Chika-an sa Cebu and Visayan cuisine

On our last day in Cebu City, our group ate lunch at Chika-an sa Cebu before heading to the airport and buying some pasalubong. You know the part about Filipino restaurants which overdo on rattan furniture just to look local? This one didn’t It had nice, contemporary interiors, just like Cafe Laguna. Diners also have a choice between staying indoors (for airconditioning) or outdoors (for smoking or just smelling the breeze).

The part that I liked best was the menu. Mostly, it was the thrill of seeing familiar dishes from my childhood. I really don’t get these in Manila. Food like buwad, utan bisaya, nangka salad etc. Correct me if am wrong, but I haven’t really seen a mainstream Visayan resto in Manila (unless you know one?), except for outlets of the much in-demand Cebu lechon and Bacolod chicken inasal. This is what made dining in Chika-an a bit exciting.

First up was the house bestseller, pochero with meat (P245). I don’t remember this dish from Southern Leyte, our province, so it must be Cebu’s own. Tagalogs would normally know of pochero as a meat dish with tomato sauce and garbanzos, among others. Chika-an’s was more like nilaga, at best. The only difference was the mouthwatering piece of beef shank or bulalo, with fall-off-to-the-bone goodness of the meat. There were also bits of sliced tomatoes and squash in this soup, but it was all good just the same.
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Laguna Garden Cafe, Cebu City

After our calorific trip to Bacolod City, it’s now time to hie off to Cebu, the Queen City of the South. There’s just so much one can do on a business trip, but I noticed there seems to be no end to all the eating. It starts, of course, with the free buffet breakfast in the hotel coffee shop. Ugh.

Aside from being able to speak the local dialect, I am actually excited to be in Cebu. As a food tripper, what am excited about is trying restos and eating places that aren’t usually found in Manila. My friends never fail to root for Cebu lechon (and more lechonnn), but there seems to be a lot more to be discovered in this bustling city.

Our host, Ms. Jojo Beltran of PAGCOR-Mactan, took us last night to Laguna Garden Cafe in the spanking new Ayala Terraces Cebu. I was actually wondering why a resto in the Visayas would associate itself with Laguna, a province in Southern Tagalog, but that’s the way it goes.

Laguna Garden Cafe looked every inch like a very popular family-style restaurant. It was simply packed with people on a Friday night. I also liked the tasteful interiors filled with the decor and furniture which Cebu is known for.

The resto started out as a canteen and is now a fine example of a family business which has expanded. Perhaps one secret of its success are its reasonable prices. The dishes range from P95 to P300.

I espied Cebu lechon in the menu for P675, but am glad we ordered instead the crispy pata in its golden glory (P320). Save the lechon for another day!

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