Totally Cebu

Sugbahan: Native Filipino Dishes

A comprehensive review

I bet there are hundreds of native restaurants out there, especially in Cebu. Banilad, which is considered as the developmental hub of metropolis Cebu is also a place of abundant grill and fine restaurants. These copious dining establishments are sprouting like mushrooms every now and then that almost every year in Cebu, there are at least five new restaurants that have joined the ocean of competition.

Somewhere in A.S. Fortuna, I visited one of these establishments and it did occur to me that competition is all about surviving in the field of food service. And that you have to do all you can to entice and please each customer/s per day in a relatively pleasant manner.

The background

2005 and 2006 National Shoppers' Choice Annual awardee; 2005 and 2006 National Product Quality Excellence awardee and 2005 Philippine Marketing Excellence Award for Most Outstanding Native Restaurant in Metro Cebu. Whew! Those are legit and reputable award-winning bodies for you. Two consecutive years of winning not one but two legitimate titles in one go could be the most outstanding thing a restaurant can accomplish. But, of course, the ultimate award can be received from several customers who are served well with the service and the ever-tasty native Filipino dishes.

The service

Anyway, there could be certain times wherein awards can become just “good on paper”. I'm not questioning Sugbahan's credibility but it's actually gonna be great to try it out on your own and judge the whole thing by yourself, right? Well, I wanted to find out myself on why Sugbahan is arguably the best native Filipino dishes restaurant in Cebu, if not, in the whole country. Presently, they have joints in Ayala Center Cebu, Robinsons Cebu and Elizabeth Mall (EMALL) Cebu. Contrary to those outlets which considered fast food restaurants, the main Sugbahan in A.S. Fortuna is the primary and has been there in the last three years.

It operates in two periods of time everyday; opens at 10AM and closes at 2PM for their afternoon break then opens again at 5:00PM then closes at 10:00PM. Sugbahan caters to educational tours that consisting of students from places of Negros, Iloilo, Bohol, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and other parts of the Philippines.

The name

The keyword “sugba”, which means “grill”, is the most famous method in cooking meat and some seafood in Cebu. This is then derived by today’s famous restaurant of Sugbahan and they actually did a great job in maintaining that niche of theirs.

The competition

The grill restaurants in Cebu are like the detergent bars, shampoos, soaps and others in a certain grocery store. Well, from what I know, the streets of Apas, Lahug and A.S. Fortuna, Mandaue are the grocery stores and there are indeed a lot of restaurants parading along the area that waiting for several customers. That's some stiff competition indeed but I'm very impressed that Sugbahan was able to stand out from its rivals.

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