Brian Kennett
Amateur Chef and Boozy Traveling Foodie Extraordinaire
Here comes a lengthy food blog about travel around the beautiful Philippines – A foodie Bohol Review, Philippines. I think you will like this one. Amazing variety from some beautiful stops across this incredible island in the Philippines. Look here for some insights from previous trips, blog1, blog2.
I have created two blogs for this trip, one for the food experiences below and one for the family stuff on ninakennett.net.
Nice enough local fare at Sherwood Bay Resort and not so good on the Western food if I were to gove it a proper Bohol Review. Major delays in their service of the food as well, like 20 minutes per person’s order. It also has a massive menu, of which half was not available. Cut the menu down Sherwood, and serve what you are good at. Less is more. You made us keep away from eating with you with poor service.
A crappy breakfast @ Sherwood – 20 minutes of service time per person, so let’s not go into any more detail about the food at this place they do not deserve a Bohol Review. Let’s focus on the good stuff we had on the trip.
For Mary’s Mum’s birthday, we had Lechon on the beach, so off we trotted to Anda Beach on Bohol Island, not Panglao for the day. A day of fun and games and food of course with the most amazing views. A wow moment indeed.
Where to have lunch today, hmmmm not sure, oh yeah this will do….
We had the traditional Lechon, which is a whole pig stuffed with lemon grass, onions, salt and pepper and then slow-roasted to porky perfection. You help yourself to a sharp knife and carve off chunks of crispy skin, and ultra-moist pork meat deeply flavoured by the stuffing. Self-service on steroids folks.
Squeal piggy, squeal. Black pudding was made, at special request, by Mary’s Dad. It’s delicious, seriously just delicious.
Anda White Long Beach Address
Sherwood Bay Resort Panglao, Bohol Review
What a spread…
Mary’s Mum made her infamous tapioca pudding with evaporated milk. You just can’t get enough of this.
But there was also steamed shrimp, steamed crab, fried chicken, grilled whole fish, macaroni salads, coconut glutenous rice etc. What a feast in such an amazing location.
Later that night, dinner at Sherwood was spoilt due to an invoked 21:30PM curfew. We literally got asked to leave the dining room, despite wanting to order more food and drinks. I thought it was a hotel, not a boarding school. Have a read of my TripAdvisor Bohol Review here. I suggest you do not stay there.
We skipped the very probably crappy breakfast at Sherwood and went exploring Tagbilaran City.
Payag for brunch, 18 CPG East Avenue, 2nd Floor. Likely this will be the very best BBQ chicken you have ever had. It’s so succulent, smoky from the coals, and charred from the intense heat. We frequent this restaurant every single time we come to Tagbilaran, it is just so very good and constantly high quality.
Sadly though the same does not apply to one of their franchise locations at BQ Shopping Mall – that was disgustingly dirty and the staff was completely not interested.
Do not have your first Payag experience there, make sure you go to East Avenue. Do we look happy and hungry? Oh yes indeed…
Bohol Review: Family
The gang for 10 days. It was wonderful to have us all together – three meals a day to get the family together, how lovely!
What did we eat that day; Superinato Combo – BBQ chicken and pork.
Check out the charring – you just know this is going to taste sublime: Chicharon Bulaklak – BBQ pork intestine.
Chicharon Chicken – Deep fried chicken skin.
Payag Tagbilaran Address
Fiesta Filipina Cuise Restaurant: Bohol Review
Crunchy and crispy chicken goodness – OMG
- Tinola Isop – Fish and vegetable soup that Mary said was quite delicious;
- Jo’s Chicken Inato – BBQ chicken minus the pork as above; and
- Green mango shakes – sour, almost sherbet-like give you a pallet cleanse between your food.
Payag churns out just incredible food. It is BBQ’d to perfection, with the absolute right amount of charring but then so moist and succulent inside. We washed the food down with green mango shakes which almost acted like a palate cleanser because of the sourness. And of course, I also washed the food down with a cleansing local ale called San Miguel Pilsen.
Dinner later that night was a stonker at a place called Fiesta Filipina Cuisine, Upper Ground Floor, Luisa Gallery, Gallares Street, Tagbilaran City. “Home of your favourite Lutong Bahay” is their strap-line, which apparently means home of your favourite (home) food. I like that. Again can you tell we can’t wait to get stuck into the food?
Here’s the gang together again and about to consume some of the very best Filipino food ever… (PS and so cheap!!! Now there’s a Bohol Review.)
Here is the food mecca – a series of quasi-hawkers all in a row. We chose well though to come to this place.
Die die must try if you are in Tagbilaran. So good and so cheap.
What about the 360 though – turn left to see the restaurant frontage, come 90 degrees and see the guy cooking, turn 180 degrees, and let’s have a look at the view from the terrace we are sitting at.
Now that is not a bad view whilst chomping on some absolutely amazing food is it! What did we eat: Sizzling beef tapa – nice with a deep rich sauce.
This was an OK dish – not the best, but surely not the worst. Bol-anon fried beef strips – like beef KFC, beef deep fried in a crispy batter and served with chilli dip. A mix between beef KFC and Japanese tempura. Yummo.
There go the eyebrows…
The very best dish for the trip I think… just wonderful!!! Pancit Bol-Anon – a noodle dish with prawns, pork, and vegetables. Quite a basic Filipino dish, but at the same time very tasty. Squeeze some lime on it to jazz it up a little.
Noodly dish with vegetables, pork and prawns. Looks good.
Bol-Anon Fish Kinilaw – raw fish, with coconut cream and lime juice (the lime ‘cooks’ the fish little with its acidity), some peppers, and some red onions. I have to say it does look rather good.
Mary and the kids said this was also quite incredible as a dish (I clearly did not try this one…)
Sisig – An absolute belter of a sisig, and I have had a few, this was so savoury, spicy, and textural due to the pig jowl, and nice chunks of liver in there – again prepared in front of us with a fire display for this one too.
Sisig is the meat from the pig’s jowl and cheeks (they call it the mask), and some liver, onion, chilli, special secret spices, a squeeze of lime, and a raw egg all served on a sizzling platter. BOOM!!! This is my all-time favourite for this Bohol Review.
Like the laab gai of Thailand, sisig is the same sort of food experience for me in the Philippines. Everyone’s version has its own spin, hence loving this dish so much as you never get the same experience…
Galleria Luisa Tagbilaran Address
Dinner was so-so at Sherwood By Resort, but the French onion soup was disgusting. I tried adding Tabasco and salt and pepper which made it just about consumable. Seriously though look at this awful dish. If I were to write a Bohol Review for Sherwood Bay Resort it would be a 1/10 ranking. So awful.
How bad does this look – like dishwater with a lump of butter in it and some wilty white onions
It truly was disgusting, so I also opted for Chili Cheese Poppers which were awesome. Jalapeños, stuffed with cheese, wrapped in spring roll skins, and then deep fried. Oh yeah, baby. One of the Sherwood Bay Resorts standouts. Believe me, there are not many. Crunchy, chili, cheesy – beer food on steroids.
- BBQ pork & beef skewers – I also had these from the BBQ. They were so/so, a tad cold though
- Chicharon – we had 3 serves of this, and yep this was quality food – back to the comment of sticking to what you’re good at at Sherwood Bay Resort
- BBQ stuffed squid and tuna steak – Mary opted for two dishes tonight, and from what she tells me she chose well as both were quite tasty outcomes. Looks pretty good too
We left before their curfew to have an early night, as we escaped tomorrow to our other hotel.
Sherwood Bay Resort, Panglao: Address (so you can avoid it like the plague...)
We ended up having Christmas lunch at The Kew Hotel, Tagbilaran City. This is about 6 months old and became our oasis after our Sherwood Bay experiences. What a great hotel, I believe owned by Japanese, modern and funky that would grace any Capital City.
We ended up having lunch here after a 30-minute drive around the city exposed that everywhere was shut for Christmas Day until 17:00PM. But the lunch was great, so we were really pleased to have this Hobson’s Choice placed on us. It was packed with locals too and that was just what the Dr ordered. What did we eat for our Christmas lunch today at The Kew Hotel – let’s dig into this Bohol Review.
Grilled tangigue ala pobre – fish cooked with a dark sauce, ala pobre style, made from lemon juice and soya sauce. Dark and mysterious, just like my Mary…
Sizzling Oso Bucco – a beef shank stew with bone marrow, and unctuous gravy. Good choice Ollie, top marks for this Bohol Review. A beefy stew with beef shank and bone marrow, a good choice Ollie.
Chicken and Pork Adobo – chicken and pork bite-sized pieces, marinated in a soy and vinegar sauce with a hard-boiled egg. Sticky gravy that is sweet, salty, and sour all in one. Nice! Sour, sweet, and salty all in one hit, a good choice from Jhea and Jimboy.
Chicken in a Basket – deep-fried goodness served with a delicious gravy for dipping.
Kew Hotel Tagbilaran Address
Bohol Review: The Golden Cowrie
Eat your heart out KFC, this is the real deal!
For Christmas dinner, we go back to one of the closed joints we were hunting down for lunch. The Golden Cowrie. I will call out that this was the best complete meal I had on this trip. This place was incredible and so so cheap it’s not funny. It was sublime food. Packed to the rafters too with locals.
I am loving those signs as a foodie… The Golden Cowrie by the way is a shellfish not too dissimilar to the Floridian Conch, a marine mollusc that has a glossy, brightly patterned domed shell with a long, narrow opening. Back in the day it was used as currency in Indo-Pacific and Africa – go figure.
You have to come to VP Inting Street, Tagbilaran to try The Golden Cowrie, this gets a 4.8 out of 5 from me, it really was that good. Ring them at +63 38411 0323. This was a Christmas dinner from heaven, and yes I do believe I did hear angels singing at certain times. What did we eat (perhaps better to share what we didn’t eat).
Almost akin to Bak Kut Teh here in Singapore. Linat Ang Baka – beef rib soup with plantain.
You little beauties… Baked scallops – roasted in the oven, with cheese on top. My Mary gave this a huge thumbs up for this Bohol Review.
Pork sisig – one of the very very best I have ever had. Top marks to The Golden Cowrie. I tell you this would get 9.5 out of 10. Stellar!!!
Bicol Express, spicy, with coconut and salty due to shrimp paste (a little too salty and fishy for me due to the shrimp paste – quite intense actually).
Smoky porky heaven on a plate. You literally touch this with your fork and create a meat waterfall.
Grilled back ribs – fall-off-the-bone meat that tastes like smoked and BBQ’d pork sausages.
Mary said: ” can you just order me some bloody food!” So I got her this.
Dinuguan – a blood porridge dish that my Mary loves. It’s really good, quite ironic like a black pudding, just in a semi-liquid form.
If you want crackling, look no further. Golden Cowrie knock this dish out of the park!
Lechon Kawali – OMG this was absolutely amazing. A vinegar dipping sauce with crispy deep-fried pork, some onions, etc. Mana from heaven. You just cannot eat enough of this.
Christmas dinner at The Golden Cowrie, and includes a free wrapping service for the food, with their Pandan Chicken – chicken cubes wrapped in pandan leaves and then roasted on the BBQ, so the flavour steams into the meat.
Sadly I cannot remember a great deal about this dish, other than it all got consumed so must have been good!
Squid Rings – with some sauce or the other. I know Jimboy ordered this, but I have no notes on this one – shame on me. Looks nice though.
This was indeed dinner for Kings and Queens, so ideal for Christmas day and our mate Jesus’s birthday. Here is what my Filipino Christmas dinner looked like. All are served on a banana leaf. When you put the hot food on the leaf all the edges curl up making a natural bowl to stop the gravy spilling off. How cool is that?
Not a turkey in sight – but then with this food who needs one?
A proper Filipino breakfast with freshly made Tocino today, no tinned crap thanks Sherwood Bay. You can tell it’s fresh because the bacon puffs up as part of the cooking process. The corned beef was also to die for. That’s mine tomorrow for breakfast for sure. Finally, they get a positive Bohol Review.
I like that breakfast platter. The Philippines at its best.
Today was some more shopping, and then fun in a pool park with the kids. Nice and relaxing. We went to JL Slides, just up the road from the hotel, about 5 minutes in a tricycle. We rented a gazebo and for lunch ordered a takeaway pizza from apparently the best pizza joint in Bohol, namely Shakey’s.
The fact that it was established in 1954 is a good sign, in that they are still going strong. We ordered family-sized garlic & cheese, and pepperoni pizzas. On the garlic & cheese one, I added some sisig crisps/chips, which made it an absolutely amazing pizza with additional flavour and texture.
Garlic and cheese which we ‘oomphed’ up with sisig crisps – wow!
And hello there my pepperoni friend. I’ll give Shakey’s the credit they deserve as these really were excellent pizzas!
That creation gave me a new ‘pop-up’ restaurant idea – Asian Fusion Pop-Up Pizzas. Something along the lines of this for a menu;
- My Jamie Oliver award-winning Laab Gai Pizza;
- Filipino Sisig Pizza;
- Lechon Kawali Pizza;
- Roast Singaporean Pork & Kimchi Pizza;
- Chicken Tikka Pizza with Raita.
What do you think? Would you come along to eat?
Tonight for dinner we had a big family meal at the reputed best restaurant in Bohol, namely Gerarda’s Family Restaurant. There are actually two of these in Tagbilaran, and yes Amy, Jhea, and I went to the wrong one initially. But all was good in the end, as 14 of us rocked up for dinner.
This was yet another major food event as we ordered and ordered and ordered. This place was yet again seriously good. Still, though folks my favourite to date is The Golden Cowrie, that place shines for me.
But here we are – eating irons at the ready, bring it on Gerarda’s.
Gerarda's Restaurant
Bring it on Gerarda’s – we will commit to eating you out of stock!!! We ordered and ate the following. Set meal for 10 people that consisted of:
Samsi Soup – Chinese-style vegetable soup with white asparagus and mushrooms. Not bad, a tad bland in my reckoning though.
Mixed seafood – Mary gave this a so-so rating—average according to my Mary. I cannot comment as I did not try. It looks alright though…
Pork Kilawin – this was amazing, full of quality vinegary deliciousness. This was such a great dish. Sour but not overly so, perfectly balanced.
Beef Steak – I was a little disappointed with this dish, not as good as the rest sadly. No photo, sorry.
Buttered Chicken – this was great, bite-sized chicken pieces coated in a crispy batter. This was a good one. Almost tempura-like in the batter texture – with a delicious chilli dip to boot.
Chow Mein – seafood included so it was a no-go for me. Again a bit of a so-so response from those eating it though. No photo, sorry.
I also ordered al la carte the following; Sizzling Chicken Omelette – came with a sort of béchamel sauce, vegetables, and chicken inside. It was OK, nice but not mind-blowing.
This was one of those items that I had to try, never having seen such an option on a menu before. It was worth a punt and it was not bad. Not mind-blowingly good, but OK.
Sisig – of course I had to. This was a rather strange version though. Very dark in colour, as I think it was loaded with soya sauce. Nice, but Golden Cowrie has you by the balls Gerarda’s; and finally the best to last.
Good effort – but a tad weird for my sisig taste buds I think because of Chinese influence and loads of soya sauce.
Crispy Tadyang Fried Beef – this was truly up there in dish recognition. Beef ribs deep-fried in their own fat, air dried, and served with chilli vinegar Native Sauce. I think Belinda is singing; “Ooooh heaven is a place on earth”. These were so good we ordered 4 servings. You just have to have this!
Take this home, potentially even marry it. This is a must-eat if ever you frequent Tagbilaran. You just have to. It’s a killer dish!
I even pushed the boat out and had dessert. There was one offering on the menu I just could not ignore. We ordered; Fried Ice Cream – sort of like fried bread with ice cream in between and then slathered with chocolate sauce. This was superb.
Fried bread with ice cream? Hmmmmm – bedfellows? Seems to work!
Black Sambo – yep you read it right. I could not quite believe my eyes when I saw it, haha. There it was front and centre in the menu. A Christmas favourite. It’s sort of 100% cocoa with evaporated milk for the bottom layer and then evaporated milk with gelatin for the top layer.
I loved this. It’s a cracker. Almost truffle-like chocolate on the bottom with intense cream on the top. Call it whatever you want, I’ll have it again.
Looks like a small Guinness…
Off for an island tour today with Danny at the helm as our tour guide. Chocolate Hills, Tarsier, Blood Pacts, 18th Century Churches, River Cruises, etc. A packed day with 14 of us on the bus. But this is a food blog, so let me get to the Loboc River Cruise Lunch.
It’s quite pricy, Filipino Peso talking, but it is a different way to have your lunch. On board a boat, dining as you meander up the river, soaking in the beautiful jungle scenery, live band chucking out sing-a-long songs and loads of local food to quaff down. Of course, a couple of local ales to wash it all down.
Here we are – yet again about to eat, this time on a floating barge/boat thing!
Drifting down the Loboc River chomping cruise on local grub and looking at the amazing scenery. Now that is not a bad way to eat local food, is it…?
What a view from the ‘restaurant’ for lunch today.
We got back quite late, and again because we are embargoing Sherwood we decided to grab a HUGE Jollibee take-away. Burgers, chicken buckets, mashed potato with gravy, cheesy chips, and the like were all consumed in the hotel room on the floor.
Camping style. Kids loved it, and so did I. A nice break from fine dining, from what is one of the best fast foods I think you’ll get anywhere in the world.
Yet another day escaping from Sherwood today. We decided to take a private multi-cab and drive down to Hennan Resort Alona Beach. Wow, with a capital W., This place is so so good. We actually did try to book this place for our stay, but it was solidly booked.
But hey we paid to get in for the day and we ate and ate here as well. Lunch was great. A tad over local prices, but still not too bad in comparison to Singaporean pricing for food. And I have to say it was absolutely superb food, really it was.
Yep, it’s going to be a tough job eating at Henann Resort Panglao, but I reckon I might just be able to eat lunch here – given a push!
First up was Gambas Al Ajilo – shrimp sautéed in olive oil, garlic, Spanish paprika, and a wee dash of brandy. Ding dong! Sounds amazing doesn’t it? Not bad for pool bar food! Akin to our mate Eduard’s version at My Little Tapas Place, but Eduard’s is of course way better.
Not too dissimilar to our mate Eduard’s at My Little Spanish Place – but Eduard, yours are better by far buddy!
Jimmersol, Jhea, and Jude (all the J’s) ordered the Henann Resort Bacon Cheeseburger. A monster of a thing. Crispy bacon, and grated cheese all atop a very well-cooked medium rare patty.
This thing was the size of a small child. Go Jimboy & Jhea, enjoy!
I go straight on for the Pork Lechon Kawali with Tubar Vinegar and Chili dipping sauce. I tell you The Philippines do pork well. If you are a fan of roast pork with crackling, look no further.
You have to come to the Philippines. This version of the dish from Henann Resort was just superiorly good. You have to try!!! Moist, crunchy, chili, vinegary, all in one – soooooo good!!!
Oh come on behave, I believe Austin Powers would say…
Quite surprisingly Ollie went for pizza. A spicy meat lover pizza. Nothing really more to write about this item, it’s a pizza that has meat and chili, hence spicy meat lover. Hmmmmm!
Yep it’s a pizza…
We also had two incredible little appetizers at the pool bar, but sadly because I was actually in the pool I have no photos. But these are also must-tries at Henann Resort, you just have to absolutely crack a cold Pilsen when you do as these two are perfect bedfellows.
Spicy peanuts, fried in a certain way so not greasy. Mixed with chili and candied fruits. Corking!
Air-dried Beef (OMG). Beef fried in its own fat until crispy, then air-dried and served with that wonderful Tubar vinegar with chili, AKA Pinakurat. Holy moly – I could have eaten plate after plate after plate of this. You simply have to have this on a food bucket list.
And of course, I could not turn down the chance to try the sisig here. Having smelt another guest’s plate of this, as he sat at the pool bar chomping it down, I just could not resist the urge to explore what their version would be like. I ordered it of course. This was a sisig sent from heaven my friends.
It was missing the liver, but the little fatty bits made up for that, also a little crunch from the jowl bits. It was spicy hot which was awesome, almost to the point of being a little cheeky. Henann Resort Panglao you have a sisig that easily has a place in my Top Ten Best ever.
It was just incredible food, I loved this one. Even a wee unique addition of a squirt of mayonnaise on top – I think the Japanese version as it was a little vinegary in taste.
A thing of beauty, is it not? Be still my beating heart.
Henann Resort Panglao Address
Dinner tonight was caused by me seeing a logo out of the corner of my eye when travelling to the ATM one night. I saw the big emblazoned sign stating SIZZLIN’. We just had to have a look and informed our driver to drop us off there rather than back at Sherwood Bay.
The restaurant is called ‘Just Sizzlin‘, and is located at P Del Rosario Street, Tagbilaran. Only established in 2014, and is brand new to this address. As the name suggests it is indeed a variety of foods served in a sizzling platter, a fusion of Filipino and Asian. Well, that’s me sorted for the next few hours then!!!
We had the usual coronary overload of food, it goes like this, Sweet Asian Meatballs – scrumptious little morsels of meaty goodness with a delicious dip;
What a pretty little dish – and I tell you the taste was great, and not dry at all.
Crispy fried shrimp – clearly not chosen by yours truly, but by Jimboy, Jhea, and Amy. These things flew off the plate, the kids absolutely loved them.
These look so good, don’t they?
Vegetable Sinunuban – a Filipino vegetable and coconut milk soup. Jeeze this was a top draw. Silky smooth, subtle coconut flavour and soft vegetables. An incredible vegetable soup this was.
So so creamy. This was a meal in its own right, just so tasty for ‘just’ a soup. I would have loved this with some chopped chili.
Lechon Bagnet – this is a roasted pork belly dish where the pork is stuffed, rolled, tied, and roasted and for the crackling, it is roasted separately and then sat on top.
It gets served with a pickled relish called Atchara Papaya, which is basically pickled papaya. This was brilliant. Well of course it was as I chose it. I think I have competition for my slow-roast pork belly as this was truly amazing.
Hashed Beef – this was OK, not much singing from the rafters though. Wow, am I getting picky? This is a dish of thinly sliced beef steak, mixed with sweetcorn, onions, and Japanese Hayashi sauce + no picture ayways…
Cheesilog Rice Meal – here comes Ollie’s choice, and this is a fusion dish. A sisig with cheese, which this place calls a cheesig, all served up with a fried egg and steamed rice.
An interesting play on a classic Filipino dish – I’d tend to leave it alone as a classic but hey it’s a bit of fun too.
Grilled Stuffed Squid – in comes my Mary with another go at the stuffed squid BBQ. This one is grilled. Stuffing within the squid is made of chopped tomato, red onion, sautéed vegetables, and oyster sauce. Mary gave this a major delicious thumbs up, soft and tender ever so fresh grilled squid. Yep, she liked it.
Sometimes I really wish I liked seafood. This does look so bloody appetizing.
Sweet Bohol – in kicks dessert now, you know like fish this is not my favourite, but this was a funky dessert. Savoury is more than sweet, despite the name.
Its local Ube Jam is made from yam, Calamay which is sticky rice, locally produced cassava chips, and then drizzled all over with Tableya Syrup – this is like the best caramel you will have ever had in your life. What a dessert!!!
So pretty – this is a very cool dessert. Savoury not sweet, just my cup of tea!
Baked Smoors – a sizzling platter of chocolate on the bottom, then topped with marshmallows. Whack that in the oven to toast the mallows and melt the chocolate. Serve that up a sizzlin’ with some biscuits to scoop the gooey mess up and stuff it in your gob. I had to try one of these and yep despite it being sickly sweet, it really was rather good.
Does this take you back to Cub Scouts & Girl Guides? Sat round the campfire toasting your marshmallows? Check these puppies out, perfectly melty and browned. Boom!
Our very last full day in Bohol for this trip sadly. We again escape early from Sherwood Bay, checking out at 0900am and having Danny collect us at circa 1000am. So happy to see that place for the last time. Off to The Kew Hotel again. Bags at the concierge and off we go to the city.
A little last-minute shopping, an attempt to see Rogue 1 but the cinema had finished the showing, a revisit to Payag but a different branch but it was so so bad we left, off to Pizza Hut (well it does what it says on the tin).
Then we all meet up for the final family dinner at a place I chose – a new one that no one knew of – named Persona Mesa, JA Clarin Street, Tagbilaran.
I loved this place. Two years in the making. Run by a lady called Margo, a confessed minimalist and designer. So the interior is all hers but so is the look of the food. She has created a chef relationship where he cooks and she plates – I like that.
The food here, for our last dinner, was incredible. As always honest Bohol Review will follow, as some hit my buttons and some did not.
We grabbed an outside table – here we are awaiting the rest of the family to join us. I do like the look and feel of this place, I really do.
What was also fantastic about this place was the size of the menu options – 3 pages only. Again minimalistic like the rest of the restaurant. Great choices that look pretty amazing, as you’ll see shortly. We dine well for our last family dinner in Bohol before an early start for the journey home to Singapore. I would say absolutely come here if you happen to be in Tagbilaran or Bohol, this is a must-try location.
A suggestion would be a quick call to make sure you can get a table and also ask for some directions – this is set back a little from the main road so blink and you’ll likely miss it – ring here +63 38 411 1113.
And here is your inside view, I like a lot. Clean and simple!
Sisig triangles – a unique concept of sisig wrapped in wonton skins and deep-fried. Great for sharing, and turning sisig into finger food. When I asked Margo about this dish she said;
“Sisig is quite a smelly dish, as the hot skillet wafts smoke about and I did not want that in the small inside space we have. I wanted to contain it in the kitchen. So the sisig is cooked in the kitchen and hidden away in the wrappers.”
Genius. Served with the usual vinegar dip. You have to try this.
Check out these little parcels of savoury meaty goodness, you just know these will be great!
Beef Rendang – not the usual bright red rendang you’d expect from Malaysia. This almost had some Thai influence with a greenish tinge, I think caused by the use of more coconut cream. Mary and I will honour Persona Mesa with the title of probably the very best Beef Rendang we have ever eaten.
This dish was stellar. Not big cubes of meat, but succulent and tender stripped meat in the sauce. This is shiok, die die must try – get this location and dish on your bucket list.
Just have a look at this, need I say any more?
Mango Salad with Citrus Dressing – you think from that description it will come out as a salad in a bowl type thing, you know the usual salad presentation. But no.
This comes out dressed to kill. A roll of thin slices of cucumber acts as the ‘bowl’, this contains shredded mango, a bulb of fresh mango, a steamed shrimp poking itself out and a shot glass of the citrus dressing sits alongside. So pretty as a dish and so delicious once you get to courage to destroy the presentation.
All you can say is likely, WOW!
Pork Binagoongan with fried Talong – I had a spoon of this and BOOM, personally way too much shrimp paste in this. Wow, double salty and really fishy for a pork dish. Sorry guys this one is a little low down on the taste scoring despite it looking pretty damned amazing!
Looks good, but man oh man it is salty and fishy, big overload on the shrimp paste I personally think!
Lechon Kawali and Dips – of course, we had to have this, you just cannot have it if it is on the menu. And this was a fantastic version of the dish.
Again the presentation was exceptional and the taste was sublime. These guys have also nailed the moist moist slow-roast pork with a maximum crunch on the pork crackling. Great job, delicious!
Beef Calegreta – a tomato beef stew with cheese on top. Yep, it is beef stewed in tomato sauce, with liver spread, topped with bell peppers and cheese. Now that is interesting indeed, not seen that combo before. My couple of spoonfuls led me to challenge that perhaps there is a little too much tomato in the sauce as that sort of masked the rest of the flavours of the meat and liver.
Just my personal observation. But always good to get another viewpoint, and Ollie states it was awesome and absolutely delicious. To each their own of course and great to get a balanced view.
Classic Fried Chicken – not much to say about this one, except it does exactly what it says on the tin. It looks good up there, in my reckoning, in terms of fried chicken. Jhea ordered this, so I asked for her feedback and she burst into hysterical laughter – I really am not sure what to make of that.
Persona Spare Ribs – not saving the best to nearly last (that still has to be the Rendang) but this is not far behind believe me. You just have to brush your fork past these ribs and you create that meat waterfall, with the meat literally jumping off the bone it is that tender.
This is another from the small choice menu that is killer and is, therefore, a must-have. Sorry, a no photo for this dish.
Lumpiang Suriwa – and now to literally the final dish review of A Foodie Bohol Review, the Philippines. This is it folks the last one. Hooray, I may hear you say. The rolls are covered in stir-fried vegetables, studded with steamed shrimp, and sprinkled with crushed peanuts. You had me at hello… No photo sorry.
Check out this – this is how to big up spring rolls. Have you ever seen anything like this in the spring roll department? Personally, I have not.
Wow, my fingers are now bleeding. That was such a monster blog, but deservedly so. We had such a food trip in Bohol. I love the fact that every meal is family oriented. We had from 7 to 14 family members on every occasion, it’s how things get done in The Philippines.
I am blown away by the variety of food in Bohol as it develops itself into quite a mecca for holidaying and food. I also love the similarity to the staple dishes in Thailand, like my laab gai, with The Filipino sisig. Everyone had their own version, every single one was different, a spin, a personal touch, a need based on the premise it was being served in.
We have seen many new places pop up, and some very familiar faces of restaurants we have visited in the past. Do not change the Philippines, keep food and family front and centre, it’s a passion and it is something you excel at and for that we love you. We will see you soon, but for now, that was A foodie Bohol Review, the Philippines.
Thanks to my Mary, Ollie, Amy, Jude, Jimmers, and Jhea, and of course to our Philippines family, because without you guys we would not even be there. What a wonderful Christmas and Foodie Bohol Review. Over and out – ENJOY!!!
