SINCE I was a child, every time my parents and the rest of the family travel between Butuan City to Cagayan de Oro City and back; a dining spot along the shoreline of Talisayan town has always been a favorite seafood stopover known to many as Nita’s Place Eatery.
Since 1972, Nita’s Place has always been the oasis to weary road travelers this side of Mindanao. Several decades after, the delightful traditional home cooked seafood meals have not changed and have always been successful in giving your senses a break from the hours on the road.
The taste of its meals; from the humbling soup of the fish tinola, the feeling of how the grilled fish just simply melts in your mouth, amazing freshness of seashells and clams and my favorite firm bite of the grilled or adobo cooked large squid would remind you of one thing – your grandmother’s native home cooking.
Carlito Rayon, Nita’s place proprietor, explained that he wants to continue the legacy and the name that the eatery represents decades ago.
“The food that we serve is more about our rich history and tradition. I started my life as a fisherman and always came back home to how my parents prepared our meals. That very same taste is what I want to be preserved and have my customers experience the very same heavenly taste,” said Carlito.
With the eatery named after his mother who first started it all, Rayon pointed out that it is a pride to cook it the native way.
“We are proud that until now we don’t use artificial ingredients, just the very basic of native cooking. The right mixes of water, fresh seafood, salt, spices and no added commercial food mix or seasoning. We even still cook using firewood and charcoal and no electrical or gas fired devices,” he said.
The added factor in dinning along is the bond you will get with nature. The open seascape view, the sound of birds with the refreshing ocean breeze just relaxes your sense right before a full meal.
“I just feel in love with the place, you could just taste the fresh blend of the sweetness and ocean salt merging into your mouth as you drink the cup of shell fish soup. It’s just an amazing taste, especially when you don’t fell that well from a long travel,” said Gracienette of Cagayan de Oro City who kept on coming back to the place after her first meal back in 2013.
Since then, the small eatery has been transformed and remade three times and then transformed into a restaurant. Now, the management is again expanding and hopefully would be able to provide accommodation in the future.
Nita’s Place is located at the shoreline and just a few meters from the national highway in the town of Talisayan.
The coastal town is about 85 kilometers away from Cagayan de Oro City and 120 kilometers from Butuan City.