Sooo Pinoy in Davao City at Barbeque Boss

What’s in a name? Radley Barrientos, owner of Barbeque Boss explains that it all started with a catchphrase enticing passersby with their pork barbecue. “Our sellers would ask them … Barbecue, Boss?” And literally it caught on and gave birth to this local barbecue chain in Davao City.

I was part of Sooo Pinoy, Food Trip na Pilipinas! which is set to visit 300 restaurants in 10 key regions/areas in 10 months all over the Philippines. Davao is the 4th food stop after Iloilo, Boracay and Cebu that started last March. The goal of the Food Trip is to show that Filipino dishes per region have different identities based on the culture, lifestyle and history of the area. The Food Trip also aims to show that there are many Filipino recipes from different regions of the Philippines, each having its own specialty that has to be recognized for the unique flavor it adds to the Filipino Cuisine.

Radley Barrientos with the Sooo Pinoy foodie team

“Our major business back in 2002 was an internet cafe” explains Radley.”After seeing the possibility of serving food to our clientele, we opened up an 8 table restaurant adjacent to our cafe.” Both the techie and foodie business boomed then and in 2006 they opened a full service restaurant. ”We decided to bring the Boracay theme – al fresco, lamp-lit, casual dining - experience in Davao.”

As Davao City is known for really affordable places to eat, it still came as a big surprise to know that a full service restaurant sells pork barbecue for only 6 pesos each; yup that S-I-X pesos only but you’ll have to order a minimum of five. It looks like the typical chicken liver barbecue at first glance –flat, typical brown, petite; but it packs in a saucy and zesty flavor in every bite. No wonder this pork barbecue gave birth to this local chain now having more than 5 branches all around Davao City.

“One of our best sellers is the Grilled Bangus stuffed with salted egg” Radley says.”It started just as the usual stuffed milkfish but when big chunk of our customers requested salted egg stuffing we decided to incorporate that in our menu”. The brined egg gives the bangus a hint of saltiness aside from the typical tomato-onion flavour and it also gives a complementary texture. The bangus as Radley reveals are sourced Davao and Saranggani.

Boss Prime Steak

“Not all barbecue places offer steaks, so we decided to put them on the menu to see how they’d fare” he shares. And on our table came three of their best sellers – Boss Gravy Steak, Boss Prime Steak and Steak Supreme with mushroom.

Boss Gravy steak

While the gravy steak had the peppery taste, the prime steak packs-in more flavor and the mushrooms gave the steak supreme a harmonizing flavor and finish.

Steak Supreme with mushrooms

“Our clientele ranges from students and barkadas to yuppies and call center agents” says Radley. “The different branches cater to different types of crowd; al fresco branches accommodate the beer loving crowd, air-conditioned branches attract families for a hearty meal, and our bigger branches cater to special occasions and even team building activities”. They even had 24-hour branch near our hotel during the Sooo Pinoy food trip (Microtel Inn Davao).

Barbeque Boss definitely came out big from more than 5 years ago. An inspiring story of how a sideline became a big business and how a stick of pork barbecue changed it all. It really defined how it fit the Filipino taste and as well as their pockets. So, how about some Barbecue … Boss?

Filipinos are encouraged to join and support the Sooo Pinoy movement, a partnership between Unilever Food Solutions and the Department of Tourism, and go on a gastronomic adventure that both fills the stomach and enriches our awareness of our own identity. To know more about the campaign, food lovers are invited to like the Sooo Pinoy page on Facebook and follow @SoooPinoy on Twitter

Sooo Pinoy Epic DAVAO Food Trip: June 25-29, 2012

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