Kalami Cebu Food Tour with Canadian Visitors

I received an unexpected email from a Canadian who asked about restaurant recommendations in Cebu. The guy happened to own a restaurant in Vancouver. I realized that his visit would be an awesome opportunity for me to show him what Kalami Cebu means. So, I offered to be his food tour guide.  It was not as easy as I thought but in the end, it turned out to be one tummy-filling experience for me and hopefully for them.

Met Patrick Tubajon.  He is a Filipino-Canadian who was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada.  He traces his Philippine roots to Bohol and Leyte. We have a slight similarity in circumstances because my mom was born in Ormoc, Leyte and my Dad is from Jagna, Bohol. Patrick owns Gudrun restaurant in Vancouver. He literally built the restaurant with his own hands 8 years ago and he manages the restaurant with a handful of staff. One of them is Christopher Panadero who joined him in his 1-day visit to Cebu.

To make the trip more lively, I enlisted Nezte Virtudazo's help. Nezte is a Kalami Cebu regular and he happens to be in town for the Sinulog. He is now based in Siargao Island.  Our challenge was how to bring them to as many amazing food spots in Cebu in the middle Sinulog week. 

Here are the places where we took our Canadian visitors to:

Kalami Cebu Sinulog Food Tour

House of Lechon

A Cebu food trip will never be complete without a visit to a lechon place. Lechon or roasted pig is synonymous to Cebu.  Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain called the lechon he tasted while in Cebu as "the best pig ever!" and I guess, it would be funny if you do not let a guest eat lechon when they visit the city.  Since my visitors were from out of town, I decided to bring them to a lechon restaurant. Nezte and I considered all the options and we decided to take our guests to the House of Lechon.

Why House of Lechon? Well, the restaurant is still relatively new and they offer Carcar lechon. If we had time, I would have probably brought Patrick and Chris to Carcar Public Market. What makes the Carcar lechon different is the "sauce".  The sauce is made of lechon drippings and it is usually poured on the lechon or rice. It is a salty and oily but appetite-inducing sauce.   Another good thing about the House of Lechon is that they also offer spicy lechon.  Spicy lechon has been really popular in recent years.  The House of Lechon has a good selection of Filipino dishes that goes so well with the Lechon Cebu.

Here is what we had at our first stop:

2 Kinds of Lechon

We ordered half a kilo each of the Carcar Lechon and the Spicy Lechon. Who would not want to eat lechon? Patrick and Chris liked the lechon and they liked the Carcar lechon more.

Crispy Chicken Skin

Kangkong

Squid Balls

I was a bit full already when we finished at the House of Lechon.  The meal there was a fantastic way to start a Cebu food tour.  The House of Lechon is located at 415 Acacia Street, Cebu City. For inquiries you may contact them at 032-2310958.

Azul Tuslob Buwa

When I learned that out visitors were a bit adventurous when it comes to food, we decided to go Azul Tuslob Buwa for our second stop. Tuslob Buwa is not for everyone but the adventurous types would really enjoy it there at Azul. Eating pork brains might not be fashionable for some but this is our vision of Yakiniku and other more famous cook-it-your-self dishes.  In the past, I even labeled tuslob buwa as pork brains fondue. I always like bring out of towners to these kinds of places because it is something uniquely Cebuano. They can always boast to their friends back in Canada and say "I went to Cebu, I ate brains and actually I cooked it too".

At Azul, my newfound friends also had their first encounter with puso and I am pretty sure they liked it. Azul has a recipe on how to cook Tuslob Buwa to help first-time customers.  Since my new found friends work in a restaurant I gave Patrick the honors of cooking the brains. 

How to make a delicious Tuslob Buwa meal by Gudrun's Patrick:

 Step 1: Heat the lard on the frying pan.

 Step 2: Add the onions, shrimp paste, liver, and brains.  Adjust the quantity to your liking.

 Step 3: Season it some soy sauce.

 Step 4: (optional) You may ask from some dried chilis for some added kick to your Tuslob Buwa.

 Step 5: Taste what you are cooking and add seasoning if needed.

 Step 6: Let the Tuslob Buwa simmer.  When the stock is reduced, get some puso and dip it to the bubbling broth.

Step 7: Eat and Enjoy!

A Tuslob Buwa set costs around 120 pesos. Azul is now offering an All You Can Eat Tuslob Buwa for only 100 pesos per person.  Tuslob Buwa goes so well with beer. At Azul, you can also order popular pulutan (beer match) dishes like crispy pata, chicharon bulaklak and lumpia. Azul is located at Gorordo Avenue, Cebu City.

La Vie Parisienne

Chris and Patrick asked us there is a wine shop nearby.  We were in Lahug so the most logical place was La Vie Parisienne. It so happened that Patrick was fluent in French as he spent some years in France. We had some wine at the cellar of the wine shop. We were fortunate that nobody was staying at one of Cebu's most popular Instagram nooks.  We finished a bottle of Prosecco before heading to our next stop.

Patrick said that he wanted to try lumpia. Since we were in Lahug, we drove to Salinas Drive and check the restaurants there.  I wanted them to try Salinas by Golden Cowrie.  Unfortunately, the restaurant was still closed when we went there.  We ended up going to Mabolo area and I decided to make a stop at Abaseria.

Abaseria

Abaseria does not serve lumpia so we decided to have dessert instead. We ordered "Four Corners". Four Corners is a dessert made of banana turon with iba candy topped with vanilla ice cream and mangosteen jam. We also had some empanadas.

After eating at 4 amazing places, we drove Patrick and Chris to Banilad so that they can check in at Henry's Hotel.  After dropping the visitors off, Nezte drove me back home. A few minutes into our drive, Patrick messaged me that Chris left his shades in Nezte's car.  I told them that I will bring it  tot here hotel after I pick up my wife from school.

Gorliz

I brought the Ray Ban to the hotel and the Canucks invited me and Steph for dinner. We went to Gorliz at Streetscapes Banilad. We enjoyed some tapas and wine before I drove them to Mango Avenue. We had of Marco Real along with some Fried anchovies and mushroom tart.

The experience was fun and memorable.  I never expected strangers from the other side of the world would email and ask me about Cebu. I consider it to be a big milestone for Kalami Cebu. I would like to thank Patrick and Chris of Gudrun and maybe, we could visit you guys sometime.  I hope that our food trip was as memorable for you as for us.  Even if we have not visited Canada, we already have a favorite restaurant in Vancouver. I really that we can do a Kalami Vancouver food tour in the future.

The Kalami Cebu team would definitely be open to similar opportunities in the future.  We would always try to give any visitor that Kalami Cebu brand of hospitality.   Should anyone wish to have a food trip/tour with us, just reach us via email at calolano911@gmail.com.

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