MANILA -- Palm Grill, which specializes in the cuisine of Southern Mindanao, celebrates its fifth anniversary with the addition of new dishes to its menu.

Owner Miguel Cabel Moreno fondly remembers that even close friends and relatives called him crazy for putting up a restaurant that featured a relatively unknown Filipino regional cuisine as compared to more popular ones like Pampangueno and Ilonggo food.

But after five years, and having survived the pandemic lockdowns by offering their food through delivery, Palm Grill is the Southern Mindanao restaurant that could. From its little corner on Tomas Morato, Moreno shines the spotlight on ZamBaSulTa (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi) food.

Moreno had a small get-together to celebrate the restaurant's fifth anniversary featuring a performance of the Pangalay, a Tausug courtship dance, poetry reading, and the introduction of the restaurant’s new dishes.

Start out with coffee, now brewed as it is traditionally done in the region. Ground Kahawa Sug Robusta is immersed in boiling water then poured through a cheesecloth to strain out the grounds. The result is a strong cup of coffee that is surprisingly still balanced.

For first timers, the Chicken Pianggang and Tiyula Itum beef stew are great introductions to the region’s cuisine. Both use palapa, Palm Grill’s own secret mix of blackened coconut and secret spices that are grown, packed into bricks by farmers in Mindanao, and then sent to Manila on a regular basis.

For those who want to sample the best of Palm Grill in one go and dine like Tausug royalty, the Dulong is the way to go. This platter, usually served at celebrations, comes with two servings of pianggang, beef kolma, turmeric rice, devilled egg with a large serving of tiyula itum in the middle.

Sambal, a sour, salty, and spicy condiment that is also prevalent in Indonesian and Malaysian cuisine, is used to add punch to the new dishes.

One can opt to sample this as a snack with slices of fresh salted cucumber, or as a sauce on top of the new Sizzling Sambal Squid or Deep-Fried Pampano.

This adds a different kind of heat to the seafood dishes that really makes them stand out from the usual chili sauce or labuyo-soy sauce mixture.

Another unique sauce is Belachang, a thicker version of bagoong that is also found in Indonesia and used with the turmeric chicken, Palm Grill's version of inasal.

Definitely save room for dessert. Have some lokot loko, crispy deep-fried sugary strings of sticky rice wound together with some of the restaurant’s durian ice cream, or check out their version of the Knickerbocker, vanilla ice cream with jellies and watermelon.

You can try Palm Grill’s Cocoroon too, a coconut macaroon cupcake topped with a maraschino cherry that would be nice to pair with coffee.

Before you leave, check out the barter shelf for pasalubong. Those who have been to Zamboanga will instantly recognize the grocery items available at the barter section of Zamboanga City that come all the way from Malaysia and Indonesia by sea.

All in all, Palm Grill It remains one of the best places to sample the authentic cuisine from Southern Mindanao in Metro Manila outside of the Muslim district in Quiapo. It is a great place to discover another facet of Filipino food outside of the ones we are accustomed to and is worth a visit.

Palm Grill is located at 179 Tomas Morato in Quezon City and is open Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.