At some of the better restaurants, I would try a burger and they were ok but not great. Either the meat was too dry, the bun too big or stale or there was so much stuff on it, it tasted good but did not have the grilled burger you look for in a better quality hamburger.

Earlier in the week, Bob Martin wrote in his site, Live in the Philippines, about a new restaurant in Davao, Brothers Burger, which is a high-end burger with a high-end price to match. They have burgers with the expensive types of beef such as a Wagyu Beef. Wagyu Beef is better known as Kobe Beef. The Wagyu Burger sells for 350 pesos ($7.50 USD). They also have a Black Angus Burger for 250 pesos ($5.40 USD).

Now, if you do not live in the Philippines, you might think this is a decent price for a high-class burger but for 350 pesos, Elena and I can have a decent lunch at many of our regular lunch spots.

There is another Burger Restaurant here in Davao, Space Burger. When I first moved here, my nephew mentioned Space Burger to me as a better burger. Since this nephew lives on a Filipino diet, I did not know if what he felt was a better burger, if it would be up to my American palate. There are a few locations here in Davao and even up at the food court at Gaisano Mall, but for some reason I never tired it. Then at a house party one of our friends who after talking about hamburgers mentioned Space Burger to me. This friend loves hamburgers and American food in general; I thought I would try it.

Monday Elena and I were at Gaisano Mall, we were talking about where to have lunch, and I thought about Space Burger so we headed up to the fourth floor. They offer 100% beef burgers in different combinations, from a plain burger, cheeseburger then with combinations with bacon, grilled onions and/or mushrooms. I decided on their Ultimate Burger, which has everything.  It is a ¼-pound burger and with all the toppings is only 105 pesos ($2.25 USD). They use an open flame grill to cook the burger. Except for the cheese, which is a cheese sauce instead of sliced cheese the taste was great. The grilled onions are what did it for me.

The smell and taste of the onions reminded me of a pre-fast food restaurant my family would frequent when I was a kid. It name was Dave Shores and you would go up to different areas for the types of foods. I remember looking at, smelling the onions on the grill as they cooked, and caramelized.

Maybe someday, if I feel rich or someone offers to buy me lunch at Brothers Burgers I think I will fulfill any burger urges at Space Burger in the future. Even though they were out of French Fries, just the Burger and beverage left me comfortably full with a happy tummy.

If you live in, or plan to visit Davao, and in the need of a good burger, take my advice and try Space Burger.

In addition, many of the fish habitats such as coral and Mangrove have died out. Because of this, many fishing vessels have to travel long distances to the fishing grounds.  There is a growing industry to fish farming. One of the large areas is Tilapia. This light tasting fresh water fish will thrive in fresh to brackish waters.

When we go to the Pelengke, wet market, there are so many stalls selling all types of fish and shellfish. Crabs, shrimp, clams, squid and even octopus are available. The different species of fish available is numerous, so you can visit this link to seethe different fish and their Tagalog name.

The choices of fish are numerable but the most common eaten is Bangus (milkfish). There are large fish such as Tuna and Blue Marlin (Malasugi) to little tiny fish such as Bolinao (small anchovy) and Nylon. There are many mid size fish too such as mackerel (Bodloy or Caraballas).  Fish comes in many sizes and are all consumed.

Besides fresh fish, dried fish is a very common food and is rehydrated by frying. There are different varieties of dried fish but one thing most have in common is the strong odor as they are fried. Most of the time, as with most foods fish is fried. Fish is also steamed in vinegar or used in soups. When you buy fish, they will be cleaned but are usually cooked and eaten whole. We do get our Bangus deboned and Tilapia filleted. I also enjoy Malasugi.

One I see eaten at home is the Bolinao, which is cooked and then mixed with eggs to make a kind of omelet. Here at home, fish is a regular protein at the table, but since I am not a big fan of fish, I am usually served something more to my liking.

If you are planning to move here, and enjoy fish, you will be in eating heaven. If not, there is still pork, chicken and beef available.

A few weeks ago, I was told about a little restaurant here in Davao and not too far from my house, it is called Boyd’s Pizza House/The Garlic Bread House. It is a hole in the wall, nondescript place that if you did not know where to look, you might miss it.

What I was told was their pizza was the best in town. Well as you might know, I am originally from New York where their pizza is famous. So one Saturday Elena and I decided to give it a try. I was told it was on Palma Gil Extension just off of J.P. Laurel. We past it twice before Elena noticed it. We parked and entered the restaurant and I was a little concerned. The interior has very little in decorations and the basic wood tables and plastic chairs did not do much to help the décor. The main area has tiled floor but the side sections are just painted concrete.

We sat down and looked over the menus. They have a regular menu and a monthly special menu that I do not think ever changes. I decided to try their pizza and picked a traditional type with Italian sausage. Elena ordered their pork loin plate which comes with a mushroom gravy, seasoned rice and vegetables.

Elena’s meal was delivered first and as I waited for my pizza, I tasted her pork. I was shocked, after eating so much tough pork in many small restaurants in Davao, it was moist and tender and as good as you would get in most American restaurants. The restaurant was crowded and since they only have one pizza oven, I had to wait a long time for my pizza. To make up for the wait, they brought me some of their famous garlic bread. Finally my pizza arrived and it was delicious. It is similar to the modern pizza with slices of mozzarella. It was nicely topped with a generous amount of sausage and had sliced onions too. With beverages it was under 400 pesos which was amazing for such quality food.

I have been back many times since, two to three times a week. On one of my visits I met the owner and chef. He is originally from Kidapawan and was trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and then worked at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. With such training, I do not know why he returned to the Philippines, but I would guess all of his customers, me included, are glad he did. He originally opened his first restaurant in Kidapawan but eventually closed it and relocated it in Davao.

Over my many visits, I have either ordered or tasted some of their items. They are all delicious and well made. At first I was always ordering their pork loin but then tried their pasta with roast chicken and mushrooms. It is penne pasta in a garlic and oil sauce with chicken, mushrooms and vegetables. It was so good; I saved part of the garlic bread to wipe the plate clean to get every drop of sauce.

Another favorite for me is there Pizza #3 which is a white pizza with roasted chicken and mushrooms. Their pizzas come in three sizes, single, double and family.

They have a Hungarian Rice Entree which is not for the meek and you need to enjoy spicy food for that one. There is also Hungarian dumplings which is a fried wonton wrapper stuffed with the Hungarian sausage meat.

They have for order or takeout Garlic bread which is not the usual sweet Filipino bread and more like an Italian type of loaf with a swirl of garlic throughout.

They serve Pepsi products and also have other light beverages and also beer is available. The Wait staff is very courteous and continues to monitor your needs throughout your stay.

They are open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinners. If you visit there for lunch, there is a good chance you will see me there, I am the Kano with a satisfied look on his face.

Below is their menus, I apologize for the quality of the photos.

Calamansi is available year round and is usually seen in its unripened state as a dark green fruit, but if left to ripen it turns a tangerine orange color.

It is used to make beverages, flavoring fish (particularly kinilaw), and used as an added flavoring in cakes, pies, preserves, sauces, and marmalades. It can also be used in soups and teas.

Because of its citrus acid, it is used with tuna to make a ceviche type of entre called kinilaw. The tuna, onions and sliced cucumbers are cured with vinegar, ginger and of course calamansi for that sweet sour citrus taste.

For a cool refreshing drink, calamansi juice makes a great beverage. Mixed with sugar and water it is very good when you’re hot, throat is dry and you do not want a soda and more flavor than just water.

Calamansi is also used to flavor cakes, pies and cookies. It’s is similar to using lemon or lime to add that little extra flavor.

For such a little fruit, it has many other uses. The juice can be used to remove ink stains from cloth and it can be used as a deodorant too.

For medicinal purposes it can be applied to the scalp to reduce dandruff. Crushing it, it can be used as a shampoo or the juice applied after shower to reduce itching. For bug mites just rub the fruit on the affected area to reduce swelling and itching.

For nausea and fainting, squeeze the rind and hold to the nose as an inhalant. For coughs and sore throats, warm calamansi tea is a good home remedy. Calamansi juice boiled with water is a good remedy for constipation too.

It is easy to grow at your home or is available at all markets and fruit stands. At the Palengke you will see many children carrying bags of calamansi for sale walking through the market.

Elena checked her email to see if they were having one of the cuisine specials this month and they did. This month they are having “Wild Wild West” American Buffet at the Café Marco.

We also have a couple we are friends with and the husband only likes to eat American style foods, so we invited them to join us. So we met them at the hotel that evening.

Both we Kanos (Americans) eyes lit up when we saw the buffet table. There was a huge Prime Rib of beef, a large turkey and a leg of lamb.

Since I love the soups they have there, I started with a small bowl of sweet corn and salmon soup, which was delicious as their soups usually are.

After the soup I headed to the meat table. I got a slice of rare Prime Rib, a few slices of turkey breast and some leg of lamb. They even had mint jelly to compliment the lamb. I then got some roasted potatoes to compliment my plate.

All the meats were cooked and seasoned perfectly and if you did not know better you would think you were at one of the fine dining in America.

If you follow this site and hear me talk about foods and eating here, I am a big proponent of having fresh vegetables with my dinner, but that night was different. I ignored everything else. I skipped the vegetables, sushi, sashimi, rice and all the other wonderful items and just thought about the beef, turkey and lamb.

After I finished my first servings, I got up for round 2. Again I got Prime Rib, Turkey and Leg of Lamb with more mint jelly. I did get a few more potatoes but less this trip. By the buffet table was one of the Chefs supervising and I had to compliment him for his food and told him he could compete with some of the better chefs in American restaurants.

Both our American friend and I were in heaven. The taste was just like back home. I decided, even though I try to eat until no longer hunger and not until full was being put away for this evening and after my second helping, I got up for my third. I did cut back, I skipped the turkey this trip.

After finishing the third plate I went out on the balcony to relax a bit and settle my stomach with a cigarette. After this I went to the dessert table and took a selection of their delicious desserts. They have little parfait type desserts in shot glasses and there was also cream Brule, chocolate soufflé, napoleons and other treats. After I enjoyed my small plate, and being the glutton I was that night, I went back for some of the others I missed on the first trip.

As we were relaxing and chatting over a coffee and dessert, I was still thinking of going back for more beef, but I kept myself in control. Control, ok, maybe that is the wrong word for this evening.

Even though eating at the Café Marco at the Marco Polo is expensive, even with one meal free, it is always an experience. The foods, the staff, the ambiance is always wonderful. If you live or plan to visit Davao, and have the time and budget for an evening of good foods, do not forget the Marco Polo. If you have a larger budget, I hope you will invite me and Elena to join you.

When I first moved here so many people talked about the Coffee Shops and the ones they liked. If I contacted someone to meet, or they contacted me, it would usually end with which coffee shop to meet.

It would go like this, “what part of town are you? Then let’s meet at xyz coffee shop.” Now I love the taste of coffee, but I need to be careful. If I drink too much coffee I can get Ocular Migraines, which cause little squiggle prisms in my eyes.

Everywhere or I should say most everywhere there are coffee shops and more opening all the time. There are coffee shops in the main concourse in the malls, in office buildings and all over town.

There is one at Gaisano Mall where Elena and I would meet all the time. If she was out running errands, she would tell me to meet here there. I would bring a book, sit on a comfortable sofa and read while I drank coffee. The nice thing here in Davao, they are more relaxed. People can site at places with tables and seating without buying anything. I would always order something and if I was to be there for a long time, I would always ask if it is ok.

Then I bought a small light weight laptop to be able to work on the internet, check emails or research and work on writing articles. I then would go to the Coffee Shops that have wifi. The only coffee shops without wifi are the open shops in the mall concourses.
With this now in mind, my eye would notice more of the coffee shops while driving around town. I am not going to list all of them because I probably will miss mentioning some and there are many sites already that have a long list.

There are some I enjoy and from visiting them on a semi regular basis have gotten to know the employees and some of the management of a few.

You can order coffee, coffee type drinks, other beverages, sweets, sandwiches and even a hot meal. There are electric outlets to plug in your charger and comfortable seating. Some have smoking areas. One even has an air conditioned area for comfort.

Many all have some theme or style. One has a tree theme and their Restroom looks like you’re inside a tree. Prices vary but not more then maybe 10 pesos. Some have discounted refills and one chain gave me a discount card to use at all their branches.

These places are needed here because many Filipinos realize the need to have a computer, but the added expense for internet access at their home might be too much. So they will buy a laptop and when needed just head to a coffee shop. Unfortunately I have heard of large groups will meet at a shop, one will order a cup of coffee and for a few hours conduct a meeting with their laptop open. Because of this I know of one shop that charges internet access after 3 hours of use and another charges a fee to use the electricity to charge their computers. Well, with the culture not to insult, this is a problem that they have to deal with.

So, if you are here in Davao or plan to visit, you might just see me with my little laptop and a cup of coffee in front of me typing away. If not, just text me and ask which shop we can meet.

One restaurant I have never experienced a problem is Bigby’s Restaurant on F. Torres.

Bigby’s restaurants started in Cagayan de Oro City but now have 9 locations. Two in Cagayan de Oro, two in Cebu, two in Bacolod, two in Davao and now one in Manila.

The two I am familiar with is the location in SM mall in Ecoland and their relatively newer location just off F. Torres on Jacinto just behind Bo’s Coffee.

When I first visited Davao in 2006 Elena and I were in SM Mall and stopped in Bigby’s for an afternoon snack. The ambience was attractive and the servers were friendly. We had Mango Shakes and a Mango crepe. While there I looked at the menu and noticed many interesting food items. There fare goes from Filipino items to some international tastes.

On that trip and on my next visit we would go there to eat since I enjoyed their food and the friendliness of the staff. One waiter even remembered me from my previous trip six months before.

Unfortunately we do not go to SM Mall often so a few months back we were happily surprised to see their new location. We went one day for lunch and found the design following their international theme and their redesigned menu had even more items I looked forward to try. They also have a nice, covered and comfortable outside seating plus a rear room that can be closed off for private functions.

I am a friendly type of person and enjoy talking to Filipinos and with this, became friendly with the staff there. One waiter, Ryan is a friendly and funny person that enjoys talking to us while we wait for our food. I am not taking anything away from the other server staff, they are all friendly, and I hear a chorus of “Hello Sir Bruce” as we enter, but at times I think when we walk in, Ryan takes our table.

One of their items I love to have there is their Tiki Waki Chicken Salad. It is a green salad with a scoop of chicken salad, pieces of mango, grape half’s, walnuts with a nice light salad dressing. Since both Elena and I enjoy this salad, we have gotten into the habit of ordering the salad and another item to share. One day as we ordered we mentioned we were going to share both items and when Ryan delivered the entrée, he had requested the cook to divide it into two plates for our ease. This type of initiative was unlike what you find here in the Philippines where most do their job as told without any change.

They have so many delicious items, it is hard to remember, so visit their site at http://bigbyscafe.net/ for menu and locations.

Last evening we went there for dinner and met Sonjie Ang, the General Operations Manager from CDO and Carlo, the restaurant manager. We sat and talked for a while about the quality of their restaurants, foods and staff. As custom in the Philippines, Sonjie and Carlo were humble and attributed it all as a team environment and would not take credit. I said, they had to learn it somewhere and they had the winning skills to train their staff.

It turned out Carlo started 5 years ago as staff supervisor and moved up the ranks to manage the Torres location. I am sure there are bigger and better things to come for him in his future.

I do have to say, if Sonjie, Carlo, or any others of the Bigby’s staff see this article,Thank you again for always taking such good care of us and sharing your honest friendships.

For the rest of the readers, if you’re in Davao, and looking for a good meal at reasonable prices, Bigby’s is a must. Maybe I will see you there.

One of the problems in Davao is parking, especially in places downtown. Few businesses have parking and many of the ones that do have parking limit it to only their customers which is understandable. Well, when I have been downtown, you will see men out in the road pointing to a parking spot. They will help guide you into your spot and then keep an eye on your car while you’re out doing your business. When you return, he will guide you out of the spot so you do not hit the vehicle behind you and will watch for oncoming traffic. Then you give them 5-15 pesos for their help.

At the public market, again parking is hard to find. There are a few areas for parking and each of these areas is manned by an attendant. He will wave to you to wait or where to park. Since many curbs are high, he will watch the front so you do not crash your bumper. For this we give him 15 pesos which is the normal parking fee here. We always park in the same area and have gotten to know him to joke with. I do not know but I assume he has to give a percentage to the management of the market.

At the market, there are many that will walk around the mall selling bags of calamansi, a small lime type of fruit used as a condiment, garlic, small shallot type onions. Most are sold by your children to help make money for their meals and snacks during the week when at school. These children will also offer to help a shopper carry their bags. We have 2 little girls that will help us and through them we have met some of their friends at the market.
At intersections, besides the beggars you will see people selling small bags of peanuts or a “taho” which is a warm chocolate beverage with sago beads which is either made from soy beans or tapioca.

There are also people selling small towel squares which many people put under their shirts by their necks to help absorb perspiration and protect their clothing. Many use this too when riding the jeepneys or walking to hold over their nose because of all the vehicle exhaust.

There is one young man we see often at one of the intersections. He looks like he might have Cerebral Palsy. Instead of just begging as many disabled do, but he will walk up, look for leaves in your windshield wiper well, or bird droppings on the window or hood and will clean them. We will give him 5 or 10 pesos. This man, even though it is not a major service, at least he is offering a small service to earn a little money.

Another way some make income is by selling fruit. Filipinos like to eat oranges and grapes for a healthy snack. By many of office buildings or areas where there is a good flow of foot traffic you will see men with bags of oranges or grapes selling them to passersby’s. They sometimes will walk by cars when stopped at a light. One will stop by and say hello and ask if I want to buy grapes. Unfortunately when I see him I am having coffee to kill some time before I head out to some meeting and do not want to leave fruit in the car to heat up during the day. I talked to him one day, he is in his mid 20’s, married with one child and supports the family with this business.

Filipinos eat 5 to 6 times a day. Their meals are usually lighter and smaller than we usually eat in the States. For many it is a plate of rice with some fish, meat or vegetables. Because of this they have snack or marinda about 10am and again around 3pm. During the mid mornings and afternoons you will see mainly ladies, but sometimes men with a carryall with some type of cake or bread for sale and some with banana-q which is a fried, sugar coated banana on a stick. These people buy their wares from a bakery or vendor and go office to office selling them at break times.

Another way of making money is finding in garbage or buying plastic, corrugated boxes, metal, wires, broken fans and even car batteries. You will see men pushing push carts or carts welded to the front of a bicycle. They will go down residential streets either calling out that they are buying or stopping at garbage containers looking for items to sell. Some is sold to scrap businesses or with broken fans and appliances to locations that fix and resell them. Many things we would throw away in America, here they will repair.

Another big business you see here is selling cell phone loads. Most people here do not buy a monthly cell phone service. Instead you buy a load. Either a load card for a set amount where you send a message to a number and with the activation code in the text or an E-load where the vendor sends a load from their “Load wallet” to give you amount you paid for. You can buy as little as 5 pesos which would be good for 5 text messages to the same cell carrier to as high as 500 pesos. With a 500 peso load you get 85 free texts. With this, you will see stores, kiosks in the mall to a street vendor in a crude wooden stand covered with banners displaying which cell carrier they sell loads for. The profit is very small, but with Filipinos living with their cell phone in their hand and constantly texting, they constantly need a load.

You will also see these crude wooden stands selling anything from foods, candies, loads, beverages. These stands usually pay no rent and someone sits all day just waiting for customers.

These people are not rich and earn very little profit, but these people are at least trying to earn enough to support themselves and/or their families instead of begging.

Her brother, wife and helper were also there and asked me to drive them to the location to get a Van to return to Kidapawan. There was one more rider in the car, her brother’s future champion Cock Fighter. Yes, a young rooster in a little net bag. Well we filled the trunk with all the baggage and squeezed 7 people in my little Kia Rio and off we went. Traffic was lighter than but not as light as the few days prior.

After dropping the Kidapawan Clan off, we returned home. There was a box and small Styrofoam cooler that was not with them when they left. It turned out it was a box of crabs and a cooler of shrimp. I now feel bad I never took any photos, but with everyone moving around unpacking and Elena separating the crabs, some for us and some for a friend who asked Elena to bring some back I was just told to keep out of the way.

For dinner Elena made the crabs. They were steamed and as always, my kind sweet wife would break out the meat and place it on my plate. The crabs were delicious and I enjoyed dinner so much.

Monday night Elena was cooking and I was out of the way. I did not realize Elena bought 2 types of shrimps, maybe these qualify as prawns, and when I was called into dinner I had 4 HUGE shrimp tails lightly breaded and fried. In my life I had never had a shrimp that large. The tail meat was about 5 to 6 inches long and the thick end was about 1 inch in diameter. The meat was a little firmer than usual shrimp and had the sweetness and consistency of almost a lobster tail. When I looked at the girls taking the heads to consume I thought they were crabs since they were so big. Elena told me the 4 shrimp weighed 1 kilo. That would make each shrimp over ½ pound before beheaded and cleaned. I could not believe it and if you have never eaten a shrimp this big, just the 4 shrimp tails, a small amount of boiled potatoes and some broccoli filled me up so much I did not even want any desert.

As I was starting this article, I mentioned to Elena about how I wished I would have photographed the crabs and shrimp before cooking and after. She showed me, and I photographed, a few other shrimp she had left over. The big one was a size of 6-7 per kilo. She also told me the cost was so much cheaper in Bislig than in Davao, almost half the price.

Too bad it is a 7 hour bus trip or else I would be willing to send her there each month with a big ice chest to get more.

I guess in the future I will not be as upset when she wants to visit family knowing of the great meals I will get once she returns.

There are many buffet restaurants here in Davao from the expensive in hotels like Marco Polo to very inexpensive.

We have tried many and we keep end up going back to Palace Buffet. The one we go to is in the Victoria Plaza parking compound. It is clean and we serviced, there is plenty of parking and are open 7 days a week. There is a second location on MacArthur Hwy at the corner of Tulip in Matina.

The other afternoon when at the mall we ran into some friends and discussed going to dinner and we agreed to go back to Palace Buffet again.

As soon as you’re seated, we get up and grab our plates. There is soup, plain and fried rice, pancit Canton which is a thin noodle with vegetables and a sauce. They always have a pork, beef, chicken, fish item. Some fried, some in gravy. The other night we were there and they had crabs too. There was sweet and sour pork that was delicious, and pork asado. The chicken was buttered chicken which is actually fried chicken.

They also have a area with sushi/california rolls, kinilaw which is raw tuna and small dried fish.  There is wasabi available to compliment your tastes.They have salad area and a desert area with little slices of cakes such as carrot cake, a chocolate peanut butter brownie.

There is a HaloHalo area where there is lechie, sago which is a type of tapioca, sweet beans, Ube which is a sweet purple yam, sweet corn kernels and Leche Flan.  All this you can put over shaved ice.

I usually just eat enough until not hungry, but the past 2 times there I was actually full when we got up to leave. The personnel are always nice and friendly and service is good and the price is under 300 Php excluding beverages.