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Whenever I travel to different places in the country, I always go to different restaurants and try local cuisine. Since we are covering the 2008 Pasigarbo sa Sugbo Festival, Eric and Nina planned to have our breakfast in Abuhan Restaurant upon our arrival in Cebu.

Straight from the airport, we went directly to Abuhan Dos in F. Ramos Street near the Robinson’s Mall to try Nina’s Favorite Pochero.

So What is Pochero?

Pochero is a pork stew of Spanish origin, stewed beef or pork cooked with chorizo de bilbao and lots of chopped onions and tomatoes. The vegetables and saba bananas are usually cooked separately. Some versions of pinoy pochero include garbanzos and fried sweet potatoes.

In Cebu, Bulalo is called Pochero. It was perfectly cooked in Beef broth mixed with shreds of ginger, fresh cabbage and sweet corn. Cebu’s Famous Bulalo is best eaten with steamed rice. Nina is right, the soup is realy tasty and the rice is superb.

We also tried the Sizzling Pochero, Imagine the Abuhan’s Famous Pochero without the soup, corn and vegetables and replace it with butter gravy, fried potato chunks and set it on a hot iron plate.

Forget about your super healthy diet and just plan for a heavy exercise, these Cebu’s Finest Pochero can increase your body’s cholesterol level. But who cares? The Food is Fantastic!

About the Restaurant:

Abuhan; vernacular for a dirty kitchen aptly makes Abuhan Uno and its branches quite like the kitchen of Cebu. It has, for over 30 or more years captured the palate of Cebuanos with its quintessentially Filipino dishes.

All Abuhan branches accepts all major credit cards in case you ran out of cash. If you are planning to visit Abuhan Restaurant; check out their branches.

Abuhan Uno
F. Ramos St., Cebu City
Telephone: (+6332) 2531881

Abuhan Dos
176 F. Ramos Street, Cebu City (near Robinsons Mall)
Phone : (032) 253 5774
Fax no: +63(032) 253-1883
Open 24 Hours

Abuhan Tres
i2 PIPC tower, Asiatown IT Park, Lahug, Cebu
Phone : (032) 253 1151/1881/5774
Open 24 Hours

Much has been said about this famous Mami house in Binondo but I only got the change to taste it last weekend. Last Saturday, A group of travel bloggers decided to go on a tour around Makati and Binondo. We initially met at Starbucks Salcedo Village before heading to the Salcedo Weekend Market which is right in front of the coffee shop. After food tasting and photo taking in Salcedo Park we immediately headed to Binondo to start our short food tour and heritage tour in San Nicolas afterwards.

A Binondo food tour will never be complete without visiting Dong Bei Dumplings. Since its Meikah and Diane’s first time to try this, we ordered two plates of freshly boiled pork and kutchay dumplings. We assumed that dumplings would suffice as an appetizer since we were planning to try other authentic cantonese dishes in Benavidez street but our loud “burp” pretty much meant our stomachs couldn’t take anymore (LOL).

Next Stop : MaMi in Masuki

Since I didn’t have a Binondo map, I asked one of the fruit vendors about the restaurant’s location only to find out that I’ve been passing the area most of the time without noticing the famous Mami House. We were lucky to get a table for four immediately since the restaurant is usually crowded during weekend. A friendly waiter welcomed us and provided us the menu. If you are familiar with the old Ma Mon Luk Restaurant, you probably know what to expect and see in Masuki’s Menu. Why? Because the Masuki restaurant is owned by the grandchildren of the old Noodle King - Ma Mon Luk.

Since our stomachs were replete with dumplings, we decided to order regular servings of their Original Chicken Mami and their famous Beef Wonton Mami. After a couple of minutes, the noodles were served in a huge bowl full of toppings. Along with the super sized Mami, they also gave us cup of freshly chopped green onion leaves, which is a very common ingredient of the dish, and a cup of asado sauce made from sugar, black peppers, water and flour which you can mix into the steaming noodles.

Masuki’s Menu offers variety of “Gupit” noodles perfect for your hungry stomach. Aside from their ever popular Siopao (streamed pork bun), you can also try some of their specialty side dishes such as roast pork, beef brisket, wonton and siomai. The price is very reasonable and I realized that the Mami served in a popular Chinese Food Wanabe food chain is really overrated.

Unlike the Ma Mon Luk in Quiapo, Masuki is clean and the area is far from noisy jeepneys.

What is Gupit?

Gupit is a local term for noodles which was popularized by Mamonluk Restaurant. Ma Mon Luk is a famous cantonese restaurant with former branches in Quiapo, Quezon Ave. and Cubao are called Ma Mon Luk.

Masuki started their Mami Business in 1930 in Benavidez street which is still their present location. Currently Masuki has two branches, one in its original birthplace in Binondo and one in Greenhills.

Branches :

MASUKI MAMI RESTAURANT

931 Benavidez Street, Binondo, Manila

Tel. No. 244-07-45, 243-2674

MASUKI MAMI HOUSE

368 Sekai Center Unit 203 Ortigas Ave. cor. Madison Street,

Greenhills, San Juan

Tel # 744-27-21 or 744-27-20

How to get there:

The Binondo church has always been the rendezvous for groups who plan to walk around Manila’s China Town. Once you reach the Binondo church, ask anyone how to reach Benavidez Street. From Benavidez you can easily find Masuki.

I was plurking one night when I saw Nina’s Invitation for a weekend Binondo Food Tour. Since I dont have any scheduled activity, I immediately signed up for this weekend food tour. While checking on the itenerary, I observed that most of the restaurants included on the food tour are all new to me and one of them is Dong Bei Dumplings.

Dongbei is generally understood to refer to the northeastern part of China. Unlike the Hongkong made dumplings which is more appealing to the eye, I find DongBei Dumplings way better because of its simplicity. Dumplings are expertly pleated and boiled to perfection.

I personally liked the Kutchay Dumplings which is stuffed with lots of chopped green veggies and juicy ground pork mixed with chinese celery and other spices.

One plate of 14 pieces of dumplings only costs Php 100. A good tasting Wong Lo Kat (cold chinese tea) costs Php 30 each and Ice cold cans of Coke Php 25 each. If you are planning to visit this place, make sure to bring your friends for you to try their wide variety of dumplings.

This small Dumpling House can only accommodate 16-20 customers. On the entrance of the restaurant, Staffs are busy making fresh handiwork noodles and pleating different variety of dumplings. This little food haven is owned and operated by Northern Chinese immigrants who started their business 4 years ago.

Dong Bei Dumplings is located at 642 Yuchengco St (formerly Nueva St.) Binondo, Manila

Oh Well! I dunno where to start yet. I know I am a travel writer and photographer who doesn’t know anything about food, but since i travel a lot, I just want to share some unique, distinct and delicious foods that i have tasted through my photographs. Of course I will try to write about it as well. BTW: I call this blog as a ”Food Photo Blog“.

See you Around and Happy Eating!