58
DELIGHTFUL DAVAO
DAVAO
DIRECTORY
EAT AND DRINK
Belito’s Vineyard
, Palm Dr,
Bajada, tel: +82 227 6726
Taklobo Restaurant
, Jack’s Ridge,
Shrine Hills, Matina, tel: +82 297
8830/297 8831
Huckleberry Southern Kitchen
and Bar
, Corner of Rizal St and
Bangoy St, tel: +82 285 2586
Hoy, Panga!,
Bacaca Rd, tel: +82
921 550 6090
Sea Green Café & Lifestyle
Shop
, Circumferential Rd, Dona
Vicenta Subd, tel: +82 305 4765
Toryano’s Chicken Haus
, Legazpi
St (in front of Apo View Hotel), tel:
+82 221 5556
BU Tapas
, Palayo St, tel: +82 284
6364
Sales Bar
Tekanplor, Sales St
Soundbox Bar
, J Camus St, tel:
+82282 4220
Coffee for Peace
, G/F, Fredric
Bldg, MacArthur Hwy, Matina, tel:
+82 296 1053
traditional Filipino fare. If you neglect
to try the
kare-kare
at Taklobo, with its
super-rich peanut sauce, your heart
might thank you but you’ll have missed
a sublime treat. The restaurant’s
quintessentially local
kinilaw
,
bagaybay
(tuna testicles) and
bihod
(fish roe) deserve a mention, too.
Back in the downtown area, another
don’t-miss Davao diner is Toryano’s
Chicken Haus, a cholesterol-rich
carnivore shack serving crocodile
sisig
alongside
lechon manok
(skewered
poultry),
tinola
and a mean
sinigang
(meat and tamarind soup).
Packing away all that salty animal
flesh is thirsty work. So after a hearty
meal I head off to Huckleberry
Southern Kitchen and Bar, an instant-
hit concept space twinkling with fairy
lights and boasting personality in
spades. This eatery with its “modern
Americana cuisine featuring dishes
from the Deep South,” as co-owner
Chris Pamintuan puts it, occupies the
ground floor of the Casa de Oboza,
which was built in 1929 by the family
of a former mayor. For true-blue local
flavor, try the Cacao Old Fashioned,
where nib rum infused withMindanao
coffee beans is used in place of whisky.
Davao isn’t a city full to bursting with
hipster nightspots but this retro-
modernist curio just might prove the
game-changer.
Despite a local tendency to stick
with old foodie favorites, other
entrepreneurs have set up stall here
to considerable success. There’s the
cozy BU Tapas, Bebidas y Bodega,
Davao’s first tapas bar, which is owned
by an Australian of Spanish-Filipino
descent; the original Hoy, Panga!, a tuna
specialist that has hit it big nationwide
on the strength of its imaginative
take on seafood (grilled tuna flakes
in a deep-fried bun, anyone?); and
the bright, inviting Sea Green Café
and Lifestyle Shop, whose claims to
fame are its “soul food” (aka healthy
pescetarian dishes) and killer coffee.
Starbucks has notably refrained from
opening here and, given that local
chains such as BluGré Coffee (est
1998) have been so successful, it would
likely be tough to penetrate the market.
Within a 200m radius of Sea Green,
several foodie haunts have opened in
Newly opened drinking and dining
spots have helped spice up Davao
City’s downtown core
PHOTO BY JOJIE ALCANTARA
