Satti serves up Mindanao cuisine in Manila

The proliferation of Singaporean, Korean and other Asian restaurants in Manila inspired journalist Armand Nocum to quit media work, and join the world of entrepreneurs.

Satti Grill House, a home-grown venture with wife Annura Sahi-Nocum, introduces Zamboanga, Basilan, and Sulu cuisine to Manila’s adventurous diners at the SM Fairview Food Court.

“I felt that it was time for Manileños to have a taste of the rich, exotic cuisine of Western Mindanao. They can appreciate kimchi, shawarma, and other foreign food, so I thought, why not our very own dishes from the south,” says Nocum.

The restaurant’s main attraction is satti, a local version of the satay and sate street food with Mediterranean origins, but popular in most Southeast Asian countries.

“Satay is so popular in Singapore that there is a Satay Club, which is made up of satay outlets along Beach Road and Clarke Quay. In Malaysia, satay is served in almost all restaurants, food courts and street stalls. In Bali and all other key destinations in Indonesia, sate is served with turtle, pork, goat, snake and even crocodile meat,” says Nocum.

Satay is also served to First and Raffles Class passengers of Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and Air Asia.

But Satti strives to be different from its Southeast Asian counterparts because in Zamboanga and Sulu, its spicy peanut-based sauce is turned into a soup where chicken and beef grilled on skewers are dipped when eaten.

“This is the only food where the rice served has been cooked in coconut leaves and then immersed or dunked Oreo-style in the soup,” explains Nocum.

Other popular dishes are Kurma, a spicy combination of Muslim curry and beef, and Locot-Locot, twisted rice sticks dipped served with Sulu coffee which is the Chavacano version of the Spanish churros con chocolate.

Wife Annura is a Tausug and supervises a workforce of six: three from Zamboanga, one from Sulu, one from Basilan and one from Maguindanao. All dishes are prepared without pork meat or pork oil, as is the custom of our Muslim countrymen. Having opened only in June 2007, adjustments to the menu are still being made.

“In serving the Satti to our customers, we don’t differentiate between Muslims and non-Muslims because we want every one to have a taste of satti, according to its original and unadulterated flavor. That includes not serving pork, not using any pork ingredients, and not using utensils that have touched pork oil. If there is a minor change in our servings to non-Muslims, it is the fact that we tone down the spicy taste for those who are not used to spicy food,” Nocum says.

Pork-free meals, a boon to dieters and cholesterol-conscious customers, are priced from P69 to P81. Locot-Locot goes for P49 per box of eight pieces.

“We are out to ‘sattinize’ non-Muslims who are looking for something new to taste. I believe that people here in Manila are gastronomically adventurous judging on how they have taken to foreign food from Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Singaporean, and even spicy Korean food. People seem to go for the novelty of the food concept and I tell you satti is one such kind of food,” says Nocum.

The Nocums, who invested close to a million pesos in starting up their venture, plan to grow Satti Grill House into a chain of about five to six outlets in the next 18 months. Franchising is also in the horizon as they believe this is the way to speed up the spread and reach of Mindanao food to the rest of the country.