Kalami Cebu! - A Gastronomic Guide to Cebu

 I spent a big chunk of my day today at one of my favorite co-working spaces in Cebu, Nomad's Hub. One thing I like about this place is that they serve affordable food. Today, I ordered their corned beef meal for dinner.

12 December 2019, Hong Kong SAR, China – Mr. Dalip Singh, General Manager of Marco Polo Hotels – Hong Kong, was proud to take home the “General Manager of the Year” award, at the Stelliers Greater China 2019.

The song "Give Love On Christmas Day" talks about trying to find a present that is better than anything you get from a store.   At Bo's Coffee, the holidays are all about "Give Love," as coffee lovers can find ways to show love for others in different forms and ways.   The Filipino-owned chain of coffee shops recently launched its holiday campaign, which urges people to spend time with loved ones over through get-togethers, celebrations over a sumptuous feast, and gift-giving.  This is truly reflective with Bo's Coffee’s holiday offers, where you can show love and "Give Love" by gifting family members and loved ones with something special this season—like embracing them with the warmth of coffee.

The Creative Cuisine Group is easily one of the most formidable restaurant groups in Cebu. Even in their catering business, they are known to be focused on the upper-middle-class market.  So when they opened this new restaurant concept called Da-In Korean Restaurant, I expected a lot of attention to detail.  Indeed, this restaurant is a must-try among Korean barbecue lovers who are more concerned with quality than quantity.

Rabbits are such cute pets making it difficult for most of us to cook or eat such beautiful animals.  But, there is a new restaurant in The Market by Sugbo Mercado that is hoping to convince us that we consider eating rabbit meat.  I had dinner at D'Bunnychon last week and I am somehow convinced that we should give rabbit meat a chance.

CEBU, Philippines— In 2015, Daniel Cabrera was known all over the world as the little boy studying on the pavement under a faint light coming from a McDonald’s restaurant.

For me, Korean BBQ Places are among the "healthiest" All-You-Can restaurants out there.   All-You-Can-Eat Restaurants makes you binge; but, with Korean Barbecues, you also get to eat a good amount of vegetables. I recently dined at the newly-opened Barangay Seoul and as expected, had a grand time eating their unlimited samgyeopsal and other Korean specialties.  I even got to do a Samyang Special Noodle Challenge.

The Philippines has a lot of amazing street food that tourists must try.  These street foods are not heavily marketed but locals love it.  One great example is the beef pares in the streets of Metro Manila.  Every time I go to Manila, I make sure that I will have a beef pares for breakfast and you should too. 

Who does not love burgers?  One night, I suddenly had a burger craving and I end up traveling to Mambaling to eat at the newly-opened Stoked Burgers.  I tried out their Squat Burger and it gave me one of my best burger experiences in recent months.

When I was a kid, I was always required to sleep in the afternoon.  The reward  is a delicious merienda.  One of my favorite merienda item is the Champorado.  I recently discovered a good place to this chocolatey rice porridge. I am quite surprised that Maitre Chocolatier at Ayala Terraces Cebu serves this Pinoy snack at a sweet price.

When it comes to food, the number 1 item that Cebuanos would be proud of is our inasal or lechon .  For years, it has been our trademark and even the late Anthony Bourdain exclaimed that here in Cebu, he found t he best pig ever.   In the past, we normally eat Lechon Cebu at hole-in-wall eating places.  Now, we see the rise of many restaurants that offer Lechon as its main specialty and one of the best of this kind of establishments is the House of Lechon.  I recently visited their newest branch at Don Jose Avila St., Capitol Site and here is a short review.

There was a time that steakhouses in Cebu where an endangered species after one of its most established one (David's Steakhouse) closed down.  I saw the "steak revival" in the past couple of years as more and more establishments opened specializing in steak.   The Choobi Choobi group recently joined the fray by opening the newest steakhouse in Cebu, Angus Dan's.

Some people say that one of the most effective aphrodisiacs would be oysters.  If it is true then I can show you a restaurant that you should go to have an amazing oyster food trip at an affordable price.  Charcoal Boy has been thriving in Cebu in the past 2 years with their oysters and grilled food.  They recently opened Charcoal Boy Escario and I had my fill of their delicious oysters from Ilo-Ilo.