5-hour Quickie in Dumaguete City


Our Siquijor-Dumaguete adventure culminated in a Dumaguete food trip on our last 5 hours before heading back to Manila. We went to the mystical Siquijor for 3 days and had fun on our pawikan adventure in Apo Island for 2 days. My bad that we took Dumaguete for granted and "used" it as entry points to our destinations.

Coming from Siquijor via ferry, we walked a few meters from the port to get to the Silliman University which is one of the famous university in the province and the Philippines as well. We took some photos outside and decided not to go inside anymore for our stay in the city will be just short and sweet.

older than my Alma Mater
too bad we didn't get to see what's inside
Then we passed by the equally famous Rizal Boulevard. It was, as they say, the "baywalk" of Dumaguete except that it was way cleaner. We saw a few locals who were doing their afternoon siesta on the benches.

Rizal Boulevard
Bume-baywalk - cleaner version
After that, we went to (drum rolls please...) the Sans Rival Cafe to try their famous sansrival and sylvanas. Me and my friend tried some of their goodies and checked if what's worth taking home with us. We got 1 order of sansrival (26 pesos), 1 piece of classic sylvanas (12 pesos) and 1 piece chocolate sylvanas (15 pesos).

I don't have a sweet tooth at all but I really enjoyed the classic sylvanas more than the sansrival. It was smooth and simple and tastes great! I can't even describe it (tsss...I really can't be a food blogger). I don't like the chocolate one though. The sansrival was ok - not a fun of nuts. I reserved two boxes of sylvanas for pasalubong (120 pesos each for 10 pieces). I wish I brought home more when I saw people at the airport with 20 boxes at least on hand.

dessert first
not a fan of nuts
lesgow classic sylvanas!
After the dessert, we went to Scooby's for merienda (weird I know). It's just two blocks away from the Sans Rival cafe. We ordered their Spaghetti with Burger meal which comes with a regular drink for 96 pesos. After tasting it, I wondered why people flocked in this fast food chain and why is it so popular? Anyone? The food tasted ordinary and I just took one bite of each. 

busy day for Scooby's
ano'ng problema teh?
it tasted very ordinary
We then went to Quezon Park after our merienda. We purposely went there to grab some free Dumaguete maps on their Tourism Office. We saw a monument of our national hero, Jose Rizal, right in front of the Tourism office. 

Pepe
Just across the street from the Quezon Park is the Cathedral of Saint Catherine of Alexandria and the belfry. There were so many people who were doing the Visita Iglesia because it was holy week at that time. And just like in the mystical island-province of Siquijor, the images inside the church were covered in deep purple cloths.

Visita Iglesia folks
ang layo ng mga belfry talaga
We took a trike (first time after the long walks we had) to Hayahay Restaurant for our lunch (after the dessert and the merienda) and paid 20 pesos for the two of us (9 pesos for each passenger is the usual rate). I failed to research for the "bestsellers" of the resto so we just picked the most appetizing ones. Sometimes it's better to trust your instincts on food matters 'coz food is subjective. Hmmm...

So we ordered Shanghai Rice with Chorizo (120 pesos) and the Sizzling Sisig (120 pesos). The Shanghai Fried Rice was so good on its own but when paired with other dishes, it failed because the tastes were so contrasting. I wished we just ordered plain rice. What I really loved was the Dumaguete Express (175 pesos). It was so divine. The coconut milk soup with tuna, shrimp, squid and other stuff with young coconut meat (buko meat) and topped with lechon kawali was the rock star! It is best with steamy hot plain rice. We stayed for almost two hours in the restaurant and thought of having a bottle or two of beers but dissed the idea after realizing that we have a flight back to Manila in just a few hours. Pero sa plane may tindang alak...

Hayahay restaurant
the view from the restaurant - while waiting for the food
Shanghai Fried Rice with Chorizo
Sizzling Sisig
Dumaguete Express - forget everything but this!
ubos!
We then took a trike to the Sidlakang Negros Village site. It's just a short ride from the Hayahay restaurant. It houses the Negros Oriental's cultural heritage that is showcased by each town and city of the province. It is a different showroom because each town has its own structure, like a house, to show all its exhibits of their natural wonders and products. It was Holy Wednesday so all the showrooms were closed. But we were allowed to roam around the village to take a peek on what's inside. And then I wished that it was open so we could have explored more.

ze village
everything was closed
Valencia
Siaton
Mabinay - "Cave Capital of the Phhilippines"
After our 5-hour quickie in Dumaguete city, we went straight to the airport and paid 40 pesos from Sidlakang Negros Village. There are shops there (inside and outside the airport) that sells hand carry-ready sylvanas from Sans Rival cafe. Even the flight attendants were buying loads of sylvanas from the stores. And when I was at the counter to check-in, I was asked if we wanted to stay on seats 1A and 1B. And then I got excited. Spell LEGROOM. 

I won some freebies on the contests - haler kaharap ko yung nagtatanong!

33 comments :

  1. I miss Dumaguete! Di ko pa natry yung chocolate sans rival!

    Will go back to this place, definitely!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. try mo bilis... pero makakalimutan mo agad..hihi

      Delete
  2. yan na, nakita ko na naman ang silvanas at sansrival!
    i heard nasa baler ka this weekend? is this true?

    ready ka na sa roxas natin? wala pa tayong itinerary! haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh yes! i've never been so ready in my life... hihi

      Delete
  3. Sarap naman nung Sansrival... gusto ko yan!

    ReplyDelete
  4. i love your food pictures...i have eaten and loved all those for all those years i stayed there in college but they never looked this good in pictures... they looked, i mean really really yummy. very nice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks harold... food photography is very hard when you don't have the right lenses for it... :)

      Delete
  5. you may want to go Dolphin and Whale Watching then go the Sand Bar in Bais next time... or visit the Twin Lakes in Sibulan and Lake Balanan in Siator... and you still have time, Casaroro Falls in Valencia and the Mabinay Caves... :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. these are all in Oriental Negros by the way... :)

      Delete
    2. hi there! we planned to cover those but failed... more reason to come back eh? :)

      Delete
  6. mukhang panalo nga yung dumaguete express! di namin nasubukan dati yan, parehas tayo, entrance exit lang sa dumaguete haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. next time namn mag stay tayo ng dumaguete... tsk tsk tsk... ewan ko pero panalo para sa'kin yung dumaguete express na yan... siguro dahil sa lechon kawali..hehe

      Delete
  7. wow mukang masarap nga yung Dumaguete Express. Buti sinabi mo yan. Pag nagplano ako pumunta sa Siquijor next year, hindi ko yan palalampasin. Just like iloilo, parang nagmimistulang jump off point nga lang sila. Nakakalungkot. chos!

    I miss you carla. Kelan kaya tayo magkakaron ng trip ulit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi maricar! miss na rin kita... text mo ko kung kelan tayo lakwatsa at chikahan ng bongga bilis! :)

      Delete
  8. ate ikaw na talaga ang nakakabalance ng lahat :) heheh. BTW, what is the model of your cam?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi vanessa.. time management lang siguro :)

      canon 550D dear...

      Delete
  9. Believe ako! You were able to see and do a lot within that five hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh yes! walking city pala ang dumaguete... :)

      Delete
  10. ikaw na!!! Da best ka chumika! enjoy na enjoy ako sa foodtrippings nio! :D Hopefully kayanin ko mg dumaguete siquijor this year! <3 Your blog will surely a great help! Print ko tlga for guidelines hihi! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi shugah! go siquijor and dumaguete! kulang ang 3 days lang... mga 4-5 para relax ng bongga!

      Delete
  11. Naaliw ko sa title ng blog na to kaya hola! Basa ko agad.. (Halata mahilig sa quickie) hehehe. Sikat na sikat yang pastry shop na yan jan noh.. kaso di ko mahilig gano sa matatamis. Saludo ko sa mga food, ang dameee!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. uuyyyy... ikaw mitch ha...hehe..

      wala din akong sweet tooth kaya naka 2 bites lang ako... pero dumaguete express is the best! :)

      Delete
  12. Sarap ng lafang! Interesting yung Dumaguete Express!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi anney... at balak ko dati na gayahin ang dumaguete express pagbalik ng manila... balak pa din siya... hihi

      Delete
  13. buti ka pa nakaapak ka na sa siliman,gusto ko kasi noon na jan mag aral kaso di afford ng parents ko.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oo nga daw melvin.. hindi pala state u ang silliman..

      Delete
  14. Hayahay! Sayang hindi namin na try yung Dumaguete express. Babalik akooo! =))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi ethel! at pagbalik ko plain rice na lang order ko para mas ma-appreciate ang dumaguete express! :)

      Delete
  15. Dumaguete is memorable for me because this is where my first solo travel happened. Hehe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ako naman memorable kasi gateway sa favorite place ko (so far) - sa Siquijor :)

      Delete

My Instagram

Copyright © 2011- blissfulguro. Made with by LP via OddThemes