Sooo Pinoy in Davao City at The Grand Regal Hotel

I’ve had lots of Hot Chili Crabs before but the one served at the Montmartre Café at The Grand Regal Hotel in Davao City was among the most extraordinary. The crabs were lounging in chili sardine sauce that spiced up that afternoon and gave each forkful an extra kick.

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.

The Grand Regal Hotel hosts a PAGCOR casino in Davao City and the hotel’s executive chef, Ed Chavez surely bet on this out of the ordinary chili crab creation to win the hearts of the Sooo Pinoy foodies. He utilized the typical Pinoy “emergency” viand – ginisang sardinas (sautéed sardines in tomato sauce), and made it gourmet worthy to be part of the hotel’s food showcase.

The combination of crabs with sardine sauce created not only fiery visual presentation but also a burst of flavour in every bite. Chef Ed made his sauce a notch spicier but tolerable to give it flavour thrill worthy of licking your fingers.

A gastronomic play of grilled pork belly and pig’s ears, Chef Ed’s next dish was dinakdakan. It consists of crunchy meat concoction was smothered with mayonnaise mixed with brain leaving that afternoon tasty and crunchy.

Capping off our first hotel food trip in Davao City was Chef Ed’s Fiesta Pompano in a typical Davao fiesta manner. A deep fried halved tilapia that packed in the crispy goodness garnished with a green mango, tomatoes, cucumber, white onion, chili and radish with a tinge of calamansi.

It was an afternoon of gastronomic discovery with Chef Ed Chavez and the staff of The Grand Regal Hotel. And true to it's name, it was one regale way of entertaining us with the best cuisine they've got to offer!

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

The Grand Regal Hotel Davao

Km. 7, J.P. Laurel Avenue
Lanang, Davao City, Philippines,
P.O. Box 80838

Tel. No. (63-82) 235-0888 | (63-82) 235-3400 to 3402
Fax No. (63-82) 234-3688 (Sales Office) | (63-82) 234-3858

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

Ultimate Ilonggo Favorite: KBL Kadyos, Baboy, Langka

K.B.L. or Kadyos, Baboy, Langka is the ultimate favorite dish of most Ilonggos. It is also one of the most missed native dishes as kadyos and the souring ingredient, batwan , are hard to find when outside of the Ilonggo region. Basically, it is boiled/stewed pork dish owing its "deliciousness" to the combination of the soft and tender pork, the tamed sourness of batwan and the malinamnam na sabaw . One of the "secrets" of the malinamnamn na sabaw , is the fact that the pork, whether just the plain meat or pata (hocks) are first grilled or broiled. This gives the broth a rather smoky taste that makes it more appetizing.. Learn how to make the Ilonggo dish KBL (Kadyos, Baboy, at Langka) with the recipe below. Ingredients 1 kilo Pata (pork hocks) or pork cubes, GRILLED and sliced into bite size pieces 1 unripe Jack fruit, cubed 2 cups pigeon pea (kadyos) 6-8 pieces batwan fruit (or tamarind powder) 1 piece pork broth cube (

Takway

The gabi (taro) is just one of those plants which is edible from "roots to tops". The most popular of which is the tuber part which is used in a variety of dishes and mostly in combination with coconut milk. Its leaves, of course, is the main ingredient of a Bicol specialty, laing . It is dried then chopped and sauteed with other ingredients including, again, coconut milk. Then there is takway . The local term for its tendrils/runner, that part which is torn between being a stem or a root for it neither grows upwards nor downwards - it grows sideways . Scraped off of its outer skin, takway is often a key ingredient in vegetable dishes like laswa and the gabi tuber with coconut milk and local snails know as bago-ngon . It is also popular when cooked adobo style with guinamos , the local bago-ong . It is very popular in the region that even big supermarkets sell takway in style - cleaned and plastic wrapped in styro with some additions to make it easier to prepare.

Easy Century Tuna Recipes

If you're looking for simple, easy and delicious Century Tuna recipes online, congratulations, you've found it right here! How about spicy tuna sisig or tuna sinigang ? Maybe stir fried tuna with pickles or just yang chow fried rice . I love Century Tuna from its flakes in oil variety, the spicier the better, but when I discovered the versatility of its solid variant, it became an obsession. At first I was just into the usual tested recipes; pasta and sandwich filling, but then it got simpler – I just eat it straight from the can! Usually with a piece of bread or an apple. I just add a few drops of vinegar to spice it up a bit. Then came the experiments. Yup I got tired of that habit that one day, I decided to test my skills in the kitchen. Serendipity, you might call it yet most of them turned into good recipes that I have shared now and then. Satisfying my Palabok cravings had me experiment on this recipe on the spot. With Century Tuna in lieu of the usu

An Ilonggo favorite - Valenciana

Found in almost all occasions like fiesta, birthdays, reunions and others, Ilonggos really love valenciana because most if not all have grown accustomed of having it in special gatherings at home. A complete " go, grow and glow " dish because it has the carbohydrates, protein and vitamins and minerals in just one spoonful, Valenciana is really an " occasional dish ". Here's the recipe for Valenciana

An Ilonggo favorite - Suman Latik

Suman Latik is one of my favorite native delicacies - plain suman/ibos topped with sweetened coconut strips or bukayo . Most of the time those sold in the markets have this two (suman and bukayo) already in one wrap and all you have to to is devour it. But most of the time, the bukayo portion is bitin that I wish there's more. So why not make our own suman latik so you can have all the suman we want with all the bukayo toppings we desire! Here's a simple recipe for Suman Latik

FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

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