Dining in Cebu: What's eat all about

MANILA, Philippines - After working till the wee morning hours, I make it to the domestic airport for my 12:30 noon flight for Cebu with nary a wink of sleep. I hurriedly gobble up a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup (good for a sleepless soul) and not-so-patiently wait for boarding time. While waiting, I notice a lot of young tourists in skimpy, barely-there outfits looking like they’re ready to hit the beach. Well, the water’s fine in Cebu. As for me, I couldn’t wait to try Cebu’s fine culinary offerings. My memories of my past trips to Cebu (I’ve lost count) are mostly made up of food — somehow, it has made an indelible imprint on my tongue. For sure, this time around, I would have more of Cebu’s food, glorious food to savor and stash away in my memory bank. I wasn’t disappointed, but that’s getting ahead of this truly delicious story.

Picture-perfect menu at canvas

Now, picture this: A restaurant with food so colorful it may as well leap out of a canvas. The name of the restaurant? But of course, Canvas, located at Ayala Center Cebu. And the name of the artist, er, chef/owner? Steve Shrimski, an Australian who grew up in New Zealand but swears he’s a Cebuano at heart. He owns and runs Canvas Bistro Bar & Gallery with his wife, the former Eya Rapes, a Cebuana. They have a son named Jaymes who was born in Cebu, just as Canvas was.

“She was the food and beverage director at Century Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City where we used to work and I was the executive chef,” Steve traces his love story. “I married my boss!”

Now, you know who bosses the boss at Canvas. Now, loving couple Steve and Eya not only make beautiful music together; they’re also making beautiful menus together. “This is my canvas, where I create my masterpieces,” Steve points to a platter.

There’s chef Steve’s original Aussie beef and onion pie that’s a hot favorite for dine-in and takeout orders. People order Steve’s pies frozen to take home. They’re a steal at only P195 per good-size serving. “Nobody has ever said my servings are small,” says Steve with a big smile.

As we would delightfully discover ourselves during our food tripping in Cebu, the portions at Canvas (and most other Cebu restos) are humongous and the prices are quite cheap!

“We tried to find the right mix of food that would appeal to both the locals and foreigners living in Cebu, because we do get a lot of tourists who miss their comfort foods,” Steve points out. “Like Australia, we’re Western-style but with diverse influences.”

“We’re not a local-style Australian resto,” Eya notes. “Our food is what you’ll find when you walk into a Sydney restaurant. And just as Australia is passionate about its wines, we’re proud of our wine selection.”

For the Eat Dining Festival at Ayala Center Cebu, chef Steve has created a true culinary work of art for The Philippine STAR: white marlin fillet simmered in citrus, mirin, soy, and coconut vinegar on Asian vegetable rice and topped with crispy fried noodles with carrots (P295). Order this STAR dish and get a coupon for a chance to win a grand raffle prize.

For a minimum spend of P1,500 using your BPI credit card, you get a free treat at Canvas — chef Steve’s superb pork medallion in grain mustard sauce and pesto fettucine (P295). The promo runs until Oct. 15.

Oh, yes, all the artworks that perk up the grey walls of Canvas are for sale. Currently on exhibit are the beautiful pieces of jewelry by homespun artist and former Miss Cebu Tourism Janice Minor of Binibini.

“Canvas is also a venue for displaying (and selling) works by Cebu artists as well as those from Manila,” says Eya.

Who says artworks and woks of art don’t mix?

Fresh, yummy news from laguna garden café

Did you know that there’s a Laguna restaurant in Cebu?

To make a long story short, Dr. Ricardo Urbina and his wife Julita “Lita” Urbina, owners of the restaurant, come from Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Dr. Urbina went to Cebu to work as an army doctor, bringing his whole family. In 1978, the family ran a carinderia serving all-time favorites like menudo and beef stew. Then they opened a fine-dining resto near the Cebu domestic airport.

“At the time, we felt there was a need for a fine-dining resto in Cebu,” says Grace Urbina-Absin, daughter of Dr. Ricardo and Julita Urbina. “It was a 50-seater restaurant and we were surprised at the warm reception of the Cebuanos.”

Today, that restaurant has expanded into two restaurants — Laguna Garden and Café Laguna — complete with function rooms for meetings and social functions, located at The Terraces, Cebu Business Park, Ayala Center, Cebu City.

Still a certified best-seller after all these years is the good old puto-bumbong. For the Eat Dining Festival, Laguna Garden Café offers the STAR-inspired Umaatikabong-Bong Balita (glutinous violet rice with grated coconut and sugar toppings). Order this dish and get a chance to win exciting prizes at the raffle draw.

Grace comes from a long line of fine cooks. She grew up amid the delicious aroma of good food forever cooking in her mom’s sizzling kitchen. What she enjoyed as a child she now brings to the Urbina restaurants. Like their famous crispy pata (P330), which is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside; kare-kare (P275) which is made from scratch with crushed rice, peanuts, and oxtail; sinigang, which uses the Urbinas’ own mix; bulalo soup (P275) with bamboo shoots, corn on the cob, and nilagang saging.

Of course, along with these Tagalog dishes, there’s also typical Cebuano fare like the sinugba (grilled fish and meat dishes) and the kinilaw or the Cebuano version of the Japanese sushi.

Laguna Garden Café has diversified further to include Thai and Vietnamese favorites.

Highlight of our visit to Laguna Garden Café is, of course, its Pinoy high tea. Grace, our gracious hostess with the mostest, serves us a three-tier high tea rack: On top is putong puti with adobo flakes; on the second layer is the mini bibingka with quesong puti and itlog na pula with grated coconut; on the third rack are the espasol and banana turon with langka.

All these native goodies you chow down with pandan tea. Tea-licious!

Laguna Garden Café has come a long, long way. In 2006, Lita Urbina was named outstanding small-scale entrepreneur by Ernst & Young. On Sept. 28, the Urbina family is going to Manila to receive an award at the 2011 Agora Awards at Peninsula Manila.

Surely, this resto has touched the lives, or should we say the taste buds, of Cebuanos.

Remembrances of things pasta

Yes, at Spaghetti Factory, you can wish upon a star. A STAR dish, that is. For the Eat Dining Festival at Ayala Center Cebu, Spaghetti Factory cooks up its Ravioli Pastar, homemade fresh ravioli with four cheeses — cheddar, Parmesan, ricotta, and romano served and mixed in sweet cream sauce (thick white cream carbonara sauce). Order this dish at P249 and get a raffle coupon for the grand draw.

“We specialize in pasta with 67 homemade sauces,” says Crina Tanongon, who owns Spaghetti Factory at Ayala Center Cebu with husband Rodney Tanongon.

Crina comes from Mindanao but has lived in Cebu for 10 years now and considers herself a true-blue Cebuana.

Truly, the Tanongons have created a food heaven teeming with all the good stuff pasta lovers can dream of.

A hot favorite is Spaghetti Factory’s spicy meat sauce with ground pork and beef. “Cebuanos love maanghang, spicy food,” says Crina.

As if it’s not hard enough to choose from the different pasta dishes, Spaghetti Factory has a pasta directory to help diners choose the kind of pasta they want. There are the bow ties (farfalle), spirals (fusili), short tubes (penne), flat strands (fettucine), long ribbons (linguini), etc. As for me, I’ll stick to my good old spaghetti!

At Spaghetti Factory, give pizza a chance, too! Top faves are the multo pepperoni pizza topped with cheese (P179, good for three to four persons) and the spinach and cheese pizza (P179).

In a word, Spaghetti Factory is pasta perfect! 

Oodles of noodles and more

Really patok is the Seafoods Hot Patok (seafoods hotpot ramen, only P190 per bowl) at Rai Rai Ken Ramen House & Sushi Bar, Level 2, Ayala Food & Entertainment Center, Ayala Center Cebu. This piping-hot bowl of mixed seafoods is Rai Rai Ken’s STAR offering for the ongoing Eat Dining Festival at Ayala Center Cebu. Order this dish and get a chance to win exciting prizes.

“We have more than a dozen ramens,” says Liza Henson, director for Cebu operations of Rai Rai Ken, which literally means “come to my house.”

Yes, come to Rai Rai Ken for lunch, dinner and in between, and savor oodles of noodle offerings that nourish the soul. For me, there’s nothing like a bowl of my favorite ramen to soothe the spirit after a nerve-wracking day.

Rai Rai Ken’s Mabo ramen (P190) is chef Johnny Rama’s own creation which consists of soft diced tofu, ground pork with garlic in soy-based soup. “We serve our homemade ramen fresh off our ramen machine.”

Rai Rai Ken is currently offering a 50-percent discount on all its ramen dishes at all its branches in Manila and Cebu.

“We’ve also relaunched our curry rice, using our original curry sauce,” Liza shares the smacking good news.

And hurry, the curry rice is now at 50-percent off (now only P150).

Steaming good news at tst

News flash: Read all about it. Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) Dimsum & Tea Bar whips up its Steaming News Fried Rice as its STAR dish for the Eat Dining Festival. Spend a minimum of P1,500 with your BPI credit card and get a free original TST steak.

The resto takes its name from that dynamic, urbanized district for gourmets and gourmands in Hong Kong. It’s inspired by the look of upscale Chinese lifestyle brand Shanghai Tang, sumptuously blending modern Chinese décor.

A new-age concept, TST serves light, healthy, hearty dim sum that’s perfect with the house’s selection of teas, sodas, and mocktails. No typical dim sum parlor, TST boasts a conveyer dim sum belt that moves eye-catching — and palate-tickling — dim sum plates around an elongated bar. Follow your nose and take your pick. You can either sit down at the dim sum bar or order a la carte from the selection of fresh dim sum treats.

Now you know what makes TST tea-tillating!

So, what else is brewing in cebu?

Bigby’s Café & Restaurant serves more than just coffee (but the coffee is superb, too). For those who want to rib it up, Bigby’s goes big with its STAR dish: Star Pepper Ribs, crispy pork ribs in a special salt and pepper coating served with the resto’s homemade oriental sauce. Order this dish and get a raffle coupon for a chance to win exciting prizes.

Bigby’s 800-gram ribs come with a mandarin haystack salad. It makes its own barbecue sauces that Bigby’s regulars swear by.

It all started with three friends — Joanna Lim, Catherine Genabe, and Henry Kelly Yu of Cagayan de Oro. They would eat out and complain about the small servings in the restos where they eat. So they decided to put up a resto that would offer really big servings — and savings. And Bigby’s was born in Cebu, its first and only home so far.

Oh yes, Joanna Lim married her best friend Henry Kelly Yu and they lived happily ever after.

End of this delicious food report? Not quite. For the memory of Cebu’s glorious food will forever linger in our taste buds.