Meskla: Chamorro Fusion

During winter break, my mother treated me to some Chamorro fusion food.

What exactly is "Chamorro fusion?" Isn't Chamorro food already fused with Spanish, German and Japanese influences? (Well mostly Spanish) Anyway, this restaurant had some authentic tasting dishes like tinala kat'ne (dried, lean beef strips), chalakilis (a soup made of grounded rice, chicken, achote oil, etc.), which resembles tortilla soup, and fish tacos. 

It's definitely a "fusion" of Chamorro, Mexican and Continental cuisine. The atmosphere is a few steps above my favorite Chamorro stands in Chamorro Village, there's a bar and an area to socialize.

One thing that I had to mention was the service. We had such amazing service! Our waiter and hostess made sure we were satisfied with everything from the seating area to the removal of onions on my fish tacos. This restaurant rates high in my book.

Meskla Bistro

Agaña, Guam

Titiyas.Kelaguen.Empanadas.

Titiyas = Tortillas

Kelaguen = Ceviche

Empanadas = Empanadillas

Ayuyu = Cangrejo

I'm fascinated with food. Especially Chamorro food, which bares a strong resemblence to Spanish food (there's a strong Spanish influence due to their 300+ year reign over Guam and the CNMI from 1565 to 1899), except it's jam-packed with carbs and sodium - why do the bad things taste sooo good? Here's an example of a chamorro dish - one which my brother and I were greeted with upon arriving in Saipan.

Fried reef fish, chicken, titiyas (or tortillas), rice, finadeni and starfruit ko'ko' (pickled starfruit). The little side dish is finadeni, a staple condiment in the CNMI. It's made of soy sauce, lemon juice (or sometimes made with vinegar, lime juice, lemon powder, etc.) and a red pepper paste (often called tinian pepper, made of crushed red peppers, garlic, water and salt).

My aunt ordered empanadas from a local mom and pop shop. They were so orange - it was blinding! Chamorros make good use of the achote seeds - we use it for seasoning rice, porridge (chalakilis) and as you can see in the photo above, sometimes the color from the rice bleeds onto the empanada wrapping.  

On my last night in the island, we had some of my favorite dishes: coconut crab, chicken kelaguen (similar to ceviche) and papaya ko'ko' (pickled papaya).

There's nothing like indulging in some island goodness in the sticky hot breeze with the dragging wail of an authentic Chamorro song playing in the background. Feels like I'm a kid again.