Sooo Pinoy in Davao City at Probinsya

Aside from durian and a lot of grill restaurants, my mental picture of the flavors of Davao is … it’s a buffet haven. Numerous restaurants offering very affordable buffet selections for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner can be found in almost corner of the city. And my first taste of a Davao buffet was at Probinsya.

I was part of Sooo Pinoy, Food Trip na Pilipinas! that made it’s stop in Davao City the last week of June. 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. In the long run, it 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 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.

Owner Luis Uy narrates how his businesses shifted from hardware into food service and restaurants. He is the president of the Olympia Group, which own runs a big chain of buffet places and restaurants like the Oriental Buffet Palace I and II, Sucre, Cocos South Bistro I and II plus the Davao Convention and Trade Center.

The buffet place which promises a “taste of home” impressed us with their wide range of menu at a very affordable price. For only PhP168, breakfast can already be a fiesta that would last through the day. But as this was a food tasting session for Sooo Pinoy, their best sellers took center stage.

A plate of assorted kakanin got our attentions first as rows of cassava and ube delights as well as palitaw (or muasi in Ilonggo) we arranged in a visual feast. The coconut meat that served as toppings for the palitaw were just freshly grated in the kitchen, we were told. Another plate boasts of assorted puto and budbud (ibos for Ilonggos).

Their lechon liempo oozed with so much goodness visually that one couldn’t wait to sink in their teeth for one big bite. Laing served as a side dish both for the presentation and gastronomic annihilation for the luscious lechon liempo.

Balbacua is a soup of ox tail, feet and skin and Probinsya served the meat chopped and in a gingery broth. It is like the Ilonggo pata with just stronger ginger flavour and chopped meats but in a much thinner broth.

Kare kare was another ox tail delicacy and one can really savor the freshly ground peanuts in the thick broth. I like how the string beans or sitaw were neatly tied into groups of 4’s using other greens. The bagoong that came with the kare-kare perfectly complemented the dish.

A hot cup of tsokolate “A” (aguada meaning “with water”) downed all these buffet goodness and a beautifully crafted fruit platter “washed all the excesses” and got us ready for our next gastronomic journey.

Located at the Victoria Plaza Carpark, Probinsya brings together Filipino regional specialties in a buffet set up. It was a perfect presentation of how buffets form part of the Davao food scene – wide array of food at very affordable price.

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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FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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