Red Mango in Davao

The frozen yogurt craze might have died down already but surely, it has already created a following here in the Philippines, and I still welcome the fact that Red Mango is now in Davao!  I got acquainted to frozen yogurt tasting one of the first froyo's in the country, and that is from Yoh-gurt Froz.  

Yoh-gurt Froz for me is quite similar to Yogo which was offered first at Coffee Cat during the craze.  Unknown to many, SM actually offered a similar tasting frozen yogurt at their supermarket at a much cheaper rate!  If you taste Red Mango's frozen yogurt though, it'll have a distinct texture and flavor.  Not too creamy, not sweet, more tangy.  It's actually not a lot different from all the other frozen yogurts, after all, it's still premium frozen yogurt.  How different can it get, right?  One thing for sure though is it won't have that ice cream creaminess that White Hat and Golden Spoon are aiming for - which I actually prefer (and most people that I've taken to Red Mango say the same in fact.)

Before I forget, the best thing about RED MANGO is their presentation! When dining in, the frozen yogurt is served in a white bowl and not on paper cups.  I admit, I eat first with my eyes.

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Pepper Lunch in Davao

Passing by the area, I couldn't help but take a picture of something that excites me.  Pepper Lunch is in Davao!

First Pepper Lunch in Davao

By the looks of it, it'll be open in less than a month.

What to order in Pepper Lunch

• Beef Pepper Rice
• Hitokuchi Steak

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Happy Lemon in Davao

First Happy Lemon in Davao

Happy Lemon is in Davao.

Unlike most Happy Lemon stalls in Manila, the Happy Lemon in Davao is really an enclosed shop with large tables and benches that can accommodate a group of 6-8.  It's air-conditioned as well.

What to order at Happy Lemon  

• Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese or 
• Coffee with Rock Salt and Cheese.

I think these are what they are known for.  I've tried both and the combination is definitely intriguing.  There are 3 ways to drink it: 1.) Use a straw and try the drink (coffee or cocoa) on it's own. 2.) Taste the Rock Salt and Cheese on top by licking it with your tongue directly (if you wanna be prim and proper, you can use the straw of course (^o^)/), 3.) Mix the topping with the base and drink!

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Alor's A Home Kitchen Davao - New Menu

In the company of friends, I got to try out a few new addition to Alor's A Home Kitchen's Menu.  With these additions, Alor's is definitely transitioning from home-cooking goodness to heavenly gourmet. If you haven't been to this restaurant in Davao, check out my recommendations for Alor's A Home Kitchen here.  

Warning: These pictures could possibly be detrimental to your health.  View with caution.

ROAST BEEF - USDA CHOICE GRADE

Roast Beef (USDA Choice Grade): Melt-in-your-mouth tenderness paired with an intoxicatingly good Pepper Gravy.  Gather a group of 6 and your group would be better off eating this rather than eating the steaks at Sarung Banggi. 

More pictures after the jump!

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Durian Flavored Lenguas de Gato

Durian Lenguas de Gato

A good friend was kind enough to send me two tubs of these super yummy Durian-flavored Lenguas de Gato.  Another classic confection that has been given a makeover to stand out from the rest.  You might think that you'll hesitate to try this confection if you don't like Durian but you really don't have to worry.  The Durian taste is very light.  It just adds the right amount of fragrance to add a new twist to this all time favorite.  And check out how thin these Lenguas de Gato are!  I wonder how the pastry chef was able to pull this off.

So thin and crispy! Only in Davao City

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Alor's A Home Kitchen Restaurant

If you grew up in Davao then you've probably heard of Yummy Chicken and Pasta Haus.  They have been serving Dabawenyos since 1988.  Now the same owners have finally decided to open up an upscale dining place just beside Yummy (Torres branch).  This new restaurant is called Alor's A Home Kitchen.  If you loved the chicken and lasagna at YUMMY, you'll for surely love the dishes in Alor's as well.

As I personally know the restaurant owners, so as not to be biased, I won't be writing this with my usual food scouting style.  Instead I would just give you a list of recommendations on what dishes to try.  These are dishes that I've personally tasted myself.

Check out also the restaurant's menu at the end of the post!

While waiting for your order, the restaurant serves toasted bread with their own signature Cheese Pimiento.  You might be tempted to forgo this treat, but please don't.  It's worth a try.  The kids especially will love this.    

Golden Rolls (115 pesos) - Alor's A Home Kitchen

For appetizers, get the Golden Rolls!  It's a well seasoned dish with a well-balanced sauce - no overpowering taste like that of vinegar.

ABBIE's Roca Salad (195 pesos) - Alor's A Home Kitchen

For salads, try ABBIE's Roca Salad which is a mixture of Romaine lettuce, Grapes, Candied Walnuts, and White Cheese in Greek Vinaigrette.  I just love candied nuts on my salads.  

Forty-Clove Chicken (235 pesos) - Alor's A Home Kitchen 

I have three choices for main course: Forty-Clove Chicken, Pork Chop Steak, and Chicken Cordon Bleu! The Forty-Clove Chicken is pan-roasted chicken smothered with a lot of roasted garlic!  If you like the smell and flavor of roasted garlic, you will love this dish.  

Pork Chop Steak (285 pesos) - Alor's A home Kitchen

The Pork Chop Steak is a pan-grilled pork chop served with gravy sauce!  The gravy goes so well with the pork chop that you just can't stop eating it.  

Chicken Cordon Bleu (245 pesos) - Alor's A home Kitchen

If you're a kid at heart or you simply want something very comforting, aside from the Pork Chop Steak of course, you can get this Chicken Cordon Bleu!  Breaded chicken with ham and cheese served over a plate of spaghetti! Nothing is more comforting than that combination!

Strawberry Frozen Brazo - Alor's A Home Kitchen

For dessert, you'll love the different Frozen Brazo cakes.  I tried the Strawberry flavor and it reminded me of a childhood favorite, the Banana Split.  All that were missing were the bananas!  The strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate flavors went very well together.  

Alor's A Home Kitchen

Alor's A Home Kitchen

F. Torres St., Davao City (beside Yummy, infront of Assumption Church)

+63-82-222-5577

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Food Scouts: Trellis 'n Vines Restaurant Davao

Trellis 'n Vines Restaurant Review
Davao City

Trellis 'n Vines now has four branches (Matina, Casa Maria, Mabini St., F. Torres St.) in Davao City.  Business must be doing great if you can afford to branch out that much.  A friend who has tried the place said that they generally serve good food.  The only complain he had was that it took forever for their order to arrive.  This was at the Mabini branch.  Checking Trellis 'n Vines' facebook page, they actually apologized for the slow service at the Mabini branch.  They blamed it on the small kitchen at that branch.

With an approving nod form most friends, it was the Food Scouts turn to try out the place.  

I went with friends to the newly opened branch in F. Torres.  It's beside Yahong Restaurant, the same compound with Coffee Cat Coffee Shop and Nonki Japanese Restaurant.  

Despite being a new branch, the place doesn't actually look new.  

We ordered the Chicken Biryana, Baby Back Ribs, and Pan-fried Bangus (Milk fish).  These were the best-sellers according to the waiter that served us.  

CHICKEN BIRYANI

All the food scouts loved the chicken biryani.  It was well seasoned with just the right balance of curry flavor.  The food scouts chose this as the best dish among the 3.

They didn't use Basmati rice though.  They used a sticky variety (probably our very own local rice) which caused some of the grains to stick together.  This can be a major turn off for real Biryani eaters.  

The paratha or more like a cracker really was a bit salty.  Surprisingly though, it had a lot of Indian spices on it which can be hard to find here in Davao.  It appears that this may have been home-made and not store-bought - a definite plus!  Just go lightly on the salt next time.  And I would have loved for the chicken to be in bite-size pieces and preferably boneless.  (^o^)/

PAN-FRIED BANGUS

The food scouts agreed that it was nothing extraordinary.  It was plain, something you can cook by yourself at home.  

I loved this the most as I'm not a fish eater and yet I was able to eat a lot of it.  But yes, it wasn't anything special.  

BABY BACK RIBS

The general consensus was that we've tasted better.  

The problem with serving Baby Back Ribs is in making sure that the meat is super tender.  I would rate this one as tender but not tender enough.  The sauce was also lighter than most BBQ sauces.  Regardless, it was still delicious.   

It took a whole hour before our orders were served!  I guess this branch also has a small kitchen.  Or it might just have been due to the bigger group that came ahead of us.  Management should figure out a way to solve this problem.  

One friend also shared her stories of ordering food at their Matina branch only to be told by the servers that it would take an hour before their food would be served because they still had to go to the wet market!  This almost sounded very unreal - a definite blooper for people in the food industry.

To save time, try calling and ordering ahead of time.  If this doesn't work, I don't know what would.  And I guess it would only be days before this restaurant also runs out of business as well. tsk tsk tsk ...

Trellis 'n Vines Restaurant

F. Torres St., Davao City

+63-82-2215566
+63-82-2867694

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Beer + Yellow Cab Pizza (Davao)

     I've been craving for ice cold beer and pizza since a couple of weeks back!  Having lost around 5 lbs. in the last month, I think I deserved the break.  (^o^)v  I got Yellow Cab's Four Seasons pizza.  The four flavors were Four Cheese, Anchovy Lovers, NY Classic, and Roasted Garlic and Shrimp.

     Four Cheese was a disappointment as it didn't include gorgonzola cheese. I checked the description and I was right.  Aside from mozzarella, they add cheddar, romano, and feta cheeses.  It's quite unusual as most Four Cheese pizzas have gorgonzola on them instead of cheddar. The Roasted Garlic and Shrimp though was delightful!  Very yummy!  I'll order this alone and add extra shrimps the next time!  The anchovies in Anchovy Lovers was a bit too salty for me.  But i guess it wouldn't be anchovy if it wasn't salty.  I would have loved for the anchovies to be shredded more thinly and distributed more evenly instead of in big chunks here and there.  And, NY Classic was, well, a classic.  You can never go wrong with pepperoni. 

     Order yours now by calling them at (082) 235-3333 (Yellow Cab Davao).  There's a 300 peso minimum order plus a 5% delivery charge.  The 10 inch Four Seasons pizza was priced at 380 pesos.  Quite pricey for a pizza but I think it is worth every calorie.

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Of Frozen Yogurts and Coffee Cats

Are you a coffee cat?  First time I see the name the term "copy cat" came right into mind.  Who can forget Sharon Cuneta's famous movie line "You're nothing but a second rate trying hard copy cat!" (^o^)/ 

Coffee Cat is one of the latest coffee shops to open here in Davao.  I'm loving the word play.  But one also has to wonder if this coffee shop will turn out to be just another copy cat.  

I haven't had the chance to taste their coffee until recently.  Every time I enter a new coffee shop, I always order Mocha!  It's how I gauge coffee.  Before, I always ordered the ice-blended variety (blame it on Starbucks' Mocha Frappuccino), but now I seem to prefer hot drinks already.  It must be the age.  And so I tried their Cafe Mocha.  I have to say it's one of the best I've tried here in Davao!  All it took was one sip!  I loved the flavor.  I looked towards the counter and for the first time noticed a red sign with the letters "illy" written on it.  They use illy coffee beans!  I believe these are from Italy.  It reminded me of another coffee shop I liked in Cebu, Postrio.

Although the coffee was very inviting, the first time I set foot on the store, I actually ordered something else.  I ordered Frozen Yogurt! It has finally made its way to Davao!  I'm so happy!  Even my Nepalese friend was so excited to see one.  And tonight, I ordered my third cup. I paired it with strawberry-flavored mochi!  It was like eating Mochi ice cream - another thing made in Japan that you must try. ^^  I got another cup for my mom, I thought the sourness of the yogurt might turn her off but she was actually impressed as well.  

Frozen Yogurt is a great substitute for ice cream.  However, I'm not really sure if it's as guiltless as it claims to be. hehehe  (I'm trying to be careful now as I'm trying to lose weight just in time for the summer season.) (^o^)/ 

A small cup of frozen yogurt from Coffee Cat costs 80 pesos.  About the same price as the ones in Manila.  It's definitely a bit expensive for the Davao market.  I hope it stays and other frozen yogurt stalls should follow.

Look at their take out carrier ... I think it's ingenious ^^

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Davao Great Finds: Yurushi Japanese Restaurant

Just when I was blogging about Tonkatsu (fried breaded pork) and how I've been longing for Japanese cuisine lately, comes a great find in the city of Davao! Yurushi, located at corner Suzao street and Uyanguren, is here to serve the Davaoeños affordable Japanese food! Now anyone can get Tonkatsu, Katsudon (Breaded porkchop topping), and Gyuudon (Beef strips topping) for only 57 pesos! Not only is the food affordable, but it actually tastes very authentic. Must be because it is personally prepared by their Japanese cook. I've tasted their Tonkatsu and Katsudon meals and I wasn't disappointed. This is truly a great find and I'm adding it to my list of great Davao City restaurants. (Good authentic food at an affordable price)

A problem you may have with the place is that it looks like a carinderia (local canteen). Despite being one, the place is really clean and well maintained. If you go upstairs, you'll be surprised to know that the place is airconditioned and even has a coin operated karaoke machine that the whole gang can enjoy! So start saving up those 5 peso coins so you can sing your hearts out! (I haven't checked out the comfort rooms (toilet) yet.)

A funny thing I noticed is the name. Yurushi in English actually means "forgiveness." I wonder why they named it that way. My guess is it's suppose to be Yoroshii which means "good" but with the native slang, with the not so flexible tongue, made the name sound like how it is spelled now. (The next time I'm there I'll try to muster enough courage to ask the owners and maybe even practice my Japanese. (^^;))

This restaurant is truly a great find, perfect for our after (MBA) class meals. The next time you find yourself craving to try something new, head to this restaurant, try their Tonkatsu or Katsudon and feel like a winner.

They also have Chahan (Japanese style fried rice) in their menu. Fresh fruit shakes, like Mango, are priced at 14 pesos for 8 ounce servings. Softdrinks (8 oz., served in bottles) are priced at 13 pesos each.

(WINNER Tonkatsu meal with cabbage salad topped with Japanese style mayonnaise)

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