CEBU, Philippines - A budding Filipino-food restaurant has expressed confidence that it can contribute to Cebu’s culinary tourism potential through its native Filipino food cuisine.
Culinary tourism is defined as the pursuit of unique and memorable dining and drinking experience.
Karen Leslie Alcover-Cabahug, operations head of STK Ta Bay sa Paulito’s (STK) said the restaurant can satisfy the palate of foreign tourists, who would want to experience authentic native Filipino cuisine.
Homegrown STK is encouraging tour operators to complete their Cebu tours with foreign tourists by bringing their group to the restaurant, she said.
STK, which started in 2002 as a small eatery with five dishes in Capitol Site, now serves over 90 authentic Filipino and seafood dishes to a variety of market such as tourists, students, families and professionals.
These include grilled tuna panga, tinola, kinilaw, baked scallops, pochero as well as exotic dishes as bao (turtle), kanding (goat), sawa (snake) and eel.
Cabahug said the restaurant have patrons or return-clients of foreign nationalities such as Koreans, Japanese and Europeans.
“They really love to order native Filipino foods. There are even some who are adventurous enough to taste our exotic foods,” she told The Freeman.
Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph “Ace” Durano earlier said Filipino native cuisine is part of the country’s attraction to foreign tourists.
“Culinary has always been a part of Philippine tourism. Whether it’s the lechon or the Philippine fruits, our food is part of the unforgettable experience that tourists cherish,” he said.
The Philippine School of Culinary Arts (PSCA) has also come up with a short-term course for tourists, who want to learn how to cook Filipino dishes the standard way, to add to Cebu’s culinary tourism attractions.
PSCA executive director Libia Chavez said aside from just tasting our famous cuisines such as lechon, chicharon and bibingka among others, how these are cooked or prepared might also interest the tourists. Tour guides could include this in their tour itineraries.
STK, which can accommodate 140 guests, is also going full blast with its catering services this year.