New Year Apology

I'm a bad blogger. Yes, I know.

The holidays have required my full attention... I won't apologize for that. After all, 'tis the season to be jolly and eat as much as your tummy can handle.

But! I do have enough material to make up for my lost weeks. From post-simbang gabi meal mishaps to pre-Christmas munchie feasts, the array of rants and raves are limitless... and they're all stuck in my memory and my stomach.

So before I head on and start the articles...

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

Cheers and beers, everyone... Cheers and beers.

Bankruptcy & Boredom equal random Food Quizzes

So i'm broke today; and on top of that, I'm bored. Hopefully, the parents will shell out and take me to the new place in town just in time for dinner. In the meantime, I've been busying myself with a link to blog quizzes that I got from a friend. I guess boredom does make me a pitiful creature.

Oh well, at least I found some interesting results.

You Are Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

Truthfully, you're too spazzy to be chunky - you cheeky monkey!

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino

One of a kind and forward looking, you're the first to introduce a wacky new trend to your friends. And even if your ideas seem weird, they get adopted pretty quickly.

What Flavor Frappuccino Are You?

Frankly, they couldn't be more right.

It's 7 AM - Pass me the tapsi.

I am not a morning person.

To me, getting up in the morning is solely based on a "have to" criteria. Meaning, if I'm going on a day trip to the beach, I "have to" get up at 6am to make the most out of the sun... or, if my work hours which are usually flexible (read: I can come at 1 pm and not get so much as a whimper from the boss),require an 8am attendance, I "have to" get up or risk losing the cash. Other than these "have to" circumstances, there's no point in trying to get me away from the bedroom where the AC is cold and the bed is soft.

On the times that I do get up, whether for work or otherwise, one of the few things that help me get through the morning is breakfast.

I don't think I've ever encountered a culture as elaborate as ours when it comes to breakfast. Usually, for most people in other countries, it's fruit and cereal or oatmeal and a sandwich. But here? It's a smorgasbord. There's champorado or arroz caldo, Itlog na maalat and kamatis, and a buffet of other dishes. Here, fruit and cereal are either appetizers or post-meal desserts.

On my way to work today, thinking I had no time to spare when I actually had an hour to kill, I decided to stop by a place called TAPS. It's a that's been around since I was a wee bit, and this is the only place here where you'll find si-log meals (meal courses composed of meat, garlic fried rice aka sinangag, and an egg... usually served for breakfast) for cheap... and the fact that they're available at any time of the day is a great big plus.


TAPS. Frankly, I do not know of any other tapsihan here in davao that is as popular as this place is. Whether for regular meals or post-nightout munchie runs, this place always comes up somewhere at the top of the choice list (and believe you me, there are a lot of choices). I'm not really sure but I think they've got around 4 or 5 branches all over the city, 2 of which are open 24/7... and for the runabout yuppies, their Torres branch is a Wi-fi hotspot. Just make sure you don't get the tapsi all over your gadgetry.

There's not much of a point discussing the place and its ambience because firstly, it's locations are composed of the same construction - open air, bar stools, and an extra-long polygonic maze of a counter where your food is set in front of you (it's a counter, and i refuse to call it a table because it's not.) If you're a tripper like I am, I'm sure you'll find some sort of enjoyment in the murals painted on their walls - Cows with yellow spots wearing shades and handling a guitar, pigs that have outrageously pink spots, and if that isn't enough... try that big ass light sign with a cow holding a chicken up on one hoof and a frying pan on the other. Talk about cruel intentions.

Anyway, the food... the food is cheap and it's available anytime. I won't give it 5 stars for taste because I'm sure my friends will agree when I say we've all tasted better food. But for the price, it's more than worth it. Hey, where else would you be able to order a 2-piece fried chicken meal for 42 bucks?

Top recommendations are the Tapsilog (Beef jerky + garlic rice aka sinangag + egg aka itlog), Tocilog (Cured Pork + the works), Basilog (Bacon), Bangsilog (Fish aka Bangus), and the Primasilog (Fried Chicken aka Pritong Manok)... There's a plethora of other si-log combinations to choose from, and the 24-hour locations have the Balbacua set (hot beef soup, a treat for post-drink munchie runners). Also, if you're feeling adventurous enough, don't be afraid to experiment one combo with another - they have a menu for that too.

All in all, Davao life isn't complete if you haven't at least tried to eat in Taps once. The price is right, the food's alright, and the place... well, it's a landmark. And whether it's 7AM or 11 PM, a silog meal is never unavailable.

I may not be a morning person, and in those times that I "have to" get up and go in time with the sunrise, a food stop in this place is something I could look forward to.

Now pass me the Tapsi.

What Blog Is This?

For those of you wondering what I did this for... Here's to you. :D

As per my foreword, it's pretty obvious just how in love with food I am. And it would be way too superficial for me to say that I just put this up so everyone could read my thoughts aloud. Well, that isn't that case.

This gastroblog is for those who share my passion, hobby, and vice. I felt like it was time to introduce a space where people would be able to see the upsides and downsides of Davao dining. But more than that, this here is a space where all of us culinary afficionados can open our opinions and share our minds - figuratively speaking.

So, if you happen to think that this is just one of those blogs where we rant and rant and rant on how bad the service was at this fine resto or rave and rave and rave about the delectable sauce at that grillery... Well, you're right.

So, how does that make me different?

Let's see. First off, i'm not just going to praise or condemn without substance and solid evidence... then again, most gastrobloggers would probably tell you that. Secondly, I might be putting the highlight on the Davao food scene, but that doesn't mean I won't take note of the places I've eaten at in other spots of this archipelago. Third, something some of you may look forward to is the concept that I won't just be talking about food - time might come when I decide to post stuff closely related to it. And lastly, If at some point in time I reach a state of utter nirvana, I might be able to share a few recipes here - whether mine or nicked from someone else, bahala na. :D

Anyhow, I know I won't be able to please every single gastrokid out there. So in my own right, I'm gonna try to make this gastroblogging experience as pleasurable as I can... for you and for me and the entire human race (shyeeet... Michael Jackson is invading my thoughts. Ick).

Vamos a comer y beber de lechon y vino con cerveza! In short... let's eat it on!

Foreword

There are only a few things I genuinely love in this world - Food, Home, and Music. The first two primarily for necessity, and the last one mostly out of preference. But what you don't know is that even with the utterly obvious fact that Food is a need... there are still a couple of substantial reasons why I love it. And by love it, I mean head-over-feet-insanely-attached-and-forever-cannot-live-without-it LOVE IT.

Food is my passion, cooking is my hobby, and eating is my vice. I absolutely go crazy over the simplest of recipes - as long as they're good enough to rave about. Likewise, I also love mixing and matching stuff around the kitchen to see if I've made a good new dish... or just something I absolutely must never ever make again.

And that, ladies and gents, is one of the bigger reasons why I love Davao City.

For those of you who don't know, Davao City is at the southernmost region of the Philippines - Region 11 of Mindanao, to be exact. But let's not get into that - I am here not for the place's geographical importance, but for the culinary treasure trove that it is.

Davao City is popular for Durian (that's the spiky-shelled fruit that stinks like hell and tastes like heaven... If you pick it out of its tree, be warned : If you so much as try to catch it, be prepared for extra holes in your hand) and Pomelo (that's the green-on-the-outside-pink-on-the-inside fruit that looks like an engorged ping-pong ball, or, more popularly known as that which we mix with gin to make gin-pom). But to us locals, or more specifically, to us locals who find happiness in "habhaban", (that's vernacular for foodtripping) that's not all that Davao's about. It's about Luz Kinilaw and Colasa's, Aling Foping's and Kibuwi, and the difference between all of these places.

What makes this place special is the variety... Most of the foodstops here are of the same classfication, but of course, the differences between these places are the things that make foodtripping worthwhile. Comparing and contrasting them - with occasional putting-down-the-letdowns-in-a-not-so-nice-way - is by far the most fun part of roving the city in search for the better contender. having said that, I now proceed to my point.

This blog.

I decided to make a gastroblog because I've always wondered what it was like to share my opinions to people outside of my circle of friends (or co-eaters, if you may). I want to see how people react to a certain comment I make about one particular dish in one particular place. Moreover, I would also like to feed off (no pun intended) other people's suggestions as to where to go to eat what and vice versa. Ultimately, I just wanna share and be shared with.

Comments are welcome, violent reactions as well. But, before all interactions surface, let me just say one last thing... a disclaimer, perhaps.

Whatever reviews written here are strictly based on opinion. Everything is relative to me and/or the consenus of my friends. React as much as you please, but do keep that statement in mind. =)

Otherwise, as Wolfgang Puck would say... LET US ALL LIF, LOF, and EET! (Live, love, and EAT!!!)