After disappearing for 8 years, I review Chef G's Restaurant

 

In 2015, as I disappeared into the rat-race that kept me from pursing my blogging career, a new restaurant opened it's doors and slowly made a name for itself. Chef G's is probably well known to many Davaoeños, the name of residents of my fair Davao City, while I've been far too busy frequenting the classics such as Bulcachong, Davao Famous, and Dencias, all of which I'll be writing about in a future posts. It was only earlier tonight when my uncle's girlfriend treated us to dinner to Chef G's did I realized how much I was missing out. And while there were misses during my dining experiences, it was nothing compared to the food that floored me for it's flavor and price. Let's talk about my experience at Chef G's.

The Surprising Affordability

 Picture of Chef G's Menu as of 04.12.2022

When we entered the open-air restaurant, smelled the aroma of the food served on sizzling plates, I though this would be the type that would be serving 200-300 peso entrées ($4-6), not expensive but not cheap, at least in my city. But when we sat down and I saw that most, if not  all the prices, were less than 150 Pesos, some of them  just a little over or under 100 Pesos ($2). There are days that I spend more than that at Karinderias, small roadside eateries in the Philippines.

I ordered Kansi, a beef dish with sauce, onions, carrots, and lemons, which came with 2 cups of rice garnished with fried garlic, costing only 105 pesos with an additional 10 Pesos for a fried egg on top. I also ordered a serving of Fried Lumpia Gulay, vegetable spring rolls, which was another 40 pesos, a fair price for it's size. There was also Molo Soup, dumpling in soup with some Misua noodles, which we shared, 95 Pesos. All fairly priced for the food's quality and serving size.

The Food That Floored Me

Photo of Kansi. Still sizzling and steamy.

It came in hot and steamy, sizzling, allowing the aroma to shoot itself into my nostrils. I actually just came from my usual Sunday family potluck at the farm. I wasn't really hungry at first, but as the waiter placed the sizzling plate in front of me, my mouth watered. The sauce was really rich and savory, with the fatty beef, the lemon served with the dish was definitely necessary to cut through all of that delicious flavorful fat. I thought the sauce would taste like Carlyn's Ala Pobre Steak, but it was different, both were amazingly flavorful in different ways.

Photo of Lumpia Tauge(Beansprout)

I was already eating my Kansi, when the waiter came in and brought us our Lumpia, served indvidually in plates with sauce on the side. I immediately bit into the spring-roll and both regretted and enjoyed it, I regretted it due to it being freshly out of the fryer, burning the roof of my mouth a bit.

 Photo of steaming hot bite of Lumpia

Despite the burning sensation, the flavor of the vegetables, crunchy wrapper, and the sauce that accompanied it was more than enough to stop me from wasting the bite by spitting it out. So I continued to chew, while trying to blow on the hot food by exhaling through my mouth. The Lumpia was perfect! The sauce was great! But when it comes to vegetable lumpia I prefer vinegar, which the restaurant provided along with an assortment of sauces and condiments on the table.

 Picture of Molo Soup

We were about done eating when suddenly the waiter came in with the Molo soup, one of the four of us ordered it earlier, but cancelled since he wanted to try the Kansi instead. So this was an unexpected addition to our meal, a welcome one as some soup was actually perfect after such a rich and oily meal. The Molo soup was served with Misua, a type of vermicelli noodles made with wheat, which was interesting as I've only ever had Molo soup as it is, just the dumpling and the soup with spices and garnish. The Dumplings had a surprising refreshing flavor to it, I think they put basil into the meat, a bit foreign for molo to me but interesting none the less. The broth was very good, in combination with the spices, dumpling and noodle, a perfect ending to the meal.

Final Thoughts on Chef G's

It's been 8 years since I reviewed a restaurant, I've been to places where while eating I thought of writing about it. I even have photos of the food I've eaten at those restaurants. But only Chef G's pushed me to open up my laptop and write about it. For it's price and the quality you get, I can highly recommend Chef G's!