JTM Snack Bar echoes an old favorite

JTM Snack Bar & BBQ Grill & Catering Services is located behind R&J Wine, Liquor & Tobacco along Beach Road in Garapan. (Mark Rabago)

JTM Saipan is reviving the menu of an old favorite after opening JTM Snack Bar & BBQ Grill & Catering Services last Thursday.

Staff Rosalinda Guevarra said they opened the snack bar due to insistent public demand, as loyal customers of JHEMS Restaurant have been asking her to reopen the food establishment that pioneered binalot meals on Saipan.

Binalot, according to the internet, is a method of wrapping and serving food in the Philippines using banana leaves and alike. JHEMS Restaurant, meanwhile, was owned by Guevarra’s sister Beth Miyata and its trademark binalot meals included fried eggplant, bagoong alamang (shrimp paste), tomatoes, and salted egg as side dishes.

Guevarra, whose husband also used to work for JHEMS Restaurant and is now the main cook of  JTM Snack Bar, said they also opened a new restaurant to help unemployed workers find jobs as they also run a manpower agency.

During their opening last week, JTM Snack Bar was flooded with orders from the old JHEMS Restaurant menu like bulalo, crispy pata, and pork barbecue.

TM Snack Bar & BBQ Grill & Catering Services’ pork barbecue are cooked fresh off the grill.(Contributed Photo)

Aside from these tried-and-tested bestsellers, JTM Snack Bar also serves party staples like pancit (canton, bihon, and malabon), beef and pork caldereta, beef and pork steak, spicy pork spareribs, fried chicken, chopsuey, menudo, kare-kare, dinuguan, lumpiang shanghai, fresh spring rolls, among others. They’re all available in trays and half trays. Also coming soon are chicken litson and liempo to compliment their pork and chicken barbecue and isaw offerings.

Like your typical eateries on island, JTM Snack Bar also offers two- and three-choice meals for $4.99 and $7.75, respectively, for office workers who don’t have time to cook. 

Future plans include offering boodle fight (communal eating using your fingers) not only in their catering services but also hopefully in their dine-in restaurant, which Guevarra hopes will open before the year ends.

“We don’t have dine-in yet because we want to try this out (takeout, delivery, and catering) first before committing to a full-service restaurant operation,” she said.

JTM Snack Bar & BBQ Grill & Catering Services’ sampler tray of crispy pata, pork barbecue, fried chicken, and isaw. (Contributed Photo)

JTM Snack Bar also has a delivery service, where the cost is $2 for Garapan area customers, $3 for Gualo Rai and Oleai customers, and a pricier delivery charge for farther places.

To mark their opening, JTM Snack Bar gave away $50 worth of set meals for the Top 3 sharers and likers of their posts on Facebook. They’re also unveiling a loyalty card soon where a $10 purchase gets you a stamp and 10 stamps will get you a free set meal worth around $15.

For catering, Guevarra said orders should be made three days in advance. They also update their daily food menu everyday on Facebook.

JTM Snack Bar & BBQ Grill & Catering Services is open from 11am to 9pm everyday. It’s located behind R&J Wine, Liquor & Tobacco along Beach Road in Garapan. For more information, call (670) 785-0716 or email jtm.bbqandsnackbar@gmail.com.