Food is pretty much like relationships. There are dishes you treasure forever, and some you like meeting occasionally. Then there are those that remain like a one night-stand with Lindsay Lohan: curiosity-borne, fleeting, never to recur in the short or long-term.
Such is the case with 1st Colonial Grill’s oddly flavored ice cream.
We came to this popular food joint in Legazpi’s Gaisano Mall carrying that flair of curiosity. So many raves about their signature sili ice cream, we just had to find out for ourselves. Immediately we ask for one cup each (P35) of their bestselling flavors to partake among us five-and-a-half: sili, malunggay, tinutungang bigas, and pili. We didn’t want to be hasty and order multiples of something we might not end up liking.
Later on, it would prove to be a wise decision.
It’s not that they aren’t good. Bundled together, they’re a soft, not toothaching-sweet dollop of quirk and mystery that hits organic to a T. Tinutungang bigas reminded me so much of my mother’s toasted rice coffee. The pili flavor does the pili nut justice, though a bit on the bitter side. Malunggay runs clean and fresh and so unmistakably, uhm, malunggay. It’s probably the only flavor I wouldn’t mind taking a second shot of.
The sili ice cream though, well, that’s an entirely different story. It’s kooky in the far end of the Marilyn Manson spectrum. I had conflicting feelings partaking it, because while I think it was pure genius to integrate that medium spicy kick of Bicol’s most used veggie fruit in a cold dessert, the gata and binagoongang baboy aftertaste it leaves in the mouth doesn’t work quite as well. And lemme tell ya, I LOVE gata and binagoongang baboy at that.
In some cultures, these artisan ice cream flavors might be considered mind-blowing or groundbreaking. But to me, for the most part, they tasted like frozen table food. No dissing, that works with many things like adobo or menudo. But translated to ice cream, it’s just…weird. It’s acquired taste – a taste I didn’t acquire.
Like I said, one-night stands. It’s something you look back to while nervously giggling, that one exciting conquest with Lindsay Lohan (or other), but to crave for it? Nah. I am more than happy with my ongoing affair with my suking manglalako’s 10-peso Pinipig ice cream.
Read the rest of our Bicol trip series:
The Long Way Home
Sogod Beach, Bacacay: When Nature Goes Batshit
Photo
Essay: Views from Daraga Church, Albay
Debunking Hearsay: Hoyop-Hoyopan Cave, Camalig, Albay
Leave a Reply