HAPPY Fried Rice Day!
Here in the Marianas, fried rice is a dish served all day long, one that residents come back to when they need a tasty, quick, filling side. And best of all, fried rice is as customizable as it gets. People throw in their favorite veggies, meats, sauces, spices, and more to create the fried rice that perfectly fixes their culinary cravings.
For this occasion, Marianas Variety went to our “Best” restaurants—Shirley’s Coffee Shop Saipan, J’s Restaurant, and Sunny Side Café, all winners in the Best of the Marianas Fried Rice category—to celebrate Fried Rice Day. We hope you do, too!
Our journey started in Susupe, where supervisor Angel Catungal showed us why Shirley’s Coffee Shop Saipan was voted the CNMI’s favorite fried rice spot.
“Our fired rice has a very consistent taste,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a new cook or which chef is on duty. The taste doesn’t change. The consistency of the food, the quality, the service, it’s all there,” he said.
In any given work week, Shirley’s Susupe can go through 100 to 150 pounds of rice on a weekday, much of that going into the fried rice that put their restaurant on the map, Catungal says.
And of course, on Saturdays and especially during brunch time after Sunday Mass at the nearby Mount Carmel Cathedral, the restaurant definitely wipes out all the rice in its commercial-sized rice cooker.
As Shirley’s regulars already know, the restaurant uses chopped ham mixed with green onions, eggs, salt, black pepper, and just a little bit of Ajinomoto to keep its customers coming back for more.
Marianas Variety also took a trip to Gualo Rai to pay a visit to Arnold Quiambao, head cook at J’s Restaurant. Quiambao, who has worked for 20 years at the Middle Road eatery, is definitely an expert at making the dish that catapulted J’s Restaurant to a silver award in the fried rice category.
That’s usually three scoops of rice mixed with garlic powder, peas, carrots, corn, finely diced Spam, Knorr liquid seasoning, and soy sauce.
When asked how much rice flows through the restaurant in a day, Quiambao said, “[We] maybe use a sack of rice.”
“Fried rice is an island favorite. It’s tasty, and is always fresh,” he added.
Quiambao’s message to island residents is to keep supporting local businesses. “Just keep on coming and patronize local food,” he said.
We next headed to Sunny Side Cafe in Garapan, which is just a short stroll from the Marianas Variety office. When we asked one of the restaurant’s managers, Dolores Suliman, how much fried rice Sunny Side Cafe makes in a day, she said it’s not a figure she can estimate offhand.
“It’s a lot, my dear,” Suliman said. “From morning until the evening, especially during lunch, [customers often order fried rice], even take out,” she said.
On the recommendation of some of our Sales Department staff, we tried Sunny Side Café’s Sisig Fried Rice, a rich blend of fried rice and sisig, a well-known Filipino dish made with pork bits. Added to that mixture is lemon powder, onions, eggs, salt and pepper, and a topping of mayonnaise and a garnish of hot pepper.
Suliman says Sunny Side Café being able to compete with two of the most well-established dining places on Saipan despite being a relative newcomer in the CNMI’s restaurant scene boils down to its unique offerings.
“Only Sunny Side has this,” she says of their Sisig Fried Rice. “It’s also popular because it tastes good.”
And with our order complete, we were ready with three hefty plates of fried rice ready to share with our office.
How are you going to celebrate Fried Rice Day? Be sure to check out any of Marianas Variety’s Best of the Marianas awardees!
As Shirley’s Coffee Shop Saipan, regulars already know, the restaurant uses chopped ham then mixes in green onions, eggs, salt, black pepper, and just a little bit of Ajinomoto in their fried rice to keep customers coming back for more.
Here in the Marianas, fried rice is a dish served all day long, one that residents come back to when they need a tasty, quick, filling side.
No time to dine in? Get your Shirley’s Coffee Shop Saipan Fried Rice order to go.
The crew at Shirley’s Coffee Shop Saipan in Susupe want you to know their fried rice is No. 1
The crew at J’s Restaurant pose for a group photo.
An island staple, J’s Restaurant’s fried rice is prepared hot and fresh.
Our fried rice order gets served up at J’s Restaurant on Middle Road in Gualo Rai.
Our order getting cooked on the griddle at J’s Restaurant in Gualo Rai.
Arnold Quiambao, head cook, expertly prepares the famous J’s Restaurant fried rice.
At Sunny Side Cafe, we made sure to try the Sisig Fried Rice.
Garapan’s Sunny Side Cafe has lots of Filipino favorites on its menu. For Fried Rice Day, our sales department said we should try the Sisig Fried Rice.
Fried rice is as customizable a dish as they come.
Sunny Side Cafe waitstaff brings us our order.
The Sisig Fried Rice takes sisig, mixes in lemon powder, onion, eggs, sat and pepper, and tops it with mayonnaise and a garnish of hot pepper.
