Palo Vince Davao...The Best Tuna Pakfry

Great food in a cozy place can be experienced in Davao City.  The place is Palo Vince Davao in Dacudao Avenue.

Their specialty is their Tuna Pakfry.  It is double cooked tuna, first by paksiw then deep fried.
The tuna is crunchy on the outside with tender and tasty meat inside.  This one's really worth trying and it is guaranteed that you will definitely come back for more.

Tuna Pakfry
(taken from Palovince FB page)

Aside from the Tuna Pakfry, they also offer a wide array of sumptuous meals either ala carte, combo meals and family value meals.

Dr. Hermie Zialcita, Urologist from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute experiencing the best Tuna Pakfry.

Dr. Zialcita with Davao based Urologists, Dr. Vic Espino(middle) and Dr. Kix Latayan (right) who were also trained in the National Kidney and Transplant Institute

The NKTI Uro Boys with Mr. Tuna Pakfry himself.

Little Nyonya, Authentic Singapore Taste

Yesterday was quite a busy day for me.  After doing a difficult and challenging kidney surgery and seeing patients in the clinic, a fitting end for such a day was in the works.  So, Little Nyonya, a restaurant that recently opened here in Davao, was worth going to.

The place was cozy and inviting.  The staff were pleasant and they knew the food in the menu.  And of course, the food provided a gastronomic experience!

For starters, the roti prata which is flat bread cooked on a grill like a tortilla and served with curry.  The roti prata was light, crispy and not greasy.  This was served with a curry dipping sauce which had a hint of coconut milk then the spicy yet not overpowering taste of the curry explodes in your mouth.

Seafood laksa.  Spicy coconut  based curry soup with thick rice noodles and seafood.  The soup was perfectly made.  A burst of flavors will make your taste buds wanting more. 

For the main course, Shio Bak, the greaseless crispy pork belly...and yes it was crispy yet greaseless.  Skin was crackling and meat was tender.  Perfect with the chicken rice.

And of course, Hainanese chicken, considered the national dish of Singapore.  Steamed chicken with pounded garlic and chili sauce.  Together with the chicken rice, these will put a big smile on anyone who eats these.

It was a very happy dining experience here and will definitely be coming back for more.

Manna Korean Restaurant

Its been quite sometime since I last wrote about food...been busy with work and was not able to explore the food places in Davao...

Then on one Saturday noon, while walking in SM Lanang Sky Garden, one newly opened restaurant was Manna Korean Restaurant.

Banchan,  a variety of refillable appetizers.  Most of these are vegetables but prepared and presented in a different way.  Even if you are not fond of vegetables, you will like these.

 My favorite among the banchan, Kimchi!

The JJampong, its a bright red, spicy seafood stew with lots of noodles, clams, squid, and shrimp.

For the meat dishes, the two of the favorites are:

Samgeopsal, which is grilled pork belly.  The literal meaning of the word is “three (sam; 삼) layered (gyeop; 겹) flesh (sal;살)”, referring to what appears to be three layers that are visible in the meat. One can also find ogyeopsal (오겹살), with o meaning “five”.

Beef bulgogi which is made with grilled marinated meat.

No visit to a Korean restaurant will be complete without this:

Bibimbap which means "mixed rice": white rice with various vegetables, beef, egg and gochujang(red chili paste) as seen below.

I tend to shy away from rice and not really fond of vegetables but with Korean cuisine, the great taste makes me eat rice and vegetables!

A Hearty Pinoy Breakfast

Filipinos love to eat...some even have 6 meals a day...breakfast, mid-day snack, lunch, meryenda, dinner and midnight snack.

I don't usually have breakfast except when I have a scheduled surgery to perform.  But on rare occasions, I may have a heavy breakfast just like what I prepared yesterday.

I prepared two side dishes:

salted eggs (itlog maalat) with tomato

cucumber  salad

The main course consisted of dried fish (danggit) and squid(pusit) and tinapang boneless bangus (smoked milkfish)

That was indeed a heavy, hearty breakfast...one that can make you eat a lot of rice!

Food encounters US version

Last May 2011 I attended my first American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting in Washington DC.  It was a learning and memorable experience both professionally and personally.  It was also a gastronomic adventure for me.  After attending the sessions, together with my contemporaries from NKTI, we set off to see the sights in DC.

L - R: Dr Vic Espino, Dr Art Castro Jr, Dr Sig Agcaoili, Me

After the long walk, we called up our other colleagues and were set to meet them for dinner but Art got the name of the place wrong but it was a blessing in disguise as we came to discover Ben's Chili Bowl, considered a Washington landmark and is known for the chili dogs, half smokes and milk shakes.

Ben's Chili dog

What's staying in DC without eating at Five Guys?  Good thing was that there was one just across our hotel.  So on the last day of the convention, that was the place to be.  The burger was huge, with all the toppings and lots of fries.  Truly heaven on a bun!

Having a picture of my burger before I attack.

Dr Art's thumbs up for his burger

Dr Vic having his fill

Dr Sig all smiles before digging in

After the AUA Annual Convention, my fellow Davao Urologist, NKTI batchmate Vic and I went to New Jersey to meet up with his old Ateneo high school batchmates , Monet and Aena Fuentes who were our gracious hosts.  Co-incindentally, a batchmate of mine also from Ateneo, Atty Jong was also going to spend a few days with us.

We went to walk around the Manhattan area and Times Square.  After the long walk we decided to have pizza and Monet brought us to Ray's Pizza which was considered a pizza landmark in New York.

After the pizza, we went for drinks at  230-Fifth Rooftop bar.  It had an awesome view of the Empire State Building at the back.

The following day, after seeing Ground Zero, we headed for a heavy lunch...yes heavy indeed:

On our last night, Vic and Jong were craving for Filipino food, hence we ordered crispy pata, sisig and batchoy for take out from Fiesta Grill.

The summer of 2011 was one for the books...meeting up with former co-fellows for an international convention, catching up with old friends and most especially experiencing the food...

Lutong Bahay at its Best

A quiet, comfortable eating place with a homey atmosphere can be found in DBP village.  It's Ellen's Tuna Queen.  Ate Ellen has been known for the pritong paksiw na buntot ng tuna and many write-ups have been made about it.  But the restaurant is not limited with the buntot ng tuna, they also serve steaks and a wide array of other dishes, some of which are mentioned below:

The lechon kawali(deep fried pork belly) is presented on the counter wrapped in a banana leaf, then it is deep fried just before it is served.  Sinful delight!

The laing is a balanced blend of spices, gata(coconut milk) and taro leaves.  Good combination with the lechon kawali.

What is dining in Ellen's without a tuna dish?The tuna sisig is worth trying.  Minced crispy tuna with salted eggs and onions on a sizzling plate.

Dining in Ate Ellen's will make you truly experience lutong bahay at its best!

Working with my hands

My hands are always put to good use...

In the operating room

In the kitchen

My Versions:

Spaghetti Bolognese

Penne with Chicken Pomodoro

Gambas

Baked Clams

Beef Salpicao

Cooking with pasta tops my list of the things I do in the kitchen.  My pasta versions are usually done with a tomato based sauce but on occasions, I do pesto and aglio olio.  However, I expanded my repertoire to other dishes like the ones shown above and there are still others which I consider to be works-in-improvement.