Culinary Creations: Paprika Dory, Mango Salsa, Bean and Pea Soup

One of my culinary idols--My Tita Pura-- visited us in Davao a couple of months ago. i decided to welcome her wth some of my Culinary Creations. Here is what I prepared:

Bean and Pea Soup: Now, soup is not one of my best suits. i do not really know how to make a good soup so I decided to boil some peeled and diced potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, onions, and some garlic. Then, I strained out the veggies and put it straight ina blender to make a thick soup (almost paste-like). Then, I put it all back in the water I used to boil it in and mixed it until I achieved a thick but smooth consistency. Then i added my faves: green peas ad garbanzo beans

Paprika Dory with Mango Salsa. This was very easy to make. I simply marinated the dory with fresh lemon juice, salt, pepper, and paprika and then pan-fried it.

The Mango Salsa I made with it simply contained diced ripe mangoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and some parsley. I used to put some onions in it but it turned out to be too strong. So for this one I added caramelized onions to give it a sweet taste. I did not season it with salt or pepper as I liked the clealiness of the taste

Hummus: I also made some hummus by blnding some garbanzo beans, sesame oil, olive oil, black pepper, salt, garlic, and some lemon juice until I achieved a super smooth consistency. I served this with some flour tortillas.

Oh and I served some roasted chicken that went with the hummus and tortilla. It was marinated with cumin, salt, pepper, maple syrup, garlic, onions, and then cooked in the Turbo broiler. It was pretty good.

White Hat Frozen Yogurt Cebu

White Hat is one of my fave frozen yogurt spots because they serve some of the best Mochi PLUS their froyo really tastes like yogurt. I know it is probably made from powder which tastes like yogurt and is not actually yogurt (because how can powder have bacteria? The heat kills it. and yogurt should have bacteria) but among all the froyo stores, this comes the closest to the real yogurt taste in my opinion. Plus, the place is sooo cute.

Tempura SM Cebu

Sometimes, you just cannot help but to crave for Japanese food. My Nipo-cravings hit me whil I was in Cebu and so I started to scour SM City for a decent looking Jap place. We found this place called Tempura, which was very interesting.

When we read the menu, we saw that the prices were pretty decent.

I ordered some Age Dashi Tofu which was served at room temperature and was sooo soooo soft and lovely. I also had a Yakitori Chicken and Rice meal, and some Kakiage (veggie) Tempura. The Yakitori Chicken was relaly sweet and tender and had the smoky taste I really, really like. The Kakiage tempura was lovely. I looove that it was tender and crunchy and perfectly cooked.

My friends ordered Prawn Tempura (which was lovely), some Kani Sashimi, Tonkatsu 9which I failed to try out).

However, when I get back to Cebu Three weeks from now, I will definitely go back to Tempura.

Oh, and by the way, we ordered all this:

1. Yakitori
2. Agi Dashio Tofu
3. Kakiage Tempura
4. Prawn Tempura
5. Tonkatsu Platter
6. Tonkatsu Toppings
7. Kani Sashimi
8. Sashimi on Rice
9. two Mango Shakes; and
10. Water

and we paid a measly 1,200. AMAZINGLY cheap..esepcially for Japanese

Oh, and if you are wondering..well, yeah. the three of us ate all of that up

Moon Cafe Cebu

Moon Cafe is a Mediterranean Resto with branches in Ayala Mall in Cebu and one in Big R (Robinsons) in Cagayn de Oro.

We ordered the Moon Cafe steak, which was tender and really really yum-o

the beef stroganoff was a little bland and lacked character but it was at least palatable.

Their baby back ribs were so-so.

The prices were alright. not cheap but not expensive. however, i must say, it was not as good as its price. tsk tsk.

Cowrie Cove Cebu (Shangri-La Mactan Cebu)

I was recently in Cebu and just had to have cocktails. So we headed on over to Cowrie Cove at the Shangri-la Mactan which is sooo gorgeous. We order a couple of cocktails that were really gorgeous and were sooo good. Plus, the world-class bartenders were super nice!

We had "Sex on the Beach" which is the Yellow cocktail in the photo. It was super tart ad yummy and interesting and perfectand it got the job done. that is, it got us drunk.haha

The orange cocktail is, of course, the classic screwdriver which is basically vodka and orange juice. no surprise there

The one in the fish-bowl like contraption is a cocktail. the name of which slips my mind.haha. but it was cute. and filled with grenadine..click the photo below to check the cocktail out. its GORGEOUS

Sbarro Ayala Cebu

I'm sure most of you are familiar with Sbarro. I recently ate at the one in Ayala Cebu. It was, as it always is, spectacular and redonkulously fattening. Haha

As always I ordered the Chicago Deep Dish while my friends ordered some pasta and some pizza. Well, the photos say everything

Candy's CDO

Whenever I visit CDO I always make it a point to dine at Candy's because they have some of the best pastries and cakes this side of the Philippines. During my last trip I (with my family) ate several of their desserts.

Let's start with the Cara-Vanelle. This dessert has been featured in this blog before. Cara-Vanelle is a caramel mousse with chocolates, dried peach, and little bits of granola-bar-ish squares. Yes. That is the one in the lower left-hand corner of the photo

Sylvanna- the one on top of the Cara-Vanelle (in the photo) is their version of a Sylvanna. That costs around 160 pesos and is HUGE. It is good enough for four people to share. It is super crunchy and creamy on the inside.

The Pecan Tart is the one photographed on the upper-left-hand portion of the collage. It was a god size, but it was a bit pricey. Anyway, it was very chewy and very rich. It was redonkuluously yummy

On the top part of the collage is their Mango Delight (i think. or mango rhapsody.or mango something) Anyway. It is made of mango. I know the outside of the cake looks like it has yellow icing ut that is actually paper-thin strips of Mango. It has a light taste and is served chilled. It reminds me of a really good refrigerator cake. it was not very sweet, and i really liked how soft it was. its my new Candy's fave. Check Candy's CDO out on your next visit to CDO

Big Ben Gensan

Whenever I get bored with life, I ride a bus and head straight to Gensan. It is only three hour saway from Davao and a bus ride costs a measly 225 pesos. Whenever I go to Gensan, I always try to look for new foodie finds. During my last Gensan trip, I found the interesting Big Ben.

Big Ben Gensan is an upsacle resto along the fron strip of Robinson's Gensa. They serve a lot of Filipino favorites including Kare-Kare and the Spanish-inspired Paella. However, they are famous for their steaks. So that is what I ordered.

For only 350 Pesos, my black pepper steak was great. It was cooked really, really well. It was perfectly seasoned and wa svery tender, even though I had mine medium-well. Their gravy was rich and thick and savoury, exactly how I like it.

For 350 bucks, this was a steal! The meal came with my steak, some buttered veggies, mashed potatoes drenched in gravy, green salad with mango vinaigrette, a creamy soup, and even a cute and moist cupcake.

We also ordered their Paella Negra. The rice was nicely cooked, it was still quite al dente, and the toppings were very juicy and moist.

Try Big Ben Gensan whenever you are in the city of Tunas.

What to Eat in Davao: Syrian Cuisine!

As you all know, Zabadani is one of my favorite restaurants in Davao. It is along Ponciano Street and serves authentic Syrian Food. They have started offering new food in their menu. Here are some of my favorites:

Beef Kebabs

Samboosak

Kabsa is kind of like paella, but it is made with a Syria flare. It has peanuts, a lot of spices, some Onions and some Chicken.

They also have authentic youghurt Lassi

However, the Belgian Choco is still y all time fave drink in Zabadani

What to Eat in Davao: Pinipig Suman

We went to Cagayan de Oro last month and stopped by at Seagull Mountain Resort along Buda Road (boundery of Bukidnon and Davao) and had some breakfast there. they served the best suman ever! Their suman was chocolate flavored and was served with some pinipig and a sprinkling of sugar. We ate it wih some native hot chocolate. Yummy!

What to Eat in Davao: Korean Food!

My friends and I truly enjoy Korean food ad it seems like every time we get together, we choose to eat in a Korean Restaurant. Our fave is Kim Chi restaurant at Bajada, right in front of Victoria Plaza. It is pretty easy to find, just tell the cab driver where you want to go.

Right after you finish ordering, the waitstaff gives you a set of six appetizers. These appetizers vary with every visit but on this day they served us with some traditional Kim Chi, some egg omelets, some water Spinach with a sweet and garlicky sauce, steamed clams with chili sauce, some seaweed salad, ad Korean Potato and Scallion Pancakes

As our starter, we ordered some Kimchi Chige. This is a sour and spicy soup with tofu slices, cabbage, pork, onions,a nd other greens. it is very savory and has just the right amount of sourness. We asked our Kimchi Chige to be served with Mild heat (my Mom insisted), but I personally like the spicier version.

Kim Bap was then served to us. Kim Bap is the Korean version of a Maki. It is made with slices of raddish, crab stick, carrots, ham, cucumber, egg, and yellow radish, all wrapped inside some sticky rice and Nori. They served it with a dusting of Sesame Seeds

Japche is (i think) Korea's national dish. I am aware that most people think Korean food is always spicy, but Japche is anything but. In fact, it is a little sweet and is very savory. It has a lot of Umami goodness to it. I heard that the noodles they use for Japche is made with Cassava starch. it is definitely more glutinous than the noodles I'm used to. It had some scrambled eggs, bell peppers, mushrooms, pork, and some veggies

Bulgogi is another one of my favorite Korean dishes. It is made with beef that is super tender and (rumour has it) has been marinated ad boiled four different times to ensure that it tastes super yummy and super tender. They serve it with some veggies and some noodles. I read though that they add some pear juice...But I doubt that the one at Kim Chi Restaurant has any trace of pear.

Emerlad Tea Garden Again

Emerald tea garden is a Chinese style resto my family and I frequent. Their food is really really good and i looove the laid-back set-up

Below is a photo of one of my fave fod: jelly fish! oh, and century eggs! i soooo love these...especially with chili-garlic sauce and some soy sauce

pata tim
my all time fave: lemon chicken
beef steak
minced pork with hoisin sauce and lettuce leaves

mapo tofu

Margie's Pastries

margies is one of the patisseries I do not really frequent, but when I do, I really enjoy their food.

I especially like the brownie thins. These are quite pricey, at seventy (i think) pesos for this little package but they are really addictive. They are basically super thin and super crunchy pieces of brownies which are oh-so-good.

This cake was also really good. Although the ame of this cake escaes me, you must try this the next time you visit Margies (there's a branch near SM Davao and one in Torres)

The profiteroles were kind of disappointing though. Profiteroles are basically choux pastries (the same pastry that you get with éclair and cream puffs) with chocolate icing and cream. However, their version had a thinner chocolate liquid that almost tasted like a ganache. They also served it with some cream. However, the dessert wasn't sweet AT ALL. And i love sweet desserts... so i was terribly disappointed...

Their red velvet cupcake was quite good though. I loved how sweet the icing was. Hahaha. Oh, and their chocolate truffles were a bit too bitter for my liking. :D Dust off some cocoa powder before actually consuming the product. Was it as creamy as I expected it to be? No.

Harley's Burger

Harley's is this quaint little burger place near Ateneo jacinto. i think it's at juan Luna street..maybe... Haha

But it's in front of Better Components. It is really affordable and really good too. Below is a photo of a serving of "chili cheese fries" which is a serving of freshly fried french fries topped with a slightly spicy meat sauce, and some grated cheese. It was definitely very satisfying and really comforting.

Their burgers still did not disappoint (this is my second time dining there) for around 60 pesos, the patty was HUGE and was still perfectly cooked, although I really hope they make it a wee bit more flavorful.

Cafe Marco Buffet at Marco Polo Davao

Although the spread at Cafe Marco has decreased considerably, he food is still quite spectacular. I actually like their food, unlike in most buffets. :D

Below is a photo of some Lam Ragout, Some Chicken with Cashews, and some stuffed pork loin...plus some roasted 'taters...

Below is some potato wedges, some cherry tomatoes, some onion rings, fried squid, and some veggie gratin, and some other appetizers

Maki galore with natto (fermented whole soy beans)

desserts, desserts, desserts,

and my all time fave: mango with cream and pandan (screwpine leaves) jelly