For my second part of my Kadayawan blog series, I will feature here the food, the restaurant and must try food specials in Davao city. There are a lot of resto and fast food to try, but if you dont know where to start, just read my post here and see if it can be added in your travel itinerary.
When you visit Davao, one of the most popular food to eat here is the Durian fruit, in Davao you can find some food mixed with Durian fruit, sometimes there’s Mangosteen in their cakes, ice cream, candy and desserts. Dont be afraid to try, when in Davao, try Durian and some of the local dishes that aren’t served in your area regularly.
If you are planning for a Davao City Food Crawl, then this checklist might help you where to start. Just dont forget to not over-indulge yourself, just eat right and save more space for dessert later.
For our trip, thanks to our TPB or the Tourism Board of the Philippines, our tour guide Mr Jojo, Davao LGU and the Balik Pinas Balik Saya Tourism program for making this trip possible.
Shout out to my blogger mates - Aci, Enzo, Ted and Rodel, and also to the Living Asia media team for the awesome 5 days travel team up for this year.
CHIPPENS
Chippens is a well known catering service provider here in Davao, but also they are offering buffet lunch and dinner in their resto which opens during lunch time and dinner. The name Chippens came from the two kids of the owner of the resto. Chippens operated since 1986 and it is one of the accredited catering service provider by the SMX Convention Center here in Davao.
Here are their buffet rate:
PHP 398 per head w/o drinks
PHP 428 per head with glass drinks
PHP 448 per head with canned drinks
As soon as we arrived in Davao, we went here to straight to eat our lunch.
Pork Belly
Lumpiang Shanghai
Kare Kare
Molo Soup
Fruits buffet
Chippens dining area
Schedule and cuisine availability per day
Chippens
As soon as we arrived in Davao, we went here to straight to eat our lunch.
Pork Belly
Lumpiang Shanghai
Kare Kare
Molo Soup
Fruits buffet
Chippens dining area
Schedule and cuisine availability per day
Chippens
https://www.facebook.com/ChippensDavao/
Roxas Ave, Poblacion District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 225 4498
ICE GIANTS
Our tour guide brought here in Ice Giants, its a diner set up restaurant and they offer light food, comfort food and desserts. One of the popular food here are pizza and these Durian Ice Cream Delight
Inside Ice Giants, you get to feel that you are inside comic book of Archie because of the colorful set up.
Durian Ice Cream Delight
Its a bingsu-like dessert filled with Durian fruit and top with vanilla ice cream. I super love the milky shaved ice and the creaminess of the durian fruit. If you dont like the smell of the durian fruit, then you can enjoy an dessert version without the strong foul smell.
Its good and sweet, I like this!
Homestyle pizza
Its a pizza on a soft bread. I like the melting soft cheese and the ham on top. Plus its easy to chew and digest because the bread is so soft.
Ice Giants
Door 1 & 2, Bagsi Complex, Sta. Ana Ave, Poblacion District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 227 3073
MARINA TUNA
For our dinner, we went here at Davao’s most popular resto -- Marina Tuna. The Manila version you see here in some malls is the same and the original and main resto branch is right here in Davao. Dont leave Davao without trying the seafood here in Marina Tuna.
From my 1st visit in Davao, me and my blogger friends from the EATgetaway team enjoyed the seafood feast and we just ate in one of Marina Tunas branch in SM Lanang, and it was a super feast!
Salmon Sashimi
I laughed at my travel mates because they’ve ordered this Salmon sashimi, I told them why we eat Japanese sashimi here and this is not a Japanese resto. But I didn’t know that their Salmon Sashimi is far more delicious than the best Japanese resto that I know. That is so weird and I was so wrong, so the laughing that I did earlier went back to me.
Im glad Ive tried this, so if you are a sashimi fan, then you should try the Salmon sashimi here in Marina Tuna.
Tuna Sashimi
Same goes to their Tuna sashimi, its also good and so tasty. Its a proof that the fish is really fresh and not came from the freezer.
Clam Chowder Soup
Im a chowder soup fan, I just can’t get out of this clam soup out of my head. The clam meat pops in your mouth when you bite it and its the chewy tasty chowder soup that I have tasted. I super love their chowder soup with fatty clam meat.
Tuna Panga Sinigang
The crowd favorite if our table. Everyone are looking for the eyes of the tuna
Grilled Squid
Tuna Bihod
Tuna Bihod is a tuna roe, its an exotic food here in Davao, I first tasted this in Orange Karinderia in Cebu, so when we saw this in the menu, we got so excited and ordered it right away.
Their tuna bihod is a Guisado verison mixed with veggies.
Tuna Kinilaw
As usual, the spicy kilawin is also a crowd favorite.
The resto is always full of customers, its best that you placed your reservation if you plan to dine here. There’s also a branch in SM Lanang, try it there if you plan to eat for lunch.
Marina Tuna
Km 9 Jp Laurel, Buhangin, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 233 2666
SILVANAS by Sans Rival
CALTEX LANANG
Our plan that night is to buy some bottled water and some supplies in a nearby gas station with convenience store. We are booked in Grand Regal Hotel, along Lanang road and the nearest convenience store there is the Mart to Go in Caltex Lanang.
Then we discovered that they sell these Silvanas by Sans Rival, a popular silvanas and sansrival maker in Dumaguete.
We bought one box and we enjoyed the thick crunchyness and creamyness of the silvanas..
Wow!! That was the best dessert ever. And its more flavorful than the silvanas in Cebu.
Its hard to resist, so take a bite and walk away with a smiling face
Mart to Go in Caltex Lanang
Km. 7, Lanang, Davao City, 8000
(082) 234 5988
GRAND REGAL HOTEL BREAKFAST
Sympre naman, if you are booked in a hotel, the best meal is always served during breakfast buffet. So don’t skip the breakfast meal of your hotel. Wake up early in the morning 8am or 9am, so that you won’t miss the yummy breakfast. Usually breakfast buffet of a hotel ends at 10am, so better wake up early.
Here in Grand Regal Hotel, oks naman ang breakfast nila. They dont have bacons everyday but I was happy that they served bacons during the last day of our stay. The best part in a breakfast buffet in a hotel here in Davao, they always offer mangosteen, lanzones, pomelo and durian fruit.
Grand Regal Hotel
J.P. Laurel Ave, Lanang, Buhangin, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 235 0888
KADAYAWAN TRIBAL VILLAGE
I like you to add this in your travel and food itinerary for your Davao trip. Kadayawan Tribal Village is located inside the Ramon Magsaysay Park. It was launched last year 2017 to introduce the recognized and honor the 12 tribes of Davao.
Each tribe exhibits their different kinds of home, and they actually live there. They can interact with people and teach them how to cook their tribal recipe. Some tribe members sell handicrafts and while others sell their home cooked food.
The best thing to do here is to have a food adventure, trying the food prepared by the tribe members who lived in the mountains and the tribes who lived near the sea. See how the Lumad and Moro cook their meal and also the different savory taste.
Corn polvoron
On photo above: A member of the Matigsalog tribe cooked on the spot a kind of dessert. I forgot what it is called but the cooked a powdered corn with coconut milk and brow sugar and they cooked it until the ingredients mixed together.
The flavor is like a corn pulvoron. Its good!
A Ovu-Manubo tribe member prepares a food that they call -- Linotlot na manok. What he did is that he placed the chicken meat, coconut meat and juice, veggies and spices inside a bamboo trunk. Then cooked over a fire and the bamboo was turned into an oven. After some minutes, the chicken meat and the ingredients are well cooked and was ready to serve.
They do this in the mountains and they use only the ingredients found around them.
Linotlot na manok
Sobra sarap!!! It taste like a chicken binakol, but this version is so spicy and you can taste the fresh coconut juice taste.
Tiyulah Itum
We met a Tausug mother in one of their exhibit homes in Kadayawan Tribal Village, and here she did a demo of how to cook the Tausug food - Tiyulah Itum
Tiyulam Itum takes too long to prepare, because they need to burn the shell of the coconut into crispy charcoal. The coconut shell charcoal will be powdered and it will be mixed together with a beef meat, some spices, water and coconut juice.
The beef meat is easy to soften, and the taste gives you a much creamy and tasty kind of beef with hot spice. Its may smell and taste like bulalo or nilagang baka, but this food is very important for the Moro tribe, because they cook this whenever there’s a wedding or a celebration at their home.
Pastil
A Tausug mom also sell this Pastil rice meal. Im not sure if that’s chicken or meat, but the taste is so good and I have taste Pastil before that’s why I bought it when I saw it in a store near the Tausug house.
They sell it at PHP 10 only
Putli Mandi
Putli Mandi is a Tausug dessert, and its similar to our pichi pichi. It is made from a powdered cassava, coconut, sugar and water. Its tasty and there’s more sweet inside it.
If you want to try food by the Moro people, then you should visit them at the Kadayawan Tribal Village.
Kadayawan Market
At the middle fo the park they have a mini expo featuring food and fruits that can be found here in Mindanao. Feel free to check it, but Im not sure if its available every day, we found the market and expo during the Kadayawan Festival season.
Durian
That day, I’ve tasted my first Durian fresh fruit. I’ve learned that there are at least 20+ kinds of Durian, and the most tastiest and most offered here to tourist is the Puyat. It has a yellow fruit meat and its not so smelly.
Mangosteen juice.
One of the booth sell this fruit juice to tourist.
Kadayawan Tribal Village in Ramon Magsaysay Park
5 R Magsaysay, Poblacion District, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
BISTRO SELERA
Bistro Selera is a restaurant that offers Davaoeno food and several favorite Filipino dishes. The resto is located inside SM Lanang.
Prawns
Tuna Sisig
Imbao clam soup
This is one my fave here… basta clam soup...panalo sa akin.
I just felt another exploding clam meat inside my mouth. So tasty!
Kare Kare
Durian ice cream
I like their version, they’ve mixed the nicely sliced durian fruit meat into the ice cream.
Ted ordered this dessert and its like a suman with durian ice cream.
Yeah yun na nga yata tawag dun.
Bistro Selera
SM Lanang Premier, J.P. Laurel Ave, Lanang, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 285 2184
RIVERWALK EXOTIC RESTO AND GRILL
Aka TRIBU K MINDANAWAN CULTURAL VILLAGE
For our dinner, our guide and the TPB team brought us here in a resto that serves many exotic dishes. I heard they have crocodiles and ostrich meat, but sadly the exotic meat are not available that night -- mukha naubos yata.
But we get to order some of the pinoy food we love.
Sinigang ng baboy
Sinuglaw
Beef Caldereta
Pinakbet
Hindi ko alam kung ano ito haha. Basta may coconut milk sya
Hahaha. I think its best to come here during day time so that you can catch some cultural shows and also the exotic food.
Riverwalk EXOTIC RESTO Grill
7 C De Guzman St, Talomo, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 221 9643
MALAGOS GARDEN RESORT
People come here to enjoy because it is one of the best offerings of Davao, you get to enjoy a close encounter with some animals, relax with mother nature, enjoy the lunch buffet and also learn how to make your own chocolate using the Malagos dark chocolate.
For a price of PHP 650, you can enter the garden resort and also have access for a lunch buffet. The lunch area also have a cultural dance show.
Take note, dont dance with the dancers, because they will snatch you away and brought you to their main stage. No choice, but you have to dance too hahahaha.
The buffet has around 20+ dishes, you can eat there til 2pm and enjoy also some of the best Pinoy dishes
Dont forget to their special food -- the Pork Humba with Malagos Chocolate.
It taste like a sweet adobo with Malagos Dark chocolate.
Masarap sya.
For dessert, you can get some dark chocolate from their choco fountain and you can pour it on your banana, marhsmallow or fruits.
One of the best attractions here in Malagos Garden Resort is the chocolate factory. They will teach you on how to make your own Malagos chocolate for a price of PHP 350
At the Chocolate factory you can also buy the ready made Malagos chocolates.
Before -- Im making a salted chili Malagos dark chocolate. Making one is so easy. After filling the mold with some of the ingredients and dark choco, you need to freeze this for 30 minutes and claim if after.
And here’s my yummy salted chili Malagos chocolates. The PHP 350 will let you make two boxes of chocolates + access to their choclate museum.
Malagos Garden Resort also have a cafe. Here you can enjoy some hot dark chocolate drink and Sikwate -- a kind of suman with ginger.
Masarap din sya!!!
If you plan to enjoy more here in Davao, I suggest you allot one full day for your stay here in Malagos Garden Resort, the venue is far away from the city and it will require you 1 ½ hour or 2 hours travel time from the city.
Malagos Garden Resort
5CQG+HC Davao City, Davao del Sur
0917 625 2467
APO NI LOLA DURIAN HOUSE
This is the highly recommended pasalubong store in Davao City. They are the biggest producer of anything that is durian and mangosteen. One of the best seller here are the Durian candies, yema durian spread, mangosteen candies, Durian coffee, Durian shake and many more!
Durian and Mangosteen candies
Durian shake
Durian Otap
Durian spread!
Mangosteen Piaya bread
Durian bar
Hindi ko alam kung ano lasa nito. Pero mukha masarap.
Go here at Apo ni Lola Durian House for your pasalubong and treats. Also you get to meet Duri the mascot and you can dance with him Bbomm Bboom hahaha.
Apo ni Lola Durian Delicacies
San Miguel Village, Talomo, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
aponiloladurian.com
(082) 298 5099
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/H4goU45MVeF2
ANNIPIE
During my 1st visit in Davao, many people suggest that I should try Annipie. They are the best seller when it comes to anything Cinnamon bread and pastries.
Our team went here to have some snacks and merienda
Almost anything on the store has a cinnamon...wow! But I like their version, which is not so sweet, if you compare it with mainstream cafe brands, their version is super sweet.
I like Annipie now because of the balanced sweet level of their cinnamon bread and cakes
To partner my sweet snacks….a hot latte!
Someone from my team ordered this green tean sansrival.
Grabe..what are they thinking! LOL
Tip: dont use their charging socket.. May extra bayad sya hahaha
But their cafe is nice naman. I suggest you also visit their branch in SM Lanang
Annipie
Quimpo Blvd, Talomo, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
(082) 298 2986
DAVAO-ROXAS NIGHT MARKET
Never leave Davao if you haven’t tried their Davao Night Market. Almost anything that are street food are offered here. Some are seafood, some are food for grills. There’s also the famous durian ice cream for PHP20 and also find more exotic food if you are up to a challenge.
The night market starts at around 6pm, you can visit one of the booth there and order anything that can be cooked via grill.
Tuna panga grill
Chicken BBQ
May durian din! Hahaha.
Tip: Bring your own bottled water for your hydration, some wet wipes to clean up your hand and some big appetite. Our guide said that going here is safe, because there’s a safety check point by the army and there’s no pickpocketers. Basta ingat na lang and dont leave your things unattended
There’s no rest room there, but what I did is that I went to Marco Polo Hotel to use their rest room.
Roxas Night Market
Roxas Ave, Poblacion District, Davao City, Davao del Sur
SAKURAZAKA
Another dinner moments, we’re looking for a much simple eats and we landed here in what they called a resto belt near Sumo Asia Hotel in Lanang Road.
We dined here in a simple outdoor resto Sakurazaka
Below are the menu and the low price of their food, BTW this resto is owned by a Japanese.
Wow! Their ramen is price around PHP 195 up to PHP 245 only. Thats the lowest price of ramen I have heard.
California Maki
Tempura
Gyudon
Seafood ramen
Tip: if the ramen noodles is over cooked, I suggest you return it so that they can replace it rght away.
Sakurazaka
Door 6, Rowe Square, Lanang, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
0917 702 4336
Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/AoFKXbGtf4p
YELLOW FIN RESTAURANT
Some of the recommended resto --- Yellow Fin resto, we just saw this near the hotel and we ate our lunch here. Wow! The resto is jam packed with customers. The food freshly prepared and cook as you order.
I super love the seafood here and also the bulalo.
Yellow Fin
Agdao, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur
GLAMOUR CRABS SEAFOOD BUFFET
A must visit if you want an eat all you can crabs!!!!
This resto offers a buffet of mud grabs cooked in different recipe. For a price of PHP 498, you get to enjoy an eat all you can crabs!! OMG!!
We ate our lunch here right after our coverage of the Kadayawan Festival. The resto is full of customers and it was lunch time. The flow of crabs are slow but they refilled it once they ran out of stocks at the buffet area.
They also serve many kinds of pinoy food at the buffet table.
Tip: stay in a cooler dining area near the AC, some of the corners lack ventilation, but I prefer the other side of the room which is much cooler.
Glamour Resto N Caterer Restaurant
386 Padre Gomez St, Poblacion District, Davao City, Davao del Sur
(082) 222 0045
FRUIT STAND
If you plan to take home some fresh fruits from Davao, I suggest you visit the fruit stand near the Davao International Airport.
You can buy boxes of Durian, mangosteen, lanzones and Marang fruit.
Just make sure you have enough baggage allowance, or else you pay more for the additional weight.
There are lots of fruit stand in Davao, so feel free to check them and inquire the price of their Durian fruit.
DAVAO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Your very own food crawl didn’t end yet, You can still do some food trip while inside the airport.
Here’s our scene when we got invited to stay inside the VIP lounge of the airport. And here we ate our baon -- lots of Yellow cab pizza! Ahhahaha.
We stayed here for 2 hours when we learned that our flight was moved 6 hours later and then we got a rebooking for another flight which is delayed for 2 hours only. Whew!!!
Kainan na….
INSIDE CEBU PACIFIC AIR PLANE
Since the planes arrived 6 hours late -- this is because of the Xiamen airplane accident in Manila airport that causes lots of cancellation and delays of all flight in the Philippines. We got a nice meal from Cebu Pacific after board the plane.
Wow!!! Chicken joy on the air!!!!
Thanks Cebu Pac!
AT HOME
Food crawl not yet over..because you will eat your pasalubong when you arrive home or wake up the next morning. Your Davao experience will not end yet, because your take home food from Davao will extend more of your travel adventure even if you are at home.
So ayun!!
Thanks so much for reading my long blog post about food to eat in Davao.
Up next: Im going to post the main highlight of this trip --- Kadayawan Festival
