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 on »

The original franchise of Bo’s Coffee Club in Davao is at SM City. It’s on the ground floor of the mall, right in the middle of the walkway and near the atrium. This makes for a good vantage point for people-watching.

There are now two Bo’s Coffee Club outlets in Davao, but what I appreciate with the first one is their consistency. From the time they opened a few years ago and up to now, their coffee has always tasted the same. They brew their coffee rather strong (even their Americano), but I love the flavor. It’s rich and envigorating — just don’t take it in the afternoon if you’re the type whose sleep is affected by caffeine!

It can get pretty noisy there, especially when the mall is bustling with shoppers, so Bo’s at SM isn’t a very ideal place for relaxing. But if you don’t mind the racket, and because you’re out to grab that perfect mug of cappuccino or latté, spending an hour or so at Bo’s can be rather rewarding gastronomically. Ask for their durian pie! ••• Read on »

Here’s the official press release for the 1st Pre-Kadayawan Poker Tournament.

The Metro Madayaw Poker Room, Davao’s first and only legal poker room, in cooperation with Casino Filipino Davao will be conducting the 1st Million Peso Pre-Kadayawan Poker Tournament on August 11, 2007 at the Pantawan Hall of Casino Filipino Davao.

Players from all over the country are expected to arrive & play No Limit Texas Hold’em and vie for the top prize which includes a seat to the 1st APPT Poker Tournament. The APPT will be conducting its first poker tournament on August 23-26 in Manila with a buy-in of USD 2,500 and an estimated prize pool of 25 Million Pesos, one of the, if not, the biggest ever poker event in the country to date. International professional poker players will be participating in this once in a lifetime event. ••• Read on »

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.

You read it right! There’s gonna be a cool, must-attend party on the 15th called DELIRIUM @ cups&lowercase. Oh yeah, I haven’t blogged about that place yet. Anyway, it’s a café on F. Torres street, beside Bistro Rosario. It’s right smack in the middle of the city, but where you could feel you were far away from the hustle and bustle of metropolitan life.

Back to the partée! Delirium. That’s probably what you’re gonna feel when you find out it’s a drink-all-you-can gig, the whole night. That’s beer and cocktails. Get over it, just go and see for yourself — it’s happening!! ••• Read on »

BioEssence Spa, a pioneer in the skin-care and spa business (and a Dabawenyo company!), has opened a new service to their already rich suite of offerings: Suay Thai. We’re talking about the ancient art of traditional Thai massage and healing therapy.

••• Read on »

Last night I was invited to a press conference that was certainly not run of the mill. When Jojie (who’s actually my colleague of sorts as we both contribute to Sun•Star Davao as columnists) told me about it, she didn’t tell me what it was going to be all about. She just said there’d be food and alcohol, and that was enough for me to want to go!

Jojie was retained by this group of poker tournament organizers to handle their PR, but she probably didn’t know I played poker. I do, since 2005 in fact. And I used to be crazy over Texas Hold’em. I had a Japanese-language translation project that involved card games, and I started playing poker because I had to get into the groove so that I could understand better, ergo do my work better. ••• Read on »

When I was in high school, La Suerte Bakeshop was one of the places where we — friends, family members — would pass by on the way to or from school. It was right in front of the Ateneo high school campus, after all. But more than that, they always served delightful pastries. And, boy, in the early mornings the aroma of freshly-baked pan de sal was enough to make your mouth water!

Today, the family that owns La Suerte have renamed — and repackaged — the good old bakeshop to Mam Bebs Bakeshop & Refreshment Parlor. And they’re now located at the ground floor of CVA building on C.M. Recto Street. For your orders, call 227-8131 (look for Lani, Rose or Lilia). ••• Read on »

(For the life of me… my favorite coffee shop and I haven’t even blogged about it yet this whole time! Oh I’ve mentioned it here and there, but I realized just now that I hadn’t given Basti’s Brew its own post here. Shame on me!)

Basti’s Brew Coffee Station has a role in the history of wifi in Davao. It was the first coffee shop that offered wireless Internet connection in the city via Globe Innove — this was back in 2004, if I remember right. For a year the Internet connectivity was offered for free, and so it was Basti’s that “educated” the Dabawenyo to mix coffee and laptops. Then Globe started charging for Internet access (P100/hour!!), and people started going to a new coffee shop that was already offering free wifi. Eventually, Basti’s got its own provider and started broadcasting its wifi signal for free. By then, nearly all coffee shops had installed their own wifi routers to entice Dabawenyos into their establishments. Today, it’s de rigeur in Davao City for coffee shops (and even other kinds of establishments) to have free wifi. ••• Read on »

The past years’ Kadayawan sa Dabaw celebrations, it’s been thought, have veered away from the authentic spirit of this most important of Davao’s festivals. People have started talking about how ‘commercialized’ the Kadayawan has become over the years. And this probably explains the knee-jerk reaction by this year’s organizers — their unexpected move to change the festival’s schedule.

The city officials responsible for Kadayawan 2007 have reasoned that, since this festival is all about the harvest season, then it should be celebrated during the actual time of harvest, which is early August. This was monumentally unwise. But it’s a good thing that the festival highlights (the Indak-Indak and the floral float parade) were kept on the same period as usual (middle of August). ••• Read on »