Food-tripping at Tunalicious

It’s very refreshing to see food establishments in Davao that come out and offer new things to stimulate the taste buds — those that veer away from the typical chicken barbecue that you see all around. This is what my friends and I have discovered at Tunalicious, a relatively new ‘native’ restaurant in town.

From the outside, the place doesn’t look very impressive (especially because there’s still some construction going on around it). Also because it looks much like all the chicken-barbecue places out there. The tables and chairs aren’t anything you might find terribly comfortable, and the surroundings look decidedly low-budget. But the food–! Delicious!

Pinutos na Adobong Baboy

I had the Pinutos na Pork Adobo, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. They have 3 kinds of Pinutos: pork adobo, chicken adobo and, of course, grilled tuna. And get this — the price tag on this dish? Only ₱38 for a generous plate of rice and meat (or fish) wrapped in banana leaf! I loved the banana-leaf-infused flavor of the steamed rice, which was cooked just right. For the price, I wasn’t expecting it to be that good, but it was.

I was able to talk to the manager, Rainier Bello, and he said something that made a lot of sense. He said that, instead of offering “unlimited rice” — a common tactic hereabouts to attract patrons — they decided to serve the Pinutos dishes with a healthy amount of rice. Aside from the fact that rice isn’t cheap anymore, large intakes of rice isn’t really very good for the body.

I will surely be back to sample the other Pinutos (which literally means “wrapped”) dishes soon!

Sinuglaw

The Sinuglaw (₱108) was also quite enjoyable. The tuna was very fresh, and the grilled pork blended quite nicely in the whole ensemble. Sinuglaw is a concatenation of “sinugba” (‘grilled (pork)’) and “kinilaw” (the term used to mean ‘eating raw food’, usually fish).

The vinegar they use in their Sinuglaw is sukang tuba. It’s the kind that comes from ‘coconut wine’ — fermented coconut sap. And they don’t scrimp on the ingredients: chili, radish, cucumber and everything that makes kinilaw a uniquely Filipino appetizer.

Tuna Chicharon

True to their name, Tunalicious also serves Tuna Bopis (₱88), Tuna Sisig (₱88), even Tuna Chicharon (₱68)! Rainier, who has helped set up other restaurants in Davao City, said that they really want to specialize in various tuna preparations, to provide Davao with a healthier dining alternative.

The Tuna Chicharon was good. It tasted just like the real thing. And, it’s guilt-free! But the Tuna Bopis was rather fishy… Their sisig, however, was a hit. Even Andrew, who gets queasy about unfamiliar food, found it to his liking.

Tunalicious is actually just one of the shops in what is now known as “The Strip” at the old “The Venue” (couldn’t they get even more generic??). The place is on Jacinto Extension, across the road from the Bangko Sentral complex. But, Tunalicious seems to be the one that people look for when they go there. Aside from their tuna dishes, they also have what they call Sabaw Republic, or their line of stimulating soup dishes for the after-party market, if you know what I mean.

Tunalicious is open daily, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, then from 5:00 to 11:00 PM. Sabaw Republic, on the other hand, is open until 4 in the morning — although, Rainier said they’re thinking of keeping it open until 8:00 AM in the near future.

For takeout or for catering requests, here’s their phone number: 225-8588.