Filipino Expats Blog in Thailand

Living in a foreign land is made a lot easier when you are surrounded by things similar to what you have at home. But still, there would always be things you’ll miss. Our guess is, Pinoy food would come up on top of your ‘things missed’ list. Don’t fret however, because the next time you crave for mom’s or grandmom’s cooking from back home, you can pay the New Mabuhay Restaurant in Phetburi Soi 19 a visit. There, you’ll enjoy the company of kababayans (fellow Filipininos) and enjoy the wide array of Pinoy dishes. This writer’s best picks would be the “bulalo” (beef stew) and the “crispy pata” (deep fried pork knuckle).

Here’s Siam Pinoy’s interview with the New Mabuhay owner, Romy Polito.

Q: When did Mabuhay start?

A: It’s an MBA, meaning, ‘Mabuhay by Accident’. In July 2003, we had many customers for our cargo business. They requested Delia, my wife, to cook Filipino dishes for them. They were simple dishes; ‘daing na bangus’ (dried milk fish), ‘sinigang na hipon’ (shrimp soup similar to the Thai tom yum). So weekly, we would go to the market, buy the ingredients and cook to satisfy our customers.

Later on, we thought, why don’t we just start a small restaurant?

So we did, starting with ‘pinakbet’ (mixed vegetable with pork), ‘adobo’ (chicken or pork dish cooked in vinegar; very popular with the Thais and farangs), ‘paksiw na isda’ (fish cooked in vinegar), ‘pusit’ (squid), and other dishes that are easy to cook and prepare.

Then later, the requests from customers got more complex. They wanted ‘bulalo’ (beef stew) and ‘crispy pata’ (deep fried pork knuckle). We took Delia’s brother from the Philippines, who had been a cook for 30 years then, to join us here since he knew how to cook those dishes requested by our customers.

I did not even know what ‘bulalo’ was. I only found out what kind of dish it is here in Bangkok!

Q: Why the name “Mabuhay”?

A: I believe in names; I believe it plays a part in one’s destiny. ‘Mabuhay’ is inspired by our Philippine Airlines’ official in-flight magazine. It is also our Filipino word for “Long Live”! Here at Mabuhay, we want everything ‘buhay palagi’ (always alive)!

Q: What are some of the favorite dishes ordered by regulars?

A: The ‘crispy pata’ and ‘bulalo’. Our beef for the ‘bulalo’ is certified organic. Unlike other beef that’s available in the market, ours come from a seller certified by an internationally qualified body that sells beef that has not been injected by antibiotics or any form of chemical agent. And we do our marketing at midnight, to assure that we get the first pick, because that’s when the meat is fresh!

‘Crispy pata’ in the Philippines costs as much as 600 pesos now. Ours, we keep only around 300baht, and people are assured it tastes good because we put our own special spices and we have our own way to make sure it’s crisp and sweet-smelling, which is quite hard to do if you only cook it at home.

Q: Who are some special and/or famous people who have visited Mabuhay?

A: We’ve had celebrities like Nino Muhlach, and several politicians from the Philippines. They (the latter) make Mabuhay sort of their coffee place. We’ve also been visited by a CNN correspondent who was looking for some exotic dishes. He paid to have many of our dishes cooked so he can photograph them for an article in CNN!

Q: How has the New Mabuhay expanded from the simple restaurant it was when it started?

A : Now we have customers who ask us to cater for big events like weddings, birthdays and parties. There are also large groups who choose to do their events right here. We moved our karaoke system upstairs so they can sing until late at night if they wish to.

Read the rest here

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 31st, 2011 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Living in Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.