Cebu Food Crawl’s second stopover is at Cebu City Marriott Hotel. General Manager Patrick Carroll welcomes the participants while brilliant hosts Nico Velasquez and Frances Alfafara warms up the food crawlers with some social media games.
The biggest surprise is the mango coffee themed break set-up. Everything in the buffet is made from mangoes, a clever representation of everything cebu.
The malunggay infused siphon tea is a perfect treat for the bursting tummies of the food crawlers.
Please follow Marriot’s social media account for announcements.
Nestled at the heart of the City, at the lush green street of F. Ramos is that spanish restaurant that preserved the spanish influence in Cebu. The first stopover of CBS Cebu Food Crawl is at Ipar’s Restaurante y Bar de Tapas.
With a very concise menu of pure and unadulterated Spanish goodness (nothing fusion), the food is cooked and served the way Spain does.
We are served with the bestselling house starters to kickoff Cebu Food Crawl, the first meal of the event.
The paella dribbled with the generous stream of olive oil is the best thing in Spanish dining in Cebu! Finish it with kalimotxo cocktail to perfect that pure spanish experience.
Of course, you should not miss Cebu’s best leche flan here.
More details about the restaurant at http://www.ipars.com.ph, follow the at @iparsrestaurantecebu in instagram.
There is a new buzz in town; a pizzeria that serves the latest food craze to hit Cebu—the classic neapolitan-style lean dough pizza. While still on its soft opening La Nostra Pizzeria Napoletana continues to draw curious crowds and A-listers to try its good Italian stuff prepared by, no less than, italian chefs themselves.
A neapolitan pizza is a classic pizza in its simplest form. It is made from a lean dough: a mixture of flour, water, salt, and yeast. It has no oil, no sugar, nothing. The flour is generally a high-protein flour, often of the Italian “OO” type. Simple and few ingredients but complicated preparations —the slightest mishandling of the wood-fired modern brick oven that should be kept at blazing hot temperature would mean adverse impact on the product. La Nostra had already got the hang of it.
It was rather a quiet Wednesday night —maybe because of the gloom and drizzles —when we visited La Nostra. An hour before they will close at 11:00 PM, 3 out of the approximately 12 tables were occupied. The menu is straight forward with 5 courses: pizze (P480 – P560), pasta (P210 – P350), main dish (P350 – P440), desserts/gelato and drinks. It is limited, they explained, because they are still on their soft open. Some items, like the star pizza, are not even on the menu but you may ask the servers for their availability.
Our order came fast in less than 15 minutes —a surprise for us since most friends who already tried La Nostra were complaining about the waiting time. Pizza was delivered at the right temperature and the wine was poured on time.
We had Pizza La Nostra (P520/2) half ‘n’ half with Quattro Formaggi (P550/2), Pizza Nutella(P260) and a glass of wine. I was from a meeting an hour ago where I had to eat, hence, I was very conservative with my order.
La Nostra literally means “ours” while Quattro Formaggi means “four cheese”. Pizza La Nostra is the house’ very own creation. Ham, butter and basil with Flor di Latte and cream sauce on top the Neapolitan-style pizza lean dough. Four cheese is a combination of flor di latte, gorgonzola, ricotta and asiago with olive oil.
Their pizza came thin (but not very thin) spotted with small dark spots surrounded by paler dough —it must have been from a good charring in the oven— with an aroma distinct to a classic pizza. It was crispy on the outer crust but was moist and chewy on the interior. The flavor of the dough compliments the toppings either the ham or the Nutella.
Everything we ordered was perfect. The Ham was great and excellent with the basil —no wonder La Nostra Pizza is their best seller. I will definitely come back for the Ham. And, of course, you can’t go wrong with Nutella. Just by its name, it’s already instagram worthy.
La Nostra Pizzeria Napoletana is located at Streetscape, Paseo Saturnino, Ma. Luisa Road, Banilad, Cebu City. They are open on Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner. For reservation, you may call (032) 3507872.
This is a “semi-spontaneous” long weekend trip to Anda and Panglao in Bohol in celebration the Philippines’ Independence Day. Our plan was just to have fun and our itinery is basically just “come-what-may”.
From Cebu we took off at Pier 1 via Supercat/2Go. Very conspicous was how Pier 1 has improved alot since it has been renovated. It’s probably one of the best in the country today, it is even better than some country’s small airports.
After an almost 2-hour ride on board the Supercat we reached Tagbilaran City. The construction of their new port is still on-going as their old port was destroyed by the October 2013 earthquake that rocked the whole island. We docked at the makeshift port and proceeded to hail a tricycle that will take us to Dao Terminal where we can ride a bus going to Anda. However, while we were haggling for the fare we saw a good number of taxi cab queing and we thought of hiring one instead to take us to the terminal to avoid the oppresive sun. Since there are 3 of us, the fare is relatively the same. Again, because this is a come-what-may travel, we accepted to the offer of the taxi cab driver to take is directly to La Petra Resort in Anda for P2,000.00 instead of just in Dao Terminal. The driver also kindly suggested that we take a stop over to one of the places frequented by tourists and he will just wait for us. That was pretty good offer, of course we took it.
We were not really hungry when we arrived at Loay River Rio Verde Floating Restaurant but still we availed of their lunch buffet. There were si many costumers, were glad we somehow came ahead of them. We got the regular buffet for P399.00.
The menu includes: In the salad bar, Manga with Bagoong (Green Mango w/ Shrimp Paste) Atsal/Puso salad (Banana Bud Salad) Guso salad ( Seaweed Salad). Main courses were Buttered Chicken, Pork Barbeque, Pancit Special, Fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce, adobong buko-buko (a cetain kind of squid) Adobong Kangkong (Water Spinach Cooked Adobo Style) Ginataang Langka (Jackfruit in Coconut Milk) and Shrimps. Desserts are some of filipino favorites like puto cheese and puto kutchina together with some tropical fruits. It was ordinary but really good tasting.
Loay River cruise is a 45 minute tour in the beautul river with ine stop over at the Tribe Ali. Compared to the more popular Loboc River, Loay is cleaner and more untouched.
Anda is 1 hour and 30 minutes away from Loay. When we arrived at the hotel, we were served with welcome drinks and assigned to a native hut with an ocean view. After a short nap in our room we asked to be transferred because the AC seems not working. We were given a bigger room near the pool. It was better!
Anda is still untouched, maybe because it is secluded. Anda has a long stretch of white sand beach. It would have been perfect if only the beach floor directly fronting our hotel is not “muddy”. The beach at Poblacion, Anda were better. We enjoyed the beach alot since it just us, we have the sea all for ouselves. Here are some of our beach photos.
At night…
Dinner was happiness. I didn’t realize happiness could be that cheap too, a seafood platter of crabs, shrimps, clams and fish for only P400.00. La Petra food is really good and their serving is generous. We almost couldn’t finish it.
Day 2
Complimemtary breakfast which comes along with our accommodation was served at the restaurant of La Petra. iur hearty breakfast meal imcludes bacon, egg, sandwich, salad, ampalaya with rice, juice, coffee and milo. We felt the effort the staff had put in the give us a pleasant stay in their hotel. We really appreciate it, and even more when they offered us to drive us to Guindulman where we can hire a bus to Tagbilaran City on the wat to Panglao.
The bus ride was comfortable except for the bumpy parts if the road in Tagbilaran. The 105 peso fare was worth it, it was a long 2 hour ride.
We got ourseleves a month minibus to Panglao. We were booked at Cherry’s Home Too since it was the cheapest with a high rating of 7.7 in Panglao. After we were settled in our room, we rested from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM and proceeded to our late snacks at Tarsier Botanika.
A free shuttle at the Tarsier Botanika in Alona Beach will take you the main branch, around 2 kilometers from where we stayed.
Tarsier Botanika has been operating for almost two years already but it was only now, after they renovated, when people discovered its charm. Unfortunately, only its restaurant is open, their park and villas are still under construction.
This is a welcome addition to Bohol’s attraction. It’s awesomeness can only be described in photos.
We were so full when we went back to the hotel. We decided to take our time and rest before we shall check out Panglao’s night party scene.
A walk in the beach leads me to a massage area where massuers will massage their clients by the beach. Of course, I have to avail it. Massage is one pleasure I couldn’t resist.
We partied at the by the beach chill out area of Bugsy’s. I got so tipsy that recovery food is imperative. We look for a Bulalo place and found, Abotanan. They served barbecue, bulalo and batchoy. Food was okay, at least they are open 24 hours.
We wrapped up Day 2 at 12:00 midnight as we need to park early for our 5:30 AM call time the next day.
Day 3
Upon our arrival on Day 2 at Cherry’s Home Too, we saw an ad about an island hopping tour for 1,500.00. We inquired further details about the tour and booked ourselves the next day (Day 3)
The call time is quite early at 5:30 in the morning in order to catch the playful dolphins of Panglao. We went down from our room at exactly 5:30 AM. We are greeted by our boatman who guide us to the boat at the shore of Alona Beach.
There will be three stopovers: Dolphin Watching, Balincasag Island, and Virgin Island a.k.a. Isole de Francesco.
20 minutes from where we took off, we were already playing hide and seek with the dolphins. The boatman must be quick should possess some good intuition based on the patterns of the dolphins. We saw around 30 dolphins.
Balincasag Island is a marine sanctuary, we paid P150 per person upon entry. We alighted from our banca and was transfered to a smaller paddle boat. A guide will be assigned to you for P150.00. We snorkled and surveyed the fishes and corals around 10 meters from the beach. There were big and small fishes but the corals are not as colorful as I expected, althought, they are still alive.
After an hour of snorkeling we went to the beach in front of Balincasag Island Dive Resort, the water on that area is very clear and tempting. You can’t say no.
We asked the local abour our next stop, the Virgin Island. They adviced that we should go there at low tide so that we can see the whole white sand bar while it is not submerged. They said low tide will be around noon, probably 1PM. Unfortunately, we were running out of time we booked ourselves to Henann Resort’s Buffet for lunch. We decided to leave Balincasag for the Virgin Island around 10AM.
We left from the island at around 11 AM, so ready for the lunch buffet and if we still have time for some foot massage before we shall leave Panglao at 3:30PM to catch our fastcraft leaving Bohol at 5:25PM.
Golden Prince Hotel’s Prince Fusion Gourmet is now offering seafood dinner buffet every Friday and Saturday for only P420.00. Included in the menu are fresh tuna, large prawns, crabs, rock lobster and cheesy baked oysters. The price is really insane it made me think if they really want to make money on this offering. Sushi is also regular on their menu.
At the helm of the kitchen is Chef Marlou Almasco who designed not only the seafood choices but also the cebuano fusion recipes like grilled native chicken and pork belly, beef salpicao (really tender) and spicy squid. An interactive pasta station is also included for those who can’t shake off their carbs.
No buffet would be complete without desserts. For Prince Fusion Gourmet it’s a spread of red velvet mini cakes, leche flan, fruit salad, sago gulaman and the must-try creamy halo-halo — a concoction of creamy ice shavings, fresh buko, langka, saging, leche flan, cereals and a scoop of ube ice cream. This I can really say it’s a yummy halo-halo with no hints of preservatives from canned ingredients.
Golden Prince Hotel’s Prince Fusion Gourmet Dinner is open every Friday and Saturday from 6:30 PM to 10:00 PM. You may call (032) 233-8660. It’s an intimate venue with 32 pax seating capacity, reservation is advised.
Insider info: On September 2015, Gold n Prince Hotel will open it’s expansion tower. It means additional 120 rooms on its existing 57 rooms at Tower 1.
It was late in the evening, around 10:00 PM, when we were undecided on what to have for late dinner. My self-imposed rule is that when in doubt, the Japanese knows better. Hence, we went to LightSite, A. S. Fortuna for some Japanese ramen quick fix at the newly opened ramen house, Ramen Sora.
Their modern wooden-tile floor compliments their 17 wood tables and chairs, diners are instantly transported to a zen place while waiting for the delivery of their orders. In our case, it was a short one.
The sky was the inspiration behind the recipe of Ramen Sora which, literally means “Noodle Soup” and “Sky”. It is a collaboration of 2 seasoned chefs one from the east (Sapporo, Japan), Chef Tomio Takada and the other, from the west (Las Vegas, USA), Chef Yoshinari Ichise. The result is a ramen with light and playful flavors in an aromatic soup that spouts a good kind of funk.
Our order was their famous miso ramen (deluxe). Ramen Noodles with Pork Chashu, egg (tamago), preserved bamboo shoots (menma), spring onions (negi) and nori in a traditional japanese miso soup.
The noodle is the best noodle I had in Cebu, they have to import it from Sapporo Japan.
Our order arrived on time at the right temperature. The serving is huge, one serving could in fact feed 2 persons, not bad for a ramen with a price tag of 405 pesos. They also serve shio and shoyu soups.
We also ordered the best pair for our ramen, the quintessential gyoza. They were fresh and good but would have been better if mildly spiced.
Ramen Sora is open from Monday to Sunday 10 AM to 11 PM on weekdays and 12 midnight on weekends.
You may call 520-3331 for reservations. They usually have a long queue on Sundays.
Have you tried the new Peanut Butter Cup Pancakes from Pancake House? Signature fluffy classic Pancakes and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups with banana slices.
Here’s how to best enjoy it:
1. Choose your stack. 2 pcs for P214.00 or 3 pcs for P318.00.
2. I suggest you tick the Banana slices for P20.00for to add contrast to the flavor.
3. Intagram before meals be sure to tag @pancakehouseph. Official hashtag of the product is #CravingSatisfied.
4. Spread the Reese’s Peanut Butter cup on the topmost pancake. Note that the pancakes are filled with Reese’s Peanut Butter in between.
5. Spread the butter with the melted reese’s
butter cup on the pancake. Go easy on the butter, it might be salted.
6. Cut the pancake into bite size and savor every chew. A sip of you favorite black coffee would be a good palate cleanser.
Since it is a holiday today (Day of Valor), it’s a good time to wander in the galaxy and look what I’ve found, Amidala brewing some beans for the Stormtroopers.
Good news from the intergalactic universe to all Star Wars fans in Cebu, Star Wars themed coffee shop, Amidala Cafe, is now open to serve all Cebuanos. Do the Imperial March to Maria Christina Extension Juana Osmena Street, Cebu City at the road where Bordz and (old) Frontgate are located.
They offer reasonably priced coffee and snacks. Nothing fancy, it’s the theme that we like the most.
They are open everyday fro 1:00pm to 12 Midnight (sometimes earlier) Call them at 09227859873 to be sure.
I have completed my list of Top 5 Best Cuisines in the world. The latest to add in that list that includes, Japanese, Italian, French and Thai is Lebanese.
In Cebu, there is one lebanese restaurant that stood above the rest, a kitchen you can recommend even to your finest and most discriminating guests.Beqaa Lebanese Kitchen is another gourmet restaurant from The Abaca Group which brought to Cebu some first-rate restaurants like Abaca in Punta Engano, Lapu-Lapu City and A-Cafe in Crossroads, Banilad. Beqaa is in Design Center, A.S. Fortuna St. (Pine Tree), Banilad, Mandaue City. It serves the freshest and best lebanese and indian cuisine in Cebu.
My Nth Beqaa experience (but on a budget)
We kick-off the night with a sip of pomegranate shot and mojito. The marriage of the fruity sour pomegranate and Bacardi White is a sensation. The best foreplay for our porkless dinner.
Our appetizer is a mixture of meat and vegetables with hints of yoghurt and cheese. These alone set apart Beqaa from any other middle eastern theme restaurant.
Gerry’s Restaurant and Bar opens its 65th store at A.S. Fortuna Mandaue. Located a few steps from home and from Oakridge, their 3rd branch in Cebu is at G U3-4 Lightsite Parc A.S. Fortuna.
MUST TRY:
Synonymous to Gerry’s are my favorite and personally recommended Inihaw na Pusit, Crispy Pata, Sisig and Chicken Skin. If you haven’t tried these yet, what are you waiting for?
They also reward loyal customers through their Circle of Friends Loyalty program. Enroll yourself and get instant gifts and freebies for every P1,500.00 food purchase while accumulating points. You may pay your bill with your points.
Gerry’s is open from 9:00AM – 11:00PM on weekdays while 9:00AM -12:00MN on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. You may call them for reservations at 0922-5243097 or 505-8859.
INSIDER INFORMATION:
Gerry’s will introduce their new brand concepts in Cebu on March 2015 . They will open Yakitori Binchotan, their first branch in the country and their second branch of Ramen Sora, a popular ramen from Sapporo in Japan. Both stores are beside Gerry’s – AS Fortuna.
#NindotKaayo 