The Royal Mandaya Hotel’s Kamayo Café has been getting its share of Davao’s hard-to-please diners since it underwent renovation works. With the hotel lobby café’s exuberantly designed, new interior complemented, of course, by the culinary expertise of veteran executive chef Edgar Chavez who has laboured in the best hotels’ kitchens in Manila and the Middle East, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Kamayo Café has become one of the more popular restaurants in the city offering the right feeling and sensation that will make you enjoy any of its gustatory meal.
The first thing that arrests your attention the moment you enter the Kamayo Café is the huge display of glorious food that you cannot even decide where to begin. The selection is just wide, and the presentation makes them look even more delectable. Breakfast, lunch or dinner is always a big treat of an array of comfort food at the Kamayo Café. Not to fail to mention GM Angel C. Zafra’s carefully selected live entertainment for the dining guests’ listening pleasure.
It was the first time I experienced Kamayo Café’s Chinese cuisine last January 23 upon the invitation of the loving couple, Glen and Mik-Mik Escandor and Gerome Yap Escandor. “This is actually the first time we are celebrating the Chinese New Year in the hotel. You must remember that my mother-in-law, Violeta Yap-Escandor, is a Filipino-Chinese mestiza. It has been a long time since the Kamayo Café went all out to dish out Chinese food to honour the special event,” explained Mik-Mik Derla-Escandor who came with her loving parents, Angel and Thelma Derla, and her kids Yari, Francis and Rina Derla Escandor. Joining Glen and Mik-Mik’s group were Jing and Siony Abella, Rosanne O. Deduyo, Jury Tan, Joan Cabradilla and Araceli Ruiz-Cruz.
That special night, chef Edgar Chavez prepared a good selection of popular Chinese fare—flying dragon assorted cold cuts, fried minced shrimps in bread, vegetable spring rolls, fried seafood sipa, Chinese sausages, steamed tiger prawns in mayo, century eggs, a variety of siopao, cuapao and siomai, tiger prawns in garlic-butter sauce, beef tenderloin with celery and mushroom, steamed chicken with ginger sauce (Hainanese Chicken is one of my favourite Chinese dishes), chilli crabs in Szechuan style, and with the carving station serving such mouth-watering delicacies like crispy Hong Kong chicken, crispy pata, and lechon. Yes, there were more dishes I couldn’t identify.
There were those who rushed through the meal just to get to chef Ed’s dessert of black gulaman and sago, rice cake with mango balls, moon cake slices, ticoy, butchi, chocolate lychee, Chinese custard, to mention some. Mind you, but chef Ed (with the able assistance of pastry chef Ferdinand Jarlego) wonderfully creates some of the best pastries in town which are made-to-order. You should try chef Ed’s heavenly blueberry cheesecake.
The Royal Mandaya Hotel’s Kamayo Café offers the innovative wave of Pinoy cuisine that Davao City has been enjoying since the past decade or so with the mushrooming of good restaurants armed with good and qualified chefs. Indeed, the culinary arena of Davao City is at an all time high and is gathering laurels and recognition nationally. Davao is now rightfully recognized as the centre of the culinary arts in Mindanao which is a welcome boost to Director Art Boncato’s tourism campaign. Mabuhay ang lutong-Davao!
Thank you, Gillian Ray T. Lonzaga, for the able assistance as always.
