What's up, Foodies!
Let's go for another food adventure! This will be the continuation of my recent travel to Cagayan de Oro City. You can check out the previous parts through the links below.
I Rode a Boat! | Taking the Longer Route to Cagayan de Oro City
Food Adventures Around the City | Day 2 of My Trip to Cagayan de Oro City
My last post about this travel was a showcase of a few restaurants around the city. In this one, I'll showcase some more of them! This is one of the trips I've been on that I really looked forward to where I'd be eating.
Cagayan de Oro City is home to a variety of food choices, and I was staying in the city center, which meant I had access to many choices. So, let's begin this Food Adventure!
The City's Favorite Quirky Tea Place
Our first stop is a milk tea place called Chingkeetea. It's probably the most popular milk tea place in the city. It's a local business that thrived right after its opening. I was even told it was the city's first-ever milk tea shop. They have a lot of branches around the city, and they've opened to other parts of the Philippines.
I was in Cagayan for work, where I visited a University and worked with some engineering students for their research. After a long day at school, I invited them to have an afternoon snack somewhere. There was a Chingkeetea branch near my hotel, and that's where we went to.
That was my first time entering any of their branches, and I was intrigued by the interior of the place. There was so much wooden furniture, and near the entrance, there was an old upright piano. The place was dimly lit and had low-lying lamps hanging from the ceiling.
There were a lot of people inside, and they all appeared to be there just to chill out and chat. I thought it was a place where students could work, but surprisingly, there were very few power sockets. They didn't even have WiFi.
This branch was big and spacious. They even had outdoor seating at the back. The place was a bit noisy since it was packed. I didn't want to disturb people, so I only took photos from where we were seated.
We ordered drinks for everyone and some chicken pops. I didn't want to risk upsetting my stomach, so I didn't get any milktea. Instead, I ordered some tropical fruit iced tea. I was a bit unnerved by how deliberately poorly lit the place was. I had trouble moving around the place without bumping into their fixtures and furniture. But I guess it was part of the vibe of the place, dark, gloomy, chill, and relaxed.
The place was decorated with a bunch of dried flowers and plants. I couldn't get a good shot of all of them because, again, I didn't want to disturb people. But I was still able to take photos of some of them. Near our table, there was this plant that was decorated with dried stalks of another plant. On the wall, dried flowers were hanging from a wire hanger. Framed photos of dried plants were mounted on another wall. Honestly, I was a bit creeped out by them because the idea of being surrounded by decaying matter is not so appealing to me. But again, I reconciled that it was part of the "vibe."
Our food arrived, and my companions all had their milk tea while I had my fruit tea. There was so much actual fruit inside my drink that I was having trouble drinking from the straw. But it was good. It reminded me of times at the beach and the hot scorching summer sun. Their chicken pops were surprisingly delicious. They were crunchy and juicy. The spicy Korean sauce was perfect for the chicken. I regretted not ordering a lot of it because we devoured them in a matter of minutes.
All in all, my first time at Chingkeetea was pleasant. Maybe when I'm feeling a bit daring to drink milk, I'll try some of their famous milk tea.
A Maximalist Samgyupsal Corridor
On to the second food adventure destination!
The next day, the students hinted that they wanted to have lunch at a Samgyupsal place. I told them I saw a nearby restaurant while I was going around the city. We decided to look for it under the hot noon sun. The restaurant was called DARA Korean Samgyupsal Grill.
A mannequin in a Kendo uniform greeted us, which was a bit weird. And the restaurant got weirder as we entered it. They had a sort of "corridor style" space. The restaurant looked like it was formerly a hallway or an alley. The tables were lined along the walls, leaving a tight walking space in the middle. There weren't any other customers when we arrived, and we had the chance to choose our table. We picked the one right at the very end.
While the staff was preparing our table, I looked around the place and tried to wrap my head around the concept they were going for with the place. There were so many decors on the wall and the ceiling, making the place even smaller. They had pictures of Korean actors, framed Korean words, some figurines, vases, a traditional Korean dress, a bicycle wheel, and a whole lot more on the walls. There were just so much visual stimuli!
The sign outside the restaurant showed the price for each person, which was quite cheap compared to the other Korean grill restaurants I've been to. So, I adjusted my expectations and did not anticipate a myriad of side dishes and meat choices. True enough, they only have two meat options, regular pork and spicy pork. I was still slightly disappointed. I was looking forward to some beef.
Anyway, we turned on our burner and started cooking. The meat didn't take a lot of time to cook, but the fat on them kept popping and exploding. I was glad to be far from the stove and wasn't in charge of the cooking. I didn't expect any striking flavors on the pork. They looked a bit ordinary with some spices rubbed on them. But pork is pork, and I've always enjoyed grilled pork, with those crunchy rinds and chewy meat. What would have really gone well with it was cheese. I only just discovered how good grilled pork can taste with cheese.
The side dishes weren't a lot. But I guess they were enough for the price. There were these small potatoes covered in caramel sauce and sesame seeds, and they were good. I was surprised to see some bananas as a side dish, though. We took our time eating and cooking because everything was unlimited. I think we ordered 2 more sets of meat before we decided to stop and just finish off everything. I was so full by the time we were done. I would have wanted to have some beer or soju, but we still had to return to school and continue with our work.
A Revisit to Beaks and Brews
From my last post, I've already dined at this place called Beaks and Brews. And sadly, I wasn't that impressed. The only consolation to it was that it was near my hotel, and it was not crowded. For the last lunch I had with the students, I decided to bring them there.
I thought the place looked better at night because of how the lights inside accentuated the bright colors of its walls and tables. Their menu was composed of Korean and Japanese food, and we decided to order some Maki. I didn't want to order their chicken rice bowls again, so I chose to get their Bibimbap.
Their Maki rolls were nothing special, but I enjoyed having them with wasabi. It's been a long time since I've had wasabi, and I've missed the explosion of heat inside my mouth after dipping sushi or a maki in a wasabi soy sauce.
My bibimbap arrived, and it was served inside a pot. It even had a wooden handle on its side. I thought it was kind of fun. The eggs were scrambled, which was unusual for me. And I also don't usually see whole Nori wraps on bibimbap.
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I mixed the whole thing because that's how you're supposed to eat it before I added in the sauce. The sauce was quite runny, which was another unusual thing for me. I thought bibimbap sauces were supposed to be thick and look like a paste. Anyway, I poured everything in and gave the contents a toss. I took a spoonful using their wooden spoon and found the taste quite familiar. The dish didn't taste Korean. Maybe that was the whole point of the food at that restaurant, to serve Korean and Japanese dishes with a Filipino taste. Eating the bibimbap was fun because of the pot and the wooden spoon. I had trouble with the Nori wrap though, because I couldn't tear them apart properly using my spoon.
And that's it! My food adventures at Cagayan de Oro end here but my adventures in the city have not! I still have not shown you where else I have gone to when I'm not munching down on some food. In the next part, I'll share with you my road trip to some breathtaking spots in the city and the nearby province of Bukidnon.
See you in my next post. Cheers!
