What to eat in Cebu

Mabuhay again!

Documenting some of the food places I went to during my 2019 Cebu trip. I would say, The Philippines really has some good Lechon and meat dishes.

-Cebu City Centre-
CNT Lechon
Jollibee

Turon

Max's Restaurant

Bo's Coffee

Cardinal Coffea

Greenwich

Abaca Baking Company

-Moalboal-

Genevieve's Garden Cafe

Cafe Cebuano

Pleasure Principle

Balut

Smooth Cafe

Makan

The French Coffee Shop

-Bohol-

Gerarda's Place

Mang Inasal

Cebu City Centre

Our flight stops at Cebu City Centre, before we could take a car to Bohol and other parts of Cebu which had more activities to do. However, there are lots of decent food in the city.

CNT Lechon

The first order of business after we touched down was to go the the nearest mall for some famous CNT Lechon. Fortunately, there was one in the food court of Ayala Mall and we ordered some to share. Have not tried other brands in Philippines but this was so good! It is a must try!

L4, Food Choice, Ayala Mall Cebu, Archbishop Reyes Avenue, Cebu City, Cebu

Jollibee

What is Philippines without some good ol' Jollibee. The meat here is definitely salty, but it's nice to have such sinful food once in a while. Though I would say, it's nothing special after you had it so many times.

Various outlets

Turon

Turon is a snack that is kinda like the Singapore version of Goreng Pisang. If you like Goreng Pisang, you would love this snack. Found it randomly in a booth while shopping in the SM Seaside City.

Max's Restaurant

A restaurant we found in SM Seaside City. Didn't know that it is a famous chain that has outlets in other parts of Asia and even Singapore. The fried chicken is apparently their specialty and I found it quite nice.

PHP 749/4pax

Various outlets

Bo's Coffee

Didn't realise that Bo's Coffee is a Filipino coffeehouse chain started in 1996 in Cebu City. No wonder I saw so many of their shops in Cebu itself! However, I find that there are more flavour varieties in Starbucks for Frappucino options (not sure about the normal coffee) so I'm not a fan.

Various outlets

Cardinal Coffea

A cafe famous for their cheese rolls, cakes and coffee. Glad to have tried out a decent cafe during the trip! Food was nice, but not very wowed as per the other comments you find online though. But it is worth a try if you really need to strike a cafe off your to-go list in Cebu.

PHP 469/4pax

Don Jose Avila St, Cebu City, Cebu

Greenwich

Had a random meal here in Ayala Mall on our last day in Cebu. This place reminds me of Pizzahut, with emphasis on pizza and pasta dishes. Not the best, but will do.

Various outlets

Abaca Baking Company

One of our last meals before leaving, wanted to find a trendy cafe to just sit down and chill for a bit before we say goodbye, and randomly found this place. This cafe serves artisan crafted breads, from-scratch baked goods and classic American food. Well, this Whoopie Pie was ok-ish. Forgot to take pictures of the coffee or smoothies we had!

PHP 800/4pax

The Terraces Ayala Center, Cebu City, Cebu

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Moalboal

This was the place we had to go for the most part of the adventures - snorkeling, canyoneering, hiking etc. The whole area gave off a very rustic and old skool vibe; not commercialised, houses were run down, can't be sure if the stalls had clean food etc. But well, that's just how the place is.

Genevieve's Garden Cafe

Was finding a lunch place after our snorkeling session. Walked a whole stretch of road under the hot weather only to find this and waited super long for our food too. Had Sinigang (Filipino soup), Pork Sisig (mainly pig’s parts such as minced pork meat, ears, and face) and San Miguel beer because that's the classic Filipino food and beer that one should order while in Philippines. Memorable because the place was super hot! And I almost fainted here due to the snorkeling session earlier and hot weather which resulted in a mild dehydration.

PHP 880/4pax

Panagsama Rd, Moalboal, Cebu

Cafe Cebuano

We were so tired (I had exhibited signs of dehydration as mentioned above) after snorkeling and had a good afternoon nap before going out to explore the Moalboal area for some cafes to sit around till dinner time. This was the cafe we chose. Can't say much about the food cos it was not memorable. But the view here was good, overlooking the sea, Very chill.

Panagsama Rd, Moalboal, Cebu

Pleasure Principle

Had pizza here, which was actually not bad. What was memorable was that the drinks here came in very traditional forms that one don't see in Singapore, and price was really reasonable.

PHP 530/4pax

Panagsama Rd, Moalboal, Cebu

Balut

After our dinner, we decided to walk around the area and hunt for Balut. In case you aren't aware, Balut is a developing egg embryo, ie. an almost fertilised egg (usually duck) and is a delicacy here in the Philippines. It tasted like a regular egg though, and you have to drizzle some salt and vinegar for better taste. Not for the faint hearted, since you can totally see the almost formed head of the little half duckling. yikes.

Smooth Cafe

Saw this prominent hipster cafe and I knew we had to come here. Food was actually quite good (I had quinoa salad), but expensive compared to the other eateries around the area. Seems hipster and catering to the tourists I guess, but at least I enjoyed the food and drinks here.

Approx PHP 300/pax

Panagsama Rd, Moalboal, Cebu

Makan

This is just some simple Filipino fare. Had the Sizzling Eggplant, Sizzling Calamari and Eggplant Omelette. Had Pork Sisig again because Hep said that the previous sisig we had at Genevieve's Garden Cafe didn't taste like how sigig should be. However, both are not to my liking.

PHP 1055/4pax

Panagsama Rd, Moalboal, Cebu

The French Coffee Shop

Had our last breakfast in Moalboal in this seemingly "French" cafe. Food was kinda bad. I would rather go back to the expensive cafe mentioned earlier and treat my tastebuds and stomach better.. this is not recommended.

PHP 550/4pax

Panagsama Rd, Moalboal, Cebu

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Bohol

This was our last stop before going back to the city. Bohol is known for their Chocolate Hills and touristy attractions like the Sipatan Twin Bridge, and cute Tarsiers. The area was more developed than Moalboal for sure. We had some of the best food from our trip here.

Gerarda's Place

This was highly recommended online, so we decided to try our luck and check out the restaurant. They serve Filipino cuisine with a twist, and we all loved the food here! I would dare say it was one of my favourites throughout the trip!

PHP 1295/4pax

30 J.S. Torralba St, Tagbilaran City, Bohol

Beancurd

Was at Alona Beach and saw a makeshift vendor selling beancurd! As I love beancurd, thought we should give it a try. Tastes... like a regular beancurd so, great!

Mang Inasal

Had this before in Manila. It's one of the more famous Filipino fastfood joints with cheap prices and good marinated chicken. Except for the part where there is hardly any vegetables in their plates, I kinda like this. 

PHP 478/4pax

Various outlets

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So that is all! The sauces and flavouring in Philippines are really good! On the heavy or sweeter side definitely, therefore it is great for those who love flavourful food.

Click below for more of what went down in Cebu:

Our Canyoneering Adventures in Cebu

Cebu Vlog

Cebu Adventures

Mabuhay! Finally documenting our Cebu trip in May 2019. Cebu is a beautiful place for lots of water and mountain-related activities. Canyoneering at Kawasan Falls was the highlight of the trip, but there were also some other activities to make the trip complete. We had to visit different parts of the island, namely the City, Moalboal, and Bohol. 

Here are some of the main places explored:

 -Moalboal-
Pescador Island
Kawasan Falls
Osmena Peak 

-Bohol-
Alona Beach
Chocolate Hills
Tarsier Sanctuary
Sipatan Twin Bridge

Day 1 was spent in the Cebu City Centre, chilling around and walking around the mall and watching some movie. Nothing significant about the city centre.

Day 2 - Pescador Island

To get to Moalboal from the city centre, we had to take a 1.5h car ride. But it was well worth it.

First activities were snorkeling and exploring the sea area at Pescador Island.

First up, we were just snorkeling around this area the boat brought us to.

Then we were brought to another nearby area to see the Sardine Run! There were SO MANY sardines swimming around this area it was surreal!

Next, we went to watch huge turtles swimming near the shore. But only saw one though. It was almost as big as a human! More details of this in my Cebu Vlog here.

Day 3 - Kawasan Falls, Osmena Peak

The next day, our itinerary consisted of the highlights of the trip: Kawasan Falls and Osmena Peak.

To get to the Falls, we were driven to a tourist center where we had to change into the appropriate canyoneering outfits and shoes - swimwear and canyoneering sandals. The tour guide provided them, but I would suggest you get cheap ones from Decathlon prior to the trip if possible!

First was a motor ride to the starting point of the activity, then trek up a distance so that we get to the area where all the wonderful rock formations are.

After that, it was a series of climbing over rocks and dipping into waters to get to different jumping points. For those like me, who are not wearing long pants, should be careful of knocking into the rocks while walking through the shallow waters as I got a few bruises from them!

There were a few significant jumps, namely the jump after lunch, the 10m jump, and the final 12m jump. I guess the first few ones were really to let us get used to jumping and honing our skills. 

Pro tip: jump straight, as free-falling into water means slapping against your thighs or butts. AND IT IS SUPER PAINFUL especially when falling from a great height!

Another pro tip: don't think, just jump. The more you hesitate, the scarier it will be.

I assure you, the first jump is hard, but everything is well worth it! Canyoneering details in my Cebu Vlog here.

After a fulfilling morning, we went to Osmena Peak thinking that it might be an easy climb since it is not very tall. But the terrain was pretty hard, and considering that I wasn't in proper footwear, and it was around noon (hottest time of the day!!!), it was such a tiring climb to the peak!

Had to take lotsa photos to make up for it you say? Well, think we were too tired to take much.

Day 4 - Bohol

Onwards to our next destination - Bohol. We had to take the ferry from Moalboal.

And because we had a tour plan for the whole trip, the guide actually brought us to a cave called the Hinagdanan Cave, pretty useless one I would say.

We thought that we would be able to see a nice beach or sandbar, but we were brought to Alona Beach. This was so crowded with tourists, and nothing much about the sand and sea we were more focused on the food the area had to offer.

Day 5 - Chocolate Hills, Tarsier Sanctuary, Sipatan Twin Bridge

Woke up bright and early today to visit a few Bohol attractions.

First up was Chocolate Hills, where it was quite underwhelming. We had to climb a flight of stairs up to the little hill, and from there, could see a view of the chocolate-looking nuggets, which gave this place the name.

After this touristy place, we were brought to the Tarsier Sanctuary which, is another touristy place in my opinion. Tarsiers are the world's second smallest primate, and it was my first time seeing one up close. Well, at least this activity gives people from Singapore a chance to look at other rare creatures that we otherwise would not normally see.

Next up, it was a short drive to Sipatan Twin Bridge, where we walked these 2 seemingly scary bamboo bridges. Quite fun I would say, but there wasn't much to do here actually, so this marks the end of our Cebu Adventures.

Would do up a next post on the FOOD in Cebu. Stay tuned!

Cebu Vlog here