Kalami Cebu! - A Gastronomic Guide to Cebu

I am not a picky eater and I love eating local food even the bizarre ones.  Bisaya YouTube sensation Jomie Hospital told me that we have to do a challenge as part of his 12 challenges of Christmas.   I decided to make him eat some of the bizarre local foods that I enjoy eating.  Jomie is quite picky and that is where all the fun began.

In the past year, I have been spending a lot of time in hotels and restaurants.   One thing I noticed is that there are only a few hotels that put local food front and center.  The first time that a hotel became my resource for local cuisine was last year when I stayed at Hotel Salcedo in Vigan where I got educated on Ilocano Cuisine.  In Cebu, the hotel that could really teach tourists about local food is Cebu Parklane International Hotel.

Kalami Cebu would like to give a huge shout out to Mark Monta and the other people behind the Best Cebu Blogs Awards.  Congratulations for reaching your 10th year milestone and I am pretty sure that BCBA will stay on in the coming decades.  It is a big honor that this blog is one of finalists in the Food Blog Category this year. 

In the 3rd blog post on #TheSustainableDiner Series, we are featuring Mangga Cafe.  At first glance, you might think that this cafe is just an ordinary cafe serving baked goodies with mangoes but you will be in awe once you know their story.  You see, Mangga Cafe serves bread, tea, coffee, and cakes that are made from Mango Flour.   Mango flour is made by processing discarded mango seeds.  Those mango seeds that we usually just throw away gets transformed into delicious food.  It is Food to Waste to Food. I have eaten at a lot of cafes in my life and this is just one of those that I want to heavily promote.

After joining #TheSustainableDiner forum organized by WWF-Philippines, I concluded one of the best ways to help their project is to promote local food and slow food on my blog and vlog.  I have always been a fan of local delicacies since I grew up in the province during the time when fast food was not yet popular.  I am actually a bit sad that many local food bloggers mostly write about fancy stuff and trendy restaurants.   In some ways, I was guilty of the same practice. I realized that it is time for some changes in my blog and I think one of the biggest causes that I will support will be promoting local food.  5 Good Reasons to Promote Local Food It is beneficial to the economy The people selling local delicacies like balut get eggs from local farmers.  Their children go to local schools.  Their money is spent mostly in the community.  The vendors buy cellphone load and even eat at local eateries or buy ingredients at the local market.  In economics, it is calle

If there is a YouTube or Facebook video series that I would like to watch, it would be Buzzfeed's Worth It.  It is so much fun watching Steven, Andrew, and Adam go to different restaurants trying out super expensive dishes then comparing it with a cheaper alternative.  My fellow content creators Glenn Abucay and Ramzy Magbitang are also big fans of the show.  One day, we decided to make our own version of Worth It and we call it Sulit Ba?  In this first episode, we checked out 3 different places that offer ice cream and we each picked which one is the most "sulit" or worth it among the three.

Get ready to immerse yourself in a new kind of adventure as Worldbex Services International – the country ’ s leading events management company – officially opened the doors to the 9 th Cebu Food and Beverages Expo ( CEFBEX )! Happening until October 15, from 10 am to 8 pm , CEFBEX 2017 offers FREE admissions for everyone.

A couple of weeks ago, I was one of the foodies invited by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines to be part of the Sustainable Dining Forum.  The aim of the forum was to raise awareness on mindful production and consumption of food.  I realized that as a consumer and a blogger, I can do my part in helping the program achieve its goals.  I am now writing a series of blog posts promoting #TheSustainableDiner program because I believe that it is a worthy cause to support.  For the first post of the series, I will give a few reasons why I will not do the Spicy Noodle Challenge and how it relates to the WWF-Philippines Sustainable Dining Program.

The Christmas season is around the corner.  It means that the season of gift-giving is just a few weeks away.  Wines are pretty popular gifts to clients, bosses, and close friends.  It is always a good idea to give out wines because wines have a long shelf life and it is an amazing drink for the holidays.  So, here are my wine suggestions for this Christmas.

The Pyramid Cebu has been a big hit among Cebuanos.  It is one of the best-looking restaurants probably in the entire country. Add to that is that the restaurant is actually serving affordable food that is perfect for locals and tourists.  Recently, they launched their "Late Night Chill at The Pyramid" promo and Kalami Cebu would definitely recommend it. The Pyramid was positioning themselves as a go-to place to wine and dine.  Well, the place is really popular among millennials and this age group still love beer over other kinds of alcoholic beverages. The proactive management of the restaurant launched Late Night Chill at The Pyramid where people can buy a bucket of beer for only 199 pesos starting 11 PM daily. 3 Good Reasons to Have a Late Night Chill at The Pyramid Cebu Price At 199 pesos a set, they are basically selling a bottle of beer for roughly 40 pesos which is a bargain considering that you are having a drinking session at one of the trendi

Pork Chop!  In the past couple of months, I have seen many restaurants in Cebu that offer their own version of pork chops.  One great example is "Fat Bastard" over at The Weekend.  I recently visited the newly-opened Soho Park by Chef Robert Leonhardt and got to try his Pork Chop with Israeli Couscous, and Mediterranean Vegetables and black olives.  It was pretty good and I am very excited to try the other dishes at this restaurant. Soho Park's Pork Chop with Israeli Couscous, and Mediterranean Vegetables and black olives The dish has basically 2 elements, the Pork Chop, and the siding.  The chop is from local pork and it weighs 300 grams a serving. The siding comes with lots of delicious veggies and sauces. An order costs 550 pesos and it will surely satisfy any hungry man. The pork chop is first vacuum-packed with some spices and aromatics then goes to a hot water bath for a couple of minutes.  It then goes on the flat grill for finishing.  It

A few weeks ago, I asked the candidates of Binibining Cebu 2017 about what is delicious in their place.  Some were really confident with their answers that it made me want to go to their towns and check it out myself.  Last week, I got the chance to visit Dumanjug and try out Bisnok and a new local favorite called Cho'la.  So, here's a humble post about the best things to eat in Dumanjug, Cebu.

The Bb. Sugbu Charity Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch 1985 formally launched the highly anticipated pageant, Binibining Cebu.  This pageant pits 54 lovely Cebuanas representing the 53 towns and cities of Cebu with Cebu City getting 2 representatives.  Binibining Cebu seeks to find an ambassadress who exemplifies today's modern Cebuana, and in the process promote the beauty, heritage, culture, and commerce of the towns and cities of Cebu. 

When I have friends and relatives from out of town who come to Cebu, they usually ask me where to eat the best lechon.  I have my personal favorites but there are just so many good lechoneros in Cebu.  Dondi and Corinne Joseph of D+B Wines had a couple of visitors from Manila and instead of just taking them to their favorite lechon place, they decided to give them some choices.  Actually, a lot of choices.  They invited some other friends to a lechon and wine dinner and this is what happened.

Chef Jeffrey Broutin recently unleashed the full menu of  L'Artisan French and Mediterranean Cuisine, the   2016 Sunstar Best of Cebu Restaurant of the Year.    I was fortunate that I was one of the bloggers invited to the event.  After the meal, I realized that this restaurant at Oakridge Business Park deserves all the accolades and wonderful reviews that they have received over the past year.

Cebuanos love dimsum.  I grew up loving steamed rice, siomai, siopao and lumpia Shanghai. I am not alone. Apparently, this love affair between Cebuanos and dim sum started in 1969.  In 1969, man landed on the moon.  Filipina Gloria Diaz bagged Miss Universe that year. On that same year, Cebu was introduced to Hong Kong-style dim sum with the opening of Ding How.

Many cities or countries in the world have that signature fried food that locals and tourists rave about. Cebu has its ngohiong, England has its Fish and Chips while Ilocos has its empanada.  When I went to Vigan, number 1 on my "to taste" list is definitely the Ilocos empanada.  When I arrived in the Ilocos Sur capital, I asked where can I eat the best Vigan empanada and they pointed me to CJ's Empanada.

Slowly but surely a lot of Filipinos are buying and drinking wines.  Whether it is for personal consumption or as a gift, most wine buyers just go to the grocery to pick up a bottle or two.  There are many supermarkets now that have a good wine selection.   It is really convenient but I think there are still plenty of reasons why one should visit a wine shop.  Here are 3 wonderful reasons to check out your local wine shop the next time you will buy wine.

It has been a while since I last went to other towns to check out new restaurants.  Most of the time, I am confined to Cebu City.  When Herbert Kikoy of driftstories.com told me about a new restaurant in Liloan that was looking for bloggers to sample their food, I immediately said Yes.  I did not regret my decision because Faro is a restaurant that you should check out in Liloan, Cebu.

If you are the type of person who likes to eat the most unique desserts available then I would surely point you to Skillet Japanese Cafe and Bistro.  This restaurant in Norkis Cyberpark serves the best of modern Japanese cuisine and they are also know for their amazing desserts.  I recently made my friends try the Dew Droplet Cake and Dessert Ramen, and they really had fun eating and taking photos of the unique and irresistible desserts of Skillet Japanese Cafe and Bistro.

There has been a lot of new restaurants that has opened at Parkmall in the past couple of weeks.  One of the newest that really piqued my interest is Slate District in Parkmall.  After my first taste, this new restaurant has become one of my top places for baby back ribs and chicken wings.

In Day 2 of my Surigao escapade, I visited some of the islands under Surigao City. The first one was Hikdop Island which had two popular tourist destinations.  The first one is the Buenavista Cave and the second one is the Pagkawasan Beach.  After our adventures at Hikdop Island, our Suroy sa Surigao tour took us to Basul Island before going back to the mainland.

A year ago I have been introduced to a different kind of social media animals called Youtubers or Vloggers. I have been blogging for quite a while but I rarely encountered Youtubers in Cebu in events that I have attended.  Thanks to ABS-CBN's Chicken Pork Adobo (now Adobers Studios), I have met some of the best Youtubers in the region.  One of the best is definitely Jomie Hospital of Gingoog. He relocated to Cebu recently and I am one first people who shared a meal with the newest Cebu-based YouTube sensation.

I always received inquiries from friends and strangers about where to take their wife or girlfriend for their anniversaries and special occasions.  I have my usual recommendations.  Recently, I added L'Artisan French Mediterranean Cuisine on this list.  This new restaurant at the Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue has the food, ambiance, and service that will be perfect for romantic dates or intimate business meetings.

It has been almost a month and my memories of my trip to Surigao City is still as vivid as ever thanks of course to the power of YouTube .  Looking back, I could say that it was an amazing start of Summer 2017 for me. I was only there for 3 days but it was filled with fun activities that it was worth the over 64GBs of videos that I took.  This is a recap of the Day 1 of the Suroy sa Surigao Tour.

One of my biggest frustrations as a child was not learning how to play a musical instrument.  I never had a chance to have lessons until recently when I got an invite to Uke Hub Kafe.  I spent a whole afternoon there painting and learning how to play the ukulele while eating and drinking the cafe's specialties.  Uke Hub Kafe is definitely one of my favorite cafes in Cebu.

It has been a while since the #Hibsters leads had a get-together .  We finally found a good reason to meet up when Jullian Sibi's family moved in to their new house in Guadalupe. I also wanted to celebrate  landing a new job.  Here is what we did in our latest Kalaminions #MeetEatRepeat session.

One of my favorite food trip buddies is Nezte Virtudazo.  We have been to countless of food trips in the past couple of years and recently we checked out BatchoyHouse328 and tried out their batchoy with bone marrow and also their halo-halo.

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be one of the travel bloggers and writers to be invited to visit Surigao City.  To be honest,  I do not know much about this city in Mindanao.  In fact, it was my first time to visit Mindanao.  Well, after three days, I found out that I have been missing a lot all these years.  I "tasted" Surigao and I would love to go back there very soon.  Here are some of the best dishes that I have tried during the Suroy Surigao Tour:

I have been doing reviews at Zomato.Com in the past year.  I was surprised that last week I became the top reviewer for Cebu on this restaurant review app.  Kalami Cebu has been active at Zomato and for me, this app is very helpful in helping you find out the best places to eat here in Cebu, in Manila and other key cities in the world.  I hope you download the app and check it out.

I was looking at my old videos and I stumbled upon this song by Baihana titled "Isawan".  Listening to the song took me back to my freshman year in college when I first discovered isaw.  One of the most popular isawan in UP Diliman then was just a few steps away from the Freshman Dorm (Kalayaan Residence Hall).  I fell in love with isaw ever since my early days of college.  When I moved to Cebu, I cannot seem to find a barbecue stall selling this sinfully good offal dish.  Recently, I discovered that there is a restaurant near our house that is selling isaw.

Last weekend, our friends from JPark Island Resort and Waterpark invited several bloggers to check out their world-class amenities and food and beverage outlets.  JPark Island Resort and Waterpark is a pretty impressive resort hotel and for me, the highlight of the activity was definitely the lunch at The Abalone Restaurant .  The lunch buffet reminded me that the resort hotel has one of the best eat-all-you-can buffets in Cebu.

Today is March 25, 2017, and if you are a Cebuano foodie then the most important event today would be the opening of Tim Ho Wan at the Upper Ground Level, Mountain Wing of SM Seaside City Cebu.  It is the restaurant's 7th branch in the Philippines and the first ever outside Metro Manila.  Cebuanos can now enjoy the famous Baked Bun with BBQ Pork that helped Tim Ho Wan (Mongkok, Hong Kong) earn the coveted star in the 2010 HK and Macau Michelin Guide.

Cebu Favorite Filipino restaurant brand Golden  Cowrie opens an Ayala Center Cebu branch of its newest brand, the Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen. At the Golden Cowrie Filipino Kitchen, diners can enjoy many of their classic dishes as well as the new favorites like Pocherong Bungkag and Pinaupong Manok.

I finally got to meet Bisaya Youtuber Glenn Abucay.  Apparently, blogger friend  +Hannah Frej  is a big fan of his and they collaborated to make a video a week before with the trekkers of NCR.  This time the young Cebuano Youtube sensation shared a meal with the Kalaminions at Manggahan .

Puso Bistro and Bar at Quest Hotel is taking their dinner buffet up a notch by bringing in some of the most beloved Spanish dishes to the buffet table. The Spanish dinner buffet dubbed as "Conquistadores Explore the Taste of Spain" is served every Tuesday and Friday of March 2017.  You can enjoy Spanish favorites like Paella, Cochinillo, Callos, and Lengua along with other Puso Bistro and Bar buffet favorites like sashimi, flavored puso, yema, halo-halo, and barbecue for 850 net per person.

There has been a lot of new restaurant openings in Cebu lately that is making the local food scene more vibrant and competitive.  A lot of restaurants in Cebu have been offering new items to entice Cebuanos while old favorites also innovate to try to keep up with the changing preferences of the market. When I eat at a new restaurant, I always look for something different and unique that each place has to offer. At Rustic Chef's Favorites, I found a couple things that I would love to eat again if ever end up in the Lapu-Lapu City area.

Bluewater Maribago's Allegro Restaurant recently launched its themed dinners.  They offer a different menu every dinner time and each one is guaranteed to make you experience the joy of food. I recently had a preview of what's in store for each night and I ended having a massive dose of #happytummy.

 I am not really into sweets but I recently tried SnowVinz Snoball and I was pretty much happy with my experience there.  Going to a good dessert place like Snow Vinz is indeed one of best ways to bond with friends on a lazy weekend.

The first food all foodies loved is most likely breast milk.  For babies, there is no substitute for human breast milk.  Unfortunately, there are some mothers who are not capable of giving milk to their children or their milk production is not enough resulting to problems like malnutrition.  A couple of days ago, I had a chit chat with some ladies from Aboitiz Land over delicious Italian food at Pigafetta.  They told me about "Dagan Para sa Gatas ni Nanay" and the foodie in me was really compelled to support the event.

If I am asked to declare a favorite restaurant in the past 8 weeks then I would say it is the Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken and Sauce Bar.   I have been to this new grilled chicken place four times already in that period. This new dining place is making Meerea High Street one of the up and coming dining hot spots in Cebu City and Mandaue City.

I always associate eating at hotels with special occasions.  It could be a birthday, anniversary, or to celebrate milestones and achievements. Looking back, I would probably say that Cebu City Marriott Hotel is one of the hotels that has witnessed some of the best of moments of my life.  My wedding reception was actually held at this hotel several years ago. When I got an invite to try out their Sunday International Buffet, my heart definitely skipped a bit.  The international buffet at the hotel has always been a favorite for decades and it is a big privilege to be asked to eat it for free. The privilege is not limited to me as you will find something to cheer about if you read up until the end of this post.

I love street food.  I have been eating it since I was in elementary school.  From fishballs to peanuts to pungko-pungko.  One of the newest street food favorites is the Proben or Chicken Proven.  This fried chicken part is one of my favorite snacks when I was still working at Robinsons Cybergate and I would love to eat it when I get the chance. Have you tried this one?

Kalami Cebu Food Wars #LechonWars debuted last week and the first match-up ended in a rout as Rico's Lechon handily beat Zubuchon, 10-3.  Many Cebuano foodies in social media said it was going to be a mismatch and they were right.   Most tasters preferred the saltier flavor of Rico's Lechon while Zubuchon got some points from their skin and the meat quality.  Check out our video for what transpired in this episode.

Chinese New Year festivities were at a full swing last week with Cebu hotels.  After sampling the Yee Sang sets at Tin Gow, I was able to listen to Feng Shui Expert Marites Allen courtesy of Montebello Villa Hotel.  Everyone wants to be lucky and the famed Cebuano feng shui expert has some great tips for everyone. 12 Tips for the New Year by Feng Shui Master Marites Allen Wear red on New Year's Day.  Do not wear black!  Only eat sweet food like Tikoy.  Get up early and be beautiful. Start your new year with a meal with your loved ones. Do not clean the house on New Year's Day. Do not fight with anyone. Serve a tray of fruits and it would be great to have a mirror near the dining table. Cleanse the house (by Dragon dance for example). Eat fish for prosperity. Eat noodles for longevity. Avoid eating chicken. Throw away chipped plates and cups. Check out the video for more tips from our very own Feng Shui expert. Kalami Cebu's 2017 Outlook