Ang Dabawenyo

My brother Jake’s leaving for Manila already — moving up the corporate ladder — and so the family had a despedida dinner for him last night. I was delighted that Mom decided on Aseya, that Asian fusion restaurant in Humberto’s Hotel. I’d already tried their sumptuous Thai fare when they catered the launching of Suay Thai at BioEssence Spa last week, but I’d never been to their restaurant before yesterday.

It’s just a small place, with only 7 family-sized tables, if I’m not mistaken, but very comfortable, bright and clean. The service was OK, but they should field one more waiter on a Sunday. There was just one lone waiter when we were there — the poor guy was serving non-stop the whole time we were there.

The food was superb! Not perfect, but all of us heartily savored the gastronomic experience. It gave the family an enjoyable time together — food is always a great catalyst, don’t you think? Read more »

Had lunch today with Andrew, Ria, Marc and Aileen at Boyd’s. I’m not exactly sure when this pizza place opened, but I think it wasn’t very long ago.

The pizza was good! We had two kinds, but I wasn’t there when my friends ordered, so I’m not sure what they were. But both were really delicious. And the spaghetti was a treat too — although I think they put too much oregano and basil…

I’m definitely going back to Boyd’s for a more thorough review!

Update:
Boyd’s is on Palma Gil St., Bajada. It’s that road going into Bo. Obrero. The place is right across from Wheels ‘n More Drive (where AutoShop is). When you turn onto Palma Gil from J.P.Laurel Ave., Boyd’s is on the left, not far from the corner.

I read in Matt Mullenweg’s bio that he loves going around the world sampling barbecued foods and comparing them to his native Texas’ own variety. Well then, he should come to Davao and see how our grilled tuna and other barbecue offerings stand up to “the gold standard of Texas BBQ.”

In fact we did invite Matt (to the uninitiated: he’s only the founder of WordPress) to come to Davao to be part of the Mindanao Bloggers Summit coming up this October. He emailed us back saying he was interested, but unfortunately, he’s scheduled to be at another WordPress event during this time. Too bad…

Anyway, I thought I’d blog about Davao barbecue again after a treat-for-the-palate experience last night. I really had no plans of going out last night, but my friends Rodney and Christian were able to pry me off of the computer and drag me kicking and screaming to a beer-&-barbecue place called Chilli Chills. Read more »

I was just blogging about Karl’s (my previous post), and I realized I hadn’t written about this coffee shop / restaurant where I am now! It’s called Sagay (named after a place on Negros island, near Bacolod), Casa Leticia’s lobby restaurant. The food here is influenced by the owner’s Ilonggo roots. Try their kansi — it’s like sinigang, which is my ultimate favorite Filipino fare. Ilonggo food is decidedly of the maasim (sour) persuasion. Read more »

Another testament to Davao’s being barbecue country is Belly’s Grill. I believe they opened sometime last year, but yesterday was only my first time there. The place used to be a pizza-and-beer joint called “Sage” (yeah, a few establishments in Davao do have inexplicably strange names). Now it’s a restaurant that serves mouth-watering grilled and seafood fare.

We had kinilaw (Davao-style sashimi), scallops, deep-fried tuna tail and bangus (milkfish) belly. Sure we had meat dishes too, but it was the seafood that wowed us. The baked scallops — topped with cheese and garlic — were so tasty we had to have another serving! Read more »

After a morning meeting, fellow bloggers Andrew, Marc and I found ourselves near Chimes, so we decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants there. Against someone’s better advice, I opted for the Banana Leaf Asian Cafe — but only because I hadn’t tried it there yet. It was a regrettable mistake. Read more »

My friend Ian brought me to this fairly new chicken place in downtown Davao, Papa Ching’s. I want to say straight away, their greaseless chicken is awesome!! It really was greaseless, and the taste was just heavenly. I don’t particularly enjoy chicken as much as, say, beef. But that experience last night made me reconsider… it was that good. Read more »

When my aunt asked me for suggestions of names for their upcoming restaurant, that was way back in the very early 90s (or was it the very late 80s?). Tsuru is Davao’s longest-running Japanese restaurant (but not the first, which was in the old Hotel Maguindanao back in the 70s). The name that my aunt and uncle eventually decided on is very apt, because “Tsuru” is Japan’s national bird. Read more »

Restless on a Sunday afternoon, I set off to do another walk of the city, since the afternoon weather was proving to be agreeable. At first I thought I’d check out the ongoing construction of the PTA grounds, but there wasn’t anything noteworthy (or picture-worthy) just yet. So I ended up at my favorite haunt to write my column for Sun·Star Davao.

Then I walked on from Victoria Plaza to The Venue, hoping to chance upon something there that might excite my palate. Alas! The whole compound is closed on Sunday. Darn… and a hefty serving of Space Burger was already sizzling in my mind! Read more »

The Damosa area used to be a dusty, neglected-looking part of Davao, until recently. This part of Lanang was almost exclusively for warehouses and industrial-type buildings. When the Mindanao Kokusai Daigaku (Mindanao International College) along Mamay Road was established in 2002, its first batch of students found the area dreary and rather isolated. But things started happening a couple of years ago when the Damosa Gateway was put up.

Read more »