A taste of Dumaguete in Manila
Dumaguete City’s beloved Buglas Isla Cafe opened its first branch in Arcovia in Pasig City.
Dumaguete’s location allows food from Cebu and Negros Occidental, to mingle with its own Dumagueteño fare. Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental, faces Cebu province to the east, just 25 minutes by ferry across the Tañon Strait, and is about a 220-km drive away from Negros Occidental (with its capital city Bacolod) to the northwest. The city has its traditional cuisine of simple flavors, fresh ingredients, sinugba, and a love for seafood and pork.
They also love an international feast from samgyupsal, croissants, shawarma, pizza, paella, and everything in between, all tied together by the genuine warmth, hospitality, and unhurried way of life that make Dumaguete the “City of Gentle People.”
Anthony Raymond, chief operating officer of Riesa Management, Inc., the company behind Buglas Isla Café, says, “The most challenging part was replicating the authenticity and humbleness of service that is so typical in Dumaguete, bringing it to Metro Manila, and sustaining it. But that’s part of the charm of Dumaguete, and we really want Buglas Isla Cafe to carry that. It took a lot of training and HR work.”
Translating the feel of the old hacienda that houses the original Buglas Isla in Dumaguete was easier, he added. Old wood for the pillars, and gently curved balusters to line the bar were shipped to Metro Manila from Dumaguete. The use of rattan, capiz shells, and cement finish walls make it look like a hacienda home.
Buglas Isla has an eclectic menu of an all-day cafe. There’s a section for breakfast and brunch with ube pandesal, budbud kabug (a Negros Oriental specialty suman made from millet), eggs Benedict, tapa, chicken and waffles, and a Buglas Signature with Cebu longanisa, Dumaguete chorizo, bacon, and pineapple. Do try their special Ribeye Bistek Tagalog!
Then there’s Tocino. “It’s the heart of our cuisine. Sinugba, food grilled over charcoal,” explains Anthony, whose family has its roots in Dumaguete. There, pork BBQ is called tocino — skewers of sweet, cured pork breakfast food, grilled till the edges turn smoky and toasty. At Buglas Isla though, tocino is not just pork, but also juicy chicken tails, intestines, and gizzards, crisp chicken skin, and Cebu longganisa. The restaurant has taken Dumaguete’s ubiquitous street food and made it their own. It’s marinated, then grilled over binchotan charcoal, a special Japanese oak charcoal that is long-burning, smokeless, and odorless. The tocino is dunked into another sweet glaze, briefly grilled again to caramelize, and finished with a brush of Buglas Isla’s special chicken oil. Their chicken oil is so special that they sell it and bottle it. I love it!
Other dishes I enjoyed were their Binagoongan, which was crispy pork belly served with sautéed shrimp paste, green mango, tomato, and eggplant; Laing which is taro leaves, coconut milk, and chili; the crispy pata; and their special Pritchon Board with fried lechon belly roll, chicken inasal, Cebu longaniza, fried danggit, squid inasal, fish tinola, ensaladang Filipino, annatto fried rice, tomatoes, salted egg, and green mangoes. This can be shared by a group!
Sans Rival and Silvanas are two sweets Dumaguete is famous for. The Silvanas served here are huge! There’s also an intriguing Taho Cheesecake and Puto Maya with Sikwate (purple rice suman served with native chocolate).
Buglas Isla Cafe in Arcovia is the first of several branches planned around the country. A second recently opened in the group’s Cala Laiya hotel in Batangas, and a third is set to open soon in Alabang. Anthony adds “We want to bring Dumaguete’s cuisine to the rest of the country.” *
(Buglas Isla Cafe is located at The View Deck, Arcovia City, Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, Pasig City. For reservations or inquiries, call 0919 0709900 or landline (02) 873 3339. They are open daily from 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM. Check out @buglasarcovia on Facebook and Instagram.)
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