Kabayan delights: Filipino comfort food in Abu Dhabi and Dubai

From malagkit rolls to buko pie and barbecued chicken feet, here's where to find the best dishes from the Philippines

Kabayan Zone is the busiest Filipino street food outlet in Abu Dhabi. All photos: Victor Besa / The National

The menu at Kabayan Zone, which is opposite Al Wahda Mall, Abu Dhabi.

Barbecued chicken feet at Kabayan Zone. The chicken is dipped in a sauce containing garlic, onions and vinegar with red hot chilli peppers. A popular staple in Filipino street food, chicken feet are commonly known as 'adidas', after the sports shoe brand.

'Helmet' is barbecued chicken head. Similar to jumbo isaw and adidas in marinade and dipping sauce, but not as popular. This is the version served at Kabayan Zone.

Kabayan Zone's halo-halo, which in English means mix mix. Halo-halo is shaved ice, with jellies, flan, macapuno, palm seeds, sweetened red beans, ube ice cream, fresh fruit, toasted coconut flakes, pinipig mixed with sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk. Everyone makes it differently, and this is Kabayan Zone's version.

Macaroni Medley at Hot Palayok Restaurant & Grill in Madinat Zayed, Abu Dhabi. It's made from condensed cream and some mayonnaise with macaroni and an assortment of Filipino fruit preserves, raisins, macapuno, red and green jelly with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese on top.

Hot Palayok also has a branch in Karama, Dubai.

The puto bumbong balls at Hot Palayok are made from rice flour with purple yam steamed in bamboo tubes. It's topped with fresh coconut and a pinch of brown sugar.

Biko, a sweet rice cake, is one of the most delicious delicacies in the Philippines. There are several variations and this is the Hot Palayok version.

Hot Palayok's ginataang bilo bilo, a popular Filipino afternoon snack or dessert. It's made with glutinous rice balls, plantain bananas, sweet potatoes and tapioca pearls and cooked in sweet coconut milk. Sometimes jackfruit is added. This is best served hot and kept warm in a clay pot or 'hot palayok'.

Razon's of Guagua is famous for pancit luglug, a dish made of thick rice noodles.

Razon's of Guagua's famous cooler, halo-halo, uses three ingredients – sweetened banana, macapuno (coconut jelly) and leche flan served on fine shaved milk ice.

Pancit luglug, the most popular meal at Razon's of Guagua, which is in the food court at Al Wahda Mall extension.

Kabayan Turo-Turo Cafeteria is in Al Attar Centre in Karama, Dubai.

Kabayan Turo-Turo Cafeteria serves turon, or banana spring rolls.

Kwek kwek, orange quail eggs, and siomai, Filipino dumplings with garlic chilli sauce in extra virgin olive oil.

Pan Pugon TinaPIE Bakeri is also in Al Attar Shopping Centre, Karama, Dubai. Pugon is the traditional oven and pan is Spanish for bread.

Pandesal, served at Pan Pugon TinaPIE Bakeri, is the most popular Filipino bread roll and is usually eaten at breakfast with coffee or fresh carabao milk.

Buko pie is a traditional Filipino dessert, which consists of creamy coconut filling inside a flaky pie crust. It is made with buko, the flesh of a young coconut, sweetened with plain or condensed milk, cream and sugar. It's particularly popular at Pan Pugon TinaPIE Bakeri.

Famously and undeniably, the UAE is a melting pot of cultures and cuisines, no matter which of the seven emirates you're in.

Over the decades, people of myriad nationalities have settled here, bringing with them a taste of home.

In particular, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos and Filipinas have moved here and settled down.

While across the country there are countless restaurants serving food from the Philippines, a few stand out.

Head to Karama, in Dubai, and you'll find Kabayan Turo-Turo Cafeteria.

Turo-Turo in English means point point, for short, and when Filipinos are hungry, they go to a turo-turo and point to the food they want.

Here, popular dishes include siomai, the Filipino version of the Chinese dim sum with shrimp or chicken, and turon, or banana spring roll.

Turon is said to have been created as far back as 1521 in the Philippines, but influenced by the Chinese.

It is believed to have been invented in communities near banana plantations when there was a surplus from the harvest, so extras would be given to locals and ultimately sold on the streets.

Over at Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre in Abu Dhabi, there's Hot Palayok Restaurant & Grill, which also has a branch in Dubai's Karama.

Hot Palayok, which is in the food court on the second floor, offers a buffet spread of authentic Filipino cuisine, but also pan-Asian dishes, with a particular focus on seafood.

But it's the desserts on offer here that really shine.

The malagkit roll, a type of rice cake or sticky roll (malagkit means sticky), is made of two different kakanins (the word for sticky rice cakes) rolled into one, topped with sesame seeds.

Then there's the sapin-sapin, a glutinous rice-and-coconut dessert composed of three layers.

The top layer is yellow or orange, flavoured with ripe jackfruit. In the middle, purple yam gives it a violet colour, while the bottom layer is white and has the flavour of young coconut or plain coconut milk.

Over at Kabayan Zone, which is in front of Al Wahda Mall, it's all about the barbecued meat.

This is easily the busiest Filipino street food joint in Abu Dhabi, promising a buzzing vibe almost any night of the week.

Here, the most popular dishes are jumbo isaw, or barbecued chicken drowned in garlic, onions and vinegar with red hot chilli peppers, as well as "helmet", also known as barbecued chicken heads, and "adidas", which is barbecued chicken feet.

Elsewhere, Razon's of Guagua, which is in the Al Wahda Mall extension food court, is known for its pancit luglug.

Luglug refers to the method of cooking thick rice noodles, which are placed in a blanching basket and repeatedly dipped in boiling water until completely cooked.

The dish can be arranged on a plate for individual servings and prepared in a "bilao", a round and flat rice winnower made from woven split bamboo.

Also in Dubai, is Pan Pugon TinaPIE Bakeri, at Al Attar Shopping Centre.

Here you can find ensaymada, a classic Filipino bread created during the Spanish colonisation of the Philippines. Originally from Mallorca, Spain, it is a spiral-shaped pastry made with sweet yeast dough and topped with powdered sugar and cheese.

While you're there, pick up a buko pie.

"Our shop survived the pandemic because of our buko pie sales," says owner Edward Bernabe. "We started using fresh coconut meat and not from the can or bottled coconut.

"Fresh baked is our bread of life, quality is the bread you deserve."