Surprise!

ON a quick trip to Cebu, we junked an earlier plan to have a Vietnamese dinner and try out a sutukil restaurant that both Ganzo and I haven’t been to, but came highly recommended by her husband. (Blame the horrendous traffic of after office rush).

STK ‘Ta Bay along Orchid Street in downtown Cebu City (it’s right behind Hotel Stella at the Capitol site), which was just a few blocks from where I was billeted. It was a pleasant surprise.

I did remember my former Davao buddy Hembler highly recommending it when we bumped into each other at Hotel Stella a year or two ago. But I wasn’t feeling adventurous and so did wander over. All that Hembler said was about the sugba-kilaw-tola entrée, that we have more here, and fresher too. He, and Ganzo’s husband, forgot to mention about the visual delights.

Not the food.

STK is a house converted into a restaurant with its bedrooms and other partitions kept in place; simply opened up on one side so as to allow freer entry. Thus, the restaurant is made up of various nooks with tables. The visual delights? Antiques, lots of antiques and knick-knacks and memorabilia through the years. As if to stress the through the years part, the clink and chink of cutlery and dinnerware mixed with the murmur of people in a jam-packed restaurant, you hear music of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s. Like walking into your lola’s house with the turntable turning.

“Hey there what you doin’ down there…” wafts in while you wait for your orders and are urged to knock three times on the ceiling.

That night, there were just two of us: me and Ganzo. That limits our tummy space, so we decided to just make the most of it and go for the very familiar and the not so.

Baked scallops, tinolang manok Bisaya, crispy bacasi (which the waiter said means, eel), and… rice.

“Anong rice ninyo?” we asked.

“Naay garlic… naay bagoong…”

“Yung bagoong!” we chorused.

The scallops arrived first. Yum!

The bacasi next. Errrrm… chewy, not crispy, and watch out for those hidden fishbones.

Then the tinola. Super yum!!

And then…

A waiter bringing one bandehado heaping with something electric pink.

“Is that our rice?” we asked in trepidation, as he made his way toward us.

Darn that waiter. He didn’t even say that their bagoong rice come in family size servings.

We were laughing ourselves silly over the huge serving and the garish electric pink color. Apparently, their alamang comes with plenty of food color. In fairness, it tasted good. The whole meal was good!

Those who recommended it surely know their food, and we intend to return, with more tummies to fill up so that we can taste more. The giant bulalo served at the other table looked delicious and they have kare-kare too.

Again, while the bagoong rice did taste good, the pink will linger. And don’t tell me I didn’t warn you…

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