Kulsina’s home cooked meals

CEBU, Philippines - Nothing beats home cooked meals.

Regardless how expensive the ingredients of restaurant dishes are, somehow, mom or grandma’s cooking tastes better. It’s not simply patronizing family, but it’s the simple truth.

Even with today’s difficulty in procuring the best ingredients for whatever dish you plan to create, or the lack of ingredients what with the current crisis, home cooked meals have somehow that taste of comfort, perhaps making it even more delicious.

And of course we can’t credit this to unhealthy instant chemical-based seasoning and flavoring marketed today with the promise that it would make your dish taste like the meal you’re trying to prepare.

That’s just it, home cooked meals taste better. That is the reason why the philosophy of home cooking has become the trademark of Kul Kitchen, including that of its latest addition to the Kul family: Kulsina Seafood Grill in J Centre Mall.

Kul is a Sanskrit word that roughly translates to family, and according to Kul creator Chef Steven Edward Tan, that is how he envisioned the Kul restaurants to be, a place where friends and family would get together, bond, and to create memories.

Recently, Cebu’s media were treated to lunch at Kulsina and Chef Steven prepared some of his best sellers, which I presume must have been hard for him to choose. Based on his admission, many of their creations are favorites of returning guests, depending on the group.

Served were Chicken Kuldon Bleu, which is breaded chicken rolled around pieces of ham and cheese and then topped with corn cream sauce; Ginataang Tangigue, mackerel cooked in rich coconut milk; Cheese Ribs, a Kul specialty of pork ribs generously bathed in lasagna sauce and topped with melted cheese;  Sesame Fish Fillet, fish fillet topped with a sauce of mixed sesame oil, oyster sauce and honey; Ham and egg salad, which is mixed greens with generous slices of ham and scrambled eggs tossed into the salad; Pasta Hungarian, pasta and hungarian sausage in tomato sauce; Mushroom Beef, that’s stir fried garlic, beef, and mushroom, with mashed potato; and a soup of pureed onions with mixed seafood.

Chef Steven disclosed that eighty percent of their food is cream-based simply because that is what his brothers, who happen to be his tasters, prefer.  And that is why his cooking at Kulsina is home cooked — the food served at the restaurant is basically what he serves to his family.

Cooking came naturally to Chef Steven.  Although he finished a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, he took up culinary arts at the Philippine School of Culinary Arts to pursue his passion for cooking.

He said that his biggest challenge was to bring the message to prospective customers that their food is quite affordable.

“Our seats used to be all wood, but we decided to change some to monobloc chairs just so people would come in and realize for themselves that we are not that expensive,” shared Chef Steven, adding that although they want to make their restaurant’s look to be elegant and classy, it tends to give a wrong impression on prospective customers who would shy away from expensive looking restaurants.

Kulsina’s food is quite affordable, with satisfying meals starting at P50.

To try Kulsina’s home cooked meals, visit them at the ground floor of J Centre Mall, A. S. Fortuna Street, Mandaue City. (FREEMAN)