THEY say salt and pepper are the most basic yet essential ingredients to make a dish come to life. Yet, as soon as one bites into this golden, deep-fried calamari, one can’t help but notice something’s quite different. The simple yet unspoiled combination of salt and pepper dance on your palate while, although fried to perfection, the squid remains soft and extremely juicy. Beyond that there’s this certain taste that brings the entire dish together but distinct as it seems, one surely can’t point out what it is— this must be what love and passion taste like when poured into food and in Isla Sugbu Seafood City, there’s no doubt you’ll get a taste of this in every single dish.
Isla Sugbu Seafood City first started in 2014 bringing in a wide variety of fresh seafood to hungry Cebuanos. From its first year of operations alone, it has already won SunStar’s Best of Cebu for Best Seafood Restaurant. In addition to the buzz, the restaurant further boomed when it introduced Paluto-All-You-Can, which allowed customers to eat to their heart’s content and not only that, but have food cooked according to their preference.
Perhaps another factor why Cebuanos have chosen Isla Sugbu Seafood City as the Best Seafood Restaurant in Cebu is the fact that the restaurant does not have any menu—only pure dedication to cook food preferred by the customer.
Whether it’s the typical sinigang na isda, grilled prawns, and squid cooked in ink or whatever unique combination a customer wants to experiment with, the chefs are down to interpret that food craving creativity and deliver satisfaction on the table. No wonder the restaurant has now become SunStar’s Grand Slam Winner as of 2017.
“We feel very proud to be considered as the best in Cebu— most especially since Cebuanos have very high standards with the taste of seafood. As a homegrown brand, we feel very honoured,” said restaurant general manager Romel Gonzales.
Operating for four years has not been easy, said Gonzales. Every day, he and his team strive to overcome challenges like being consistent in both quality for taste and service, continuing to grow and evolve with the clients, delivering assortment and availability, and lastly, unceasingly searching for excellence in everything that they do.
Throughout the years, especially with the help of SunStar’s Best of Cebu, it has seen the influx of customers grow.
“We try our best to deliver excellent food and quality service. Sometimes when our waiters still have time on their hands, they peel the shell off the seafood so that our customers can enjoy dining and bonding with whoever they’re with even more,” said Gonzales.
“Our future goal is to be the best seafood restaurant in the Philippines. Of course we’ll continue to deliver outstanding service and food in Cebu since we are very thankful to the Cebuanos. One thing that we want is, when people think seafood, they’ll immediately think of Isla Sugbu Seafood City.”