and the new location is closer to home, for me.  

   Walking in the doorway to your right, bakery items are on shelves to the right.     Steam trays are straight ahead and everything is always fresh and being refilled.   This two item tray ($7 with rice, $8 with pancit)(this photo is with chicken adobo and pinakbet).  Adobo anything (meats or vegetables) is a type of preparation: simmered in a sauce of vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, pepper and bay leaves.  Pinakbet is primarily vegetables (almost always, bitter melon and eggplant), but sometimes (in the version here) also has pork, all of it is simmered in a fish or shrimp sauce complimented with ginger and garlic (or onion); usually shrimp paste is a condiment. 

At the end of the steam tray area are fried  things.  Chicken skins, dilis (anchovies), bulaklak ('ruffle fat'-intestines), pig skin plus meat-chicharrones. All the fried items are $8.99/lb.  I try to only buy a small bag, so none of it gets old. It comes with a vinegar-garlic dipping sauce.  Ukoy, a shredded sweet potato/carrot/bean sprout fritter, topped with a whole shrimp are usually in a pan on top of the steam trays, at eye level.  These are great snacks.
      Another item I will drop in to purchase is the garlic salted peanuts ($3.75 for the container).  We both eat peanuts with skins and these are the best version of garlic peanuts we've ever had.  cc likes the 'plain' peanuts from here, and other bakery items. There are also plenty of rice flour based desserts and, on weekends, skewers near the cash register.

A small seating area is just past the cash registers. That area used to be with shelving and refrigerated beverages, but last year a small pop-up stand was set up (see how it looked in cc's post here) and about three months later, it moved into the Water Store which was behind the wall, and is all built in with the bakery.  Snoice is a family run dessert shop, making Filipino-inspired and Taiwanese customizable desserts.  
Here is a better photo of the menu
     These are the prices.



      I've taken many photos of the traditional Halo-Halo here ($4.25+), none of those photos will come out upright.  Halo-halo means 'mix-mix'.  Shaved ice is placed in a cup with with evaporated milk, sweet banana (saging), sweet potato (kamote),  jello (gulaman), purple yam (ube) and topped with a cube of caramel flan and 'toasted rice' (pinipig-young, flattened crisp rice (that green you see on top)).  Basically, you mix all the ingredients together in the cup, so each spoonful is a combination of the flavors. The optional ice cream you see in the first photo is the mais queso- corn cheese; I have always been curious about the flavor but never wanted to buy a half gallon in the store.  The 'traditional' ice cream topping is ube. (This link is what Halo-halo is NOT.)

 Of course, there is indeed Snoice here-shaved snow. This is a strawberry shaved snow (excellent on its own) topped with bananas and lychee jelly (small snow, $4, toppings 50¢ each). Simple and just right.  

This little corner store in San Diego has a couple of great family owned and run businesses with authentic, fresh and tasty food-of all types.

Kababayan Bakery 8423 Paradise Valley Road (at Worthington) Spring Valley 91977 (619) 267-1493 open 6 a.m.-7:30 p.m., seven days

Snoice (inside Kababayan) same address, (619)432-5735 Open 11 a.m. daily, closed at 8p.m. Mon-Thurs, 9 p.m. Fri-Sat-Sun Website

 

Comments

[janfrederick]

"Bulaklak" One of the eight or so Tagalog vocabulary word. It means "flower" if I remember correctly, so that would make sense for "ruffle-fat"...
Wow, the inside is reminiscent of the now closed Christine's Bakery in Mira Mesa.

[Cathy]

Yes, janfrederick, I was told that 'bulaklak' means flower the first time I encountered the food I grew up knowing as 'chitlins', which I like because of the thin crispiness. Yes, it is very much like Cristy's Bakery, which is missed.

[caninecologne]

What a great and informative post Cathy. A lot of what you've described and shown is what I consider comfort food, especially pinakbet, which I like with seasoned with bagoong, rather than patis. Although I don't make it all too often because Bert and TC don't like bittermelon, it's still one of my favorite dishes.

As for that Bon Apetit version of halo halo, WTH man, ha ha. There is a dessert place called Halo Halo in east CV that serves variations on a theme of halo halo - most of the ingredients are pretty traditional. However, some of the ingredients that are "different" are crushed oreos, candies, and multicolored cereal (which seems to be a big trend that I'm not fond of). The customer can customize the flavor of ice cream (they have both traditional and run of the mill flavors). I like that they give customers options for their halo halo cups and flavors.

[Cathy]

Thanks, cc-I try to inform and not just describe what flavors are tasted. Once I(finally) tasted bittermelon prepared the Filipino way, it became a new craving for me: a bit different and good flavor and texture. Yes, that Americanized version of halo-halo is so wrong, Froot Loops flavors (and colors) were only briefly in my food spectrum during childhood.

[nhbilly]

Shrimp paste sauce FTW.

[Cathy]

I should just do a condiments post, Bill. So many choices!

[Lynn @ Oh-So Yummy]

I went here about two months ago and had no idea what I was eating though! just some pointing at stuff haha but interesting to try. we got to meet the owners of snoice afterwards and try the halo halo. the dessert is not to my taste but still a neat experience.

[Cathy]

I worked with a lot of Filipinos in Detroit, Lynn, so knew a bit about the food (although it was always lumpia and pancit for holidays or group sharing) and the flavor combinations have always hit a good spot for me. I didn't post, but there are some small pastries in the glass display just behind the cash register which are..you know, more of a pastry dessert. Some of the cold desserts can be very sweet, but the plain halo-halo is made with condensed (not sweetened condensed) milk and refreshing on hot days.

[Sajith Herath]

This is great. I was looking for this long time. In asia the kababayan bread is very popular.