Throwback Thursday: Lachi's and DFAT

Yesterday, Sweetie searched for Lachi's videos on YouTube. Of course, my vlog from 14 years ago came up! I laughed because I seemed to be a totally different person. Also watched Ria's Lachi's vlog from 2009 and was surprised to see myself. I think we got so busy with wedding preparations after we got back from Davao, we didn't get to see the DFAT vlogs. 

2008 <3

Lachi's is one of my super favorite restos. It's located in Davao. Whenever I go there I eat two dishes, the unforgettable pork ribs and pork marinara. They have sinfully amazing desserts. Whenever I go to Davao I visit it several times and also bring home goodies. Sigh, I miss Lachi's a lot!

We watched several videos last night and saw newer ones from recent DFAT seasons. It made me miss going to Davao more. I think the best thing about joining blogger food events before was meeting new friends.We were hoping to visit them this year, but we decided to stay put after the boys got COVID-19 after our trip to Bohol. 

With one of the Lachi's twin owners, Mike, and blogger friends.

Well, if you ever find yourself in Davao. Do visit Lachi's! Saw from more recent videos that you need to reserve since they're always full and they may still be closed on Sundays. 

Nomnomnom. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Love, Lachi's, Davao

Last night on the flight to Davao Sweetie asked me to listen to a song playing on his MP3 player. At first I didn't recognize the song, but I soon realized it was our theme song. Sweetie was reminiscing our last trip together in Davao in 2009. It was the trip where he proposed to me while I was hanging on a zipline (I clearly didn't have a choice!). 

If I could I would live in Davao because I just feel so right at home here even though I don't speak Bisaya. I understand some of it though because some of the words they use are very similar to the Bicol dialect. I love Davao because life is simple here and you can get the best of many things. Low cost of living, awesome fresh food all year-round, the beach and the mountain is just minutes away and I have made a number of fantastic friends as well in Davao (and my Mom says I have relatives here too). 

My favorite restaurant in the whole-wide-world is also located in Davao - Lachi's Sansrival Atbp. Owned and run by twins, Mike and Melvin Aviles I discovered Lachi's many years ago through my Davao-based friends. I instantly fell in love with their pork marinara and unforgettable pork ribs and sansrival and multitude of cakes and pastries. And mind you the prices are so affordable. They have quite a lot of dishes and I'd probably eat there for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could. So if you by any chance visit Davao make sure you visit and eat at least two dishes and two desserts from Lachi's (I do everytime!). 

I've actually been craving for pork marinara for almost 2 years now because I haven't had the chance to visit Davao since 2010 (argh!). It sometimes haunts me especially when I'm somewhere where I can't get what I want to eat (I'm a picky eater sorry). I discovered a resto at Changi Airport though that has a slightly similar dish. I'll probably head there when I'm really desperate. 

Pork Marinara

The unforgettable pork ribs lives up to its name. Once you try it you will surely come back for it. I'm not really sure how they cook it but it's really awesome. They also introduced a new dish - Elsie's melt-in-your-mouth roast pork - which is true to its name. 

Unforgettable Pork Ribs

Another new dish we got to try was the Asian spicy chicken. I didn't get to try it since I'm allergic to chicken but Sweetie said it was like chicken chicharon and I noticed Miguel kept coming back for more long after he finished eating.

Asian Spicy Chicken

  

For fish lovers, Miguel always orders fish fillet whenever we eat at Lachi's and that's what I get as well whenever I feel guilty about eating too much pork (I feel I'm going to get a scolding from my doc soon...). 

Fish Fillet

But, of course, one has to leave space for dessert! I had a bit of a hard time deciding which one to order. I eventually decided to get my favorite - the Five Choco Torte. Mind you all the cakes, cheesecakes and pastries in Lachi's aren't that sweet. They're actually perfect because it's the only place where I can eat as many slices of cake as I want and my tonsils don't react (they're very sensitive to sweet stuff). So that's why Lachi's my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world. 

 

 

 

Amaretto Brownie

   

Lachi's Sansrival Atbp.

Ruby St., Marfori Heights,

Davao City

Thank you Mike for accommodating us! I hope to be back soon!

The Davao F.A.T. Journal

I have finally completed my Davao FAT blog posts and here's the complete story:

Day 1

Early morning visit to Samal Island

Lunch at Tadakuma

Skipped the museum visit to go to Lachi's

Dinner at Lachi's

Coffee at Kangaroo

Day 2

the exhilirating Xcelerator experience (and the proposal)

Lunch at Pepper & Peppers

Went to Lachi's (again)

Crocodile Park and the Butterfly Sanctuary (post coming up this week)

Merienda at Bryan's Bar & Grill

Dinner at Mamu's

Day 3

Lunch at Cafe Andessa

went to see David (ahh I've yet to blog about that)

Lachi's Sansrival, the best in the whole wide world!

Aside from my super duper favorite pork marinara, let me declare that Lachi's makes the best sansrival in the whole wide world! 

Why? 

1. Perfectly sweet. Not too sweet and not matabang, just the way I like it (and I know because my very sensitive tonsils doesn't protest!).

2. Perfectly crunchy. I don't like chewable sansrival because that's not how it should be. When you go for a small slice, the fork goes through and doesn't get stuck.

3. Mouth-watering and not butter-y. I've tasted sansrival that feels oily because of the butter. This one is absolutely perfect.

Mouth watering isn't it? 

What are you waiting for? Go to Lachi's! NOW NA!

And no this is not yet my real post about Lachi's for Davao FAT... this just covers the afternoon when we snuck in Lachi's before we were really scheduled to go. 

Lachi's Sanz Rival Atbp.
Ruby St., Marfori Village
Davao City
Tel No: 082-224-5552

Experience Mindanao

Once I was in the office abroad a colleague of mine approached me and showed me the newspaper. The headline was about bombing somewhere in Mindanao. She asked me if it was that way always in our country. I quickly dispelled her view about Mindanao and I even said I really wanted to live in Davao (that's true!).

That incident made me sad. It also made me remember another colleague's story about his homeland, Pakistan. It was a very similar story. It's a PR nightmare for people who live there. Why? Because with the negative opinion about the region they won't be able to encourage tourists to go, much less invest. And one needs investments for progress.

I've been going to the Visayas and Mindanao region often in the past 5 years and from my observation, the Visayas region (specifically Cebu) has grown by leaps and bounds. There's been change in the Mindanao region (specifically Davao), but not as fast as what I've seen in Cebu. I'm basing this on construction growth because it's the most obvious one to observe.

I went to Davao and GenSan last weekend for the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit. I eagerly said yes to Avel when he sent me the invitation. I love going to Mindanao because it's so different there. Everybody's open, friendly and accommodating. I told Arbet while we were chatting during MBS that Mindanao bloggers are definitely more pro-active than their counterparts anywhere else. Why? Because they have limited resources and as Mayor Acharon said, "We have to be more resilient."

I have no doubt that the bloggers who attended the Mindanao Bloggers Summit would definitely help in changing the mindset of people about their region. It will not happen overnight, but it will happen.

And if you have not visited the region, you should! Here are some video blogs I did about Davao and GenSan.





More details about the trip at LakwatseraAko (Davao and Gensan)

Davao F.A.T. Day 2: Homestyle to Sowsi Gastronomic Delights

We feasted on a wide variety of things on the second day. We started off at Taps in Torres Street and they had every silog* imaginable in their menu. We were all still quite full from dinner, but gamely tried out the different meals they offered.

Since we had a bit of time before the scheduled sampling at the trade fair in Rizal Park we headed to the salon and had a foot spa (that's where I edited the Day 1 video). After the spa session we checked out the trade fair at Rizal Park and had some Allegro ice cream and since it was so warm and sunny we decided to hang-out at Kasagingan earlier than the scheduled time. The consisted of different banana based dishes. I got the banana fantastic and caramel chocolate cake (I don't think it had any bananas in it though).

I was about ready to call it a day after hearing mass at the Assumption Church (walking distance from Kasagingan), but we had a dinner scheduled at the Polo Bistro of the Marco Polo Hotel. After freshening up for the sowsi experience we were about to have, Andrew, Ria and Gwing picked us up.

Polo Bistro set-up a long table for the bloggers and I would surmise that it made everyone feel like a V.I.P. It was a feast to remember since the sous chef, Mr. Alex Domanlag, would introduce each and every dish that was served. I absolutely loved the appetizer (seared tuna with cucumber and crabstick relish), the soup (french onion soup with 3 cheeses: mozzarella, parmesan and ementhal) and the main course (prawn thermidore). Too bad I could only taste just a bit of the dessert, my tonsils have failed me again (pffffttt!).

After dinner, we all proceeded to Blogie's grandmother's place for a bonding session and to taste the dessert sent by Sugar Munch. We were all quite full so we ended up just lining up the cakes and sansrival and just had a forkful of each while watching Grease (John Travolta was reed thin back then!).

Present throughout the day were: me, Jay, Ria, Andrew, Blogie, Migs, Winston, Dom, Gwing, Kim, Angel, Tiara, Mikko and Andie.

*silog - singangag at itlog

Davao F.A.T. Day 1: Heavenly Food at Lachi's

I'm here in Davao for the weekend for the Davao Food Appreciation Tour (nicknamed Davao FAT) organized by the DavaoFoodTrip.org. The food tour was hatched during the Mindanao Bloggers Summit (which I sadly missed) last October by The Usual Suspects.

Our first stop was at Lachi's Sansrival Atbp. I was so pleased with the food I thought of making a video blog -



Present were: Winston, Tiara, Mikko, Blogie, Ria, Gwing, Migs, Andrew, Sweetie, Angel and Dom (will complete their URLs later... about to run to the next stop!).

More food posts to come!

Davao F.A.T.

I always, ALWAYS gain weight whenever I go to Davao. I think the air there is calorie-ridden. I grew so bilog the first time I went there, I had to buy a new pair of jeans when I flew to Cebu after the trainings I did in Davao.


And that's why I have been dieting the past 2 weeks.

Because I am going to (what I call) my second home... DAVAO!


Davao F.A.T.

The Usual Suspects concocted this idea a couple of months ago and I have been looking forward to it. Fondly called Davao F.A.T., the project is a Food Appreciation Tour of Davao's yummiest (and willing) restos. Check out some of the gastronomic delights I had last Christmas and July last year.


Anybody can sign-up for it! Just leave a comment at the Davao F.A.T. announcement or send Ria an email at riajose at gmail dot com.

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Jolly Update: Jolly met Mr. Moe the Hamster today. Too bad Ms. Curly the Hamster was in her usual unsociable mood (and don't ask what happened to Mr. Larry the Hamster, such a gory incident I'd rather not remember). Both of them were curious about each other. Too bad I missed taking a video of them making beso-beso.