Man VS. Food (Cebu Edition)

On the last Sunday of May (May 29), I happened to bump into my dear culinary friends, Kentoi and Kirby de la Cruz at Ayala when I was there for a late lunch (past 2 p.m.). They happened to be on their way to grab a snack as well, so they had me join them. They were with their friends from Cagayan who were here for a vacation and they wanted to eat the Big Bang burger of Casa Verde. I have eaten this burger before and though it doesn’t satisfy the palate so much (I personally think the patty doesn’t have that much of an appealing taste or quality and the burger bun is too thick), it sure can satiate hunger and it is quite easy on the pocket because one order can be shared by a group of 4. Kentoi and his friends summed up to ten people plus me, but I didn’t eat the burger. 

Bistro Ecila

Meanwhile, I ordered my lunch from Bistro Ecila, a neighboring resto, because the head chef of that resto is also our friend and schoolmate. They just put out a new menu and it was quite alluring so I decided to taste one of the menu choices. I had the Thai Style Lapu2x Fillet in Tomyum Butter Coconut Cream with Oyster and Enoki Mushrooms (whew! takes a mile to finish). I had mine served with red rice. The rice had tomato paste and paprika in it. I’m a big fan of Asian cuisine and it never fails to win me over Western or European cuisine. And mind you, Thai food is one of my top favorites. Bistro Ecila offers Mediterranean Asian fusion cuisine.

Kentoi and his friends ordered two burgers and evenly divided it between them. Their order arrived earlier than mine so they finished eating ahead of me. I noticed that this burger was selling like pancakes, which is a good, competitive marketing strategy to still attract customers during the usual resto’s ‘off hours’ (2-5 p.m.). I think the king of off hours is usually McDonald’s, hands down. But now I discovered that Casa Verde was actually up for the competition.

And the winner of the Big Bang “challenge” was… Kentoi!!! I didn’t even notice he finished already because the next moment I glanced at him, his plate was empty. I think he sucked it all up in less than 10 minutes without any effort. Haha.

Okay, so this wasn’t really an official Man vs. Food challenge but if someone would take on the challenge of eating the whole thing alone, then that’s the real deal. I might just do a Babe vs. Food segment someday. Would be nice if you guys could email me your suggestions for what to gulp down on my Babe vs. Food challenge.  Just send it over to justinnelou@yahoo.com. Thanks! Hope to hear from you guys soon!

Photo credits to: Laurence Capili

Live. Love. Eat. – Wolfgang Puck

Babe for Food – your new BFF in Cebu dining! :D