Where to eat in Bantayan Island Cebu? MJ Square, HR Native Restaurant, Tristan’s Pizza

Posted on May 12, 2018November 5, 2018by One Armed Wanderer

Bantayan Island in Cebu is undoubtedly one of the must visit island in the Philippines. Like Boracay in Aklan and El Nido in Palawan, Bantayan Island is a popular tourist destination among locals and foreign tourists alike.

Where to Eat in Bantayan Island Cebu?

Bantayan Island is tourist ready. Just like Boracay, there is a number of restaurants, bars and café in the island.

Bantayan beach resorts such as Anika Island Resort, Hoyohoy Villas Resort and Beach Placid have their own restaurant. However, food their menu may be limited or more expensive. If you are a food adventurer, there are other food places and restaurants in the island. Below are my top 3 recommended places to satisfy your gastronomic adventures in Bantayan Island:

1. MJ Square

MJ Square is the most popular food place in Bantayan Island. Located in Santa Fe Poblacion, MJ Square is near to various beach resorts in the island. It is a few minute tricycle ride away from Anika Island Resort, Beach Placid Resort and Hoyohoy Villas. MJ Square is just a few minute walk from beach resorts such as Amihan Beach Cabanas, Ritzy’s White Beach Resort, Marlins Beach Resort and Yoonek Beach Resort and Kota Beach Resort.

MJ Square Bantayan Island Map
<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span>A food complex with various restaurants and cafes, MJ Square is definitely a go to place for food lovers and adventurers. This Bantayan Island food place offers a wide array of food choices.

Here is a short video of MJ Square in Santa Fe, Bantayan Island.

Complete list of restaurants in MJ Square:

Chef Panyang – This restaurant has the biggest area and has widest food options. Chef Panyang serves mostly Filipino dishes. If you are on a budget, Chef Panyang offers 59 Php (approx. $1.14) meal. It’s probably the cheapest meal you can have in the island. If you love seafood, they also have seafood all you can at only 299 Php (approx. $5.75).

Cupcake Island Cakery – If you love sweets, visit MJ Square’s Cupcake Island Cakery. This mini bakeshop offers various cakes that will truly satisfy your cravings.

Bantayan Burrito Company – This MJ Square restaurant serves Mexican cuisine and is Vegan friendly.
Shake Me – This small and colorful place in MJ Square is perfect if you are craving for ice cream or shakes in the island.

Channa’s Café & Wine – This mini cafe is a perfect place to hang-out with your Bantayan travel buddies. Channa’s Cafe serves hot & cold coffee and coffee based drinks. They also serve flavored beer. Their drinks are priced from 50 Php (approx $1.00) to 90 Php (approx. $1.80).

Tapa Master – This Bantayan Island restaurant’s speciality is gourmet and exotic Tapas ranging from 89 Php (approx. $1.72) to 269 Php (approx. $5.17). They also offer sisig and various types of sausages.

Hallas Taverna
Stix Smoke House
Paradiso Snack Bar
Sarapoi
Liquido – If you love to drink, Liquido serves various alcoholic drinks.
Hello Spank
All Time Fry

During our 4 days and 4 night stay in Bantayan Island, we had most of our meals at MJ Square. I highly recommend Tapa Master as they serve great breakfast!

Overall, you will love MJ Square’s wide array of food choices. This is the go to place if you are on a budget. The idea of food complex is good as you get to befriend other tourists in the area. The only downside are the flies in the complex.

2. HR Music Bar & Native Restaurant

Located in A. Batobalonos St., HR Native Restaurant is just a few meters away from MJ Square. This restaurant has a wide array of offerings on their menu. They serve seafood, pork, beef, vegetables, pizzas, sandwiches, cold drinks and cocktails.

HR Native Restaurant Map

HR Native Restaurant was the very first restaurant we visited in Bantayan island as it was recommended by our tricycle driver. We later did not regret to dine at HR as their baked scallops in Mozarella cheese (225 Php – approx. $4.50) was very delicious! I should say that it’s the best tasting baked scallops I’ve tried so far.

HR Native Restaurant Menu

Overall, HR Native Restaurant is a good food place in the island. The native ambiance makes the dining experience special. Their baked scallops is a must try!

3. Tristan’s Pizza Hauz and Restaurant

Tristan’s Pizza Hauz & Restaurant is another must visit restaurant in Bantayan Island. Located in F. Roska street and is near to various beach resorts in Santa Fe. Jen and I were very lucky to have met the owner of Tristan’s Pizza Hauz. We learned from her that the place used to be a resort and restaurant. After the typhoon Yolanda, she had to give up the resort and only retained its restaurant.

We ordered their best seller mixed seafood pizza for 450 Php (approx. $8.82). It was a surprise that the pizza is generously topped with mozzarella cheese and seafood (especially shrimps). We super loved the pizza! I should say that it’s one of the best seafood pizza I had!

Apart from pizzas, this underrated food place in Bantayan Island also serves breakfast meals, salads, pastas, rice meals, snacks and beers.

Overall, Tristan’s Pizza Hauz is a must visit for pizza lovers! The place may not be as popular as MJ Square and other restaurants in Bantayan Island, but is definitely one of the islan’s best food place!

Food
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Where to Eat in Cagayan De Oro City? Boy Zugba

Posted on October 29, 2017October 30, 2017by One Armed Wanderer

Boy Zugba Kusina Bisaya or simply Boy Zugba is one among the few local restaurants in Cagayan de Oro City. This restaurant offers an array of grilled food and various Filipino dishes. If you are a foodie adventurer visiting Cagayan de Oro, Boy Zugba should be on the top of your to visit food places in the city.

“Zugba” comes from the Visayan word “Sugba” which means grilled.

Boy Zugba CDO Location

Boy Zugba is situated along Corrales Avenue where most of the local restaurants in the city is located. It is also few meters away from budget accommodations such as Rich Manor Pension House, LRD Pension, CDO Hotel Cento and hotels such as Southwinds hotel and Seda CDO. Boy Zugba can easily be reached from any point in the city via taxi.

The restaurant’s eye-catching facade is modern yet with a Pinoy feel. From outside, you can say that the restaurant looks cool inside. The photo I took does not give justice to the Boy Zugba’s facade.

Note: I was literally the last guest to leave the place. And they have already turned-off the lights in the restaurant’s signage.

Cool Interiors and Atmosphere

This homegrown Cagayan de Oro City restaurant probably has the coolest interiors and atmosphere among other local restaurants in the city.

I personally love this window full of hugot lines in Visayan language. Although I hardly understand Bisaya, I’m sure these lines are funny!

They also have a “kumusta imong love life?” (How’s your love life) corner. Guests may pick their fortune from a bowl full of hugot lines which I’m sure anyone could relate to.

Creative and Witty Menu

Boy Zugba also captured my heart with its creative and witty menu. Food on their menu are humorously classified such as Ang Fried of CDO, Do it… Pancit!, Sizzle Bebeh!, Bagetz Meal and Wow Sabaw!

Here is the complete Boy Zugba Menu:

Food

Since I visited the restaurant during dinner, I ordered Oppa Gambas Style (299 Php). It is basically Boy Zugba’s version of the Filipino dish Gambas.

It was a surprise that the sizzling Oppa Gambas Style is served with button mushrooms (which are my favorite) and bell peppers. Shrimps are bigger than the usual Gambas which are good. The sauce is just perfect for the generous amount of shrimps.The serving of this yummy dish is actually good for 2 persons.

For my dessert, I ordered “What’s your plan, Leche flan?” (49 Php). The presentation of this typical Filipino dessert was unexpected and cool!

Highly Recommended Restaurant in CDO

If you are travelling to Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental, make sure to visit Boy Zugba. The ambiance is cool, service is good and food is great! If you are a backpacker or a budget traveller, need not to worry as they have budget meals too!

Boy Zugba Operating Hours: Open from 11 AM to 11 PM on weekdays and 11 AM to 12 AM on weekends.

Boy Zugba Contact Numbers (They also have a branch at Centrio Mall CDO.)

Corrales (088) 880-5555 / 0917-7722450
Centrio (088) 859-0115 / 0917-7721834

Cavite
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- Food

South Streat Gourmand Container Park Tagaytay – Sta. Rosa Road

Posted on April 2, 2017June 24, 2017by One Armed Wanderer

South Streat Gourmand Container Park along Sta. Rosa – Tagaytay Road is the newest food destination in the south. This food park is a new branch of the famous Streat Maginhawa Food Park in Quezon City.

How to get to South Streat Gourmand Container Park

South Streat Gourmand Container park is located in Silang, Cavite. It just a few minute drive away from Nuvali. If you are travelling to Tagaytay City and is taking the usual Sta. Rosa – Tagaytay route, you will pass by this food haven. So, for your next Tagaytay road and food trip with your friends, skip Nuvali for your stopover and go straight ahead to South Streat Gourmand Container Park.

South Streat Gourmand Container Park location map

Luckily, my sister who lives in the area brought us to South Streat Gourmand Container Park. It was Saturday night and we were surprised that almost all of the parking spaces were occupied. For a food park which is relatively new, I should say that South Streat Gourmand Park is becoming a popular food destination not only to the villagers in the area but also to tourists visiting Tagaytay.

Cool, hip and fun food Park

The food park’s eye-catching facade is truly inviting especially for first time visitors. It looks very cool, hip and a fun food park. In fact, most of the visitors take their selfies and groupies by the facade and right inside the food park.

A post shared by Ed Puno (@onearmedwanderer) on Apr 1, 2017 at 11:08am PDT

The entire food park is quite small. You can stroll around the area in just 15 minutes. Nonetheless, the seats where visitors can dine are very creative and artistic and so as the stall designs.

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Stalls in South Streat Container Park

Once you get inside, there is a wide array of food stalls to choose from. From street foods to rice meals, South Streatfood Container Park will truly satisfy your gastronomic needs. If you love Japanese food, there is Spice Heaven Meal. For pasta lovers, Che Buona offers various pasta dishes. Sucre’s unique serving of mouthwatering ice cream is instagram worthy. For nutella lovers, visit Crazytella. If you want to stick to the traditional pinoy food, go to Tatang’s Extra Crispy Boneless Cebu Lechon. Quench your thirst with various Pinoy drinks of Juan Sago. Here’s the complete list of stalls in South streatfood container park:

Above Sea Level
US Roast Beef
Che Buona Pasta
Rockin’ Ribs
Greek Streets
Bowled Move
Gouphog Sizzlers
One Potato Two Potato
Rosita’s Mexican streetfood
Crazytella
Tatang’s Extra Crispy Boneless Cebu Lechon
Starr Studded
Hafa x Loha
Juan Sago
Foxtrot & Echo
Spice Heaven Meal
Squeezed
Xurreria
Chi Maek

Spice Heaven Meal, Sucre, Squeezed

Since we visited on a Saturday evening, the food park was a bit crowded. We were lucky enough to have spotted 2 vacant tables in front of Spice Heaven Meal, a stall offering Japanese food. We did not hesitate to try their shrimp tempura with rice (150 Php) and pork tonkatsu meal (175 Php).

A post shared by Ed Puno (@onearmedwanderer) on Apr 1, 2017 at 11:41am PDT

The young guy manning outside the stall was very kind and accommodating. He even assisted my sister by giving her options for the dishes. We loved their pork tonkatsu. The tempura was okay and just right for the price.

We also bought a burger at Foxtrot & Echo (120 Php)

Ice cream at Sucre (120 Php).

For our drinks, we bought lemonade at Squeezed (65 Php).

Overall, we enjoyed our visit at the South Streat Gourmand Container Park. Food prices may not be super cheap for budget travelers, nonetheless, food are good. If given the chance, I would definitely return and try other stalls.

Budget: 150 Php to 350 Php per person

Schedule: The South Streat Gourmand Container Park open daily from 4pm and closes at 11:30pm

If you are visiting Tagaytay, do not skip South Streat Gourmand Container Park. This food place is truly a must try!

Tip: Make sure to book your Tagaytay hotel ahead of time as hotels get fully book especially during weekends. Discounted Tagaytay hotel rates HERE. You may also want to check my post about 7 Best Hotels in Tagaytay City.

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