Lutong Daza goes to Cebu City (Part 1)
Last Friday, I flew to Cebu City, the Queen City of the South, to tape two episodes of Lutong Daza. My cousin and co-host, Sandy Daza, left on an earlier flight with our TV crew while mine was at 12:30 p.m. It was a very fun trip because I was seated next to Edu Manzano and we did lots of catching up during the flight. We covered nearly everything from showbiz to politics, but unfortunately, I had to promise that I wouldn’t write about his juicy, off-the-record stories.
Upon my arrival in Cebu, I went straight to meet Sandy and the crew in Conching’s, a hole-in-the-wall turo-turo located along Juan Luna Ave. that’s famous for its inihaw na native chicken. When I got to Conching’s at 4 p.m. (traffic in Cebu was horrible because it was raining), I was famished because I had not had lunch. Though the place is spacious, clean and airy, it is not airconditioned. The chicken was ready when I arrived, and was absolutely delicious! Served with puso (rice boiled in a triangular casing made of woven coconut leaves), the dish was so flavorful that I finished almost a whole chicken by myself!
While we were enjoying our food, the restaurant’s owner, Lola Conching herself, arrived for her interview. Though she’s 91 years old, she’s still very sharp and lucid. Her children and grandchildren help her with the business, and that the resto sells an average of 150 whole chickens on weekdays and even more on weekends. At P450 a piece, her native chicken is more expensive and smaller compared to the average lechon manok in the market, but definitely tastier.
From Conching’s, we moved to Abli along A. Climaco street. This quaint and cozy restaurant, which is owned by good friends Alyssa Dayot and Karen Abello, prides itself in its fusion cuisine. We had the ravioli surprise, larang sa manggang hilaw, and bulalo steak with steak rice. The latter became my instant favorite, especially when I paired it with Abli’s refreshing version of sago’t gulaman with pandan.
By 9 p.m., we headed to our hotel, Marco Polo, our home for the next two nights, thanks to Lara Scarrow, director of Sales and Marketing of the hotel. As soon as I got to my room, I had a nice warm bath and climbed to bed and immediately got a good night’s sleep to prepare for the next day’s food tour.
I got up early Saturday morning for our feature on Carbon market. Though it’s known as the largest fruit market in Cebu, it also has a wet market and handicrafts section. After buying Cebu chorizo, I then went to Taboan market famous for its many stores that offer dried fish, dried squid and other pasalubong items. It is true that when you visit Taboan market, the smell of dried fish will stick to your clothes.
Afterwards, I went back to the hotel to take a quick shower before meeting Sandy (otherwise, I will never hear the end of it from Sandy that I stink…) in Café Des Amis for breakfast, ordering the eggs benedict with homemade smoked salmon. (I featured this coffee shop last year when I visited Cebu upon Sandy’s recommendation.) As expected, the poached eggs were perfectly cooked, while the hollandaise sauce was rich and creamy. But that’s not all.
Like Sandy, I certainly agree that the pastries and artisan breads of Café Des Amis (which is owned by Phillip Estienne) are authentic and truly delicious, with the kouing amann (pronounced coon-yah-mahn) being particularly yummy. Resembling a croissant that has a caramelized outer crust, it’s the best tasting one I’ve ever had in the Philippines. And it becomes even more heavenly when paired with a good cup of coffee and served warm! Good thing I reserved six pieces to take home to Manila because by the time we left the café, the kougin amann was sold out! But do check-out their other dishes.
Sandy loves their homemade country pate, poulet des amis which is chicken breast cooked in white wine, fresh tarragon herbs and cream sauce and the daube provencale, their version of the classic beef stew made with beef cheeks braised in red wine and vegetables. For Sandy, these dishes reminded him of his days when he lived in Paris.
We then had a late lunch in Quisina, a restaurant owned by friends Grant Go, Donald Que, Dennis Que and Bruce Chan located along Gov. M. Cuenco avenue. Quisina’s menu concept is very simple. It offers the favorite dishes of its four owners. Thus, chicharon, pochero, bakareta, balbacua, larang, grilled tarurot (fish), pork barbecue, tinolang manok, longganisa and many more. While these were all tasty, enjoyable, and most of all affordable, my personal favorites were the pochero and chicharon. The pochero hit the spot because it was raining when we got there, making the piping-hot flavorful broth and fall-off-the-bone bulalo a very welcome treat. The chicharon came bite-sized, extra crispy and adequately salted and not oily.
There is also a coffee kiosk run by brothers Marco and Miles Que, certified baristas. I specially enjoyed their iced latte, which gave me the energy boost I needed after my very heavy lunch. I also learned that the coffee beans come from Nepal and where Marco and Miles studied to become baristas.
By the time we were done, I was afraid my clothes would no longer fit me. To digest, we decided to hit the mall and do some walking to burn the thousands of calories we consumed all day and get ready for dinner.
We then freshened up in preparation for dinner at Hai Shin Lou, the Chinese restaurant at Marco Polo hotel. Our hosts were Chesca Yee, marketing communications manager, and Janelle Pagador, sales and marketing coordinator. They introduced us to Kenny Yong Tze Hin, the chef of Hai Shin Lou (HSL).
For appetizers, Chef Kenny served us roasted pork belly with jelly fish and century egg, pork siomai, and scallop taro puff, which was light, crispy and not oily at all. Next were the seafood soup with mashed spinach, and my ultimate favorites for the evening: Peking duck, fresh steamed suahe and braised homemade bean curd with vegetables. Though we also had ichiban spareribs, Chinese beef tenderloin, fish fillet with garlic and eggplant, and olive fried rice, I found myself gobbling up four rolls of the Peking duck wrapped in light pancake, garnished with some cucumber, onion leeks and hoisin sauce. I also probably had six pieces of the succulent, ultra fresh suahe! I was advised by Chesca to leave room for dessert, which was mango sago and chilled snow moon cake. Dessert was the sweet, perfect ending to cap a wonderful, truly delicious Chinese meal.
It was nearly 10 p.m. when we were done with dinner, and we still had another of day of food tripping ahead. Next week, part two of my Cebu gastronomic journey!
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